Samsung Gear 360

Owned by Keefe Boerner
Last updated: Sep 11, 2019

How to record 360 videos and convert them to a quicktime format.

Step-by-step guide

  1. Insert an ExFat formatted Micro SDXC card in the memory tray. It's a plastic tray, so be gentle with it. The card should 'click' into the tray.

    Below the tray is the USB-C data and power port. With a USB power adapter, this camera allows you to keep the camera plugged in while making long recordings.

    Press the Power/Back button for 3 seconds to turn the power on. Note that plugging the camera in will start a battery charging process. You will need to press the power button for 3 seconds to stop that process and turn the camera 'off' before powering up the camera with the power adapter.

    This camera has a menu on the front. The upper left icon indicates the mode. The camera icon shows it is ready to record video and the time code indicates, when not recording, the length of video that the card will hold. If the camera is not in video mode, use the Menu button to cycle through the modes (Photo, Time Lapse, Video Looping, HDR Landscape, Settings) The large button with the red dot above the menu is the Start/Stop Record button for the video recording. Once you begin recording, the time code will switch to elapsed time.

    To change the resolution of the video recording, press the Menu button to change to Settings. Use the Record button to enter the settings menu. Use the Menu Button to cycle through the menu choices (Switch Lens, Mode Settings, Timer, Auto Power Off After..., Volume, Format, About Device, ) to Mode Settings. Press the Record button to enter that menu. The first choice is 'Video Size.' Press the Record button to enter that menu choices, then the Menu button to cycle through the choices [4096x2048,(24fps), 2880x1440(30fps), 2560x1280(60fps), 2560x1280(30fps), 1920x1080(30fps), 1440x720(120fps)]. Press the Record button to select the recording mode. Since you are at a terminal menu selection, once the selection is made, it defaults back to the video mode you just selected. If you wish to escape the menu without changing a mode, press the Power/Back button.
    Once the recording is finished, you can connect the USB-C cable to your computer and the camera will enter USB Drive mode. Or, power down the camera, remove the micro SDHC card and mount it on your computer with an adapter. Note: We have not been able to mount the camera directly in MacOS Mohave (10.14)

    On the card, the video recordings are located the directory: Card/DCIM/100PHOTO. Drag the .MP4 files over to your local storage. Note that these files cannot be read by Quicktime Compatible Players and must be converted to view them. To eject the camera, hit the eject button on the Camera drive name, then power off the camera.

    The Application for reading and converting these files is Gear 360. (currently v.1) When you open the application, it presents two choices. 360 Player and Live Broadcast. Choose 360 Player. The application can be found at: https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00066650/ The Moody College IT staff can also access it at smb://fileserver.moody.utexas.edu/software/Samsung/Gear360

    The application creates a default directory for storing the converted videos in /Users/username/Documents/CyberLink/Gear360/1.0 To change the directory for your converted files, go to menu bar for Gear 360:Preferences. Click the Browse button to navigate to your preferred location. Then click OK.

    Click the + (Import) button to navigate to your .MP4 clips copied from the camera media. They will import into the library and convert them to an MP4 that is stitched together and compatible with a quicktime player. Unfortunately, the stitching application splits the rear camera, so it is at the edges of the quicktime. Note that the application will also store a catalog of clips, so as long as they are still located in the same directory that is accessible by the computer's application, they will continue to appear when the application is launched. To remove the, right click the clip to "Remove Media"

    Keefe Boerner is working on a drag and drop workflow to take the files into Adobe After Effects and stitch them together in a format that doesn't split the 'rear' camera. Drop him a line at "Keefe.Boerner@austin.utexas.edu" if you need to be aware of that workflow.








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