Vuze is Making Virtual Reality Affordable

While there are plenty of virtual reality videos floating around YouTube, few embody the idiosyncratic creativity that the website is known for, likely because they almost invariably have corporate sponsors. It’s a matter of economics, according to Jim Malcolm, the general manager of the start-up Human Eyes: VR cameras have simply been too expensive for aspiring and independent artists and filmmakers. But that’s about to change. This month, Human Eyes will launch Vuze, the first 3-D virtual-reality camera priced for consumers (at $799). For the company, which holds more than 70 patents in the 3-D space, it’s a way to stimulate their industry, too. Despite VR headsets’ impressive sales in the past two years, customers can’t use them for daily entertainment. The problem, fundamentally, is a lack of content, a hurdle that has long plagued fledgling industries engendered by new technology. (Recall the videotape-format wars of the 1970s.) Designed for easy use by those without advanced computer skills, the device is slightly larger than a hockey puck. “I’m excited to see creative people bring their visions to life in a medium they’ve never before had access to,” says Malcolm. Now that such visions can be realized, virtual reality can also be a shared one.