Insta360 Flow Gimbal Tracking While Live Streaming

Post Reply
User avatar
MJKlein
Site Admin
Posts: 708
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2021 5:24 am
Location: Hukou, Taiwan
Contact:

Insta360 Flow Gimbal Tracking While Live Streaming

Post by MJKlein »

Recently I bought an Insta360 Flow gimbal/stabilizer. At some point I'm doing to do a review from an engineer's POV because there are some limitations that some are not discussing. Generally it is a very smooth and capable stabilizer within it's design limitations.

I bought the Flow to use with an Android phone and was disappointed with the incomplete software implementation, so much so that since my Android phone's front camera has started to malfunction, I bought an iPhone 14 Pro Max and I connected the Flow to that. What I learned is significant for live streamers!

I was disappointed to learn that the Flow was apparently designed for portrait mode live streaming. I stream in landscape mode. Nevertheless, I did try the Flow's Live tracking mode in landscape and it was totally unreliable. However, the portrait mode tracking worked (see more details below). After I connected the iPhone, one of the first things I tested was the ability of the camera to track in landscape mode - and it worked perfectly! The iPhone implementation is so much better with multimedia apps in general that it was a major influence on my decision to go iOS.

So, if you use PRISM, IG, FB, YouTube or whatever, the Flow will accurately track your face and keep you in frame while live streaming as well as video recording.

But, please note that the Live tracking is setup for a reversed camera. If you use PRISM Live Studio and you flip your front camera so it is not mirrored, the tracking will make the opposite and incorrect movement to follow you. At this writing there is no provision in the Live tracking function to change it to a non-mirrored camera. This is also the case if you are live streaming and decide to go to the back camera and walk in front of it with tracking engaged. The tracking system will find you and make the opposite moves to keep you in frame. Fortunately, pressing the Flow's trigger 1 time toggles the tracking On/Off.

@Jake Song I think there is a possible solution within the PRISM Live Studio App itself. Perhaps the "flip" switch in PRISM could flip the recorded video but keep the mirrored view for the tracking. How difficult would that be to implement? Some people enjoy the mirror view in the app because that is what we are used to looking at, but would prefer the video to be streamed in non-mirror mode.
MJ Klein, Site Administrator
湖口鄉新竹縣台灣 Hukou Township, Hsinchu County, Taiwan
English/中文
This site is hosted at Dathorn: https://dathorn.com/index.php?r=489
Jake Song
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2021 1:54 pm

Re: Insta360 Flow Gimbal Tracking While Live Streaming

Post by Jake Song »

I was on vacation with my family, so I'm late checking your question.

You changed your main streaming device to an iPhone. In fact, in terms of multimedia processing, iPhone is much easier than Android.
So, the quality of video output is generally better for iPhone than for Android.

And getting to the point, I understand what you said. That is, in order for the PRISM app to properly support the live tracking function of insta360 flow, the PRISM app must support a special flip mode. A mode that supports a state where the streaming video is flipped but the smartphone preview is not flipped.

In fact, this type of implementation was not possible in the early days of the PRISM app. However, as the app's camera source processing module has been improved recently, I know that this is technically possible. (The module is being improved to treat the camera source as a overlay source rather than a default background for live streaming.)

So it's technically possible, but it needs another review to be released as a regular feature. In order to roll out this feature, many people from different teams have to agree on the feature and start working on it. The process includes consideration and preparation to explain this function well to users.

Unfortunately, we have completed the planning by the end of the year and are working on it, so it is not easy to add new function implementation to this plan. But I'll put your suggestion in the backlog for new features and try to bring it up during the discussion of new features. Thanks to your suggestions, I was able to study insta 360 Flow in more detail. thank you :)
User avatar
MJKlein
Site Admin
Posts: 708
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2021 5:24 am
Location: Hukou, Taiwan
Contact:

Re: Insta360 Flow Gimbal Tracking While Live Streaming

Post by MJKlein »

Jake Song wrote: Tue May 09, 2023 3:50 am And getting to the point, I understand what you said. That is, in order for the PRISM app to properly support the live tracking function of insta360 flow, the PRISM app must support a special flip mode. A mode that supports a state where the streaming video is flipped but the smartphone preview is not flipped.
Yes. The AI tracking is based on a mirror type image.

Since Insta360 is a huge company and they will sell very many of these devices, it is my opinion that this should be a fairly high priority so you can advertise that "PRISM Live Studio is fully compatible with Flow AI tracking." Also, it apparently is not so difficult to do.
Jake Song wrote: Tue May 09, 2023 3:50 am You changed your main streaming device to an iPhone. In fact, in terms of multimedia processing, iPhone is much easier than Android.
So, the quality of video output is generally better for iPhone than for Android.
I got the iPhone because I was tired of everything being 1/2 implemented on Android. iPhone integration is much more complete in general. However there are some glaring exceptions: LINE chats cannot created Home screen shortcuts! I used to have a Folder of all my most needed chats and now I cannot do that. Weird.

Thank you @Jake Song!
MJ Klein, Site Administrator
湖口鄉新竹縣台灣 Hukou Township, Hsinchu County, Taiwan
English/中文
This site is hosted at Dathorn: https://dathorn.com/index.php?r=489
Post Reply