Vertical Video Syndrome (VVS) has been a plague on mankind for far too long. As the source link below illustrates – and as I’ve shared more times than I can remember – Glove and Boots very successfully documents the perils of VVS.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA&w=560&h=315]
If the devs at Evil Window Dog have anything to say about it, VVS could be a thing of the past (on iOS at least). Enter their new app, Horizon. Horizon makes any video shot on your phone come out in landscape mode. How do they do this? I would have believed it was magic, or perhaps a gentle reminder not to hold your phone the wrong way. But in reality it’s some sneaky zooming and cropping. Some resolution can be expected to be lost during transitions from portrait to landscape, but that’s a small price to pay for the elimination of VVS.
TechCrunch provided an excellent example of how this works in the following animated gif.
Several reviews on iTunes have complained that the resulting videos are jittery, especially when switching from portrait to landscape. This is also backed up by Greg Kumparak over at TechCrunch during his hands-on with the app. This appears to be the initial release, so I would think it should get better and these issues should be smoothed over with some time. If fixing one of the lingering problems of our time weren’t enough, Horizon also provides some filters to spruce up your (no longer vertical) videos.
I have no iOS devices, so I can’t say for sure how well this app works. For the benefit of all mankind, I do truly hope that iOS users prone to VVS will take advantage of the $.99 launch sale over on iTunes. I hope these guys make a fortune!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roag3p3g1r4&w=560&h=315]
Source: TechCrunch, Evil Window Dog
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Last Updated on May 7, 2014.
