The state of editing software for Gear 360

There are two main programs for editing 360 video: Video Stitch and Kolor Autopanovideo.  Both are about $750 for a license.  Both offer a trial demo version that puts a horrible watermark all over your video.

Video Stitch is an interesting program because it offers Nvidia acceleration.  It "wants" two single spherical videos, instead of what the Gear 360 offers, which is a side by side dual spherical video.  So there would have to be an extra step in post production to split the dual spheres into two separate files, then stitch those, and there was a guy who showed how to do this on a Youtube video, but I lost the link and lost interest in finding it again, since it seemed like a lot of extra work in Adobe Premiere.  I experimented with writing a script in AVISynth to do the same thing, but lost interest after I could only open the audio of an mp4.  In addition, my version of Video Stitch barfed when fed Gear 360 video and I tried downloading the latest version, etc.

I think these programs were designed for real estate photographers wanting to put 360 panos on their listings.

Adobe Premiere Pro has a 360 viewer but no editing tools.  They have this irritating licensing scheme now that costs $20 a month, but this means you can try out the software for a month with only a $20 investment, better than spending $600 just to find it doesn't do what you want it to do.

I bought a MAGIX license on the promise of 360 tools but there are none, at least in the version I downloaded.

Samsung was kind enough to upgrade ActionDirector to stitch 360 video from the Gear device.  Here's a link to download the latest version.

The stitching is extremely slow even on an i7 with no video card.  I added a GTX 970 card and got stitching that was slow but not ridiculous.

On ActionDirector, YOU CANNOT FIX HORIZON ISSUES IN POST, at least as far as I can see.  The stitching software is set up to assume the camera is perfectly level at all times.  You cannot adjust for the horizon that I can tell.

Video Stitch offers horizon fix but the demo craps out after loading Gear 360 video at least on my rig, with the latest version.

ActionDirector for Gear 360 isn't "bad" because it offers the three basic functions you need to work with 360 video: stitch, render, and upload, all within one program.  Postproduction is therefore pretty simple.  Just be sure the camera is level!

Actually the workflow is pretty simple, drag raw mp4s and then wait for stitching.  Come back and cut video, then produce.

AD offers automatic upload to Youtube within the program, but you don't really want to do this because it doesn't leave a local finished video product on your PC, so if any step of the process dies, you have to start all over again.

The final step before you can upload rendered video to Youtube is to "inject" metadata telling Youtube it's a 360 video.  Just giving it a cool filename like "my 360 vid" isn't enough!

Everyone seems to use a program called Spatial Metadata Injector (creative!).  I've linked it here.  It's pretty self explanatory.

So here's the official workflow:
Shoot video->transfer video to PC->Open 360 ActionDirector->Import video files into 360 AD program->wait for stitching->drag imported clips to final video timeline->cut out bad video clips->"Produce" final mp4 video->Inject metadata->Upload

It sounds like a lot, but it's actually not that bad.  The steps all take a while because the files are really big, but otherwise there's not a lot of human intervention needed.

On being an "early adopter" pertaining to 360 vid

I have been an early adopter in the past.  I experimented with Linux in the early 2000s.  I was fascinated with wifi when it came out.  I had an early Palm Pilot and endless derivative gadgets.  I tried the Psion 5 and Phillips Nino.  I still have a Kodak ZI8 HD video camera--and a cell phone HD camera that does basically the same thing and a bunch of other stuff.
It's a pain in the neck being an early adopter because much of the time you end up with an overpriced paperweight.
Still it's fun to get to use the technology early.
The main use of 360 video, to me, is as a tool to preserve vacation memories.  Sure a phone camera is fine and probably your phone will have some sort of 360 camera on it in the future.  But today, with every trip you take, you can preserve some immersive video.  That to me is more valuable now than waiting until later.
I think 360 photo video is a pretty big step forward compared to conventional photos, in the history of photography.  I have heard the Gear 360 compared to a handheld drone, which I think is not a bad way to think about it.
I haven't gone the drone route because I think they're invasive and distracting.  My whole goal with 360 video is to relive a memory immersively.  It's hard to do that if your gear is attracting a lot of attention because of noise.
Google Cardboard is such an awesome invention, and I really appreciate Youtube's support of the format.
I think compelling travel 360 videos will have an impact on travel.  I worry people would be more likely to stay home, but perhaps they would be more stimulated to travel.  The next generation of Rick Steves and Anthony Bourdains will find a way to incorporate this new technology.
Human memory itself is so imperfect compared to even the video and viewers we have today.
There are not a lot of videos on "Hey guys, here's how to shoot 360 video" because I think there aren't too many people who know how to do it well.  It's like a new musical instrument.  Guitar has been around a long time, so there's plenty of people who do it well, and who can teach it.  360 video has only been around a few years at most, and most of its practitioners are real estate video people.  Clearly there's going to be a long learning curve.  Social acceptability is also still around the corner.  Giving out Google Cardboard out with the New York Times was a nice stunt, but it hasn't sparked a huge mindshare so far.
YouTube will take video up to 128Gb.  Facebook says they will only allow up to 1.75Gb, but they may take more.  The video upload may be the most painful part of the whole process because it's pretty slow.
TimeWarner in LA recently upgraded internet and now offer a home product with 20Mbps upload speed.  An hour of 360 video is 30Gb, so the faster upload speed makes a big difference.  Never did upload speed matter so much.
It's kind of like the olden days when you had these multi-Mb downloads on dialup, except now you don't have to tie up the house phone line for hours sending or receiving files.
Facebook allows more granular control over who sees the videos.  Youtube gives all-or-none permission.  Youtube offers the goggle experience.