Home Cinema Insight | VR
Home Cinema VR : Virtually Here ?
There ’ s no avoiding it : 2016 has been a big year for virtual reality , penetrating everything from Facebook to theme parks . With a growing range of VR headsets for tech-hungry consumers to chose from , it is inevitable that this ultimate immersive experience should find its way into the home cinema market ; but are home cinema enthusiasts interested ? Can they afford it ? What content is there ? And could it ( and more importantly , should it ) replace the traditional home cinema sound system and projector set-up ?
“ Virtual reality most definitely has a place in the home cinema arena ,” says Jason Lovell , senior product manager , Samsung VR . “ The technology is really taking off , and film and video entertainment will be a key part of VR ’ s direction moving forward as the industry grows and the technical capabilities of VR evolve with it .”
Wholeheartedly agreeing with Jason is Richard Vincent , founder of communications agency , Fundamental , which has begun to explore the potential of VR and 360 social video .
“ It absolutely has a place within home cinema ,” he says . “ Home cinema has always been about getting the most immersive sound and vision experience ; VR takes this to a whole new level – whether that is watching 2D film in the most exciting / sexy virtual cinema room , or with fully immersive VR video content . For the home cinema customer ,” – although EI is not so sure installers would agree – “ this is a really exciting time as potentially the cost of physically creating a cinema room has now dropped from £ 15-25K to £ 2-4K ; a much more accessible option for a much wider audience . However , I don ’ t think it replaces ; I think it augments . It ’ s a viewing choice .”
Let ’ s not forget that each of the headline-grabbing VR sets ( Oculus Rift , HTC Vive , Samsung Gear VR , PlayStation VR ) exist primarily for gamers to enjoy . However , with commercial VR cinemas popping up in more and more countries , the potential in the home is not to be overlooked .
Samsung Gear VR
Available for £ 80 , the headset is a mobile virtual reality headset developed by Samsung Electronics in collaboration with Oculus , manufactured by Samsung . Compatible with Galaxy S7 edge , S7 , Note 5 , S6 edge +, S6 and S6 edge phones , the phone itself acts as the headset ’ s display and processor , while the Gear VR unit acts as the controller .
“ There are so many opportunities for Gear VR in home cinema – users can explore games , films , 360 video content , as well as user generated 360 / VR content – and also enjoy video on demand services like Netflix ,” Jason elaborates .
Previously known as Oculus Cinema , Oculus Video is available for Gear VR , allowing users to immersive themselves in ‘ their very own movie theatre ,’ with the perception of viewing content on a cinema-sized screen .
Oculus Rift
Kicking things up a notch ( in both the hardware and wallet departments ) by foregoing the use of a phone as an interface is of course , Oculus Rift , which is available now for £ 549 .
Owned by Facebook , the headset uses an OLED panel for each eye , each with a resolution of 1080 × 1200 with a 90Hz refresh rate and 110 ° field of view to reduce motion blurring or juddering . However , to get the premium VR experience , the user must invest in a little more than just the headset itself : it requires high-end PC hardware running a 64-bit version of Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 or later and Oculus Rift ’ s minimum requirements specify a CPU equivalent to an Intel Core i5-4590 , at least 8GB of RAM , and at least an AMD Radeon R9 200 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 graphics card .
Rift includes Oculus Cinema as a free application , allowing Rift to be used to view conventional movies and videos from inside a virtual cinema environment on a cinema-sized screen . Oculus Cinema will also feature a networked mode in which multiple users can watch the same video in a shared virtual space – seeing each other as avatars , letting them interact and talk to one another while watching the video . Oculus has also founded Story Studio , plucking multiple former employees from major VFX companies such as PIXAR and ILM to create VR movies .
September 2016 | 5