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My friends and I watch movies in Bigscreen VR (simulated movie theater) and honestly, it's some of the most fun I've ever had. It's like renting out a theater w

My friends and I watch movies in Bigscreen VR (simulated movie theater) and honestly, it's some of the most fun I've ever had. It's like renting out a theater with friends where you can be as loud as you want for free, several times per week. I feel as though most people think about VR for its novelty use cases, like putting grandma on a roller coaster, or doing some exercises or whatever. Swing a lightsaber at Darth Vader! I don't think we've even scratched the surface on the possibilities of just creating fun environments for friends to goof around in. That's going to be the future of this technology.

shreyshnaccount 5y ago
and tech in general.. everything is getting more and more goof-around-able and I'm here for it!
Hippocrates 5y ago
This sounds awesome and I've also thought about a VR headset for regular console games. Can you comment on if that is a good idea and which specs/devices I might compare for that? I have no interest in most actual VR games until there is something "killer".
- gen3 5y ago
  Steam has a setup that allows you to play regular games in what looks/feels like a large home theater. I haven't used it short of checking it out, but it looked nice.
- dougmwne 5y ago
  The Quest 2 might be getting official android app support. You could use that to wirelessly stream through the Xbox app possibly. Future state.
baby 5y ago
The first time I joined a cinema room I didn’t know I would be sitting next to people. I turned and looked on my left and a bunch of people were looking at me. I screamed out loud (didn’t know my mic was on also) and everybody laughed. That was magical somewhat.
spaced-out 5y ago
That sounds awesome. I've been ignoring VR, maybe it's time to look into getting a headset.
- piyh 5y ago
  I had a conversation with an Israeli guy about smart grids and the iron dome while watching old Bond movies. Highly recommend Big Screen. Eye contact, hand gestures and the occasional air drawing go a long way to connect people.
  - slim 5y ago
    Do you build a 3D avatar using your face or something?
    - piyh 5y ago
      It's pretty dumb, think of building your Mii on the Wii, plus some basic heuristics if you turn your head towards someone past a threshold, your avatar makes eye contact. It works more than enough to trick your brain.
- rubicon33 5y ago
  Not OP, but have had similar experiences with VR. I absolutely LOVE VR. It makes all forms of gaming 10x more exciting / interesting / immersive. I still think the content isn’t nearly as mature as say, the traditional PC gaming or PS/Xbox games, but it’s slowly getting there. Hopefully as more people adopt VR, bigger and bigger publishers will see it as a profitable domain. If you’re a Skyrim fan, check out some recent Skyrim VR (with mods) videos… It’s a truly mind blowing experience!
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
    > It makes all forms of gaming 10x more exciting / interesting / immersive. Wow, I couldn't disagree more with that statement. I'm very very aware I'm playing a game in VR bacause I have to be constantly aware of the space limitations, which often isn't handled well by games that expect a larger space than I have. Not to mention trying not to trip on the cables (which Quest[0] doesn't have I guess, so there's that), and the relatively uncomfortable headset... In fact, so far I'd say I've played a total of two games that I thought did well with VR: SUPERHOT and Beat Saber. [0] Because Facebook is involved, I will never own one.
tvirosi 5y ago
It will indeed. It's frustrating that all of this is going much slower than I thought it would though. I feel like AR and this and the big ML GAN breakthroughs are still like 10-20 years away from now. (From my recollection it's felt like a year away for like 7-9 years now.) My kids are going to have such a fun time with it once its actually here but I'll be near middle age before the next wave is actually mature.
post_break 5y ago
Is there a way to do that while using your surround sound system? Because that would be amazing.
- jedberg 5y ago
  You could use the headphone jack and plug it into your stereo.
- dougmwne 5y ago
  Actually you don't really need it because positional head tracking will pin the sounds to their proper points in space, quite similar to the same feature on the airpods. You can plug in better headphones of course.
jamespetercook 5y ago
What tech do you use to do this?
- nickthegreek 5y ago
  BigScreenVR, a Quest 2 and a network share with your video file and an internet connection.
  - tpmx 5y ago
    Ah, it supports... ehh, sideloading of liberally licensed media files. Smart move.
- owlbynight 5y ago
  I use an Occulus 2 headset, Bigscreen VR app, headphones, and that's it really. I personally prefer hooking my Occulus 2 up to a PC, but it's not required unless you're doing a room with more than 4 people in it but that's just for the person hosting the room. Participants only need the headset and app.
deanclatworthy 5y ago
Isn’t it like watching potato quality? We had the first oculus rift at our office many years ago and there was an app to play video files in a movie theatre. But the resolution was so bad it was like watching a VHS. I see the potential here but the quality/resolution is going to have to take a huge leap.
- dougmwne 5y ago
  It is quite good. I have watched hours of shows and movies on the Quest 2. The resolution of your virtual cinema screen is essentially 1080p, which really is not bad. The main drawback is the quality of the lenses as they can add blur outside the sweet spot, god rays and chromatic aberration. I think these devices are only a few hardware generations away from delivering on the promise of a no compromises cinema in a bag.
  - littleweep 5y ago
    My problem with VR is that I wear glasses — I never could get comfortable with a headset over my glasses.
    - anotherman554 5y ago
      You can buy prescription lenses from third parties that you insert into the headset. Then, no glasses are needed.
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
      Yeah, me either. They are definitely not designed to be worn over glasses comfortably. I ended up getting custom lenses that clip over the headset lenses because I play Beat Saber enough to justify it.
    - losvedir 5y ago
      My oculus quest 1 works just fine over my glasses (had to add the little foam insert that came with it). Not sure about the 2, though.
    - 5y ago
astlouis44 5y ago
We have this functionality over at vrland.io as well, and it doesn't require going through FB's walled garden Oculus store. It's like a web-based VRChat, so it will work on any device with a browser. If Apple ships WebXR when they release their headset next year, it will work by default there too. Universal, decentralized, and free of walled gardens. That's the definition of the metaverse! Our team is on a mission to build a immersive version of the web in 3D and VR. Check it out here: https://vrland.io/cinema https://vrland.io/cinema
- jazzyjackson 5y ago
  Haha it’s a bit of a party with the hacker news crowd Is there a way to sit? I got a hang of the controls within a minute which is pretty impressive for touchscreen on mobile, but FYI it was pretty easy to back up to a wall such that my camera was behind the wall while I was still in front of it, so I couldn’t see anything. I wonder if it would be any easy fix to make the wall surfaces one-sided.
  - astlouis44 5y ago
    Thanks for trying it out!!! Yes there is, if you're on mobile. I will join now and walk you through
    - jazzyjackson 5y ago
      O, I heard you talking for a minute but I’m having some trouble. On using Safari on an iPhone SE (v. 2020) I gave access to microphone but it wasn’t clear if it was muted by default, when I tapped to mute, all of the audio cut out, which was unexpected, I was just trying to mute myself to be polite. And when I open the chat, and click in the text field, it highlights with blue edge and my keyboard opens, but nothing I type is reflected in the text box, and I see no way to submit. Best of luck, it’s an ambitious project.
- ajcp 5y ago
  This is very reminiscent of Active Worlds[1][2], right down to how you drop-in and interact with the world. Would have thought after 25-years we would have developed the value proposition better, and not the client. 1. https://activeworlds.com/ https://activeworlds.com/ 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Worlds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Worlds

shreyshnaccount 5y ago

and tech in general.. everything is getting more and more goof-around-able and I'm here for it!

Hippocrates 5y ago

This sounds awesome and I've also thought about a VR headset for regular console games. Can you comment on if that is a good idea and which specs/devices I might compare for that? I have no interest in most actual VR games until there is something "killer".

gen3 5y ago
Steam has a setup that allows you to play regular games in what looks/feels like a large home theater. I haven't used it short of checking it out, but it looked nice.
dougmwne 5y ago
The Quest 2 might be getting official android app support. You could use that to wirelessly stream through the Xbox app possibly. Future state.

baby 5y ago

The first time I joined a cinema room I didn’t know I would be sitting next to people. I turned and looked on my left and a bunch of people were looking at me. I screamed out loud (didn’t know my mic was on also) and everybody laughed. That was magical somewhat.

spaced-out 5y ago

That sounds awesome. I've been ignoring VR, maybe it's time to look into getting a headset.

piyh 5y ago
I had a conversation with an Israeli guy about smart grids and the iron dome while watching old Bond movies. Highly recommend Big Screen. Eye contact, hand gestures and the occasional air drawing go a long way to connect people.
- slim 5y ago
  Do you build a 3D avatar using your face or something?
  - piyh 5y ago
    It's pretty dumb, think of building your Mii on the Wii, plus some basic heuristics if you turn your head towards someone past a threshold, your avatar makes eye contact. It works more than enough to trick your brain.
rubicon33 5y ago
Not OP, but have had similar experiences with VR. I absolutely LOVE VR. It makes all forms of gaming 10x more exciting / interesting / immersive. I still think the content isn’t nearly as mature as say, the traditional PC gaming or PS/Xbox games, but it’s slowly getting there. Hopefully as more people adopt VR, bigger and bigger publishers will see it as a profitable domain. If you’re a Skyrim fan, check out some recent Skyrim VR (with mods) videos… It’s a truly mind blowing experience!
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
  > It makes all forms of gaming 10x more exciting / interesting / immersive. Wow, I couldn't disagree more with that statement. I'm very very aware I'm playing a game in VR bacause I have to be constantly aware of the space limitations, which often isn't handled well by games that expect a larger space than I have. Not to mention trying not to trip on the cables (which Quest[0] doesn't have I guess, so there's that), and the relatively uncomfortable headset... In fact, so far I'd say I've played a total of two games that I thought did well with VR: SUPERHOT and Beat Saber. [0] Because Facebook is involved, I will never own one.

tvirosi 5y ago

It will indeed. It's frustrating that all of this is going much slower than I thought it would though. I feel like AR and this and the big ML GAN breakthroughs are still like 10-20 years away from now. (From my recollection it's felt like a year away for like 7-9 years now.) My kids are going to have such a fun time with it once its actually here but I'll be near middle age before the next wave is actually mature.

post_break 5y ago

Is there a way to do that while using your surround sound system? Because that would be amazing.

jedberg 5y ago
You could use the headphone jack and plug it into your stereo.
dougmwne 5y ago
Actually you don't really need it because positional head tracking will pin the sounds to their proper points in space, quite similar to the same feature on the airpods. You can plug in better headphones of course.

jamespetercook 5y ago

What tech do you use to do this?

nickthegreek 5y ago
BigScreenVR, a Quest 2 and a network share with your video file and an internet connection.
- tpmx 5y ago
  Ah, it supports... ehh, sideloading of liberally licensed media files. Smart move.
owlbynight 5y ago
I use an Occulus 2 headset, Bigscreen VR app, headphones, and that's it really. I personally prefer hooking my Occulus 2 up to a PC, but it's not required unless you're doing a room with more than 4 people in it but that's just for the person hosting the room. Participants only need the headset and app.

deanclatworthy 5y ago

Isn’t it like watching potato quality? We had the first oculus rift at our office many years ago and there was an app to play video files in a movie theatre. But the resolution was so bad it was like watching a VHS. I see the potential here but the quality/resolution is going to have to take a huge leap.

dougmwne 5y ago
It is quite good. I have watched hours of shows and movies on the Quest 2. The resolution of your virtual cinema screen is essentially 1080p, which really is not bad. The main drawback is the quality of the lenses as they can add blur outside the sweet spot, god rays and chromatic aberration. I think these devices are only a few hardware generations away from delivering on the promise of a no compromises cinema in a bag.
- littleweep 5y ago
  My problem with VR is that I wear glasses — I never could get comfortable with a headset over my glasses.
  - anotherman554 5y ago
    You can buy prescription lenses from third parties that you insert into the headset. Then, no glasses are needed.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
    Yeah, me either. They are definitely not designed to be worn over glasses comfortably. I ended up getting custom lenses that clip over the headset lenses because I play Beat Saber enough to justify it.
  - losvedir 5y ago
    My oculus quest 1 works just fine over my glasses (had to add the little foam insert that came with it). Not sure about the 2, though.
  - 5y ago

astlouis44 5y ago

We have this functionality over at vrland.io as well, and it doesn't require going through FB's walled garden Oculus store. It's like a web-based VRChat, so it will work on any device with a browser. If Apple ships WebXR when they release their headset next year, it will work by default there too. Universal, decentralized, and free of walled gardens. That's the definition of the metaverse! Our team is on a mission to build a immersive version of the web in 3D and VR. Check it out here: https://vrland.io/cinema https://vrland.io/cinema

jazzyjackson 5y ago
Haha it’s a bit of a party with the hacker news crowd Is there a way to sit? I got a hang of the controls within a minute which is pretty impressive for touchscreen on mobile, but FYI it was pretty easy to back up to a wall such that my camera was behind the wall while I was still in front of it, so I couldn’t see anything. I wonder if it would be any easy fix to make the wall surfaces one-sided.
- astlouis44 5y ago
  Thanks for trying it out!!! Yes there is, if you're on mobile. I will join now and walk you through
  - jazzyjackson 5y ago
    O, I heard you talking for a minute but I’m having some trouble. On using Safari on an iPhone SE (v. 2020) I gave access to microphone but it wasn’t clear if it was muted by default, when I tapped to mute, all of the audio cut out, which was unexpected, I was just trying to mute myself to be polite. And when I open the chat, and click in the text field, it highlights with blue edge and my keyboard opens, but nothing I type is reflected in the text box, and I see no way to submit. Best of luck, it’s an ambitious project.
ajcp 5y ago
This is very reminiscent of Active Worlds[1][2], right down to how you drop-in and interact with the world. Would have thought after 25-years we would have developed the value proposition better, and not the client. 1. https://activeworlds.com/ https://activeworlds.com/ 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Worlds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Worlds