Things are Stranger (and Cooler) in Virtual Reality

I39ve been testing the Quest over the past month and will be writing my full review along with a few of the other new entrants in a subsequent columnSuffice to say that the Oculus Quest has quashed the quotVR is deadquot contingent and is selling well across all channelsamp160 As I39ve learned in my random conversations with a few Best Buy managers the devices have been selling so quickly that they are having issues keeping it in stockamp160 On Amazon the reviews are superb with around 600 reviews collectively between the 64GB and 128GB versions at a 45star ratingamp160 On Best Buy39s website both units are as of this column sold out with an average 48 rating and 540 collective reviewsWhen people think of use cases for VR they think of gamingamp160 I39ve come to recognize that having a giant almost IMAXsized screen available anywhere you are is also pretty coolamp160 By my estimate the screen size is equivalent to approximately a 110degree screen give or takeamp160 It certainly simulates the feeling of a movie theatergoing experience and positions you in the best seat in the houseamp160 The Netflix app which is widely available across VR ecosystems is one of the core apps available for Quest usersamp160 It places you in a comfortable couch setting with a lovely mountainOn July 3rd Netflix released the third season of its hit web TV series Stranger ThingsWhile I have spent some time watching shorter episodes across a spectrum of VR devices on the Netflix app Stranger Things Season 3 is filmed so cinematically that I felt compelled to test my VR endurance and binge watch the entire series through the Questamp160 I once heard Steven Spielberg famously rant against mobile video saying that he makes films for large screens not fourinch screensamp160 While I will not deride anyone from watching Netflix across multiple devices there is certain content that is truly enhanced by the scale of a large screen and monster movies tend to fit that billamp160 Oh and while to me it was a very large screen to the outside observer it was still those small lensesamp160 That39s the magic of VRI did break the viewing up into two days because I was invited to a Fourth of July BBQ and the only things that can tear me away from a good binge event are chicken wings burgers margaritas and good friendsThe biggest Achilles heel of VR is that damned screen door effect SDEamp160 The SDE is the appearance of microdots across the picture which are caused by a combination of the space between the pixels your proximity to the lens and the refresh rate of the videoamp160 When this generation of VR was first introduced the screendoor effect was significantamp160 In fact I can recall getting a preview of the Samsung Gear VR and I believe my comment was quotit39s cool but the SDE looks too much like a ViewMasterquotamp160 The picture on the Oculus Quest is much improved from that but it is still thereamp160 Currently there is only one VR Headset the Varjo that claims to have completely solved the SDE but that headset is currently priced over 5K and I have not had the opportunity to demo it yet to provide an honest opinionamp160 I can say that while the screen door effect is there it is so minimized that the pluses of viewing on a movie screen outweighamp160the slight distractionamp160 There is a sense of scale with the scenes that take place within the Starcourt Mall and within the Fourth of July carnival that demands a wider view and immersing yourself within the scene which brings me to the second benefit that I realized attentionHow many of you really watch movies at home on TV anymoreamp160 I mean watch in the deeper sense of putting away all your distractions and focusing truly focusing on the story being told the acting the costumes the sound every aspect of what a director39s vision is for you to experienceamp160 My bet would be that quite a few of us myself included rarely get to experience that in this hectic world in which we live and with our Pavlovian responses to every beep or buzz that our phone makesamp160 What I noticed throughout my VR binge was that I was not tempted to look at my phone or distracted by kids or visually out of tune by any surrounding shifts in the peripheral environmentamp160 Physically I couldn39tamp160 I was perfectly beautifully immersed and focused on the contentamp160 And that content included some major brand integrations including the reintroduction of New Coke they actually have brought New Coke back in conjunction with their integration which makes me wonder if Sergio Zyman has in some way found redemption extensive Burger King exposure and JCPenney to name a fewamp160 Those placements for the most part tastefully done may have appeared much more subtle if I had been watching this on a 40quot to 50quot screen but in a good way they appeared a bigger part of the storyI made a conscious decision not to wear headphonesamp160 The Oculus Quest has builtin spatial audio which in general is an absolute imperative to trick your brain to believe that you are truly in a different universeamp160 I was generally pleased with the quality of the audioamp160 I could hear the footsteps of the Mind Flayer behind meamp160 The fight scenes oh c39mon you knew there were fight scenes that is notamp160a spoiler sounded authentic and the sound of weapons came across from the right direction appropriately moving between earsI was really pleased with the overall experience but I am not suggesting that every piece of content should be viewed on VRamp160 I am pleased to report that I had no headaches no eye strain no nausea and no discomfort from wearing the headset for a long period of timeIf for some reasonamp160you haven39t already watched it I highly recommend trying Stranger Things Season 3 especially if the 3980s were your quoteraquot and you have a VR headsetBut Wait That39s Not Allamp160amp8230The Consumer Tech Association recently released its fiveyear projections for ARVR headsetsamp160 They differ considerably from a year ago when the CTA had projected that by 2022 219 million devices per year would be sold in the USamp160 Now the CTA has a mostly flat projection with devices sales in the US only reaching 31 million per year by 2023amp160 The difference in these projections was so large that I had to reach out to the CTA to find out what was going onamp160 They owned up to their overzealous previous projections based on the marketing push that top CTA member organizations Samsung Sony and othersamp160had been making to jumpstart the VR industryamp160 This year they felt the need to bring their base into reality and be far more conservative in their projectionsamp160 They also said that in an industry as nascent as VR you must project often as one new product perhaps the Quest can take off and redefine the entire categoryMy experience with the Quest overall and viewing Stranger Thingsamp160leaves me far more optimistic than the CTA39s current projectionEvery major shift in media consumption has been immediately preceded by a shift in bandwidthamp160 With the seeming success of the Oculus Quest the PlayStation VR and a number of solid competitors on the way the odds appear to be better that the shift to 5G with its low latency and gigper second download speed will coincide with a drop in overall price for a quality headset closer to a 250 price point within two yearsamp160 At that price point and with the improvement in video quality that time will bring we should begin to see scaleamp160 That gives brand storytellers a window of opportunity to test and learn how to integrate virtual reality into their communications and sales channel mix but the time to begin is nowAt this moment VR remains a tactical tool for brands and when used strategically can make a tremendously strong impressionamp160 There39s nothing strange about thatPhoto creditamp160 Amanda KeatonClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Things are Stranger (and Cooler) in Virtual Reality

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Jeff Minsky

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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Things are Stranger (and Cooler) in Virtual Reality

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Jeff Minsky

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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