One of the main use cases for VR is the ability to engage in immersive content. Unfortunately, there have not been easy ways to make ‘normal’ content available on VR Headsets in an immersive way. CyberLink’s Power Media Player MR enables users of Windows MR headsets to turn 360 photos, videos and even YouTube Videos into immersive viewing experiences. The big draw here is that this VR movie app has the ability to bring previously independent content into your immersive experience.
CyberLink has bundled with this application a searchable list of the top YouTube VR videos and the ability to search YouTube for more videos of this kind. This VR movie app could be the beginning of a wave of apps drawing more traditional content forms into the VR world.
“For people who own a Windows Mixed Reality Headset, Power Media Player MR is their portal to immersive movies and photos,” said Dr. Jau Huang, CEO of CyberLink. “Using our new app is like going back to the first time you ever watched a movie – an exciting, novel experience that seems to shut out peripheral noises and distractions. It offers the ideal viewing environment no matter where you are.”
In recent months, the proliferation of VR headsets has been eclipsed by the widespread download of mobile AR apps. This development could potentially be very challenging for the purveyors of higher end VR and MR headsets like Samsung, Facebook and Microsoft. While the experiences the headsets provide is much higher fidelity, not everyone wants to spend $1000+ on a VR Ready computer and then another $300+ for the headset of their choice. This barrier to entry has been lowered significantly with tools like Samsung Gear VR, Google Daydream and now ARKit/ARCore. The ease of just downloading an app and jumping into an AR experience has proved very attractive for many users. The engagement numbers seem to indicate that the first stop in the VR/AR race will be high-quality mobile AR/VR experiences on high end devices. What this means for the headset market remains to be seen.
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