Category Archives: Virtual Reality 360

But with Gear VR not being compatible with Samsung’s newest flagship phone, and with Google announcing in May that the Pixel 3A wouldn’t support Android’s built-in Daydream platform, it’s hard not to think that phone-based VR may be on the decline.

Source: Samsung confirms Galaxy Note 10 won’t work with its Gear VR headset – The Verge

VR was sort of dead at CES 2019, sort of buried at E3 2019, and then Samsung and Google dropped out of the Cardboard-like phone-based viewer market. Paid VR content is said to be dead. IMAX said it is shutting down its VR theater offering.

Over the past six years since the Oculus Rift was introduced, the total number of VR users is estimated at 10 million – most of whom are video gamers.

I have three friends that are professional VR film makers, and one that has built a VR product for the dental industry. I get the dental product business model but do not get 2 of the 3 filmmakers’ business models.

A very few places are projecting VR video on to theater domes – this makes sense versus having everyone wear a large headset. But this is a far smaller market than was 3D.

I shoot VR myself, mostly still photos, that can be easily panned on Flickr or Facebook for 360 viewing without VR headsets.

VR was fading at CES 2019 – and it sort of seems that this might presage a collapse in 2020, similar to the path that was followed by consumer 3D (I shoot both 3D stills and video). VR remains stuck in gaming and is not being adopted by a wider consumer community. Proponents think it just needs better, new tech headsets.

3D, Virtual Reality 360

“Remember virtual reality? Its buzz has faded at CES 2019”

January 9, 2019 3DM

NEW YORK (AP) — Just a few years ago, virtual reality was poised to take over the world. After decades of near misses, the revolution finally seemed imminent, with slick consumer headsets about to hit the market and industries from gaming and entertainment to social media ready to hop on the bandwagon. But the buzz over VR has faded to a whisper.

Source: Remember virtual reality? Its buzz has faded at CES 2019

and

But it’s 2019. I’m at CES, and VR is an idea gathering dust for all the wrong reasons, lost in a sea of strange peripherals and pipe dreams. Self-contained VR devices, like Oculus Quest and the newly announced HTC Vive Cosmos, are en route, but it feels too little, too late. VR has lost the attention of mainstream audiences.

At CES 2019, VR feels like a dream gathering dust

When the tech reporters conclude VR is dead, you’ve got a big problem. VR is looking like yet another much hyped consumer technology that is not achieving lift off.

Have not yet seen them give a simple reason for the failure. Tech reporters repeatedly blamed “3D goggles” for the failure of 3D in the consumer space, but the same reporters were simultaneously enthused about “VR helmets”, which didn’t make sense.

Business, Virtual Reality 360

IMAX to close its “VR experience” centers

December 13, 2018 3DM

The company behind the biggest screens in cinema is giving up on bringing VR screens within a few inches of users’ faces. The company announced today in a SEC filing that it will be shutting down its three remaining virtual reality centers including its flagship location in Los Angeles.

Source: IMAX pulls the plug on its dream of VR arcades | TechCrunch

VR is cool, but I am not so sure it is going to be the mass market that many hoped. VR has its place though, but apparently this was not one of them.

3D, 3D Tech, Virtual Reality 360