What is Virtual Reality and why should you care

So there’s this new thing called Virtual Reality. People are saying a lot of the same things. Why is this different?

This is a wholly valid claim. In fact I was one of the VR skeptics at earlier days. One cause of 3D TV’s failure were the glasses. People did not want to wear the obnoxious glasses. Second, content was hard to make, and not enough people made content. There was the chicken, but no egg. But VR is different. Not that these exact same problems that have risen from VR are fixed, but that they will be.

The experience

First off, unlike 3D, VR is not just a feature. It’s a completely new medium. 3d glasses made the basic act of watching TV clunkier. VR is its own platform. It’s not just 3d, 360 video and games. It’s not just a headset that you strap on your head. It’s a complete experience that isn’t a sum of its physical parts but something much more. Simply experiencing VR for the first time is enough for most people to understand the potential of VR. The immersion, the feeling of being somewhere completely different, feeling emotions fully from awe to fear to amusement. Being able to put on the headset, turn all around you and feel as if you are in the himalayas is an enthralling experience of immersion.

Value

But there are still skeptics. The experience is great, but why should I pay $600+ for one of these superb headsets, people ask. Not only that but for the highest end Consumer version Oculus rift, you’ll probably be spending $1000 on a PC. Taking a closer look under the hood of an Oculus reveals a lot:

There’s over 200 parts in that one headset and the technology that went into making it was groundbreaking.

Here are some prices for comparison of technology:

Middle Range DSLR — $800–$1200 
Middle Range projector -$700–$2000
Middle Range 4k screen — $600–$1000
Hi-end VR googles — $599 …

Those are some devices that have similar parts to an Oculus. When people are willing to spend on average a$1000 on a DSLR camera, it’s justified that a high end VR headset can cost $600. This is because VR is not a commodity, currently it’s a luxury. It’s a fully immersive experience that’s a “you get what you pay for” technology.

This is because VR is not a commodity, currently it’s a luxury.

Scalability

After the immersion and cost come the idea of scalability. VR started as a technology exclusively for the gaming community. By the end of 2016 thousands of consumer version models of headsets will have shipped. Starting at this smaller market, VR had a huge victory which will allow it to expand to more people. Unfortunately with 3D tv, the large TV manufacturers tried to sell to everyone. It was an egregious error on their part to not sustain scalability, especially for such a pioneer technology. Additionally they did not control the content being created unlike VR. VR content is at the forefront of technology with highly sophisticated camera rigs and systems used. The emphasis is placed on the quality of content capturing the essence of a luxury technology.

Cinematography

The final reason VR makes me excited is the idea of breaking boundaries. VR is not simply a device you watch old films on a new format. It is going to change the way films are taken and directed. Consider this: with virtual reality, when the user steps into the scene they don’t have a fixed perspective. The movie can occur all around them making it personalised and different for each viewer. In the future, it will be possible for the viewer to move around, stand atop a burning building, sit inside the police car, and walk on the moon. This will be a drastic shift in the way film making and cinematography proceeds.

So, the bottom line is, if you’re a film maker, get prepared to create amazing experiences for viewers. If you’re a technologist in VR, your work is about to change many people’s lives. If you’re a movie lover, sit back and enjoy as movies are about to become a whole lot better. The renaissance of film making is finally approaching and we are all going to see, feel, and live the experience.