How to view 360 Videos in Virtual Reality
NOTE: The following instructions should generally work for both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift HMDs, though I only have firsthand experience with this technique with the Rift. These instructions are valid as of April 10, 2016
One of the best experiences you can have currently with your desktop VR is watching 360 videos. Figuring out how to do so, though, can be a bit of a pain since neither major player in the market has made this a simple, straightforward and painless process for new users.
First, the bad news — you’ll need to spend $15 on a piece of software called Virtual Desktop. The good news, though, is that Virtual Desktop not only allows you to download and watch VR videos, it also allows you to fully control your PC from within VR. This is a pretty nifty and compelling function, but outside the scope of this tutorial.
I suspect that in the near future, a $15 purchase won’t be necessary to download and watch 360 videos, but I haven’t found an alternative. Please let me know in a comment below if you know of one and I’ll update this article.
The easiest place to find free 360 degree videos is on YouTube. It’s always best to look for 4k resolution 360 degree videos, because while lower resolutions can be watched, they generally look horrible and very pixelated. So, search for and navigate to the video you want to watch. Copy it’s “Share” url.
Here’s one you can try right now:
Open up Virtual Desktop and click on the 360 Videos tab at the top of the screen. You’ll see this:
Once you’ve copied your YouTube link onto the clipboard, just press the Paste Url button near the top right. Virtual Desktop will then download your video from YouTube and begin playing it once it’s downloaded. Note that most 4k 360 videos are quite large. The video above is about 378MB. Due to the large files sizes, depending on your internet bandwidth, you may have a bit of a wait before the movie begins to play.
At least for the Oculus Rift, Virtual Desktop downloads the video file into the same location that the Oculus Videos app uses for “My Videos”. This means that you can view previously downloaded videos in that app if you don’t want to run Virtual Desktop each time.
Notice the Video Mode section in the screenshot above. Some videos downloaded from YouTube won’t play properly with the Standard setting. If something doesn’t look correct, try the other settings. I have also have a very few 360 videos refuse to play at all in the manner than I’m describing.
There’s another way to play 360 degree movies with Virtual Desktop. If you have movies that you’ve downloaded from another source, you can play them by clicking on the Open… button near the top right. This will open the familiar Windows navigation modal window and you can choose any video on your system. This will also allow you to play 2D videos, simulating the experience of sitting in a theater.
Now you should know how to view pretty much any compatible 360 video on your Rift or Vive. If you have any questions, please ask below and I’ll do my best to answer.
