Bigscreen Streams Media and Games to Oculus Go
Bigscreen is a name that’s become well known to users of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. It’s an App that allows you to play anything from your PC on your VR Headset. With the launch of the Oculus Go, Bigscreen is expanding to mobile VR.
It’s a Social Experience
Right now you can download Bigscreen from the Oculus Store on the Oculus Go. It’s an impressive experience. You’ll be able to join public Theaters and host your own private sessions.
In Public Theaters, you can sit down in someone else’s room and watch whatever they are streaming from their PC. It’s common to see people showing popular movies in their Public Theaters. It’s a really fun experience and it isn’t limited to just movies. A Theater host can really share whatever they want from their PC. Anything that you could normally see on your computer monitor can be displayed through Bigscreen. So yes, you have to be careful if you’re trying to avoid explicit content (it is possible to flag a Theater as NFSW to warn users).
In addition to joining existing Public Theaters, Oculus Go owners can also host their own Private Theaters. Simply install the Bigscreen App on your PC and connect to it from your headset. From there you’ll be able to stream content from your PC to your Oculus Go. You can share your room ID with friends so that up to 4 of them can join your Theater and share the experience with you.
Gaming works… sorta
Like we said earlier, you can display anything you want in your Bigscreen Theater. This includes Games. With that said, Bigscreen is not fully optimized for Gaming yet (as of this writing). The developers are working to reduce input latency so that it can be fully feasible as a Gaming platform in the future. For now you can enjoy video games that don’t require fast reflexes. It’s ideal for strategy and card games. You will be able to enjoy the rest of your Game collection in the near future.
Oculus Go limitations
Bigscreen has been around for a while on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The full PC-powered version of Bigscreen includes several features that aren’t available on the Oculus Go. One feature that’s missing is the ability for Oculus Go owners to host Public Theaters. At this time, Oculus Go users can only host Private Theaters. The developer hopes to add the ability for mobile VR users to host Public Theaters in the next few weeks.
Rift and Vive owners also have much deeper control over their screens in Bigscreen. They can display multiple screens and move them around in their virtual Theater. Go owners don’t have access to these features yet. It may sound like the Bigscreen developers aren’t enthusiastic about the Oculus Go. The reality is that this couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I believe standalone wireless VR headsets are the future, and I’m so excited about Bigscreen and the Oculus Go. I highly recommend buying this headset. I think the Oculus Go will be a popular holiday gift later this year.” -Bigscreen CEO Darshan Shankar
The Future of Bigscreen
Bigscreen is developing rapidly for the Oculus Go. They release frequent updates to address bugs and add new features. We have the promise of being able to host Public Theaters in the near future. They are also committed to making Gaming a fun experience through Bigscreen.
“At Bigscreen, we’re not trying to build the Metaverse. We’re building useful applications that enable people to work, play, and hangout in VR/AR. We’re focused on use cases such as a Social VR move Theater. We’re also exploring collaboration tools, meeting spaces, VR gaming lounges, and interesting challenges in spatial computing.” -Bigscreen Blog
Bigscreen is already impressive on the Oculus Go, and it’s only going to get better. It’s very enjoyable to meet other users in Bigscreen’s Public Theaters. You can download Bigscreen today on your Oculus Go from the Oculus Store. If you’d like to stay on top of Bigscreen’s development, you can also join their public Discord Server.
Keep in mind that Bigscreen is officially in beta on Oculus Go. It’s still undergoing frequent development, and there are occasional bugs that have to be squashed. The developers have been great about listening to the Community and resolving issues.
Have you tried Bigscreen? Let us know what you think of it in the comments!
Originally published at Flickstiq.
