- Meta VP announces update to the Quest 3’s home theater environment
- Promises big visual and audio improvements, but doesn’t go into specifics
- We’re excited but hope meta makes a big change to 3D content too
One of my favorite uses for my Meta Quest 3 in recent months has been using it as a massive virtual screen either to watch streamed Netflix videos or to play PS5 games by combining it with an Elgato 4K X capture card. But the cinema experience it offers – while fun – is a little simple (read: bland). That could change at some point soon though, with Meta teasing that it’s working on improvements for the home cinema experience its VR headset offers.
Right now your options for the Quest 3 theatre are to sit in a virtual environment (your Meta Home) or in your real environment (via passthrough), and then control how dim your surroundings are. You can also curve the screen, shift its position, and alter its size. However, the screen just exists as a floating window in the void, and while it’s fun it’s not overly immersive – for example, the light of the screen doesn’t bounce off your surroundings like it does with a real TV.
That could be about to change however, with VR enthusiast (and leak source for the Meta Quest 3S and Asus Tarius headset) Lunayian commenting that “Horizon OS really deserves a ‘Home Theater’ environment,” with better lighting and sound. This was then responded to directly by Mark Rabkin (the Meta vice president leading HorizonOS and Quest MR devices) who said that the team is “Working on all that, experimenting with lighting and other effects to see what’s best.”
He doesn’t go into too much detail, but when it comes to lighting we expect Meta is experimenting with having light from the virtual screen reflect on real-world surfaces (which it could map using the Quest’s 3D scanning tech) as well as features like Ambilight which has matching colors of light appear behind the screen to create a more immersive environment.
As for audio, Rabkin’s promise of “awesome sound” could be referencing a version of Meta’s acoustic ray tracing. Just like how ray tracing sees virtual lighting bouncing off a virtual environment to create more realistic shadows and other lighting effects, the acoustic version is designed to simulate audio reverberating realistically in a virtual space to create a more believable scene.
3D content should be easier to find
Rabkin also calls for users to request features they’d like to see, and for me it’s got to be easier to access 3D content on Quest – which isn’t a feature, just an issue with XR platforms that aren’t made by Apple.
Outside of the exclusive Disney Plus 3D content deal the app has with Apple Vision Pro there’s no well-known and simple source of 3D films on VR headsets or AR glasses. There’s only one consistent solution to finding the 3D films you want to watch, according to multiple VR users I’ve spoken to, including official representatives from XR companies who I won’t name here – and that is to pirate the films.
Given piracy’s legal and moral shadiness I personally won’t recommend it, but it’s baffling to me that there isn’t a simple, well-known, and legal way to access 3D films in VR given that from my conversations there’s certainly interest.
I’m not even calling for a streaming service, just the ability to simply buy a digital copy of blockbuster 3D films like Avatar would be great.
We’ll have to wait and see what Meta announces, though I won’t be holding my breath for easier access to 3D films on Quest. Still, it’s absurd to me that its an open-secret that the best (and seemingly only) solution for people without a Vision Pro to easily access 3D films is to digitally sail the seven seas. There just has to be a better way.