Discovery Communications said in May that virtual reality is “like seeing the future”. You can also view the videos through your web browser, which allows you to look around using your mouse, but the web version has a very noticeable distortion effect causes the quality of the video to suffer. It even has shows ready to go right now, viewable through the official Discovery VR website, including several that star the guys from Mythbusters and a whole lot of sharks. The cable channel recently launched Discovery VR a site and app that offers users the ability to watch high definition, multi-angle videos on their computers, phones, headsets (like Samsung Gear VR or Google Cardboard), and eventually the Oculus. There are also a few nature walk videos that let you look around idyllic locations like Muir Woods or Half Moon Bay, but again, after the novelty wears off, they do not seem to be offering anything too game changing.
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In the short video, “Shark Shipwreck“, sharks swim around and above you one even bumps the camera rig as a narrator explains that the scent of food is being released by a diver nearby. Looking backward or watching followers lining the street does not get you into an accident.
Discovery Communication, Inc.’s senior vice president of digital media, Conal Byrne, told the Associated Press that the company is still experimenting with how best to serve VR video.
Discovery first announced it would foray into the VR space at New Fronts in May. Combine that with Discovery’s proven experience producing fantastic TV, and I might have just found my new favourite application for virtual reality.
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Some content will be linked to existing shows such as “Survivorman“, “Gold Rush” and “MythBusters” and others are original creations that will exist in categories like the thrill-seeking Adventure and placid Planet.
