My earlier viewing tests were done with a standard desktop display + headphones. The probem was, that the viewers often turned their heads while viewing, which decouples the direction of the binaural sound from the picture. Also, you had to lean very close to the display to get a wide FOV. I thought that even without head tracking, the Rift would be the ideal device for viewing these videos due to its wide FOV, and the fact it keeps the picture locked in front.
My Oculus Rift devkit arrived yesterday, so I immediately proceeded to test my videos with it. I rendered new versions yesterday and uploaded them to YouTube. So, if any of you have the Rift devkit or another similar HMD, feel free to try these.
To view these, set YouTube to "Side by Side" and make it full screen, and duplicate the display to the Rift. No warping needed, the warp is baked into the video footage. Head tracking is not used or needed for these - the Rift is only used as a video viewing device. Please use headphones if you can - the binaural sound directionality only works with them. Hope you enjoy!
- Roller coaster ride (Linnanmäki, Helsinki - Head mounted camera)
- Sunny winter day in Stockholm (Handheld camera)
- Running and climbing in a park (Head-mounted camera - even very close-up objects like the monkey bars look OK on the Rift)
- Norrtull street flea market (Handheld camera - lots of ambience)
- Stockholm Marathon 2013 (Head-mounted camera. Rock band, lots of runners)
- Henrik Ehrsson out-of-the-body experiment video - as requested by blazespinnaker
- Julian Layn plays grand piano in Hötorget - YouTube (30 fps) - Internet Archive download (60 fps, 1.1 Gb)
EDIT:
- This is what the head mounted camera rig looks like (plus ear microphones that look like normal earbuds). Used in the roller coaster and monkey bar video.
- This is what the handheld "telehead" camera rig looks like (Built onto a 3Dio Free Space binaural microphone. advantage: the IPD is human). Used in the winter park video.
- Here' s the new Free Space Pro + Sony HDR-AS15 rig - an iteration of the handheld rig, with better picture and sound. Yes, those are ear warmers.