Meta has offered users a way to view their own content on the Quest headset for some time. However, the experience can feel underwhelming—navigating through a file system and viewing content on a small panel certainly doesn’t compare to the feeling of being in a true home theater. The good news is, Meta is considering ways to enhance this experience.
Recently, Mark Rabkin, who heads Horizon OS and Quest, mentioned in a post on X that Meta is exploring the development of a home theater setting within Horizon OS. This operating system runs not only on Quest but will soon power various third-party headsets as well.
When someone questioned why this kind of first-party feature isn’t already available, Rabkin responded that the team is “working on all that, experimenting with lighting and other effects to see what’s best. Also trying to figure out awesome sound.” This indicates that the company is actively engaged in refining the immersive experience.
Meta is no stranger to experimenting with virtual theater environments. Back in 2014, then-Facebook/Oculus launched Oculus Cinema for Samsung Gear VR, which later evolved into Oculus Video for Gear VR and Rift. This offered a more integrated way to watch personal content while also renting movies directly for the device. By late 2015, Oculus Social allowed up to five users to gather and enjoy Twitch and Vimeo streams in various virtual theaters.
Still, there’s no need to take a walk down memory lane. The latest effort before this was Horizon Home on Quest, updated in 2021. It allowed several users to share their home space and do things like watch videos and jump into VR apps together. However, it lacked many features that define a dedicated home theater app, such as customizable environments and advanced playback options.
What all these apps share, however, is a degree of friction that made users turn to more open alternatives such as Bigscreen and Skybox, as well as specific apps like Prime Video, YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix.
So, while Meta’s upcoming venture into theater environments might not merge all apps into one grand platform, just creating a seamless, immersive way for users to enjoy their own content could be a game-changer in itself.
