Have just got a popular VR Headsets like Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, HTC Vive, etc in hand but have no idea how to find compatible VR video to watch on them with free VR video players. The following article will show you different types of VR videos and how to download VR video from popular online sites or create VR videos on your own with specific application.
Different Types of VR videos
Download VR Videos
Create VR Video
Different Types of VR videos
There are four kinds of video you can watch in VR, each of which you can obtain from different sources:
Regular 2D video: The normal video you downloaded from online sites, captured with device recorders or ripped from Blu-ray or DVD disc.
3D video: 3D Yify movies you downloaded from 3D Torrent sites, YouTube, Vudu, etc. For those people who persue for 3D movie with best picture and sound quality, it would be much ideal for you to purchase 3D Blu-ray movies.
180 or 360 degree video: These types of video are fairly new, but you can find lots of them on YouTube or download them from other sources. On your 2D monitor, you can use the mouse to drag the video around to see different views, but played on an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, you can actually look around using your headset's head tracking.
Full VR video: This format combines 3D and 180 or 360 degree footage for a completely immersive, 3D, head-tracking experience. You can buy videos like this at different places around the web, like VideoBlocks or watch a few for free on YouTube.
Download VR Videos
Following are the top 5 sites to download 360 video
1. YouTube
YouTube has been publishing its new 360 hub of 360 degree and VR videos since it added support for them in early 2015. With all the hype around Oculus Rift and buddies, new stuff is being added all the time.
2. 360Heros
360Heros offers hundreds of 360° videos in different categories, including music videos, concerts, sports, wildlife, etc.
3. Facebook
Facebook have acquired Two Big Ears - a startup that build audio software for VR and 360 degree videos, for the purpose of making the sound in a 360-degree video feel more lifelike.
4. 360° Videos
360° Videos produces 360 degree videos, uploads 360 degree videos to YouTube, and also embeds those YouTube videos on its site for visitors. You can watch 360 interactive videos with YouTube APP, or chrome / firefox browser.
5. AirPano
AirPano gives about 3000 spherical panoramas which has recorded more than 300 most interesting locations and thus already become the largest resource for 360-degree aerial 3D panoramas around the world.
Create VR Video
Create SBS/TAB/Anaglyph 3D Video
You can take full advantage of the common digital file formats and also physical disc like DVD or 2D/3D Blu-ray movies to create SBS/TAB/Anaglyph 3D mode VR video for directly viewing on various different VR Headsets with a reliable 3D Movie Converter for VR Headsets. The advanced but simple to use porgram we highly recommended here is called Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate for Windows/Mac. You can easily create 3D video from digital file formats with virtually any file formats and also commercial DVD and 2D/3D Blu-ray disc. You can use the program to generate 3 different VR movie mode including SBS/TAB/Anaglyph 3D video with the format of MKV/MP4/AVI/WMV/MOV for conveniently viewing 3D movies on different VR Headsets.
To get better 3D video effect, you can adjust the output 3D depth value to get better 3D depth perception. You can make a output choice between full SBS 3D (which contains each eye in full resolution) or half SBS 3D (which contains each eye in subsampled half resolution). Full SBS videos are noticeably higher quality, but take up more hard drive space and more graphics power to play). In addition, you can also use the "Switch Left Right" option to change the image display order for 3D SBS movie.
Devices or Apps to Create 360 VR video
360 camera
To watch 360 video on YouTube, you can use YouTube compatible 360 cameras including Ricoh Theta, Kodak SP360, IC Real Tech Allie to capture 360 video. For the best results, encode your video at a high resolution and according to YouTube's advanced specification. YouTube currently supports 360 videos with 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, or 60 frames per second. We recommend uploading 360 videos (equirectangular format with a 2:1 aspect ratio) at a resolution of 7168x3584 or higher, up to 8192x4096.
Third party stitching software - Kolor Autopano
Autopano Video Pro software includes a specific importer for the GoPro Omni called GoPro Omni Importer, which will automatically sort through the content on your SD cards and stitches the different scenes together to get a 360-degree video that you can render directly from there with color correction, stabilization and different video qualities or move on to advanced editing of the stitching in Autopano Video Pro and Autopano Giga.
Android smartphone
1. To create a 360 degree video on your android phone, you need to to have:
2. Take a smartphone with back and front camera
3. Install a software to stitch video
4. Spend 3 minutes
5. Done with a 360 video
