Meta Explores Home Theater Feature for Quest’s Horizon OS

Meta has long offered ways to view your own content on Quest, but sifting through files and watching on a basic screen isn’t exactly the cinematic experience many crave. Fortunately, the company is now toying with ideas to change that.

Mark Rabkin, the Vice President overseeing Horizon OS and Quest, shared in a recent X post that Meta is exploring a home theater setup for Horizon OS. This operating system, which powers Quest, is also set to expand to numerous third-party headsets soon.

In response to curiosity about why an official theater solution hasn’t come to fruition yet, Rabkin explained that they’re busy with experiments involving lighting, effects, and sound to craft an optimal experience.

The concept of a theater environment isn’t new for Meta. Back in 2014, then known as Facebook/Oculus, Meta released Oculus Cinema for the Samsung Gear VR. This evolved into Oculus Video for both Gear VR and Rift, offering a seamless way to consume personal content and rentals. In late 2015, they made another attempt with Oculus Social, which enabled up to five users to gather and enjoy Twitch and Vimeo streams in various virtual theaters.

Although Oculus Video didn’t last, it paved the way for innovations in VR viewing. Fast forward to 2021, Horizon Home on Quest came into play, allowing multiple users to share a home space, watch videos, and launch VR apps together. Still, it lacked many features typically found in dedicated home theater applications, like customizable settings or advanced controls.

Over the years, these apps have differed in their offerings, but they shared a common hurdle: they often made it cumbersome for users to engage with content. This complexity nudged users towards more open-ended rivals, such as Bigscreen and Skybox, and to dedicated apps like Prime Video, YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix.

While Meta’s upcoming home theater attempt might not consolidate these scattered apps into one powerhouse platform, providing a simple and engaging way to enjoy personal content in a truly immersive setting could be just what is needed to elevate the Quest experience.