Meta Explores Home Theater Features in Quest’s Horizon OS Update

If you’ve ever tried watching your own videos on the Quest headset, you know it can feel a bit like rooting through a filing cabinet to find what you need, only to view it on a small screen. Meta, however, seems to be tinkering with an exciting upgrade to this experience.

Recently, Mark Rabkin, the Vice President overseeing Horizon OS and Quest, took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share some intriguing news. Meta is exploring the creation of a home theater environment for Horizon OS, the operating system behind Quest and soon-to-be the core of several third-party headsets too.

Responding to queries about why this kind of official feature hasn’t seen the light of day yet, Rabkin said they’re “experimenting with lighting and other effects to see what’s best,” and they’re also focusing on delivering “awesome sound.”

This isn’t Meta’s first rodeo in crafting theater-like environments for VR. Back in 2014, the company—then known as Facebook/Oculus—introduced Oculus Cinema for the Samsung Gear VR. This later evolved into Oculus Video for Gear VR and Rift, offering a more streamlined way to enjoy your personal content as well as rented films. Around the end of 2015, Oculus Social emerged as an early endeavor, allowing up to five friends to gather and stream Twitch and Vimeo together in different virtual cinema settings.

In the years since, Meta has made several attempts to perfect the home theater experience. Their latest was an update in 2021 that allowed multiple users to gather in Horizon Home on Quest to watch videos or hop into VR apps together. Despite this, that version lacked some bells and whistles you’d expect from a dedicated cinema app, like personalized environments and enhanced playback features.

These past apps, while innovative, often left something to be desired. They added layers of complexity that nudged users toward more straightforward options like Bigscreen and Skybox, or popular streaming services through dedicated apps like Prime Video, YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix.

So, while Meta’s upcoming effort might not unify every different theater app into one super app, having an integrated, user-friendly option for viewing your own content could be a significant step forward in the VR entertainment world.