Japanese GearVR Attraction

[kevinw729]

Samsung's promotion approach:

https://youtu.be/uKRluT7ur_s

[kojack]

Umm, why is the video on the monitors behind them not even remotely synced with the chair movement?

[kevinw729]

How would you cheaply link a GearVR to a monitor for a ride??

[cybereality]

While it is possible to stream from GearVR, that would likely add additional processing overhead and complexity maybe they didn't want to bother with. Most likely the TV screens are just showing a static video.

[kevinw729]

Yep.
Seriously, one of our clients has looked at a Bluetooth system that would sync what the GVR is seeing with a PC, but that is just too fancy for this platform  🙂

[kojack]

It's just a 360 video playing on both, pretty simple for even an average dev to sync them without streaming video from the phone. Even getting synced head tracking is pretty simple, but at the very least the movements of the plane in the video should match the chair.

Having a screen behind each player makes it look like the screen has something to do with the player.

[cybereality]

Sure, but that assumes the people running the booth have a developer on hand. They may have contracted the development to a freelancer to make the app, and then later decided to add screens to the booth and it would be much easier to just play a looping video than update the app to send tracking data to another computer, deal with networking issues, etc.

[kojack]

True. But this is a giant Samsung event traveling around the world with masses of motion rig hardware (boat simulators, 360 things, etc).

I run VR demos at open days / expos to show off my students' VR games, we always have a screen behind the player to show off what's really happening to the audience.
(I've also spent the last decade teaching low level network game programming, so I'm not underestimating the effort involved)
So me seeing each rig having a screen that isn't synced is like a graphic designer seeing something make in comic sans. 🙂


Although I don't want to sound too negative, those motion chairs (Whiplash Pulsar 4D) look pretty cool! Give me one for free and my students and I can make something that does sync with a video. 🙂 🙂
According to the Whiplash website, the Pulsar 4D can handle passengers who weigh up to 1100kg. Err... that sounds like a typo.
More on the Whiplash here: http://whiplash.es/


Also from the show:

[kevinw729]

kojack said:

True. But this is a giant Samsung event traveling around the world with masses of motion rig hardware (boat simulators, 360 things, etc).

A little back-story about the "...Samsung Event" - it is actually the latest part of the last two years of "promotional popup experience" that the company has done internationally (in stores and popup sites) for their range of phones and also their new range of VR business. 

The Samsung "Galaxy Studio" where this video was taken is a travelling event in Japan, that is close to the culmination of this effort, as the company move on towards their promotional plans for 2018. 

Most people will have seen the 4D VR seat setup, the Giro ring system and the Whiplash at the CES'17 booth - that caused such a stir, and created the interest in Out-of-Home entertainment VR that has gained momentum from the mainstream media (seeing the GearVR being used in applications like extreme ride attractions and later roller coasters).

It's interesting to think on that other than HTC Vive, the Samsung GearVR is one of the most populous head-mounts used in commercial entertainment deployment.