Watching My Own Life in Apple's Vision Pro Headset Gave Me All Sorts of Feelings
Tech
Speaker 1: You just spent the holidays with your family, but what about the holidays with your family in 3D? Yeah, Apple's doing spatial videos in 3D and the future of their memories is that these are going to be replayed in 3D for you to watch all the time in a VR headset or a spatial computer, as you will. I got to try the Vision Pro for the third time this year, playing back spatial videos that I shot on my iPhone in VR or in 3D. How did it feel? Well, up [00:00:30] and down, but generally pretty cool. So I'm sounding a bit measured because when I first tried spatial videos and Apple's had said I was really wowed, and that's because of a couple of things. First of all, apple makes really good cameras and the camera quality, as you know on iPhones is great. So Apple's spatial videos, which are 3D stereoscopic videos also look really good.
Speaker 1: And on Apple's Vision Pro headset, which has a phenomenal ole display, it looks really sharp. Now I got to watch my own videos. My [00:01:00] expectations were high because I recorded a whole bunch of spatial videos, things from Thanksgiving, things at the Museum of Natural History, everything ranging from looking at Ammonites in a display case to talking with my mom about how her life is going, all the stuff you'd normally randomly shoot on a phone. And Apple had me airdrop a bunch of these over and I looked at them in this big futuristic headset. Now, the 3D effect is what you'd expect if you've looked at 3D videos in VR before. It's good, [00:01:30] but it's not always the same as looking at things in the real world. It's definitely got a frame around it. And there was also some things I noticed in terms of quality and frame rate.
Speaker 1: Apple's spatial videos record at 30 frames per second. Now that is fine, but it's not nearly the frame rate that you have say in everyday life. Moving around at high speed and on a VR headset, Apple's Vision Pro headset that runs at a high frame rate, you're going to notice that 30 frames is seeming a little more choppy. I also found that big panoramic vista, while [00:02:00] they look nice, don't necessarily have the level of depth that I would expect, but intimate moments really shine. Talking to my mom and looking across from her at about eye level really kind of felt like I was looking across at her, and it felt really nice to have that memory. But the framing of spatial videos is put in this kind of fuzzy border and a fixed distance so that you can't really get much bigger than this kind of framed window.
Speaker 1: I really wish Apple would allow you to expand that a bit so I could kind of feel like I was almost going through it. [00:02:30] Now, I'm sure over time Apple is going to increase the video quality, increase the frame rate, and maybe someday down the road crack the idea of true spatial video, which what I mean is video and 3D capture that you could move around in 3D, some sort of volumetric capture that is not technically possible yet with Apple's technology, but let us dream that perhaps it might be in the moment you're going to be looking at 3D videos that I hope will also play on other headsets, and it's definitely a preview
Speaker 2: Of what you're going to be able to [00:03:00] do starting next year with the Vision Pro for those who might be able to afford it. Stay tuned for a whole lot more when I actually get to review the Vision Pro at some point in 2024, but for now, that's what spatial videos are all about. And my second visit with them and reviewing my life was cool, but I want even more. Anyway, if you have questions or comments, please leave them below. Thanks a lot for watching.
