Embracing the ‘Future,’ Discovery Goes All-In on Virtual Reality

Discovery VR will launch with nine original short experiences that cover a range of subjects and now features content from Discovery and Science Channel franchises as well as Discovery Digital Networks brands. While Samsung Gear VR headset is already available in the market, Oculus Rift of Facebook is expected to be out next year.

The videos enable the viewer to look in any direction within them.

In the brief video, “Shark Shipwreck”, sharks swim round and above you – one even bumps the digital camera rig – as a narrator explains that the scent of meals is being launched by a diver close by. Similarly mouse has to be used to view all the angles in the laptop. Particulars which may not be apparent, just like the parasitic fish that swim alongside the underbellies of sharks cruising overhead, are revealed once you swivel and go searching.

The app was produced in cooperation with Los Angeles-based VR startup Littlstar, and Discovery has plans to continuously add new content. “Virtual reality has the power to immerse fans in the action, and we look forward to telling stories in this new space like never before”, said Discovery’s SVP of digital media Conal Byrne. “It needs to be repeated that we’re experimenting a lot”, Byrne told the AP.

The 360-degree videos can be watched right now via the web, and a more immersive virtual reality experience can be had through the Discovery VR app for iOS and Android, which works with Google Cardboard and Samsung’s Gear VR technology.

Some content material can be linked to present exhibits similar to “Survivorman“, “Gold Rush” and “MythBusters” and others are unique creations that may exist in classes just like the thrill-seeking Journey and placid Planet.

Discovery VR is planning to release some more new VR videos.