InstaVR VR Outputs – Gear VR
InstaVR is Available.
What is the Gear VR Headset?
What Samsung Phones Work With the Gear VR?
How Much Does the Gear VR Cost?
The Gear VR is a headset designed by Samsung in conjunction with Oculus, released to the public in late 2015. The headset is compatible with a wide range of higher end Samsung Galaxy phones, including the Samsung S7, S7 Edge, S8, and S8 Edge. In 2017, Samsung Gear VR also launched a compatible hand controller that works with the headset. It is one of the most popular and powerful mobile VR headsets on the market, perfect for presenting VR at tradeshows, meetings, and for training. As of mid 2017, over 10 million Gear VRs are in use.
Why Publish to Gear VR?
What Use Cases is Gear VR Good For?
Samsung’s Gear VR headset is mobile, immersive, and allows for both high resolution and long-form 360 VR experiences. It is a great fit for presentations to small groups, such as at sales meetings and tradeshows. Gear VR is also good for high bandwidth requirements, such as 360 video. Samsung has recently extended the capabilities of the platform, including the ability to use a hand controller and cast the contents of the VR headset to an unattached television screen. Overall, Gear VR users report a very strong and immersive experience, while VR app authors appreciate the flexibility of the solution.
Pros
- Mobile, immersive platform able to handle high resolution VR experiences
- Using InstaVR, you can create VR experiences of unlimited length for Gear VR
- Over 10 million in use, so Samsung is heavily invested in the technology
Cons
- Significant phone battery drain, so you may have to purchase multiple phones
- Limited compatibility to only select Samsung Galaxy phones
- Enterprise (Inhouse) use requires extra step of obtaining phone’s specific Device ID
How Does InstaVR Improve Gear VR Publishing?
What Are the Benefits of Using Gear VR?
Beyond having a simple but robust authoring platform, InstaVR also has a number of features specifically designed for Gear VR publishing:
- InstaVR is the best fit for Enterprise (Inhouse) projects.
Our simple-to-follow publishing process allows you to easily sideload your 360 degree VR projects onto specific Samsung phones, for use with the Gear VR headset. Long-form VR is made possible through either Streaming or packaging up the app to an additional SD memory card. We provide 24 hour Live Chat support on weekdays, should you have any questions. - InstaVR supports multiple and unlimited number of Gear VR signature files.
The Oculus signature files are what allow the published app to run on a specific device. Uploading multiple signature files, and publishing simultaneous Gear VR packages, accelerates the app creation process. - InstaVR allows you to create unlimited numbers of Gear VR projects, without charging you per project.
This allows you to iterate and improve your Gear VR projects over time. We also released a Live Previewer, that allows you to experience the finalized project as you author the app. - Incorporates latest Samsung Gear VR updated features.
Using InstaVR, Gear VR users can navigate either via gaze activation or through the newly released hand controller. InstaVR authored apps can also be simultaneously cast to a television while a user engages with the VR through the headset.
InstaVR is Available.
Gear VR Specs
| Viewing angle | 101 degree |
|---|---|
| Tracking | 3DoF |
| IPD (Interpupillary distance) | Possible |
| Support Smartphone |
|
(As of June 2019)
Gear VR can be used simply by installing a smartphone.
You don’t need a cord to connect to a personal computer or other dedicated device.
The Galaxy S6 tends to be heavily loaded, and in some cases when you do a long VR experience, the smartphone experiences a lot of heat, and the VR experience is interrupted.
In the case of S8, the heat generation is suppressed with the improvement of performance, etc., and it is able to endure long-term use enough.
Since the latest models like S8 and S8 + have higher performance than S6 and Note 5, you can enjoy Gear VR beautifully and comfortably.
InstaVR is Available.
Customer Stories
Read About How TUI Group Has Used InstaVR to Create and Publish 90 Gear VR Apps to Promote Their Travel and Tourism Business
Read the full TUI Group Customer Success Story here.
Read an interview with TUI Group’s Chris Carmichael regarding his team’s use of InstaVR.
TUI Group is one of the world’s largest tourism businesses. They utilize InstaVR to create applications for their Destination Services teams to show to guests. The Gear VR offers them a powerful but flexible platform to start conversations with their guests, showcase excursions, and immersively show the benefits of upgrading seats — amongst other use cases. The average app takes the TUI team less than one hour to create. To date, they’ve created 90+ apps using InstaVR.
Read About How Left of Creative Used InstaVR to Create a Gear VR Tour of the US Navy Ship USS Carl Vinson
Read the full Customer Success story for Left of Creative here.
Left of Creative is a major VR creative & production agency located in Newport, RI and Los Angeles, CA. Founder David Bellino turned to InstaVR when he needed to create a virtual tour of the USS Carl Vinson for display at the Sea-Air-Space Exposition. Using InstaVR, he was easily able to turn his 360-degree video footage into a Gear VR application enjoyed by visitors to the largest Navy convention in the US. The process was simple and quick, with no coding required.
Further Reading
How to Create a Gear VR App Using InstaVR
What Industries are Gear VR Apps Best For?
How to Use a Gear VR Controller With Your VR Apps
How to Stream Samsung Gear VR Apps to a Television
Why You Should Consider Publishing Long-Form 360 VR Video to Gear VR
Hello Kitty Official Theme Park “Puroland” Selects InstaVR for VR Content Production
Exporting Gear VR Apps to Your Galaxy Phone by Using InstaVR
InstaVR Device ID for Gear VR – Google Play Store (External Link)
Gear VR FAQ
Yes, InstaVR Pro clients are limited to 500 GB/month of Streaming or Download bandwidth. For the vast majority of clients, this is plenty. If by chance you need more than that amount, we charge rates competitive to cloud suppliers AWS and Cloudflare, starting at $0.10 per GB .
A: Yes, you can do that by using InstaVR’s “Compose” feature that is accessible from the “Compose” tab of each scene. You can re-size, change bitrate and change profile video from the GUI, and our high cloud converter can do it instead of wasting time learning new video converter tools.
InstaVR supports 4K videos recommended by Oculus, such as
- Suggested Monoscopic Configuration: 4096×2048 video at 30 FPS, encoded with H.264.
- Suggested Stereoscopic Configuration: 3840×2160 video at 30 FPS, encoded with H.265/VP9 10-20mbps bitrate.
You can see https://developer.oculus.com/blog/introduction-to-360-video-for-gear-vr/ for more details.
In performance perspective, the iPhone 7s is less powerful than Galaxy S7 Edge so “3840×2160 video at 30 FPS, encoded with H.265/VP9 10-20mbps bitrate” is a very challenging resolution for iPhone S7.
A: Turn Distortion Correction OFF
Some 360 video players don’t apply “Distortion Correction”, so it looks clear. However, you’ll have a stretched unnatural view when putting on the VR headset.
InstaVR applies “Distortion Correction” by default, and it make the view little bit fuzzy but natural feeling, when putting on the device into headset.
If you don’t care about a natural VR experience, you can turn Distortion Correction off in “Branding” tab.
This is a Gear VR firmware issue. Gear VR requires the latest firmware to launch any Gear VR apps. Please connect to the internet and update your Gear VR app.
