We’ve recently been exploring the potential of 360 video production and how it can best be utilized for our future projects. To view the 360 video, we’ve been using an Oculus Go which is a wireless VR headset – no computer or phone required. Ideally, we could just hand over the Go to a viewer and they could immediately watch one of our videos. One challenge we found was the Go does not currently allow a way for those outside the headset to see what the viewer currently sees (though apparently this feature is in development). With a bit of googling and trial and error, we successfully mirrored the display on a computer.
A quick proof of concept can be viewed here: https://warpwire.duke.edu/w/lD8CAA/
I mostly worked from this guide on pixvana, but to quickly summarize:
- I downloaded the Android Debug Bridge (adb) and saved the folder in my user folder on my MacPro.
- I made sure my copy of VLC Media Player was up to date.
- I put the Oculus Go in Developer mode (which you’ll need to set up a organization account with Oculus to do).
- I made sure the Go and my computer were on the same WiFi network.
- With the Go plugged into my computer via USB, I obtained the Go’s IP address by typing into the terminal “adb shell ip route”.
- I entered the command “adb tcpip 555”.
- I unplugged the Oculus Go.
- I entered the command “adb connect ‘IPADDRESS'” with IPADDRESS being the same as the one found in step 5.
- I entered the command
./adb exec-out "while true; do screenrecord --bit-rate=2m --output-format=h264 --time-limit 180 -; done" | "/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC" --demux h264 --h264-fps=60 --clock-jitter=0 -
From there, VLC displayed the streaming video output from the Oculus Go. There was noticable lag (3 seconds or more) but otherwise it worked pretty seamlessly. The only trouble is it’s tough to view the mirrored stream on the desktop if you still have the headset on!
I also tested an app called Vysor. Vysor largely eliminates the terminal commands and is more easy to use but plays an ad every 30 minutes. However, I did notice the lag is significantly less noticeable. A paid upgrade will also allow for higher-quality mirroring and a shareable link for people to view the stream remotely.
