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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2019 12:15:31 GMT
Just had an advert for this pop-up. Anyone else seen or heard of it? £5.99/month subscription for on-demand theatre that you watch on a VR headset (phone in goggles). Like the idea of it, think this is the direction The Grinning Man was going in, when they went into production mid-last year. Bulk of the content so far seems Fringe based - In fact, two are two of my favourite pieces from last years Edinburgh Fringe, Electrolyte and Orpheus. They are using a still from Les Mis on part of the website, so wonder if they've just licensed that image or there's some bigger intention. Intrigued to see how it develops, might get it for a month to try out. livr.co.uk/ |
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Post by andrew on May 7, 2019 12:27:46 GMT
Every technology has to start somewhere, but most applications for VR so far have been pretty miserable in my experience. From the other industry I follow (theme parks), everyone started jumping on VR based or VR augmented rides, and a lot of them are pulling out them again after disappointing results. I'd personally much rather watch these shows conventionally filmed, on my television, than on a VR headset.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2019 13:36:36 GMT
I can see the appeal of VR for something like gaming where it's useful to be able to look in any direction in a natural way. But many of the applications of it are for things where there's only one direction to look if you want to see anything useful, so VR is like having a display that forces you to keep your head in a fixed position. I feel the same way about 360° video: you can look anywhere, but if you look anywhere but at the subject you have to rewind to see what you missed.
On the other hand, if the motion-responsive aspect of it can be turned off so it's effectively just a head-mounted personal stereoscopic display then that would work quite well.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2019 13:27:51 GMT
Borrowed a VR Headset from work and took a months subscription out to give this a go.
Navigation through the menu's is logical and easy, but reading the info on each production is hard, not sure if it's a bad choice of font, failing eyesight, the cheap VR set or a combination of all 3.
Worst thing about this is your monthly subscription gives you '1 credit' per month, to watch a production costs '1 credit'. You can buy more credits (at £5.99 a pop) but it's not 'all you can eat' like say Netflix.
You can't turn off the motion-response aspect as @thematthew suggests, but you wouldn't want to with the type of content available. This really works for non-proscenium shows, such as Orpheus, which is performed in traverse (transverse). The VR is situated centre, front row, and as you would in a traverse setting need to look left or right to see action, expression, etc, you do so with this. Conventional camera recording forces perspective and restricts the potential experience by limiting you to what the director thinks you should be looking at. Here, you can stay focused on one musician, the gent sat next to you nursing his pint, the main actor or any combination of.
I won't continue the subscription as I think it's a bit of a con to limit a generic subscription to one viewing per month, but they (the content providers and the rights holders) have to make their money some how. It does have alot of potential though, so will keep tabs on where it goes in the future.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2019 14:50:57 GMT
It sounds interesting, but I think I'd be afraid of missing something and keep rewinding to look in another direction. I'm like that with conventional videos anyway: if I catch a glimpse of something in the corner of the frame I have to go back and check what it was. I don't think I could cope with knowing that there are things going on outside of the frame completely.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 2, 2019 17:35:55 GMT
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 2, 2019 17:43:47 GMT
So, you pay £5.99 a month. This gives you access to one production per month. They loan you a virtual reality headset which you slot your smartphone into.
3D virtual reality theatre. The future?
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Post by fossil on Jun 2, 2019 21:47:27 GMT
I looked at this thread. A few minutes later I opened Facebook and the first item it displayed was an advertisement for livr.
Coincidence or clever intrusive algorithms?
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Post by londonpostie on Jun 2, 2019 21:57:04 GMT
Facebook accesses your browsers history, then generates the ads. You can restrict access.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2019 8:13:33 GMT
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 3, 2019 8:16:30 GMT
😫
merged
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Post by david on Jun 21, 2019 14:41:25 GMT
Having some free time this afternoon, I decided to try out the VR show All Kinds of Limbo at the Nash. Having tried VR at various exhibitions over the years, I was curious to see how VR would translate in a theatrical situation. As a 20 minute experience it was certainly a different way to view a performance. What I did find was that because there was so much to see, you had to keep moving your head to take it all in so missing some of the other stuff that was going on and wearing the VR headset for 20 minutes was hard going on my neck. I certainly wouldn’t want to do it for a full 2-3 hr performance without taking regular breaks.
Overall, an interesting experience, though I think I’ll be keeping my theatrical viewings to either being in the theatre itself or watching it on my TV.
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Post by TallPaul on Jun 21, 2019 15:39:44 GMT
Not for me.
Wearing a VR headset, for even a few minutes, has the exact same effect as travelling to Skegness in the back of a very early Ford Fiesta, with pater driving. 🤢🤮
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