Meta Explores Home Theater Features for Quest’s Horizon OS

Meta has long offered a way to view your own media on the Quest, but let’s face it—sifting through files and watching on a basic windowed panel doesn’t quite cut it compared to the full cinematic experience of a home theater. The good news? The company is tinkering with a more immersive solution.

Mark Rabkin, who leads the charge on Horizon OS and Quest, recently took to social media platform X to shed light on Meta’s latest endeavors. They’re actively developing a home theater setting for Horizon OS, the operating system not only powering Quest but also destined to be used across various third-party VR headsets.

Responding to queries about the absence of an official theater app, Rabkin mentioned the team is experimenting with lighting and other components to create optimal viewing conditions. They’re even diving deep into sound quality to enhance the immersive experience.

This isn’t Meta’s maiden voyage into the theater app domain. Back in 2014, formerly known as Facebook/Oculus, the company rolled out Oculus Cinema on Samsung Gear VR. This evolved into Oculus Video, offering a slicker way to enjoy personal content or rent movies for solo viewing. Also noteworthy was Oculus Social, introduced in 2015, which allowed up to five users to watch Twitch and Vimeo streams together in virtual theaters.

Historically, Meta’s theater apps came and went—like the now-obsolete Oculus Video app—without covering specific cinematic features extensively. Take Horizon Home on Quest from 2021, for instance. It permitted multiple users to share a virtual space to watch videos and launch VR apps together, but it lacked tailored environments and advanced controls typically found in dedicated theater apps.

As time went on, varying content availability led users to seek other solutions. Apps such as Bigscreen and Skybox offered more open-ended experiences, alongside major streaming services like Prime Video, YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix.

While Meta’s upcoming theater environment might not consolidate all those options into a single app, the prospect of easily accessing your own media in a captivating format could be a game-changer on its own.