Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have been hard at work integrating virtual reality (VR) capabilities into the browsers, and it seems those companies are not the only ones. The Opera browser is introducing a ‘Watch in VR’ button.
The Opera browser has been around since 1995, and though has never reached the same level of popularity in the mainstream as Google Chrome, but is still a fairly popular choice among MacOS and Linux users, it has long been known for introducing new innovations.
The new VR features are not available in the normal commercial build of Opera, but are being tested in the Developer 49 build. Any time compatible VR headset is plugged in to the PC, Opera will enable a ‘Watch in VR’ button on video content. This feature works on normal video clips, panoramic 180 clips or 360-degree video.
At the moment, Opera is only supporting this feature for YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo content. Non-VR clips are displayed in a person VR movie theatre. All OpenVR headsets are supported, along with HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and OSVR. As usual with Opera, Linux and MacOS are supported along with Windows.
This is still a developer build, so Opera are still working on polishing the browser and its functions and squashing any bugs, but it is nonetheless available for testing through the Opera website.
A video demonstration of the new feature is available to view below.
VRFocus will continue to report on new and innovative developments in the VR industry.
via Mint VR