My family and I love the Olympics. We make sure to tune in every two years, summer or winter, and consume as much of it as we can in the short two week window that it’s available. Streaming the Olympics has been a challenge in the past, but NBC has finally gotten back on track and appears to be offering a significantly better broadcast this time around.
AC thVRsday
In his weekly column, Android Central’s Senior Content Producer, Nick Sutrich, delves into all things VR, from new hardware to new games to upcoming tech and more.
One new way to watch is through the Peacock app for Quest, which works brilliantly on the Meta Quest 3 with its high-quality mixed reality camera. Like Netflix on Quest, the Peacock app lets you watch videos in a variety of ways, from a resizable window that you can carry around like a tablet, to a giant cinema screen for a fully immersive experience.
To me, watching the Olympics this way makes the most sense for two reasons: when I want to watch something that no one else in my house is watching (the 2024 Summer Olympics will feature over 32 sports), and when I’m walking around the house, doing chores, or running errands and need to have my video with me.
The 2024 Summer Olympics will take place from July 26 to August 11, and you could watch some of the qualifying competitions on the Peacock app on Quest before the Opening Ceremony aired, which began at 1:30 pm ET on Friday, July 26, 2024.
A more personal Olympics
(Image courtesy of NBC)
To watch the Olympics in VR, you’ll need the Peacock app and a Peacock Premium or Premium Plus plan. The Premium plan costs $7.99 per month and includes ads on some content, while Premium Plus costs $13.99 per month and removes most ads. If you really like the service, you can pay annually, which brings the cost down to $6.67 per month if you budget that way.
Peacock doesn’t offer a trial plan, but TomsGuide has a few ways you can get Peacock for free along with other paid services. Once you’ve set up your subscription, all you need to do is download the Peacock app in the Meta Horizon Store and sign in.
The UI looks and works exactly like the best tablet, smartphone, or maybe even a smart TV, which means you can scroll through rows of thumbnail icons, swap between categories with tabs across the top, and with the Quest’s hand tracking it feels like you’re using a giant floating tablet, which I found to be a great way to relax and watch whatever you wanted to watch.
This “grab and go” style of viewing is personally the most convenient for me as I can move around the house without missing a moment.
By default, the Peacock app opens alongside any other windows you have open on your Quest, and thanks to the new Meta Quest UI, you can resize this window to your liking, snap it together with up to two other apps or other windows, or grab it and float it anywhere in 3D space.
Floating windows stay in place as if gravity had stopped in the real world, so their placement isn’t affected when you stand up or walk around. If you want to carry a window with you, just grab the little white bar at the bottom of the window and carry it just like you would grab a tablet.
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
This “grab and go” style of viewing is personally the most convenient for me because I can move around the house without missing a moment. I found that starting the same event from my phone and casting it to the TV allowed me to catch what was going on at the same time as the whole family, without interrupting what I was doing.
I’ve seen people do this with their phones and other devices, but it’s inconvenient because you have to find a place to prop up your phone or place it somewhere you can see it. Plus, these screens are much smaller than the ones you can use with mixed reality on the Quest 3, so it’s less convenient than watching on the Quest.
There’s also the issue of neck pain when you bend your head to look at a smartphone or tablet screen for long periods of time, and because mixed reality lets you move your window wherever you want — floating it just outside of your normal field of vision — a quick glance at the screen won’t end up costing you a trip to the chiropractor later.
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Theater mode is a feature I don’t expect to use often, but I imagine it will appeal to some. Tapping the four-arrow icon at the top of the Peacock app launches Theater mode, with the same controls you’d find when watching Netflix or YouTube via the browser.
By default, the screen is blown up to several hundred inches and positioned a few feet away from your face, which makes it feel like you have a full-wall TV a few feet away, which is impressive, and in my opinion, is crystal clear and looks as good as any TV.
You can also “dim the lights” in the room from a control panel at the bottom of the virtual display, making it easy to shut out most of the real world and just enjoy your favorite sport. There are also settings to make the display curved or flat. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on what type of display is best.
Watching something as epic as the Olympics in a giant virtual home theater is great, but immersive 180- or 360-degree video would be even better.
However, the experience is not perfect and does not fully meet my expectations. It’s great to be able to carry the news around your home, and watching the same news in your own personal cinema is an unforgettable experience, but when watching in VR, you want to feel like you’re really there.
It would have been awesome to have some immersive footage. If not 360 video, then 180 video would have been a great way to entice people to try Peacock in VR and have a whole new experience, rather than just a more convenient and personal version of an existing experience.
Of course, this highlights the tricky part of the “chicken and egg” scenario: the cost of producing these 180 or 360 videos may not be financially justified right now, but the existence of these experiences could be profitable in the future as unique new content inspires new buyers.
Until then, I’ll be enjoying my favorite Olympic sports over the next two weeks while I work and do chores, all from the comfort of my headset. What could be better than a TV you can take with you wherever you go?!
With clear mixed reality vision, you can easily do what you want, whether that be playing games, watching movies or TV, or even working in VR, without having to take off your headset.
