Effectively browsing 360-degree videos

Abstract

360-degree videos allow for immersive viewing experiences when watched using a head-mounted display (HMD). However, they also introduce new problems not present in ”regular” 2D videos. For example, it is exceedingly more difficult to quickly browse a 360-degree video to get a quick glimpse of the content. This 360-degree video browsing problem can be divided into two smaller problems. One such problem is allowing the user to get a good overview of the content while browsing the video and another is being able to easily find scenes containing interesting objects or areas in the video. The HMD’s limited field of view allows them to see only a small part of the video at a time which proves problematic when trying to get a good overview, or when trying to scan the virtual environment for a particular object or area of interest.

We introduce a number of techniques that address both of these problems, allowing the user to efficiently browse through a 360-degree video. We further demonstrate that these techniques cause no motion sickness, which is a common problem with head-mounted VR.