i was using SKYBOX for my Rift for quite a while and just bought the Quest 2 version. All in all it works pretty well, although i think the user interface has a lot of potential for improvement, especially if you want to watch a 3D VR music video collection, 360 degree concerts etc. So i made a list if suggestions, which i guess are pretty easy to implement, but would make the user experience much better.
custom controls for playback, selectable for each touch controller individually. This is one major advantage of DeoVR. Everyone has different needs for playback, so having custom controls would be absolutely essential. On the Oculus Touch controllers we have two buttons, two triggers and a stick with button function. For instance, there is no "pause" button. Everytime i just want to pause the video i have to open the playback controls and then press Pause. If i just can set "Pause/Play" to a specific button, it's much more comfortable.
Tilt and slide mode with triggers selectable, which can be done with custom controls and different options for two triggers. Currently i have to press a trigger and then can move the picture up/down and left/right. Often i just need to move left/right (e.g. in a 360 degree concert, while sitting on the couch) but since the picture also moves up/down depending on my touch control it's really hard to just slide around either left/right or up/down. Also the sensivity is pretty high, so you simply cannot move smoothly around the "world". Also i rarely use the zoom option with the thumbstick, so with custom controls i can set the tilt to stick up/down, which would be very easy and smooth to use.
Pressing Thumstick resets the view. Again, this is a custom controls option. If i move the picture with a trigger and just want to get back to default view i have to go into the sub-menu. Simply pressing the thumstick trigger (or any other customizeable control) would be much easier.
Direct access to certain playback options in the playback control panel. Sometimes i quickly want to switch from random, repeat to playlist vice versa and have to open a sub menu, scroll down and then select the option. A simple playback mode button in the playback control panel would be much easier. Also some additional buttons like "reset view" and especially A-B Repeat would be nice.
Volume levels match Oculus Quest levels or set independently. SKYBOX has only 8 volume levels, but the Quest has 10. This results in a dramatic volume difference between 3 and 4 if you press the Quest 2 volume buttons to adjust. But even 10 levels aren't enough in my opinion. So in addition to this having a volume control which is not bound to the device volume would be better for some users. This can be switched in the options.
Exit button in the main menu. Currently you need to press "B" to get back to root and then you can exit the app. If i am on a NAS subfolder and just want to quit the app, it's just not possible with one click, or open the Quest menu and terminate the app. Simply add an "X" to the main menu and also the playback control to exit the app.
More movie list display options. If you have hundreds of clips in one folder you need to have as much clip names displayed on one screen. Currently seven clips are displayed, but there is enough space inbetween the lines to easily go for up to 15 clips on screen. Also having all those display options as simple buttons on top of the list would be great. Quickly sorting by Names, dates or changing the display method (or even font size) with one click makes it much easier than going through a sub menu.
custom controls for main menu. If you have a ton of clips in one folder you need to skip pages quickly. You can scroll up/down or use the slider on the right, but this is kind of an hassle. With custom list controls you can set stick movement left/right to skip pages.
Saving the last playback folder (as an option). If i just have watched clips on a NAS subfolder, quit the app and restart it, it would be nice to get back to the folder i just have watched.
There is a "favourite" list on the right in the main menu but i cannot find any options to add clips to favourites, especially during playback.
Selectable transparency of the playback controls. If you can set the transparency of the playback controls from 10% to 100% this would increase the experience during playback and makes it more easier to move through the clip while having the controls visible.
I often have "UNKNOWN ERROR" while accessing my Windows 10 PC shares. Once this error occurs i cannot browse through any of the shared folders on the PC. The only solution seems to be deleting the shares and creating new ones plus restart the PC.
Regarding custom controls (which i think is the most essential improvement) i would suggest the following combinations for each controller individually:
- top button (left controller = B, right controller = Y)
- buttom buttom (left controller = A, right controller = X)
- top trigger click or move or combination (see below)
- bottom trigger click or move or combination (see below)
- thumbstick left/right
- thumbstick up/down
- thumbstick click
- top trigger + thumbstick left/right
- top trigger + thumbstick up/down
- top trigger + thumbstick click
- bottom trigger + thumbstick left/right
- bottom trigger + thumbstick up/down
- bottom trigger + thumbstick click
available options would be:
- skip forward/backwards
- PLAY / Pause
- Tilt up / down
- Move left / right
- Zoom in / out
- Select
- Back / Return to main menu
- Reset View
- Previous / Next Clip (either each on individual buttons or stick up/down or left/right)
- Show playback controls
well, i guess this would be enough for now. I think having this app added with those features would be a favour to any user.