Guide: VR videos on the Meta Quest 3

The Meta Quest 3 is perfectly compatible with DeoVR, so you can watch your favorite VR videos without any issues. Most importantly, passthrough on the Quest 3 is an incredible experience for this price. Plus, there are multiple improvements to the VR viewing experience compared to the Quest 2. Here's everything you need to know about the Meta Quest 3 VR headset. 

Next-level VR with the Meta Quest 3  

The visor is 40% thinner (thanks to the pancake lenses), the GPU is more than 2x as powerful, and there are dual color cameras and a depth sensor for mixed reality with scene understanding. The headset is lighter and more pleasant to wear - while the ramped-up mixed reality color passthrough technology means DeoVR's AR passthrough video content looks incredible. We are in the final stages of bringing 120FPS capability to DeoVR.

DeoVR on the Quest 3 

DeoVR works perfectly on the Meta Quest 3. The headset launches with backward compatibility, meaning it works with all existing apps and games - which includes DeoVR. Simply install the DeoVR app for free to download from the Meta Quest app store, and it will work perfectly on the Quest 3.

Will VR video on DeoVR look better on the Meta Quest 3 compared to the Quest 2?

Yes. The pancake lenses deliver superb quality visuals - a notable improvement to the Fresnel lenses of the Quest 2, with no more screen door. It has better displays and resolution, plus twice the graphics performance - meaning “jaw-dropping VR and breakthrough Meta reality.”  Obviously, existing VR videos depend on multiple factors such as the camera used to create the video, the codec used to render the video, the resolution of the video, etc, but all things being equal, the VR video will look much better on the Quest 3 than the Quest 2. 

The resolution is 4,128 by 2,208 pixels (2,064 by 2,208 pixels per eye), which is a huge improvement on the Quest 2's 1832 x 1920 pixels per eye resolution. It will also have a 120Hz refresh rate, as does the current Quest 2. It is the first headset to feature a next-generation Snapdragon chipset developed in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies. 120FPS capability is coming to DeoVR very soon - it all rides on an update of the Oculus SDK, which is imminent. 

What is the AV1 codec?

AV1 is a newer video codec with improved compression compared to older video codecs. It allows for higher quality at the same bitrate and filesize, or smaller files at the same quality. The Quest 3 is the first standalone VR headset that fully supports the AV1 codec. The DeoVR devs are currently checking our download and streaming options to ensure AV1 works perfectly - we have samples available so you can test and see the quality.

AR Passthrough video on the Quest 3 (updated April 2024)

The v64 Update (April 2024) means passthrough on the Quest 3 is even better than ever. The Quest v64 update makes passthrough much better than before, meaning it's now possible to read phone notifications and other small text on the device. You can check your phone messages without removing the headset. This is a huge leap forward. Meta has said the v64 update is designed to "improve the perceived resolution for passthrough by optimizing the passthrough pipeline." This update has also delivered improvements to color, exposure, contrast and dynamic range in passthrough. You'll see a reduction in grain in low-light conditions, and color fidelity will be closer to real life. 

But even on release, compared to the Quest 2, the Quest 3 has greatly improved mixed reality capabilities. It has stereo color cameras built in, which helps to boost the clarity and reduce distortion compared to the Quest Pro, and is much better than the grainy black and white passthrough on the Quest 2 headset. Augmented reality elements blend into the outside world seamlessly.

The headset offers full-color passthrough technology, so viewers see a detailed color version of physical spaces around them through its external cameras, making it even more realistic and immersive. It's even possible to read a book through this Passthrough feature, impressively. This means DeoVR’s amazing passthrough AR functionality is better than ever, with passthrough having 10x more pixels than the Quest 2.

Can users record footage on the Quest 3?

The Quest 3 allows users to record their own videos as the device features two cameras that deliver full-color passthrough, allowing users to record content. However, the process isn't simple and the resulting video is substandard quality. See our full blog post for more details and a tutorial on how to try this feature. 

Why should you buy the Quest 3 for VR?

Room Aware Features: The Quest 3 has a depth sensor that can intelligently understand and respond to objects in your physical space for enhanced interactivity. It can anchor portals in walls, allowing users to extend their mixed-reality gaming experiences. 

Environment Relighting: The Quest 3 supports environment relighting, a feature allowing users to change the colors and lightness of the real-world environment to match virtual light sources. 

Increased Comfort: The Quest 3 has a 40% slimmer optic profile compared to Quest 2, making it a sleeker, more comfortable headset. Meta has also completely redesigned Quest 3’s Touch Plus controllers with a more streamlined and ergonomic form factor. This all means the Quest 3 should be a lot more comfortable to use for extended VR viewing sessions than with the Quest 2. The head strap has been redesigned, and the pancake lens will be lighter and more comfortable, with a better sweet spot. 

Decoding VR video

The output of VR footage recorded using the Canon R5C RF52 is 190º 8192x4096@60FPS, h265, 125 Mbps in Constant Bitrate. Using fish-eye footage keeps the camera's entire FOV, whereas converting to equirectangular cuts it to 180º.

A video gets re-encoded into h265  using the "best quality" setting at 30Mpbs max (for streaming). At DeoVR, we do special high-quality encoding that takes much longer than regular encoding. Increasing this bitrate does not provide notable visual improvements, but would impact on bandwidth and decoding. 

The maximum decoding of most headsets is 8192x8192px@30fps, which equates to 8192x4096px@60fps, which is 6688x3344px@90fps. However, the max supported resolution of 120FPS video is 5792x2896 px (using this same formula). The goal for us is to match the headset screen refresh rate with the FPS of the video, so you get 60FPS on a 60Hz screen, 90FPS on 90Hz and 120FPS on 120Hz headsets like the Quest 3. The video must be recorded in this FPS at source, or interpolated using the best modern techniques.

110ºx96º 2208x2064 part of 190ºx190º 4096x4096 60FPS video is shown on the Quest 3 display 120Hz.

What are the Quest 3 specs? 

Full specs for the Meta Quest 3: 

• Resolution (per-eye): 2064 x 2208
• Display Type: LCD
• Refresh Rate: 120Hz
• Maximum decoding
• Lens type: Pancake
• Battery Life: 2 to 3 hrs
• Processor: Snapdragon XR2 Gen2
• Weight: 509g
• Storage: 128GB or 512GB
• RAM: 12GB
• Field of View: 97° horizontal, 93° vertical
• IPD Adjust: Hardware-based. Eye relief supported
• Audio: Integrated
• Connectivity: USB, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
• Depth sensor: Available
• Mixed Reality: Full-RGB cameras for color passthrough
• Tracking: Inside-out

Instructions for watching VR on the Quest 3: 

1. Download the DeoVR App

Simply install the DeoVR app and enjoy the world's greatest VR content in the very best quality possible. 

2. Try the amazing features on DeoVR

Once you're all set up with VR on the Quest 3, try some of the awesome features such as passthrough, which looks even better on the Quest 3. And  sign up for DeoVR Premium to enjoy the very best VR content available today, in everything up to 8K 120FPS quality. Keep checking back to the blog as many more features are coming soon, including haptics, kiosk mode, live streaming and more!