Pornhub Unveils Free VR Porn Channel (pcworld.com)

An anonymous reader writes from an article on PCWorld: Big-name pornography website Pornhub has partnered with BadoinkVR, an early mover and shaker in VR porn, to launch a new section dedicated to immersive adult videos, aka VR porn. "Virtual reality is the next phase in the constantly metamorphosing world of adult entertainment, and will provide users with a mesmeric experience unlike anything they've seen before," Pornhub Vice President Corey Price said in a press release. "Now, our users are not only able to view our content, but be protagonists in the experience and interact with their favorite porn stars." The videos are roughly five-minute-long trailers designed to hook you on the VR porn experience. If you want the full videos, you'll need to sign up for a subscription with BadoinkVR itself, which will unlock the service's full adult-video selection starting at $20 per month. Pornhub is giving away 10,000 free pairs of branded Google Cardboard VR glasses if you are interested in trying out the experience but lack a VR headset.

Comments

Mobile tech not quite there yet

[John Allsup]

I have a couple of smartphones: an HTC One M7 (which can decode sphere mapped stereo videos with 4k x 1.5k res in hardware, but can only do about 5fps), and a newer cheaper smartphone with a full HD screen, and which can only hw decode lower resolution and has inaccurate jumpy gyroscope. I would imagine that things like the Omimo headset are something to watch for in future (where you can either connect to a PC, or stick an sd card with the 3d movie into it and have it play that. But I think we need to let the hardware side mature for a couple of years, and indeed the filming tech. That said, this is probably a far more productive avenue for them to explore than 4k, though 4k porn with interactive zoom (with or without side by side for a headset) would, again, be something to look out for.

In all these cases, I can see porn blazing a trail in many areas, and other niches of video following them in (for example videos of sports out of the mainstream -- imagine having a 3d 120fps recording of something like a squash match, though tech for this sort of thing isn't there yet). In addition, with regards to the free vs. pay model that is emerging, this is something the entire content industry needs to watch. I think the porn industry is learning that there needs to be sufficient free material to satisfy demand somewhat so as to alleviate the pressure to pirate, and high quality paid material for those willing to pay a little (and at present, for what you can get for about $100, it really is only a little).