Oculus TV comes pre-installed and allows you to watch a wide range of content on your headset. You access it by opening your app panel (using the button from the universal panel) and selecting TV on the far right of the row of icons that appear at the top.
The app will open to a screen that lets you Browse for content in a variety of categories – the categories from Oculus change, but you’ll find:
- Travel videos from around the world
- Check out the “One Day In…” series that takes you on a tour of major cities around the world.
- Or climb Mt Everest with the three-part “Everest VR” series.
- Up-close encounters with wildlife
- Our favorite: “360 Lion Cub” from National Geographic
- Adrenaline-filled adventures that you might not do in the real world but can easily do from the safety of your chair, like dive with sharks, heli-ski, skydive, ride along with the Blue Angels, or free solo climb El Capitan in Yosemite
- One of the most immersive videos we’ve seen: “Swim with sperm whales 360 degree virtual reality”. It’s a breathtaking video that puts you up close to the whales as they emerge from the deep blue to swim right by you. Not recommended if you’re too uncomfortable underwater or around things that are much (much!) bigger than you.
- Documentaries that inform and enlighten. There are so many good options, but a few we like include:
- Step inside the Great Pyramid of Giza in PBS’ “Ancient Invisible Cities” for a view that live tourists don’t get
- “America’s Ghost Towns” explores American history through the remnants of abandoned towns
- Meet “Micro Monsters” in this series about small but dangerous creatures narrated by David Attenborough
- “Experience the International Space Station”, shot by an astronaut aboard the ISS – the closest thing most of us will ever get to being there.
- The chance to step on stage with acts like Cirque du Soleil, Broadway shows, Blue Man Group, the Rockettes, magicians, and more.
- Journeys into outer space. Some of the best we’ve seen are:
- The “360 VR Space Safari” series sends you on missions through space narrated by real astronauts
- “International Space Station” gives you a close-up view of the ISS in orbit
- Jaw-dropping immersive animated stories, like “Dear Angelica” and many shorts from Quill Theater
In short, you’ll find a bit of everything here, including selections from some of the apps we recommend elsewhere, such as Quill Theater and Ecosphere. You could easily get lost here for hours.
To save a video you find here, click the three vertical dots next to the video’s name, and select “Save”. These videos will then be available in the “Saved” tab, the last category on the left-hand side of the Oculus TV home screen.
You’ll also see a tab called Channels on the Oculus TV home screen. This is where you can find familiar streaming channels such as ESPN, Netflix, and Amazon Prime; movie and music channels like Melody VR and Showtime, and channels with original content such as Red Bull TV and Within.
The final tab here is Your Media where you’ll find photos and videos you’ve taken within the headset as well as any media you upload to your headset.