The YouTube app on your TV can already deliver HD, 4K, and perhaps even HDR. It will soon support 360-degree video, too, meaning that you can change the perspective with your remote.
360-degree video on your TV
You may already know how 360-degree video – or ‘360 Video’ as Google prefers to call it – works as it is currently supported on the web and mobile devices.
Very soon you can also experience the videos on the biggest screen in your living room, Google announced at the I/O keynote. By using the directional buttons – or in the case of Nvidia Shield the joypad – you can change the perspective in the video; look left, right, up, and down.
Videos obviously need to be uploaded and available in the 360-degree format to enjoy the new feature. Besides archived videos, YouTube will also offer live 360-degree video streaming from concerts and events on the TV.
Google is not the first to offer 360-degree video on the TV screen. The app ‘LittlStar’ offers videos on Apple TV. LG’s latest version of webOS (version 3.5) in the 2017 TVs also supports the format.
To get started you need to wait for the latest version of the YouTube app that will roll out “over the next couple of months”. The company adds that it will be available first on Android TV based devices from Sony, Nvidia, and others. During the presentation, Google also mentioned Xbox One.
