Watching Netflix on Oculus confirms we’re in the future

Every now and again, we come across something that confirms for us that we’re officially in the future, and this collaboration between Netflix and Oculus (or Oculix, as it’s been dubbed) is definitely one of those somethings.

Netflix has released a video showing a user sitting in front of his laptop wearing the virtual-reality headset, Oculus, to peruse Netflix’s catalogue. We then see what the Oculus wearer sees – a virtual room with a floating grid of TV shows and films available for selection.

As you’d expect, the catalogue can be moved through gesture control, so users select a video with their hands, and then view it on a virtual presentation screen.

This video was shown as part of Netflix’s annual Hack Day, where the company showcases some of the possibilities available to developers.

Another idea thrown out there was a Chrome browser extension, called Netflix Mini, allowing users to multitask while watching Netflix in the browser, which we happen to think is brilliant and definitely needed on Netflix right now. The Oculix idea, on the other hand, can wait until virtual reality headsets are commonplace.

Hayley Minn