Google recently attempted to bring the YouTube Virtual Reality (VR) experience to HTC Vive users via Steam. However, some few hours after the application's release on Early Access, users reported that it does not work.
Most of the users who tried the HTC Vive version of YouTube VR reported that it crashes immediately on startup. And when the app does run, there were many complaints about bugs and lack of features.
One of the more prominent complaints on the community is support for only one of the headset's controllers. A user named Setras pointed out that YouTube VR for HTC Vive only uses the left controller instead of both.
There were also reports that the video quality of the YouTube stream is low. Also, side-by-side (SBS) stereoscopic 3D currently does not work properly.
Many other notable omissions were noted by the community, as well. User Spadey pointed out that search filters are not enabled, so searching could be tedious (although this would not be a problem for watching subscription videos). There is no option to adjust quality, no captions or annotations, and no SBS recognition.
Overall, YouTube VR for HTC Vive is a bare-bones VR application launched on Steam. The developers did recognize the problems and they are currently looking for ways to fix the bugs. This is also why the reason they released it on Early Access. The application is free to download, anyway, and valuable feedback from users can be used to improve the product.
While the Steam launch of YouTube VR was mainly created for HTC Vive, some users reported that it works for the Oculus Rift headset.
YouTube VR is already available and works very well with the Google Daydream. However, the Daydream platform is not integrated into the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift.
The Steam release will be the first time that YouTube VR will be launched for these higher-end VR headsets.
When all the bugs are ironed out, the application promises to view videos on the platform with a virtual interface. It will take advantage of the numerous 360-degree videos that are available on YouTube, as well.
