Immersit Vibes puts a rumble pack in your sofa
Feel every explosion in games and movies right in your butt.
Sitting down: It's such a passive activity. Immersit wants to shake that up, all too literally, with its "vibes" sofa accessory. We've seen Immersit before, when it debuted a much more intense (and more expensive) 4D motion kit. That one actually raised the sofa off the ground for added impact. Vibes, on the other hand is meant to be more accessible, and at around $350, it's within most consumers' reach.
The kit consists of two pads that you slip under the feet of your sofa. They're designed so that they shouldn't affect your seating height or comfort. The pads connect over bluetooth to a transmitter plugged into a TV (or, as it has both digital and analog connections, any audio source, theoretically). The transmitter picks up any low frequencies and peaks from the audio feed and converts them to, well, vibes that you feel in your butt and back.
I enjoyed a quick demo, and it certainly adds something to the cinematic experience. If you've ever been to a so-called "4D" movie, you'll know more or less what to expect. But if you haven't, imagine a sofa vibrating along with the action, and you're most of the way there. You control the level of intensity of the rumble via a button on the pods under the feet of the sofa, so there's no app to get in the way.
I've tried both products Immersit makes, and while the 4D Motion is fun, the Vibes feels a little more accessible. The rumbling sensation might not be for everyone, but it definitely adds an extra sensory element to the movie experience. I imagine gaming is particularly well suited to the Vibes, and the same goes for virtual reality. With VR your primary senses are overwhelmed, so the vibrations would add a welcome tactile element.
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