DarshanShankar
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BigScreen adds audio sharing to fulfill its 'Virtual LAN' promise
BigScreen launched in beta back in April as a software solution to run conventional apps or films on a "screen" within VR for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets. But one of its coolest features, sharing your digital monitor with friends, was hampered by the program's inability to send along any accompanying audio. Today, BigScreen is fixing that, adding the ability to hear exactly what your friend is listening to in a setup the team calls "Desktop Audio Streaming."
'VR LAN party' software launches for free on Thursday
Darshan Shankar has been working on bringing computer screens into a VR environment for two years, and on Thursday his BigScreen software will launch on Steam for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Beta testers have been using it for a couple of months, but once it launches anyone with those VR headsets (and a powerful PC) will have access for free. Users can bring anything that displays on their normal Windows desktop to screens in virtual reality, with up to four people sharing one environment at a time. It uses positional audio to let users talk to each other within VR, but shared audio from the desktops is a feature that will arrive later, along with customizable avatars and Vive controller support.
Software brings your PC's entire interface to VR
Virtual reality faces numerous challenges, but one of the biggest is having to take your headset off whenever you need to run a conventional app. What if you want to maintain that immersion, or just want to use a VR device as your only display? That's where BigScreen thinks it can help. It's developing software that places your entire Windows desktop in a VR environment. It's partly for the sake of immersion (you can have a massive, wall-filling screen without spending a fortune), but it's a bigger deal for social experiences. You can see a friend's shared screen as a separate virtual monitor, or play games and movies with friends who sit in using personalized avatars.
