Guide to the Best VR Headsets for Live 360

Any VR headset is theoretically capable of receiving and displaying live 360 video. You can use PC-based systems like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, as well as smartphone based VR headsets such as Samsung GearVR and Google Cardboard / Daydream.

LiveVR at the moment in practice is typically delivered to a custom app (which you install on your phone), or via YouTube (also the app). NextVR is an example of a custom app that delivers live VR.

There really isn’t much happening on Rift or Vive for live – yet…

Almost all smartphone VR headsets can display YouTube Live 360 using the YouTube app. One exception is GearVR, which kicks you into the GearVR app every time you put your phone into it. You can typically work around this by flipping the USB connector up before inserting the phone.

Facebook is another outlet that we expect to become big in live 360, but at the moment they have not enabled live 360 publicly – it is still in the testing stage.

VR headsets are a fast moving space, and there’s lots of them. We’ll expand this guide over time with a pure focus on ‘headsets for live VR’…

Last updated: Feb 19th 2017