Meta streams the PC desktop into Quest Pro via "Remote Display"
Meta is currently testing "Remote Display," an app for easily transferring the PC or Mac screen to the Quest Pro.
Users of the Meta Quest 2 (review) or Quest Pro (info) rely on programs like Horizon Workrooms to bring the image from their desktop computer into the VR headset. Streaming the screen from the PC or Mac is just one of the features of Meta's in-house productivity software. Meta promotes the software for meetings with avatars, among other things.
Alternatively, there are competing apps like Virtual Desktop with a similar transmission. In any case, users have to install an app before they can see their desktop under the VR headset.
The Meta app "Remote Display" could soon make desktop streaming much easier. Meta is still testing the function in closed beta, but the store page is already publicly available.
Easy desktop access with Quest Pro
According to the description, the app allows mirroring of the computer display in VR. The app is optimized for use with the Quest Pro's color passthrough. So far, we have not received a response from Meta as to whether the Quest 2 is supported.
The store entry doesn't offer too much information yet, apart from control options like the touch controllers or hand tracking. Developer Hrafn Thorisson, CEO of Aldin Dynamics, estimates on Twitter that the app will become an integral part of the operating system.
Thorisson is not involved in the development at Meta, but after his work on the groundbreaking hand-tracking game Waltz of the Wizard and the associated tracking tool, he should have some insight into the OS of the Quest systems.
Way I understand it, it is that, effectively. System utility, integral part of the OS.
— Hrafn Thorisson (@hrafntho) November 8, 2022
Impressions of using the Remote Display app in beta have already surfaced on Facebook as well. In a community group for tips and tricks for the Quest Pro, screenshots are circulating that show various mirrored images of computer desktops floating in the VR home environment.
Brad Lynch shows a first demo video on Twitter with virtual PC desktop screens superimposed in the environment via passthrough AR.
Here is some footage of the Meta Remote Desktop beta app that is not yet released
It surprisingly supports my ultrawide monitor (albeit bugs the positioning of other apps in unison)
There is also some huge lag with it currently for me, and the really bad white dot aliasing pic.twitter.com/FfsBOuL2hJ
— Brad Lynch (@SadlyItsBradley) November 8, 2022
For Meta, "Remote Desktop" could be a step towards better marketing Quest Pro as an office device. The MR headset itself lacks corresponding native apps. Desktop streaming is a likely interim solution until launch of the announced native Microsoft Office apps next year. Office Apps are also coming to Quest 2.
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