Thank you for the update notes, any timeline for the DLNA inclusion? Thank you.
I’ll work on implementing DLNA next month.
7 Likes
A new update for HereSphere (PC) is available on the Steam beta branch. This update allows for the Handy playback speed to be adjusted, some quality of life improvements, simpler default motion control bindings, better filenaming convention adherance, and improvements with the web stream API.
Synchronized Peripherals:
- The playback speed of the Handy is now matched to the playback speed of the video. It may take several seconds for the script to be reuploaded when the playback speed is changed.
- The synchronized peripherals connection status icon can now be clicked to show the synchronized peripherals settings in a popup menu. The connection status color scheme has been slightly changed. Use the grip button when hovered above the connection status icon to view the tooltip describing the new color scheme.
Quality of life improvements:
- Autofocus performance has been improved, so you can set a higher autofocus accuracy while maintaining higher frame rates.
- Directories are now sorted by modification time instead of creation time when the date sorting method is selected. Files are still sorted by creation time.
- Added a user setting called “Alphabetical Folders” that will always sort folders alphabetically, even when a different sort method is selected.
- When going up a directory, the previously opened folder will be automatically scrolled into view.
- Videos that are currently being downloaded will not be shown in the file explorer by filtering out file sizes that are 0 bytes.
- Added a “Desktop FOV” setting that adjusts the camera fov when the app is running in deskop (2D) mode. This setting has no effect when running in VR mode.
File naming conventions:
- More file naming conventions have been added. These take priority over the HereSphere autodetection of the video projection format.
- Custom fisheye lens = “_MKX200”, “_MKX220”, “_RF52”, or “_VRCA220”
- Standard fisheye = “_F180” or “_180F”
- Equirectangular 180 = “_180”
- Equirectangular 360 = “_360” (Equirectangular 360 has limited projection adjustments. If you want more projection adjustments like autofocus, use the equirectangular 180 projection instead, which will crop out the back half of the 360 video)
- Equiangular cubemap = “_EAC360” or “_360EAC”
- Specify stereoscopic mode with “_LR”, “_RL”, “_TB”, “_BT”, “_3DH”, or “_3DV”. This doesn’t apply if the fisheye naming convention is used, because that will default to sbs. If a stereoscopic mode is detected but none of the fisheye, equirectangular, or cubemap naming conventions are present, the player will default to perspective (flatscreen) projection with the detected stereoscopic mode.
- If no filename conventions are detected at all, then the player will use its own autodetection to determine the correct projection format to use.
- Unmatched XBVR videos will now use file naming conventions or HereSphere’s autodetection to determine the correct projection format. If you already have unmatched videos loaded in HereSphere, you will need to remove them from the HereSphere media library to get them to be read in properly. You can use the tag search “-” to find videos with no tags (these are probably your unmatched videos), and then remove them from the media library.
Controls:
- The default motion controller bindings have been simplified to use only one key layer, similar to the key bindings used for the native Quest 2 port (though there are still some minor differences).
- This will not change your current key bindings. It only affects new users or if you press the “Load default motion controller bindings” button in the key bindings menu.
- The trigger button now drags the video rotation.
- The thumbstick up/down (or trackpad depending on the controller) will now zoom the video by adjusting the origin forward setting.
- While holding the grip button, the thumbstick up/down will now offset the sensor stitch shift x settings, which is useful for adjusting the depth/scale of the image.
- The bottom face button on specific motion controllers (like the Index, Quest, and Reverb controllers) now toggles play/pause when the menu is hidden. If the menu is visible, this button will reset settings back to default by using the “Menu Center Action” key binding.
- The volume can be adjusted by holding the grip button, followed by the trigger button, and then twisting the controller like a doorknob.
Web API:
- The loading speed of websites that use the DeoVR API has been significantly improved.
- An experimental HereSphere web API has been implemented. Websites can use this API to stream their video library in a convenient user interface, with support for tags, funscripts, and more. Message me if you would like more information on how to use this API with your website.
Bug fixes:
- Fixed XBVR authentication issue
- Prevent setting a higher resolution than the GPU can handle (16384x16384). This helps prevent crashes when using a very high resolution headset like the Pimax 8k with high super sampling.
7 Likes
just bought HereSphere but it not very easy to use and i am having a hard doing basic navigation in the player. is there a user manual you can point me to?
There’s a user guide in the app at the bottom of the left side panel. In it, there’s a quickstart, faq, and detailed guide on the projection settings. If you hold the grip button when hovered above menu settings, tool tips will be displayed.
1 Like
HereSphere update v0.7 for the Quest 2 is now available with playback speed matching for the Handy, better adherance to file naming conventions, a new HereSphere web streaming API with faster loading times, and some bug fixes.
Synchronized Peripherals:
- The playback speed of the Handy is now matched to the playback speed of the video. It may take several seconds for the script to be reuploaded when the playback speed is changed.
File naming conventions:
- More file naming conventions have been added. These take priority over the HereSphere autodetection of the video projection format.
- Custom fisheye lens = “_MKX200”, “_MKX220”, “_RF52”, or “_VRCA220”
- Standard fisheye = “_F180” or “_180F”
- Equirectangular 180 = “_180”
- Equirectangular 360 = “_360” (Equirectangular 360 has limited projection adjustments. If you want more projection adjustments like autofocus, use the equirectangular 180 projection instead, which will crop out the back half of the 360 video)
- Equiangular cubemap = “_EAC360” or “_360EAC”
- Specify stereoscopic mode with “_LR”, “_RL”, “_TB”, “_BT”, “_3DH”, or “_3DV”. This doesn’t apply if the fisheye naming convention is used, because that will default to sbs. If a stereoscopic mode is detected but none of the fisheye, equirectangular, or cubemap naming conventions are present, the player will default to perspective (flatscreen) projection with the detected stereoscopic mode.
- If no filename conventions are detected at all, then the player will use its own autodetection to determine the correct projection format to use.
- Unmatched XBVR videos will now use file naming conventions or HereSphere’s autodetection to determine the correct projection format. If you already have unmatched videos loaded in HereSphere, you will need to remove them from the HereSphere media library to get them to be read in properly. You can use the tag search “-” to find videos with no tags (these are probably your unmatched videos), and then remove them from the media library.
Web Streaming API:
- The loading speed of websites that use the DeoVR API has been significantly improved.
- An experimental HereSphere API has been implemented. Websites can use this API to stream their video library in a convenient user interface, with support for tags, funscripts, and more. Message me if you would like more information on how to use this API with your website.
Other changes:
- Fixed issue with timestamp server playback speed getting stuck at 0
- Fixed issue with SMB paths containing special characters, like the “+” character
- Fixed issue with the autoseek tags favorite searches menu not being shown
- Videos that are currently being downloaded will not be shown in the file explorer by filtering out file sizes that are 0 bytes.
6 Likes
Thank you for 0.7…
Is there a way i can install a audio codec pack to help Heresphere play more avi, mpg… non mp4 format ? I have difficulties with some movies and videos… I bought the oculus android apk 0.7… did not buy it from Steam…
The Quest 2 version uses Exoplayer, which doesn’t support avi, wmv, etc. I’m not aware of any methods that allows installing codec packs for Exoplayer. I’m looking into implementing other player backends that do support those formats, but it’s a lower priority at the moment.
Thank you for considering… i understand… it does the job perfectly for what i bought it for… I am trying to make HereSphere the “one to rule them all” video player on my quest…
You could try to convert the videos to mp4 with Handbrake or something.
Yes, I’m in the process of submitting it.
5 Likes
I really wish this player supported external subtitle files, would make a lot of 2d/hentai a lot more enjoyable (especially if it was displayed under the screen) 
Yeah, support for external subs (srt and ssa/ass subs) should be added in the next update.
1 Like
we are talking about more than a hundred videos from my archive… i am not planning on converting all my movie libraries for missing codec unfortunately… thank you for the suggestions tho.
How can i watch vr videos from tube sites? I always get html5 video file not found when using heresphere browser on steam vr.
If the site provides download links, clicking on them will stream the video. If there aren’t download links, you could try using youtube-dl or yt-dlp to get the video stream link. Here are the instructions for getting yt-dlp to work with HereSphere.
Use yt-dlp (a fork of youtube-dl) to generate video stream links. Download yt-dlp.exe from here: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases. Copy the executable to the HereSphere saved directory (C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\HereSphere\Saved, replacing UserName with your info). In the HereSphere web browser, navigate to the webpage with the video you would like to stream and click on the Web Stream button in the upper left corner. Live streams will not work at the moment, but support for live streams will be added in the future.
3 Likes
That would be great. I also had problems with some audio codecs in my mp4 files.
1 Like
Sooo, I love the program!
i still have a couple questions tho.
I have a Quest 2
PC specs Ryzen 5 3600 - RTX 3060 TI 16gb ram
- When used with link cable it has far better quality then when im using the Q2 as standalone (im using XBVR or SMB seems to have same quality (awesome on Linkcable & decent on standalone.)
I have the same speed on my wifi as on my UTP cabled desktop.
Is there a way i can improve the quality on the standalone Q2 to match the link cable or isn’t this possible? Already using 2.0 resolution & 120hz in Heresphere app on Q2
To clarify, when you say better quality, are you saying the image quality looks better, or the app performs better/faster? When you use the link cable, the rendered image has to be compressed and sent over USB, which should reduce the image quality a little bit. But if you think it looks better, then that’s kind of weird, lol. Maybe it’s just playing more smoothly, so the quality feels better.
If you’re using the Q2 natively at 120hz and 2.0 resolution, try going into the user settings and set the autofocus accuracy to 5 or 6. This will help the app play more smoothly for 60fps videos. If you’re experiencing buffering, then it might be your wifi speed.