Augmenting Reality: How AR is Changing Home Entertainment

Augmenting Reality - Comwave
Calender Icon Feb 5 2024

With the release of the new Apple Vision Pro, the world of augmented reality (AR) has sprung into public attention. Augmented reality has the potential to revolutionize our entertainment experience, and is an exciting direction for future technology. In this article, we are going to focus on the ways augmented reality is shaping the future of home entertainment, but the potential applications for AR could be groundbreaking in other sectors as well. We could one day use AR to enhance our medical diagnoses, classrooms, shopping experiences and so much more.

For now, though, the main benefits to most consumers come in the realm of home entertainment. Virtual reality and augmented reality wearable technology are quickly becoming more and more accessible to consumers. How is AR changing the world of home entertainment, and how can you prepare your home for the future of AR entertainment? Let’s dive in!

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality encompasses a range of technology that overlays digital information, graphics, and displays onto the physical world. This can be done in many ways. The most obvious example is the wearable technology that allows us to interact with digital displays–like the Apple Vision Pro or the Google Glasses–being developed and refined to provide a more immersive and interactive experience.

These are high-tech advances, but we’ve been playing with augmented reality in less advanced ways for a while now. The mobile game Pokemon Go entranced users, introducing digital Pokemon into real-world settings. Google Lens has provided scan, search, and translation options for a while now, integrating the infinite knowledge of the internet with the physical world through our smartphones. And Snapchat filters have been modifying our selfies for years.

Augmented Reality vs. Virtual Reality

One of the key features of AR is that it allows users to interact with digital content in a natural way, and integrates it into the real world. Many virtual reality (VR) headsets include AR features, but the main distinguishing factor is that VR aims to immerse you in a digital world, while AR aims to add digital elements into your perception of the physical world. Both, however, are changing our relationship with home entertainment in exciting ways.

How AR is Changing Home Entertainment

Augmented reality and virtual reality are already impacting our home entertainment experience. VR headsets have offered a new, interactive way for us to play video games, turning our living rooms into jungles, battlegrounds, or tennis courts. VR technology is being used to enhance our viewing experiences as well. VR-specific movies are being made, offering new ways for viewers to experience storytelling, while movies and TV franchises are creating VR games to cater to their fanbases.

AR is just the next step in the digital integration of our entertainment. The most exciting prospects for AR in home entertainment are for live events. With an AR headset, you can make it feel like you are courtside at an NBA game or front row at a concert. You could even enhance the viewing experience by adding lyrics on a digital display to help you sing along, or by looking up stats of your favourite players while watching them play. When you want to watch a movie, you can create an immersive, theatre-like experience in the comfort of your living room.

Beyond the prospects of wearable AR glasses, simpler versions of augmented reality are being used in clever ways to offer unique experiences to fans or consumers. Rapper Eminem has already released an AR app to create a unique experience for fans to enjoy music videos. For the game based on the film Jumanji, producers created AR experiences that allowed users to scan merchandise to unlock in-game content to build hype for the sequel. On TikTok, content creators have been using the in-app green screen to create unique and engaging content. The potential for AR experiences is really at the limit of our creativity, and the future is looking bright.

The Future of Home Entertainment

Augmented reality is starting to take hold within the home entertainment industry, and there are no signs that it is going to stop. Most of the most exciting advances in AR currently exist at a price point that is out of reach for many consumers, but that is expected to change in the near future. Apple’s first AR headset being called the Vision Pro implies a future where we will have a cheaper Apple Vision as well as a Pro version.

As technology advances, we can expect AR to become more compact and better integrated into our lives. Elon Musk’s Neuralink project hints at a possible future where we even blur the line between technology and biology. The direction that AR will take is difficult to predict, but we can expect that it is here to stay and that it is only going to get more immersive and interactive.

Keeping Up with the Technology

As we see more and more advances in AR technology and its implications for home entertainment, we will want to set up our homes to allow us to enjoy these advancements as well. The most important part of that is ensuring you have a home internet plan that can keep up with modern demands. Your home internet will need to have the bandwidth to be able to handle all of the streaming and gaming that comes with AR technology. To make that possible, modern internet service providers now offer plans for super-fast broadband internet with unlimited data usage. Companies like Comwave exist to deliver internet service in Canada for an affordable price, so you can put your money towards the latest AR headset.

Get Fast and Cheap Internet with Comwave

To run the latest technology, you need the best internet connection. Comwave offers the same reliable high-speed internet as the biggest names in Canada but without the typical price gouging. With Comwave, you get unlimited data, no confusing fine print, and high-speed internet plans starting at just $39.95 per month. Save big with Comwave and save even more when you bundle your internet and TV services. Check out internet and TV bundle options to find out which package is best for your home.

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