Streaming service Littlstar has launched a new Apple TV app, which brings 360-degree content to the platform for the first time. It provides free 360-degree content from Red Bull, National Geographic, Discovery, PBS, Mountain Dew, Disney and Showtime.
Littlstar allows the users to control the viewpoint using the new Apple TV remote. The app is integrated with Apple TV's latest Siri Remote, letting the user control the view from the remote's trackpad, and peek around all 360 degrees of a scene.
The streaming service company also puts the new Apple TV app on its desktop website and mobile apps, according to MacWorld. Those apps are best paired with a virtual reality headset such as Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR. Compared to those virtual reality experiences, TV viewing is the next-best thing, and it is not something other streaming boxes could easily replicate with a traditional D-Pad remote.
"We wanted to give audiences the ability to consume this content from their living rooms and in a social environment," Littlstar founder and chief product officer said in a blog entry.
With the trackpad and built-in accelerometer on the newest Apple TV hardware, users can control the angles from which they view videos with the same ease they would on a mobile device. Compared to clicking and dragging on a PC, this should be relatively instinctive.
Currently, the main issue with 360-degree video is that there is not much content available and the best use involves educational or instructional videos. The number content of content will increase based on the additonal capabilities of the app.
Littlstar app for Apple TV is free and available for download through the app store.