Wesley Hilliard
"Ice Dive" takes viewers under the ice in the Arctic as a diver attempts to break a world record, filmed for Apple Vision Pro.
Apple Vision Pro has seen a slow rollout of content built for its unique 180-degree 8K format called immersive video. Series like "Wild Life" and "Prehistoric Planet" have released a few episodes, but at an unpredictable cadence.
The latest episode is for the series "Adventure," titled "Ice Dive," takes viewers underwater. But, unlike the "Sharks" episode of "Wild Life," it is filmed in the frigid waters of the Arctic.
Each episode of "Adventure" highlights daring feats taken by professional athletes and explorers. "Ice Dive" follows Ant Williams as they attempt to break the world record for swimming the longest distance under ice — in one breath.
Apple Vision Pro launched in February 2024 as a kind of early-adopter preview of technology to come. While Apple continues to improve visionOS and release new media for the headset, it still isn't quite enough to justify general consumers spending $3,500.
One glimmer of hope for more content, more often, is the release of Blackmagic's new $30,000 camera for capturing immersive video. Soon, professional studios outside of Apple's own will be able to create content specifically filmed and designed for Apple Vision Pro.
So far, there is a small sampling of experiences like being in a studio with Alicia Keys, flying in hot air balloons, or riding in an ambulance through a music video. The longest and most impressive piece of content is "Submerged," a 16-minute short film set on a World War II submarine.
As Apple continues to push Apple Vision Pro and prepares to launch a new version, it will surely prioritize packing it with as much content as possible. Nearing one year on the market, there's not quite enough content, considering new buyers could sit through the entire immersive video library in about 2 hours.
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William Gallagher
Malcolm Owen
Charles Martin
7 Comments
Actually no- making 3D 180 video can be done with many existing camera systems. This one is just easier but this hasn’t been the reason why more content doesn’t exist. The real reason is there’s not a large enough installed AVP user base yet to make it a business opportunity outside of Apple.
The Blackmagic camera would be the first commercially available camera that can shoot immersive video at full resolution, as I understand it. Also, Final Cut Pro has not been able to edit the output before now, so it really hasn't been possible for anyone but Apple to make an immersive video for the vision pro.
Agreed that existing camera systems don't have enough resolution. Canon's own executives are on record saying we need a 100MP sensor at 60fps. The Explore POV app does a good job, but it's upscaling 8K to 16K and just getting there. Blackmagic's camera just opened pre-orders and it's the one we need: 117MP at 90fps! I wrote about it here: