Comparing the Impact of Low-Cost 360° Cultural Heritage Videos Displayed in 2D Screens Versus Virtual Reality Headsets

Abstract

The continuous price reduction of head mounted displays (HMDs) raises the following question in the field of cultural heritage: Is it possible to adapt desktop passive virtual reality (VR) 360° experiences for HMDs? This work presents a comparison of low-cost 360° videos of cultural heritage displayed across two devices: a desktop display and an HMD. The study case is the virtual reconstruction of Burgos (Spain) in 1921. The key factors of these videos are short duration, virtual reconstruction based on 3D modelling and photo editing and the inclusion of real actors performing out looping micro stories. The comparison of both displays devices has been carried out by a group of 32 students from the University of Burgos. The validation includes user satisfaction, knowledge acquisition and visual identification. The results are the following: 1) better knowledge acquisition and immersion in the HMD group, 2) better user satisfaction for the desktop group and 3) more fault identification related to the characters for the HMD group. Looking at these results, the most important elements to improve are the integration of characters and increase the length of the videos.