When Apple showed off the Apple Vision Pro, one of its promises was that it would change the way you watch movies. Between its WWDC reveal and subsequent hands-on demos, the Vision Pro was touted as a way to turn any room into a cinema.
One such way that the Vision Pro manages this? Cinema Environments. With just a turn of the Vision Pro’s dial, you can, in Apple's words, "turn your room into a personal movie theater with the Cinema Environment.”
But this feature does more than just place you inside a personal movie theater — it also transports you to some incredible, even otherworldly locales. In Apple’s announcement, it provided Mt. Hood as one Cinematic Environment you could enjoy while watching a movie. And it turns out that won’t be your only option.
According to FlatpanelsHD, there are 13 virtual Cinema Environments in total that you'll be able to choose from when using the Vision Pro. This includes an unidentified beach setting, the Haleakalā volcano, Earth’s moon and, of course, Mt. Hood, among other locations that have yet to be identified.
Apple Vision Pro provides an immersive cinema experience
Even without the addition of these breathtaking vistas in the background, the viewing experience on the Apple Vision Pro should be as immersive as it is incredible. The screen within Apple’s VR headset simulates a 100-foot-wide movie screen directly in front of your face.
And of course, you’ll see all of this through the Vision Pro’s Micro OLED displays, which provide 4K resolution and pixel density 64 times what you get from an iPhone — all in the size of a postage stamp. Plus, Spatial Audio from the Vision Pro’s audio pods are designed to provide immersive sound that can be fine-tuned to your preferences thanks to Apple’s Personalized Spatial Audio.
Some of us at Tom’s Guide have even seen this in action. In his Apple Vision Pro hands-on review, our editor-in-chief Mark Spoonauer wrote about his experience with Avatar: The Way of Water. Not only did the displays and audio pods combine for an incredible experience, but the Vision Pro’s support for 3D video took the immersion even further.
While I haven’t seen a movie in one of the Vision Pro’s Cinema Environments yet, I can vouch for the benefits of watching movies in VR. I watched Cocaine Bear in VR on my Meta Quest 2, and it did replicate the cinema experience — at least visually. I’m not sure it’ll replace a theater, or even the best TVs, just yet. But, I won’t be surprised if Cinema Environments turns out to be one of the Vision Pro’s best features at launch.
