mrtv-experience-lrg — Image courtesy MRTV

YouTube’s ‘MRTV’ Launches Kickstarter to Showcase Current VR Headsets to Paying Public

Five days remain in the Kickstarter, Ticket pre-sales still available

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Aug 26, 2019

MRTV, the YouTube channel led by Germany-based VR enthusiast Sebastian Ang, launched a Kickstarter recently to create what he calls the MRTV Experience, which will invite the paying public to step in to try out a variety of the most recent VR headsets on offer. The location is set to open in Dortmund, Germany where Ang will also be moving his dedicated studio as well.

Launched in mid-August, Ang is offering pre-sales for tickets via the Kickstarter page, which will let curious would-be VR headset owners take a 90-minute spin in many of the most up-to-date VR headsets out currently. Ang says he’ll be personally available to show MRTV Experience-goers through their chosen 90-minute slots.

Ang is promising to showcase a number of VR headsets in his library, including Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift S, Samsung Odyssey Plus, Vive Pro, HP Reverb, Valve Index, Pimax 5K Plus, Pimax 5K XR, HTC Vive Cosmos, and StarVR One, a headset intended for the enterprise sector.

In a wave of community support, the €3,000 goal was reached in only seven minutes of the project going live on August 17th, Ang writes in a community update. Within 24 hours of the project’s launch, it had already doubled its funding goal to €6,000 (~$6670 USD).

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At the time of this writing, the MRTV Experience has garnered over €13,700 ($15,300), bringing with it a number of stretch goals including more VR PCs and upgraded camera equipment, which Ang says will allow him to shoot the next season of MRTV in 4k.

Other stretch goals include purchasing a Magic Leap One for the MRTV Experience space if it reaches €15,000, and buying a Holo Lens 2 at the €18,000 mark too, making it one of the few places where consumers can experience the full range of AR/VR headsets currently on the market.

Ang is planning to hold MRTV Experience’s opening party fundraiser at the Dortmund, Germany location on October 5th, 2019. The opening day fundraiser starts at €90, which includes entry, snacks, and soft drinks. An opening party livestream will be available for some lower-tiered backers who can’t make it for the festivities.

Pre-sale tickets (not including the opening day fundraiser party) are currently still available starting at €39 (~$43). Check out the Kickstarter here for more information.

Sebastian Ang

Hi! This is Sebastian from MRTV! Thank you so much for this great article! To all the VR hardware companies who want to exhibit their products at the MRTV Experience, please do get in touch with me via my website, http://www.mrtv.co If you are a VR game dev, please also check the Kickstarter, it has some interesting rewards as well!
JesperL

Somehow this rubs me the wrong way.
A private youtuber wants to raise money for a new personal studio, and offers the possibility to come home and try all my VR, which half was donated to him.
I think Ang makes decent videos, and is a good voice for the VR community. But this smells like a wannabe rockstar who will let the people visit him, if they give him money.
Sorry – I am usually a positive guy, but this is too strange to me. But Its a free (somewhat) world, where people will support anything on kickstarter :D
Good luck I guess ;o)
- sjefdeklerk
  
  Obviously there’s a market who wants to pay him for his services. So what’s wrong with that?
  - Sebastian Ang
    
    Hi there! :) Thanks a lot for your comment. :) You are not located anywhere close to Dortmund, I suppose?
- VR_User
  
  You always have to consider the time he has to spend on all of this as well. I assume he’s planning on doing this along with his youtube channel as a full time job, and if you consider that, it’s not too much money! Even if he already has all the equipment, he can’t just spend all of his days giving out free shows to people. Personally, if I was living close to Dortmund I’d certainly pay him a visit, where else can you try out all the newest tech in VR (and probably AR) for 34€?
  - Sebastian Ang
    
    Thanks for this comment! :) Moreover, I am not asking for any *donations* here. I am pre-selling the tickets and discounted rates. And all the proceeds will be invested in buying all these and additional headsets and probably even AR headsets if the campaign reaches this stretchgoal.
  - brandon9271
    
    Exactly! Nobody is being forced to do anything. Sebastian is offering a service and people are free to choose to buy it or not. I don’t see what the problem is. Even IF there was a place in the same town that demo’d VR gear for free I’d say it would be up to the consumer to research that and choose accordingly. :)
- Sebastian Ang
  
  Hi there JesperL. This has nothing to do with wanting to be a Rockstar. I am giving people the opportunity to try out VR headsets before they buy them. Think of it, you do not really have a chance to try out the Pimax, the Reverb or the Index before you buy. If you live in Europe, now you have the chance to do so, for a very reasonable 39 €uros. Btw, NOTHING is being DONATED in this Kickstarter. I am pre-selling tickets for the Experience. I am *working* for all of that money and the tickets in this Kickstarter are even considerably cheaper than how much they will be once the Experience runs normally. Why am I doing all this btw.? To finance the chanel, so I can stay independent and keep bringing you independent reviews. Other than the Experience, I am also doing VR Consulting for companies and going to VR events, showing off all those headsets, in order to make a living.
  - JesperL
    
    Maybe it is because we in Copenhagen have a place to try many of the VR headsets for free.
    - Sebastian Ang
      
      Cool that you have a place to try all of that for free. We don’t have that in Germany. :)
    - gothicvillas
      
      Really? Where can you try them for free?
    - Gert Baagøe Hansen
      
      Where in Copenhagen can we do that for free?
      This upcoming Sunday I visit Copenhagen and if I know where I will try it for free. ( Det kunne jeg da godt tænke mig hvis du kan fortælle hvor det er og hvad det hedder)(Danish)
      
      And to you Sebastian: I cross my fingers for you and your project.
      There is a big need for a place like yours where people can try out different headsets before buying one.
      - Sebastian Ang
        
        Thanks Gert, that is really encouraging!!!
    - Lars Skinhøj
      
      Det vil jeg da også meget gerne vide hvor er? =:)
      - JesperL
        
        https://khora-vr.com/
    - JesperL
      
      Khora i kødbyen – gi dem et ring og hør om man kan få en demo. Det plejer de at gøre gratis.
      https://khora-vr.com/
      They dont announce the free demo, but give them a call, they used to do it, especially for small groups.
  - Ninjai71
    
    And it’s very important to have competent personal showing this new tec to beginners to avoid unnecessary discomfort with vr. If the first impression of VR not positiv the user/player is mostly lost for vr at least for a very long time.
- Tino Riedel
  
  I met Sebastian in person and he helped us a lot with his inside knowledge of VR software and hardware. He is a great guy! I know how hard it is to produce high quality video content in two! languages regularly for the VR scene for free and he has done this tirelessly over years now. This is awesome in my eyes and i think there are a lot of opportunities in the next years to bring VR to mainstream. I’m happy that there are people like him who have the courage to make a business out of it and I wish him every success on his journey!
  - Sebastian Ang
    
    Hi Tino, thank you so much! And it was indeed great to meet you recently! :)
- Bernard Cozier
  
  Somehow this rubs me the right way! I wish there was something similar in my area. Seb is trying something worthwhile with the added bonus of making the trying out of new VR Tech into a shared social experience. Winning combination!
  - Sebastian Ang
    
    Thanks man!!! :)
- Moe Curley
  
  Those damn businessmen, they all want money for their work. Too bad they all can’t work for free, like you.
dsadas

That’s great to hear! You deserve that. I would come too but I’m from romania sadly. I’m lurking around many vr youtube channels and websites but still unsure which headset to buy, or just to wait a bit more for the tech to become more immersive. When I go in vr I want to be totally blown away, not just half blown away because the sensation that you feel for the first time doing something like that I doubt you will ever feel again. It’s like masturbating for the first time… it will never be the same after, not even having sex with a very good looking girl.
- Sebastian Ang
  
  Haha… :) If you ever go on vacation to Germany, I hope you could stop by! I can’t offer you the girls, but I surely have all the VR headsets! :) Until then, simply watch my channel, will still give you all the reviews!
- Kim Strand
  
  Sex is about good looks, spoken like a true Virgin.
  - SexEdNurse
    
    Perceived attractiveness (not by conventional or collective standards, but by personal perception of a potential partner) directly relates to levels of arousal and post-coital satisfaction. Negating it as a factor is as asinine as treating it like the only factor.
    - Moe Curley
      
      Hey, the sexual dysfunction thread is over there.
Zantetsu

Wow he’s going to have a StarVR One? If only I lived anywhere close to Germany.

Maybe Sebastian can consider taking his equipment on tour … might be interesting to set up shop for a week or two in various U.S. cities … come to San Jose, please!
- Sebastian Ang
  
  YES, that is actually a brilliant idea and part of the stretch goals! :)
Erhannis Kirran

Haha…I was literally just last week considering doing something similar, much more informally. Like, post an ad on craigslist to come to my house and try out some headsets for like $20, etc., haha. It’s a service that I think ought to exist.
- Sebastian Ang
  
  That’s what I thought, too! And since I do have all the headsets, I am gonna make it happen! It really is a service that I believe is needed :)
  - Erhannis Kirran
    
    Well, good luck!
  - ViRGiN
    
    Your “trymytech” is the biggest flop in vr history, ever. You’re pathetic cringe dude. Thanks for reading my comment hahaha
Andrew Jakobs

hmmm.. that just sounds like, hee will you sponsor my hobby as I don’t want to invest money in it myself…
- Sebastian Ang
  
  Hi Andrew, I have spent most of my life savings on running my VR Youtube channel over the last 2 years. Instead of giving up now and going back to my regular job as an engineer, I am going all in with the MRTV Experience and some other VR related ways to make this work. By the way, I am not asking for donations or sponsoring, I am pre-selling tickets in this Kickstarter. So all the money that I receive here is *earned*. Sincerely, Sebastian
  - nejihiashi88
    
    open a patreon account if people find your content is good people will support you.
    - appleman
      
      this is him providing an additional service for some additional money
TonyVT SkarredGhost

All deserved, Sebastian is making a great service to inform the VR community
Rosko

Don’t really understand it, not something i would pay for personally.
- adasd
  
  why not? wouldnt you like the chance to try out multiple headsets to see what one you prefer before just having to buy one and hoping its what you imagined?
  - ViRGiN
    
    When i buy, i get full month to do whatever i want, not 1.5 hour to try. I can always refund.
Darron Edwards

Congrats, Seb ! I am so pleased for you , this is great publicity for your new venture. I’ve watched many of your great youTube videos and particularly when I was looking to buy a VR headset ( I have the PSVR and Oculus RIft S ) and was looking for as much info and reviews as possible to make my decision based on what I wanted it for and my budget. Your videos certainly helped with my decision due to your knowledge and expertise and enthusiasm for anything VR !! It takes guts to go self employed, something I also did here in England about 17 months ago. Your passion and commitment will see you through and I sincerely hope you do as well as you deserve. I hope to be able to visit you at MRTV HQ in Dortmund in the near future, would be great to meet you in person and share our passion for VR and gaming ! Good luck to you Seb, you totally deserve it, best wishes, Darron, Leicester UK.
- Sebastian Ang
  
  Hi Darron! Thanks so much for your comment! Was really happy to read it! It would be amazing if you could make it to Dortmund one fine day and we could share our passion for VR. I am glad I could help you with your decision wich headset to go for! :)
James Thornton Art Studio

I’d pay that to try all the headsets for sure. Especially with a person who knows their stuff, vs some random store employee. Wish it was in my area. Good luck sir!!
- Sebastian Ang
  
  Thank you James!! Who knows, perhaps one fine day there will be an MRTV Experience close to you! :)
Trenix

You can already try out all the headsets. Just buy them and return them if you don’t like them. Makes no sense and I really don’t trust this guy. I followed him a few days and all he kept advertising was the samsung odyssey, which is a piece of crap in every aspect. Just like most reviewers on Youtube, they don’t tell you what you want to hear, they just try to sugar coat things and try to sell you something. I’m assuming if anyone is honest on youtube, they’re probably shadow banned, demonetized, or both. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s sponsored by Samsung.
- Stefan
  
  Who do you think controls YT, then? I mean, Alphabet certainly doesn’t gain from helping out Samsung.
  - Trenix
    
    I never said it did, but you can’t say anything negative, not even criticism, or else google will melt like the snowflake infestation they are. They also have a partnership going on with Samsung. Google only allows what they want available. Can’t wait till our governments sets this psycho monopoly straight, along with other social medias. Hell I get banned, suspended, and censored off of most things daily, regardless if I broke rules or not.
    - Stefan
      
      If they were able to exercise that much control over their services, things like the Internet Research Agency (just one example of many) could never have happened. I don’t know why your user experience is so terrible, but I doubt there is malicious intent behind that.
      - Trenix
        
        Yes me and many others are just lying. Simply being part of what they deem the “wrong political party”, is a crime in their eyes. For crying out loud, there was undercover investigations that revealed their malicious intentions. I’m slowly moving over to bing.com as a search engine, because google only shows results for one side of the story. Open your eyes man.
      - Stefan
        
        Now I see where you are coming from. I strongly encourage you to read the Report.
- asshat
  
  hes offering the chance to try each headset and formulate your own opinion. That aligns precisely with what you want, unbias perspectives.
  
  So why are you being such a lil bitch?
  - Trenix
    
    Hello illiterate retard. He’s charging people $39 each to test out headsets in a group with the experience lasting a total of 90 minutes. This is a rip off, since most headsets can be purchased and returned within 30 days for free or a small shipping fee. That means, you can test a headset for 30 days and return it, meanwhile this guy is going to let you try it out for a few minutes for $39 within a group!
    
    You can also test some headsets out for free in local stores or pay around $20 at a VR arcade to try a headset for an entire hour. I’m not surprised that someone who makes deceptive reviews about the Samsung odyssey is screwing over his brain dead fans. There isn’t also anything to test, people don’t need to test out graphics cards or monitors to know which are better. It’s just a stupid idea supported by stupid people.
    
    Now go be his little bitch and pay up.
- ViRGiN
  
  I’m shadow banned by him, lol.
  His journalism is limited to opening website like this one and reading news during live video, while sharing useless thoughts and stopping mid sentence cause someone donated $0.50. everything vr related is cool for him, and has been recommending every single vr product out there, every single one. Why? Cause he believed vr is going to get huge and he could live off YouTube. They didn’t work out. Since sweviver got employed, this guy got butthurt and stopped discussing pimax nearly entirely, when he was doing it on a daily basis.
  
  Mrtv is the most cancerous vr YouTuber.
  - Trenix
    
    He calls his channel mixed reality TV, the bias is unreal. He got me to buy an odyssey and it was so uncomfortable that I returned it after a few minutes. He has so many better headsets and he recommends this piece of trash? Sounds fishy. I mean just look at all his videos about recommending it and then there is a new video where the odyssey is now selling a strap to improve comfort and he’s having an orgasm with that. If he thinks VR is going to survive, the odyssey wont be the thing that will save it.
    
    Either he’s mentally retarded, or he’s intentionally deceiving because of some unknown, or rather obvious, partnership. And yeah, he really doesn’t have his own news, he just hijacks sites like this and yet this site gives him recognition for it. If someone is going to dedicate their channel for VR news, probably a good idea to come up with your own crap and find information that others don’t know. I know how to read, don’t need him to do it for me.
    - ViRGiN
      
      Look at his “community” profile on YouTube – now he is asking his kids, ekhm, viewers, if he should “invest” over 2000 for a ticket to OC6.
      Like dude, wake up, many YouTubers got invited to OC6 and got their cost covered – not because they are Oculus fanboys or anything – but because they actually provide worthwile content. MRTV is not. Of course his viewers support him with this decision – as “he shouldn’t give Oculus exposure for free”. The same thing happened to SweViver – he was complaining that he can’t afford Oculus Quest and he has no interest in mobile power… he was also “asking” his kids what to do.
      
      They are not VR enthusiasts, they are VR con artists.
      Watch how this “MRTV headquarter” doesn’t last 6 months. We’ll probably see Indiegogo campaign towards end of the year.
      Sebastian talks about “expertize”… I can see it going like that – fov? Pimax! Budget? GO! Wireless? Vive Pro. Mobile? Quest! ANd he is going to charge money for it. This is yet another case of “hey i like vr, so i’ll start recording videos and make it my job”. He claims he has engineering degree, lol.
      - Trenix
        
        Yeah the engineering degree part made me laugh too. This guy has an engineer degree but yet rather start a youtube channel which is far more riskier being that you may never get as much as an engineer, or wont in MANY years of dedicated time. I’ve seen people who were actually popular with social media like Twitch, give up because it didn’t pay enough to waste all that time on it. So much for wasting time and money on a degree to get educated, just to make stupid life decisions.
Stefan

Nice idea, I do actually wonder how an Index, Rift S or Vive Pro fare against my CV1 and wether upgrading is worth it within the current gen or not. For other gaming-related hardware it’s mostly just comparing graphs and numbers, but HMD experiences are so extremely subjective (IMHO even more so than traditional displays or audio solutions) that it’s difficult to get an idea of the difference just by reading reviews or watching videos.
Sebastian Ang

Sounds cool! But you know, you can always come to Dortmund! There is a direct flight from London with RyanAir and EasyJet and it is really really cheap!
- ViRGiN
  
  So did you shut it down? Hahahahaha thanks for reading! Hahahahahahahaha
Peter Laurent

So this is a VR arcade? It’s a ton of work more than you could ever expect, but if you’re persistent I’m sure you will succeed!
You’ll find that having one line of VR headset will cause you fewer headaches when things break with clumsy customers, but it’s also a unique selling point to have more variety. Good luck to you Seb!
- asshat
  
  no this is not a vr arcade, those already exist. This would be more like a multi device testing experience.
The Bard

He wants people to sponsor his business. Actually, a funny thing :)
- Moe Curley
  
  You get to try all the different headsets to become more knowledgeable
  before making a $600 (or $1,000) purchase. And get guidance and advice
  from one of the most experienced people in the business (I know you will disagree because I can see from your comments that you believe you are the most intelligent person in the universe). I can’t believe
  there are people complaining about someone providing this service for
  $20 bucks.
- asshat
  
  oh he wants to provide a service in exchange for monetary value HAHAHAHA so damn funnnnnyyyyy.
  
  youre an idiot.