Discovery unveils virtual reality videos on new network devoted to immersive format

Discovery is unleashing the first videos for its virtual reality network, Discovery VR, a fledgling service that is testing the limits and capabilities of the immersive format.

The videos debuting Thursday on DiscoveryVR.com, YouTube and on Android and iPhone apps, reveal some of the promise of the medium, which covers every angle you could possibly look and is navigable by moving a smartphone around you or even clicking and dragging the viewing angle around with a mouse.

In the short video, "Shark Shipwreck," sharks swim around and above you — one even bumps the camera rig — as a narrator explains that the scent of food is being released by a diver nearby.