Regarding passthrough v.s. CGI BG, etc. I'll say neither is an attractive attribute I'd seek out (normal "real" backgrounds seem fine, I never found the orientation in the scene maps well to a real environment for me so i wouldn't want to use passthrough in the first place -- though it's fun tech, just not how I'd want to watch a full video). But assuming one is necessary: CGI > Plain/Static Color BG > PT for me.
The one thing I could see be interesting with having the capability is for non-static (moving video/audio) composite background environments (not necessarily on-device, but could be encoded into video in post). E.g. weird non-practical "sets" that could be filmed independent of the performer and combined later -- like a "very public" scene in a park/populated area with plot/dialog to reinforce the environment but filmed in the green-screen environment, etc.
Aside from the content in the video, a comment on the library/organization of such videos (and other types of "variants" of other videos):
It doesn't seem to be terribly uncommon to see the exact same video released multiple times independently with no concrete relationship in the UI. The problem seems to be that they're released with no easy way to know it's a derivative of a previous video (which presumably may have already been seen, put into various playlists, etc..).
FWIW, I'd suggest instead having either:
- Very clear UI feature to prominently link "this is a reproduction of _____" (and be able to click through to the original)
- Have the videos be the same "video" page (but have a sub-selection of what variant). This seems preferred since it eliminates the issue of having the same video but with different metadata (e.g. assignment to playlists).
The case for this one is basically an "exact" version of the same video with the alternate background. But the same concept may also apply to other non-exact but very related videos. E.g. POV v.s. non-POV variants of the same scene, original and "director's cut" variations of nearly the same content, etc. In the case of the non-exact but closely related videos, sharing the same video page/playlist memeberships/etc would not be expected.
