Hardware Why I think VR Headset are not good yet.

[Der_Blockbuster]

About 3 months ago, Oculus released their successor of their original Oculus Rift Headset, also reffered as the CV-1.
The most notable change is how the tracking works:

Instead of relying on so called "Base Stations" which you setup in your Room, the new Rift S uses Cameras mounted on the headset
to track Controllers and the Postition of the Headset.

The tracking without Cameras works like this:
Basestations mounted at the walls will emit Infrared Lights at a certain frequency.
Then "Sensors" on the Headset can calculate how long the light did need to reach the headset and then tell your position by that.
Atleast that's how I understand that it works, don't take me on that.

Here is a litte picture to make it easier to understand:

Pros and Cons:
+ Very precise tracking
+ Can still track when the controller is behind your body or out of sight of the headset.
+ Upgradeable, you can add more base stations to enhance the tracking even more.

- Every Sensor needs to be plugged in.
- Not portable, without the basestations the Headset can't know where it is in the room.
- Expensive (additional cost)

This means that Headset which rely on the "Inside-Out Tracking" are cheaper.

Anyway let's stop with that technical stuff.

After researching a bit about the headset I thought that the Rift S would be a good way to start if you want to get into VR.
At the Price of 400$ or 449€ you can grab yourself the Rift S.
This is a lot of money and is probably for many people a deal-breaker, tho compared to the recently launched Valve Index somehow of a compromise.


Needless to say, I was really hyped to get an VR Headset, but the joy went down like an e^-x function.
Let's get to the problems with VR in its current state:

At no time I felt like I was in Virtual Reallity, I never felt like I was really there...It was more like watching a screen through goggles (hahaha yes I know that this is the case but VR should let you be immersed in the world, and make you forget that you're just wearing goggles).

Problem Nr.1:
Field of View (FOV).
The field of View of Humans is about 190 degrees combined horizontally and about 140 degrees vertically.

When using a VR Headset, there are many factors which will influence on how much of the FOV you're getting.
To accomplish the best possible settings, VR Manufacturs include options to give you the best possible fit.
For example an IPD Slider. This changes the position of the lenses to fit your eyes, because the distance between your eyes is different for every human being out there.
How far away the lenses are from your eyes bla bla bla.

It's hard to give a VR Headset a fixed FOV, because it's different for everyone.
Atleast on my end, I got a Horizontally FOV of 92 degrees.
And also a Vertical FOV of 102 degrees.
(measured with TestHMD)

To show you how it feels like for me, here's a picture to demonstrate it:

This means that if you're wanna look around, you have to constantly move your head, instead of being able to look around with your eyes.
This is the most negative aspect for me. Even when playing games, you don't feel like you're actually standing there.

Problem Nr.2:
Resolution:
Very Simple, when things are in front of your face, its not a problem.
But trying to use your Desktop in Vr, when the screen is 2m away from you, the whole thing just turns into a Pixel Mess.
This goes for everything, but to be fair, this is not that much of a problem in games.
Beat Saber or Five nights at Freddy's VR looked from a Gameplay perspective very playable.
The Resolution definetly has to go up, but this is not the most important factor to create a good illusion.

Problem Nr.3:
Screen Door Effect:

This is also another negative aspect which often breaks the illusion for me.
As you can see in the picture above, it is like having a bug net infront of your Screen (Picture is for demonstrational purposes).
To be fair the Rift S has improved this over the original CV-1 but it's still there.

This is it, you look at something and all these effects together ruin it.
Everything in the far gets Pixalated, you don't know how hyped I was to play Space Engine in VR, but this is kinda useless if you can't really see the stars because their Pixels are getting crushed.

And this is what I don't get, why are there always so tini tiny steps being made?
Why not completely remove this effect?
Why not completely up the resolution?
And don't come with it would be too expensive, heck the Valve Index is sold out and costs 1000$.
At this rate of progress we will have a good VR Headset in maybe 4 years?

Problem Nr.4:
The Cable:
There are Wireless Solutions but they cost $$$.
And If you want to take no compromise on Quality you have to go tethered.
-> Stepping on the cable
-> Almost falling over the cable
-> The cable twisting up
-> The Cable is too short


Problem Nr.5:
Comfort:
Yeah I know you can't make everyone happy, but getting a good fit is not as easy as you think.
Wiggling until the Text is Sharp, if you wan't the highest FOV you have to get the Headset real close, which will result in pain because the Headset is pressing too much on my forehead.
Sometimes the Headset did press onto my Forehead or my Nose which resulted in Pain after 20min of Playing.
Also getting the Headset on and off is kinda annoying because you often touch the lenses with your forehead and they get blurred by your skin grease.
I guess people with a Small Head will have a perfect fit with this headset, but my Head belong to those which are a big on the bigger end.

The Temperature is sometimes also a problem under the Goggles, a small fan with a breeze of air would do the trick I guess.
I often had a extremely sweaty face after playing VR for about half an hour.

Enough ranting, there was also some positive:

The Controller:
The Rift S Controller are georgous, they feel high quality and very sturdy.
The Buttons give nice feedback, and there are cool things like, when you rest your finger on the Button, the controller actually knows that you're touching it.
It just felt very intuitive and this is what sometimes got me in the virtual world...picking stuff up and throwing it, or just taking a close look, or changing your environment.

The Tracking:
Even tho the Rift S features Inside out tracking, I've yet to see it fail.
Seeing your movements being Translated 1:1 into the game is a nice thing. And I had very fun with it when I wen't to VR Chat.
All in all there's nothing else to be said about the tracking, it just works!

The Overall build Quality of the headset:
The Rift S is fully made out of Plastic and a Rubber/Foam face gasket.
The Headset is not too heavy, but also feels very solid.
What I expected.

(there are some problems with this headset like static pictures every 5min, which happens if you wiggle on the cable, or the Headset bugging completely out and nothing works anymore, artifacts everywhere which requires a restart of the headset.)

The ease of use and Software:
This is specific to the Oculus Software, this shit rocks.
It has everything you want, sometimes I was just sitting on my bed and enjoying my 2 Screens in Vr, making one the Size of a Cinema and watching a Video, while reading something on the other screen.
Switching games, adjusting the Volume, changing the Settings, often in less that 2 Clicks done.
Also the Setup is very easy and user friendly. It literally took me about 5 minutes to get from the first start in the VR World.
I can't stress this enough how well made I think the Oculus Software is, thumbs up!

In Conclusion:
While it might be tempting to get a VR Headset or HMD nowadays, I would suggest you to wait.
And if you can't wait, order one from Amazon and try it!
From my point of view the Negatives outweigh the positives, and I can't sleep well thinking I payed almost half a grand for half-hearted experience.
Another reason for returning the Rift S is games.
There are not many good VR Games I could count them with my fingers atleast.
I'm talking about good AAA VR games, that's what we need and thats what VR Needs.
No games -> No one buys it, -> No one buys it -> no one makes games for it.
We have a chicken and the egg problem here, and I hope this will change over time.

There are alternatives like the Pimax 5k or Pimax 8k, these are Headsets which feature a very big FOV and high resolution, but as far as I've heard this product has very poor build quality and is probably not aimed at the consumer currently.

Well this is my opinion on it, and I will greatly hand out my money as soon as there is something out there that fits my criterias.
What do you think?
I hope the Vive Comsos goes in the right direction and we'll might see a good competitor to the Rift S.

I hope this was readable, I'm not a good writer and It's already almost 3am in the morning so bedtime for me .

 

[Cyan]

Thank you for writing this review.

I tested only the PS4 VR, which I know is not the best visually, but can see it share all the same issues. FOV, resolution, tracking (usually stuck in a very short zone, screen becomes black if you move too far away, it's like 1m² area), cable, temperature, etc.
I've read that Sony is working on a new VR2 for PS5 which will improve most of these issues. I hope to get confirmation and would be happy to test it.


The next version is rumored to have the tracking in the headset, the "GPU unit" integrated, no cable (2-5h autonomy), better resolution 2560 x 1440 @ 120hz, and a bigger/larger 220° FOV, and most of all "eye tracking" !
I'm really curious to see the result of eye tracking so you can "look around" without moving your head, and the picture adapts to where you look.
Are there already existing VR headsets with that feature?

or maybe it'll be used to focalize? using your door's picture as example, I mean having the looked object clear (for example the door) and far field blurry.


What I'd like to see in VRheadset is the possibility to match your vision's level/problem. You know, I have myopia, and wearing glasses under the headset is annoying. It would be great if you could set each eye vision independently (and store in a file so it's easy to have multiple users) like when you go to ophthalmologist. they can set their machine's dioptric value to let you see more or less blurry to simulate the depth of field.
right now, PSVR can only setup the eye distance, and not easily. you have to take a screenshot of your face, and place gadgets on your pictured face at eye's position to get an approximated eye distance. It would be better to just have a value to change yourself at will.

Another annoying thing on PSVR is the 2D mode (cinema), you can't setup the screen distance yourself, it's either too small, or too big. but it's not a PSVR issue, just sony's choice.

 

[Der_Blockbuster]

I like the PSVR, it has great Value and at the price of 270€ with a game included it just seems to be the best choice.
The disadvantage is of course the fact that your bound to official games and software.

You're very limited with what you can do.
But I think Sony goes in the right direction.

Eyetracking is a very important feature, because in reality we can only focus on a small area when looking around. And by using the eye tracker, we could use adaptive rendering. The PC wouldnt need to render the whole image with 100% resolution.

There is actually the Vive Pro Eye which has Eyetracking, but this Headset is not made for consumers, rather as business solution.

If the new PSVR turns out how you said then this could be an instant buy!

Thanks for your reply!

 

[fvig2001]

PSVR can be used on PC to play VR games but it's a pain to setup. How do you feel about the Oculus Quest?

 

[Niels Van Son]

I own an Acer Windows Mixed Reality headset. It's one of the lesser talked about VR headsets, but I thought it would be worth talking about since it's currently the cheaper consumer-oriented PC VR thingy there is on the market (I got mine for about 200€). It, too, uses inside-out tracking.

As the name implies, "Windows Mixed Reality" is a generic term that is used by manufacturers to produce VR headsets that work with Windows 10 PCs, and more specifically the "Mixed Reality Portal". As I said, I own the Acer one. Now, don't get your hopes up, there's nothing "Mixed" about this "Reality", it's literally just a VR headset.

It has 1440x1440p / Eye which makes for a full 1440p LCD panel span across both eyes, more or less on par with the Vive Pro, a refresh rate of 90Hz, an HDMI 2.0 cable (Soldered on the headset, sadly, and you can use an HDMI 1.4 port, but you'll be limited to 60Hz until you switch to HDMI 2.0) and a USB 3.0 cable (Soldered as well, and you NEED to plug it in a USB 3.0 port accounting the amount of data needed) : Both are a bit too short for my liking. It also comes with a wired headphone jack on the left for all your audio needs. All of that, along with a 90° FOV (And we'll come back to that later)

Regarding build quality of the headset itself : It's fine, nothing out of the extraordinary but it doesn't feel outright cheap either, when you put it on however, it feels really confortable with a little cushion piece covering your face, and an adjustable head mount, having a wheel in the back to adjust the width. I was surprised about how nice it felt to put it on.

When it comes to actual usability, and since it was my first "true" VR headset : I found myself to adjust the placement of the headset on my face way too often. The center would be blurry, then the sides, then my eyes would be too close, etc. This could be a general concern regarding VR, but it certainly bothered me at first. I got used to it quickly though, so it's not really a problem anymore.
The screen door effect is obviously there, although I was expecting it, the resolution not being quite high enough. The headset tracking is really precise : Yes ! I was surprised at first ! There is absolutely no discernable difference between a Vive for example and this one, it's basically perfect (as long as it picks up your floor, which it needs to do every time you boot it up, but it's really quick anyway).

Noooowwww.... The controllers.

This is the tricky part. You can say I have really MIXED feelings about them (get it ?). Each Mixed Reality headset comes with Microsoft designed controllers and MAN ! Do they feel plasticky. They are confortable enough to hold and are relatively heavy (Not too much though, that'd be bad) but they feel like the could break SO easily, and the fact they use 2 AA batteries for each controller isn't helping... From my experience, they can hold for approximately 10-12 hours on new batteries and non stop playing Beat Saber with a lot of vibrations. Without the vibrations, I expect them to hold on much longer. Windows has a nice feature letting you know when your controller batteries are low, and it just disables the haptic feedback if they get too low so that you can squeeze that last bit of power of them. On the controllers, you have a touch pad, a joystick and a few other buttons for numerous use cases. They both have that big "halo" extension on them (Look it up on Google so you know what I'm talking about ha ha) which holds the LEDs needed for the tracking.

THE CONTROLLER TRACKING BY THE WAY (COUGH COUGH)

Yeah... It's not great. It's not bad and still very precise, but nowhere near as stable as an outside tracking solution. They often are jiggly on screen if they don't outright pop out of it : No worries in that case though, they actually made great software, allowing the headset to reposition your controllers in no time at all if they end up out of bounce. To compensate this, they calculate where should logically be the controllers according to your last movements : Let's say you balance your arms back and forth, even though the controllers end up out of the reach of the cameras when your controllers are behind your back, your PC knows what you're supposedly trying to do, and will replicate that as best as it can. There is still a lot of progress to be made, but it's already a nice thing to have.

I won't dive too much into the Mixed Reality portal because YT reviews do it much better than I could ever hope to do but you have to know that the headset is fully compatible with the FULL SteamVR library allowing for a ton of games to be played (Along with the Microsoft Store VR Games, but like... yeah.).

Overall, I love it. The controllers may not be the best, but the setup is really easy to do thanks to inside out tracking and the experience I've had so far with it has been a blast. I would recommend you to buy it, but look the newer Mixed Reality headsets, you might be surprised.

 

[Der_Blockbuster]

I own an Acer Windows Mixed Reality headset. It's one of the lesser talked about VR headsets, but I thought it would be worth talking about since it's currently the cheaper consumer-oriented PC VR thingy there is on the market (I got mine for about 200€). It, too, uses inside-out tracking.

As the name implies, "Windows Mixed Reality" is a generic term that is used by manufacturers to produce VR headsets that work with Windows 10 PCs, and more specifically the "Mixed Reality Portal". As I said, I own the Acer one. Now, don't get your hopes up, there's nothing "Mixed" about this "Reality", it's literally just a VR headset.

It has 1440x1440p / Eye which makes for a full 1440p LCD panel span across both eyes, more or less on par with the Vive Pro, a refresh rate of 90Hz, an HDMI 2.0 cable (Soldered on the headset, sadly, and you can use an HDMI 1.4 port, but you'll be limited to 60Hz until you switch to HDMI 2.0) and a USB 3.0 cable (Soldered as well, and you NEED to plug it in a USB 3.0 port accounting the amount of data needed) : Both are a bit too short for my liking. It also comes with a wired headphone jack on the left for all your audio needs. All of that, along with a 90° FOV (And we'll come back to that later)

Regarding build quality of the headset itself : It's fine, nothing out of the extraordinary but it doesn't feel outright cheap either, when you put it on however, it feels really confortable with a little cushion piece covering your face, and an adjustable head mount, having a wheel in the back to adjust the width. I was surprised about how nice it felt to put it on.

When it comes to actual usability, and since it was my first "true" VR headset : I found myself to adjust the placement of the headset on my face way too often. The center would be blurry, then the sides, then my eyes would be too close, etc. This could be a general concern regarding VR, but it certainly bothered me at first. I got used to it quickly though, so it's not really a problem anymore.
The screen door effect is obviously there, although I was expecting it, the resolution not being quite high enough. The headset tracking is really precise : Yes ! I was surprised at first ! There is absolutely no discernable difference between a Vive for example and this one, it's basically perfect (as long as it picks up your floor, which it needs to do every time you boot it up, but it's really quick anyway).

Noooowwww.... The controllers.

This is the tricky part. You can say I have really MIXED feelings about them (get it ?). Each Mixed Reality headset comes with Microsoft designed controllers and MAN ! Do they feel plasticky. They are confortable enough to hold and are relatively heavy (Not too much though, that'd be bad) but they feel like the could break SO easily, and the fact they use 2 AA batteries for each controller isn't helping... From my experience, they can hold for approximately 10-12 hours on new batteries and non stop playing Beat Saber with a lot of vibrations. Without the vibrations, I expect them to hold on much longer. Windows has a nice feature letting you know when your controller batteries are low, and it just disables the haptic feedback if they get too low so that you can squeeze that last bit of power of them. On the controllers, you have a touch pad, a joystick and a few other buttons for numerous use cases. They both have that big "halo" extension on them (Look it up on Google so you know what I'm talking about ha ha) which holds the LEDs needed for the tracking.

THE CONTROLLER TRACKING BY THE WAY (COUGH COUGH)

Yeah... It's not great. It's not bad and still very precise, but nowhere near as stable as an outside tracking solution. They often are jiggly on screen if they don't outright pop out of it : No worries in that case though, they actually made great software, allowing the headset to reposition your controllers in no time at all if they end up out of bounce. To compensate this, they calculate where should logically be the controllers according to your last movements : Let's say you balance your arms back and forth, even though the controllers end up out of the reach of the cameras when your controllers are behind your back, your PC knows what you're supposedly trying to do, and will replicate that as best as it can. There is still a lot of progress to be made, but it's already a nice thing to have.

I won't dive too much into the Mixed Reality portal because YT reviews do it much better than I could ever hope to do but you have to know that the headset is fully compatible with the FULL SteamVR library allowing for a ton of games to be played (Along with the Microsoft Store VR Games, but like... yeah.).

Overall, I love it. The controllers may not be the best, but the setup is really easy to do thanks to inside out tracking and the experience I've had so far with it has been a blast. I would recommend you to buy it, but look the newer Mixed Reality headsets, you might be surprised.

Very interesting indeed, I think that will give this a look. I mean at that price point.

You wanted to talk about the fov, in the beginning but never got back to it. What did you wanted to say?

Tbh this sounds like my Rift S. I don't think I will have a worse experience with this one.

And thanks for clearing the "mixed" up.
I always thought they support augmented reality

 

[Niels Van Son]

Very interesting indeed, I think that will give this a look. I mean at that price point.

You wanted to talk about the fov, in the beginning but never got back to it. What did you wanted to say?

Tbh this sounds like my Rift S. I don't think I will have a worse experience with this one.

And thanks for clearing the "mixed" up.
I always thought they support augmented reality

Oh I'm sorry, I completely forgot. What I wanted to say is that it's noticeably narrow, to the point where your eyes almost don't move at all, somewhat worse than what you said about the rift S

 

[Joe88]

I recently (few months ago) purchased a complete vive (new-open box) for $400

There is just a lack of content for it, on the pc anyway there is tons and tons of things but its mostly all shovelware tier apps, you can obtain pretty much all games/apps through piracy at least eliminating some of the costs of vr. You got stuff like beat saber which will keep you busy for awhile, but tacked on vr like zoe2 mars is just a horrible experience.

I also went ahead and order the deluxe audio strap for $75, fiddling around with headphones, both the 3.5mm ones and USB ones that I went though the on headset usb pass through was getting annoying, also the strap its self is pretty bad, too much weight on the front and not enough support on the back of the head, allowing it to become lose / slip off so hopefully this improves the in game experience.


The index has been getting mixed reviews, particularly the controllers which were overhyped.

 

[Der_Blockbuster]

I recently (few months ago) purchased a complete vive (new-open box) for $400

There is just a lack of content for it, on the pc anyway there is tons and tons of things but its mostly all shovelware tier apps, you can obtain pretty much all games/apps through piracy at least eliminating some of the costs of vr. Your got stuff like beat saber which will keep you busy for awhile, but tacked on vr like zoe2 mars is just a horrible experience.

I also went ahead and order the deluxe audio strap for $75, fiddling around with headphones, both the 3.5mm ones and USB ones that I went though the on headset pass through was getting annoying, also the strap its self is pretty bad, too much weight on the front and not enough support on the back of the head, allowing it to become lose / slip off so hopefully this improves the in game experience.


The index has been getting mixed reviews, particularly the controllers which were overhyped.

You're very right.
I really hoped the index will bash everything but in the end its more of the same with a different Skin on it.

Do you think that vr will ever break through?
In regards of VR Gaming.

 

[Joe88]

You're very right.
I really hoped the index will bash everything but in the end its more of the same with a different Skin on it.

Do you think that vr will ever break through?
In regards of VR Gaming.

Valve said they have a "flagship" vr game coming later this year, they didn't announce what it actually was though
https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-vr-game/

It seems signs and data mining are pointing to half-life vr

 

[Hanafuda]

My only interest in VR is for sim racing, possibly flight sims. Not concerned with 'room scale' games. Sim racing and flight sims are done seated/stationary, so sensor/controller occlusion isn't an issue. I've read all I need for sim racing with a Valve Index is the headset and one 'lighthouse', so that's the way I'm planning to go. About $650. It's more than the Rift S, but not that much more. The Index has better (than Rift S) resolution, better audio, and manual IPD adjustment. And though the Index is still lacking in comparison to natural human FOV, it exceeds the FOV on all the other headsets except Pimax. Pimax has an extreme horizontal FOV, but I've read and seen YT reviews that there is much distortion on the edges. No thanks.

If I change my mind about 'room scale' games after getting the Index, I can just save up a bit more to purchase the controllers and additional lighthouse.

Just an alternative suggestion, if your thing is looking silly while pretending you're driving a car or piloting an aircraft, not looking silly while flailing about in an empty room.

 

[Der_Blockbuster]

My only interest in VR is for sim racing, possibly flight sims. Not concerned with 'room scale' games. Sim racing and flight sims are done seated/stationary, so sensor/controller occlusion isn't an issue. I've read all I need for sim racing with a Valve Index is the headset and one 'lighthouse', so that's the way I'm planning to go. About $650. It's more than the Rift S, but not that much more. The Index has better (than Rift S) resolution, better audio, and manual IPD adjustment. And though the Index is still lacking in comparison to natural human FOV, it exceeds the FOV on all the other headsets except Pimax. Pimax has an extreme horizontal FOV, but I've read and seen YT reviews that there is much distortion on the edges. No thanks.

If I change my mind about 'room scale' games after getting the Index, I can just save up a bit more to purchase the controllers and additional lighthouse.

Just an alternative suggestion, if your thing is looking silly while pretending you're driving a car or piloting an aircraft, not looking silly while flailing about in an empty room.

I see it the same way, about the Valve Index.
It's better than what we have, but not as good as we hoped.
What I always wondered about is doesn't a low FOV break the immersion while Simracing?
It would be nice to hear back from you once you get the Index and to know how you think it is.

Also, ever heard of the HTC Kosmos? You may wait until you hear more about it, this could be an alternative for the Index, but only time will tell.

 

[Joe88]

The good thing about that is its flip up display and vented

they should just install 2 little fans in them tbh

 

[Hanafuda]

I see it the same way, about the Valve Index.
It's better than what we have, but not as good as we hoped.
What I always wondered about is doesn't a low FOV break the immersion while Simracing?
It would be nice to hear back from you once you get the Index and to know how you think it is.

Also, ever heard of the HTC Kosmos? You may wait until you hear more about it, this could be an alternative for the Index, but only time will tell.

1st, thx for the heads-up about the Kosmos. I'll have plenty of time to see how it compares before I jump in. Probably a year from now. One thing I've learned with age is buy once, cry once. (Don't buy crap and you won't have regrets, just an empty wallet.) Last summer I bought Sony's flagship Z1R headphones and WM1A Walkman. Money well spent, but a lot of money. So now I'm saving for new toys, while I also have house & car & insurance payments, kid in highschool w/ a violin habit, etc. And for the simracing, I'm holding out until I can slam together a full Fanatec kit, dedicated PC build, and VR headset all at once. The 'cockpit' I'll probably build myself. I'm not impressed with the commercial cockpits until you get to high-end, i.e. would bust my budget.

Anyway, your question ... I've been doing a lot of research and YT viewing on the sim racing thing. The answer, from at least some experienced people whose opinion I trust, is the limited FOV does suck for racing, but at the same time is 'accurate.' Modern auto racing almost always involves wearing a full-face helmet, so the limited FOV of a VR headset is about right. And the enhanced depth-perception and situational awareness with VR vs. a 2D screen usually results in better lap times once the driver acclimates.

 

[Pipistrele]

I think the price is exactly why VR headsets are not good yet - even if eliminating all the problems above, the price tags are so steep that it's destined to remain a niche device for a small subset of rich hardcore gamers, which in result contributes to lack of developers willing to make serious projects for the thing. I think we'll have to wait for the price to drop to at least $100 range for both gamedevs and average players to start treating the technology more seriously.

 

[diggeloid]

You can't buy the cheap shit (Oculus anything) and expect to have a good experience. Facebook dropped out of the race when they started focusing on being the cheapest option out there. Worse than that though, they're muddying the waters by introducing people to VR with their subpar cheap garbage.

Valve is the only company out there still genuinely trying to push the technology forward. Did you see those new controllers? Now THAT'S a major step forward for immersion. People tend to talk a lot about the familiar "specs" on the headsets when comparing VR systems, like the resolution, refresh rate, etc. Anyone who has been using VR for a while knows that those only paint a small part of the bigger picture. Immersion is the number one spec, and the tracking quality and peripherals are a HUGE part of it.

Yeah, the better tech is more expensive. That's something that needs to change down the line. But saying they "aren't good yet" just because you don't have the cash to drop on it right now is silly. I'm sure if you saved up and bought yourself an Index, you'd have a different opinion.

 

[Der_Blockbuster]

You can't buy the cheap shit (Oculus anything) and expect to have a good experience. Facebook dropped out of the race when they started focusing on being the cheapest option out there. Worse than that though, they're muddying the waters by introducing people to VR with their subpar cheap garbage.

Valve is the only company out there still genuinely trying to push the technology forward. Did you see those new controllers? Now THAT'S a major step forward for immersion. People tend to talk a lot about the familiar "specs" on the headsets when comparing VR systems, like the resolution, refresh rate, etc. Anyone who has been using VR for a while knows that those only paint a small part of the bigger picture. Immersion is the number one spec, and the tracking quality and peripherals are a HUGE part of it.

Yeah, the better tech is more expensive. That's something that needs to change down the line. But saying they "aren't good yet" just because you don't have the cash to drop on it right now is silly. I'm sure if you saved up and bought yourself an Index, you'd have a different opinion.

Right because the Index costs double the price and does not eliminate the main problems that the Oculus Rift S has, why would I spent money on it then?
Heck even for example Godrays are even worse on the Index.
Hands down the Controllers are the future and very innovative for sure, also the comfort and adjustabillity is perfect on the Index.
The Controllers are next gen, but the headset is definetly not.
It's not like I don't have the money for the index, it's just that I don't think its worth to get scammed over about 1000€ to have a comparable experience like I had on the Rift S, which was not even good to say the least.

Like @Pipistrele said, the price is the problem.
Look at the Index, look at it's flaws, look at the Rift S flaws, the cost way to much for the normal end user already.

I don't care if it's not perfect when I pay 300 bucks for the whole package.
But 1079€?

Who knows VR Gaming could also just die in the next few years.

 

[Vorde]

I'm honestly hoping that there's a studio or a team out there working on a MMORPG that's VR exclusive. If we got something with the quality of World of Warcraft that was a VR exclusive game, people would be buying VR systems very quickly. It's the game that drives the technology in my opinion, as there's not as heavy of a persuit of the technology without any kind of drive or incentive.

 

[Alexander1970]

Hello.

Is anyone of you wearing glasses ?

I can not wear contact lenses.
So I have to leave my Glasses on.I am extremely shortsighted (when seeing,my friends).
For PC work/gaming I have an "normal" over 9 years old LCD Monitor connected via DVI.For TV/watching Movies an near 9 year old LCD TV.

For me it is a "torture" to watch a 3D Movie in a Cinema or on an High End TV.

Can you tell me how is this feeling for one with wearing glasses ?
Do you even play with glasses?

I would be very grateful if you could describe the feeling to me.

Thank you.

 

[diggeloid]

Right because the Index costs double the price and does not eliminate the main problems that the Oculus Rift S has, why would I spent money on it then?

The Index is objectively the better headset. God rays, screen door, etc. are minor problems in the current generation of VR. They're "minor" because they don't have a substantial effect on the key quality indicator for VR: immersion. This is the mental hurdle people need to overcome in understanding VR systems. Terms like "1080p" and "4k" are common nowadays and everyone pretty much knows what it means. Some people are willing to drop 2-3 times the cost on a 4k/HDR/3D TV over a standard one just because they have a vague idea that "it's better".

So when they see this new technology along with familiar terms like "4k" and "3D", they naturally attribute their preconceptions of those ideas to the headsets. That's very misleading. The primary goal of a TV could be described as: paint a pretty picture. For VR, it's transport me to another reality.

For example, most people don't care too much about the speakers on their TV since 1) most people aren't audiophiles and 2) audiophiles likely plan to hook their TV up to an external sound system anyways. So audio quality in VR is often overlooked, yet audio quality is one of the most important qualities for immersion. It's certainly more important than display density. Look at the incredible work Valve has done for spatial audio, as well as the unique speakers on the Index designed to improve spatial awareness.

Another thing is refresh rate. Most people are fine with 60hz when playing games or watching TVs. Some people have never even experienced anything higher than that. In VR though, the refresh rate makes a huge difference since the headset is attached to your face and directly impacts your body's coordination and reaction time mechanisms. How could you possibly believe you're in another reality when the motor functions you've built up over the course of your entire life are suddenly out of whack? You can't. It's impossible. Your body will notice the difference and you will never feel truly immersed. That's why it's laughable that Facebook is releasing a high end headset with an 80hz refresh rate while the competition (Valve) has one that supports up to 144hz.

Screen door isn't as big a problem as those. It's annoying, sure, but it's still possible to be 100% immersed even with screendoor. Our eyes and brains know how to work together to stitch together an image that is partially obscured. It's how our primate ancestors could see through the forest canopy to spot threats and hunt. Improving screen door would certainly be nice, but that's one of those problems that will solve themselves overtime as the availability and pricing for high density displays drops. The technology already exists, we just have to wait for it to get cheaper, but it's not going to improve VR enough to make it worth the wait.

God rays are already solvable today in software. Just don't add dark scenes. Look at Robo Recall, that game is very bright and sunny and has no god rays when you play. Complaining about this is like complaining about the font used to print the letters on an N64 controller; sure, some people might not like it, but there are so many other things more important that it's not even worth mentioning.


I'm not saying the Index is perfect, or even a good value. It just really annoys me to see people criticize this technology they don't understand.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Hello.

Is anyone of you wearing glasses ?

I can not wear contact lenses.
So I have to leave my Glasses on.I am extremely shortsighted (when seeing,my friends).
For PC work/gaming I have an "normal" over 9 years old LCD Monitor connected via DVI.For TV/watching Movies an near 9 year old LCD TV.

For me it is a "torture" to watch a 3D Movie in a Cinema or on an High End TV.

Can you tell me how is this feeling for one with wearing glasses ?
Do you even play with glasses?

I would be very grateful if you could describe the feeling to me.

Thank you.

If your glasses are small enough, you might be able to wear them perfectly fine with any headset. Some headsets are even adjustable so you can create more space for glasses. The only problem is that if you adjust them too much (by moving the display away from your face), you'll decrease the FOV. That can be solved with smaller glasses.


As for how it feels, it's fine. I have prescription lenses that I only wear sometimes when I'm reading, but I've worn them in VR and didn't notice any difference in comfort or quality. I don't know if a stronger prescription will affect the optics.