Hardware Can someone explain all about VR gears?

[Deleted User]

Why are PC VR Headgears so expensive? Aren't they just 2 small monitors with motion? Why there only exists a few brands (Oculus, Samsung, etc..) And why the chinese haven't yet copied them and sold them in a cheaper price?

What is the difference between PC VR gears and the ones for mobile phones (Android & iOS)? Is it just the port they connect to (HDMI vs USB-C)? Why the ones for mobile phones are much cheaper and the chinese have copied them to the extent that you got hundreds of models on Amazon alone (Excluding aliexpress)?

Can mobile phone VR gears work on PC? Why not?

 

[leon315]

Why are PC VR Headgears so expensive? Aren't they just 2 small monitors with motion? Why there only exists a few brands (Oculus, Samsung, etc..) And why the chinese haven't yet copied them and sold them in a cheaper price?

What is the difference between PC VR gears and the ones for mobile phones (Android & iOS)? Is it just the port they connect to (HDMI vs USB-C)? Why the ones for mobile phones are much cheaper and the chinese have copied them to the extent that you got hundreds of models on Amazon alone (Excluding aliexpress)?

Can mobile phone VR gears work on PC? Why not?

Chinese has other priorities like: trade wars, 5G development, AI, AIRCRAFT....., they are not interested to invest and build a such expensive toy.

PC VR demands more HW requirements -> mobile VR is fake VR and not worth the money

 

[gamesquest1]

there is ways of using gear vr / google cardboard using a few different programs like riftcat on PC but i did try it once and the experience wasn't too enjoyable, dodgy compatibility, quite a bit of smearing and disconnects etc, its probably good if you want to have a little trial/demo of what PC VR is like in terms of how the game will run on your PC, but when you actually use a HTC vive or Oculus the experience is much better

I would say in terms of image quality(not graphics quality), if you have a decent phone like S8-S9 etc i would say in terms of image quality there isn't *too* much difference (i know some people would disagree, but having used both of them im not completely blown away by the difference)

 

[Deleted User]

Chinese has other priorities like: trade wars, 5G development, AI, AIRCRAFT....., they are not interested to invest and build a such expensive toy.

They are 1.5 billion people... I guess they can invest

PC VR demands more HW requirements -> mobile VR is fake VR and not worth the money

Why the PC VR demands more HW requirements? Doesn't the GPU already do all the rendering and the VR is just a monitor? Isn't it the same process on mobile phones?

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Might there be any competitive products to Oculus, HTC and Samsung anytime soon?

 

[DCG]

Well, most of the time the screen is the most expensive, and these have 2.
You also have the positioning systems.
And last but certainly not least, the R&D costs.

Part quality is also an concern, I don't know how often I've hit my headset to date....

 

[leon315]

They are 1.5 billion people... I guess they can invest



Why the PC VR demands more HW requirements? Doesn't the GPU already do all the rendering and the VR is just a monitor? Isn't it the same process on mobile phones?

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

Might there be any competitive products to Oculus, HTC and Samsung anytime soon?

VR monitor has more than 60hz of refresh rates, in order to avoid players puke when they play it, you need a lot of RAM and a very fast CPU to process data, a good GPU alone is not enough: it's like a lot of water goes through narrow neck of giant bottle.

 

[gamesquest1]

tbh i think build quality and screen quality are very important for VR and unfortunately those 2 things would be the most likely place for a cheap clone to scrimp on, plus you kinda need decent software support, oculus and HTC already have professional software developers at hand so they can do a good job, i would imagine any clone would no doubt be depending on botched buggy software piecing together whatever open source scraps they can find so it kinda works, then piggybacking onto steamVR

and once you have the product don't expect to get any support when you find the controls aren't accurate enough to play most of the VR games you would like or any sort of tracking is barely functional, i think VR is just too complicated for anyone to clone to a usable user friendly level, at least with the cheap phones etc you can live with poor screens or laggy input, but that wouldn't really be viable with VR, it kinda requires a polished package to enjoy

 

[Kraken_X]

It's expensive because VR is difficult.

1. Because the screen is so close to your eyes, it needs to be much higher resolution than a TV or monitor to look good.
2. Because it's 3D, you need two separate screens - one for each eye
3. Low frame rates cause motion sickness, so you need a high refresh rate on the headset and lots of GPU power to drive 90+ fps and high resolution to multiple screens.
4. All of the above is very bandwidth intensive, so you need a very good link between the headset and the PC. Making that wireless is very expensive.
5. Headsets need a full set of gyroscopes for head tracking. They also include cameras so that you don't run into things, and microphones for voice chat.
6. Good VR headsets allow for free movement in a room. This requires an external tracking system.
7. Controllers need full motion controls and to work with the tracking system above. That means gyroscopes, etc.

So how does phone VR work for like $5? Not well. It's basically just holding your phone 2 inches in front of your face. On the upside, it is inherently wireless since your phone (or Switch) functions as both the PC and the headset. However, your phone's display (and even moreso the Switch) isn't really designed to provide the quality for VR. Instead of two screens, it divides your phone screen in half. So it's low resolution, 60fps maximum, relies only on your phone's gyroscope for head tracking. There is no external tracking, so you are limited to video and controller based games.

Still, it's so cheap to do phone VR, it's a solid way to try out VR in short bursts.


It's still very much a small market, so there isn't much competition yet either. There are basically 3 options. The Vive is made by HTC, which is a company on the verge of failure because they failed to understand what their customers wanted in a phone. VR is all they have left, so they are trying to keep prices high. Occulus is owned by Facebook, and their goal is mostly to gather user data. They do offer the cheapest prices, but they made some compromises in quality to get there. The index is created by Valve and is only a few months old. It's way better, but has an even higher price point as a result.

 

[Deleted User]

It's expensive because VR is difficult. It's still very much a small market, so there isn't much competition yet either.

1. Because the screen is so close to your eyes, it needs to be much higher resolution than a TV or monitor to look good.
2. Because it's 3D, you need two separate screens - one for each eye
3. Low frame rates cause motion sickness, so you need a high refresh rate on the headset and lots of GPU power to drive 90+ fps and high resolution to multiple screens.
4. All of the above is very bandwidth intensive, so you need a very good link between the headset and the PC. Making that wireless is very expensive.
5. Headsets need a full set of gyroscopes for head tracking. They also include cameras so that you don't run into things, and microphones for voice chat.
6. Good VR headsets allow for free movement in a room. This requires an external tracking system.
7. Controllers need full motion controls and to work with the tracking system above. That means gyroscopes, etc.

So how does phone VR work for like $5? Not well. It's basically just holding your phone 2 inches in front of your face. On the upside, it is inherently wireless since your phone (or Switch) functions as both the PC and the headset. However, your phone's display (and even moreso the Switch) isn't really designed to provide the quality for VR. Instead of two screens, it divides your phone screen in half. So it's low resolution, 60fps maximum, relies only on your phone's gyroscope for head tracking. There is no external tracking, so you are limited to video and controller based games.

Still, it's so cheap to do phone VR, it's a solid way to try out VR in short bursts.

I guess this answers everything... Thanks!