VR Gaining Traction in the HardForum

[Hagrid]

There is plenty of content to keep you busy and entertained. It is the immersive quality I most enjoy. It feels like you are there instead of watching it on a flat screen.
I tell my kids that playing on a flat screen is so archaic. It kind of is!

 

[Youn]

Told her the Vive was like what she did but better and, yeah, we're getting a Vive this Friday when we get paid.

You've tried both the Rift and Vive? Seemed almost everyone concluded Rift to be better except Vive has more room scale games?

 

[rehab]

Good! Go download Voxel and pump that stupid crap so I can selll my 9 dumptiliion of vox coin.

 

[TroubleMagnet]

All the rumors I've seen puts the next Vive and Rift versions in 2018. We're going to get the Microsoft + Dell/ASUS headsets and controllers by the end of the year, not clear how they will stack up. Should see a few other new players enter the market, haven't seen any that are close to release with hands-on review though. Still firmly in the early adopter stage, but at least both the Rift and Vive have started to go on sale now.

I've got both Vive and Rift + Touch. I like the ergonomics of the Rift+Touch a LOT better. The upcoming Vive headband it basically the Rift design ported over. Only having to put on one thing is pretty nice. I've used wireless headphones with the Vive but the issue is you're then putting on two layers of stuff on your head, and it makes it so you can't push the headset up to forehead level to mess with something on your monitor etc. either. There are more roomscale titles for the Vive and it's tracking is easier to set up for roomscale as well. However I don't think many of them are locked to the headset so you can use them with the Rift if you go to the trouble of setting it up for roomscale. Steam VR has good support for both.

My hope for next generation (or other players entering the field) is to get Oculus ergonomics, Vive tracking setup ease, and wireless. I think being able to flip up the display instead of having to take it off or push it up on your forehead would be nice too, but I haven't tried one with that feature so don't know if there are any drawbacks to it.

 

[kekewons]

You've tried both the Rift and Vive? Seemed almost everyone concluded Rift to be better except Vive has more room scale games?

Dunno about him, but I've tried both, and while I expected to be more wowed by the Vive, it was the Rift that left the better impression...which is why I advise anyone considering a purchase to demo if they can at a Microsoft store (both), or at a local Best Buy (Rift).

On that point: I learned one of the local Microsoft stores WAS demoing the Vive, even though it wasn't listed as part of the nationwide demo series and drove 90 miles round trip to test it out. I took pains ahead of time to carefully measure my IPD (and had it measured again at the Lenscrafters store which made my glasses), and insisted to the girl running the demo that IPD was adjustable--she finally found it and adjusted it to my eyes--so I know I tried a "best fit" for my eyes Vive unit. I also took along all the glasses I wear and found, as with the Rift, that one pair in particular gave me the best, clearest experience. It was still problematic though, and not only because of a fogging issue that just wouldn't go away.

For that reason and others, a demo (or a good return policy) should be part of anyones plan. And, yes, that IS a problem where the Pimax 4K is concerned.

 

[nvgrim]

VR is like 4K. It is a fad, nobody wants them. They need to go back to 17" 1080p screens and stop trying to make shit nobody wants.

Who the fuck wants a 17" 1080p screen lol, go back to 2007 if you want that.

 

[Mut1ny]

You've tried both the Rift and Vive? Seemed almost everyone concluded Rift to be better except Vive has more room scale games?

Really? I always thought the Vive was considered the best?

Oculus doesn't have Roomscale I believe and I know that adds a while dimension to the Vive.

If I can get both for the same price is the Oculus really the way to go?

 

[TroubleMagnet]

Oculus launched without their touch controllers, and no roomscale. When they shipped the touch controllers they only officially supported what I'd term "roomscale lite" in that you had smaller area to move around in and they expected you to face one direction the whole time. Unofficially you could use it for room scale stuff, it just was a pain to set up and had a smaller max size. They recently added offical roomscale support and better ability to add more sensors to get better coverage and be able to do a larger area.

The Vive launched with motion controllers and roomscale so was the better solution at the time.

I think the motion controllers are really more important than roomscale. Several of the really compelling games absolutely require motion controllers, but really don't need roomscale.

The Rift is harder to set up for roomscale because the cameras have to connect up to your computer via USB cables so running the cables is harder and you may need extension cables depending on where you computer is vs. where you want to put the sensors. The Vive lighthouse units just need to get power. They connect via bluetooth to the computer but really don't pass much data over it after the setup is done. Annoyingly they also get their wake up/go to sleep over it and it seems the signal gets lost occasionally. Hopefully the motors will last a long time! I think the Vive tracking works 2-3 feet farther from the bases than the Oculus does.

Go try them both and see which one you like best.

I much prefer the Rift + Touch right now. I find the Rift headset more comfortable to wear and easier to take on/off because of the integrated headphones. I also have the older Vive cable which is 3 cables in one so is more noticable when moving around. The touch controllers are a better layout than the Vive ones, IMHO. Again though, try them yourself and see what you think if you can.

 

[Toriessian]

Really? I always thought the Vive was considered the best?
Oculus doesn't have Roomscale I believe and I know that adds a while dimension to the Vive.
If I can get both for the same price is the Oculus really the way to go?

This is completely incorrect. Even before the latest update which added official support there were a number of people using 3+ sensors on their Rift+Touch doing full room scale stuff.
Its just a little bit of a pain to get to work correctly.

 

[Exavior]

Who the fuck wants a 17" 1080p screen lol, go back to 2007 if you want that.

fine, 15in 720p 30hz.

better? Haha

as for who wants that... The way people like to bitch, cry and moan about new technology at times I think the majority of the people here.

 

[sir-gold]

But in order to make it my "go to" it's gonna have to be better than using a big, wide, full-size projected image...and I'm not convinced yet it's better. Maybe as-good-as, but not necessarily better, and I already have the projector (and a lot of experience and seat time with it).

You can't look around or behind you with a flat screen, no matter how big it is.
Granted, any game that requires such actions will have a dedicated 'look' function, but VR makes it a much more natural thing to do.

 

[kekewons]

That is true, and for flight-sims in particular VR would probably be the preferred method, which is the biggest reason I'm interested. For racing (wheelbuttons typically used for look-left/look-right) the benefits are less obvious--in racing you spend most of your time focused on the area directly ahead, a narrow cone of vision, with occasional glances further left and right along the horizon out to either side. Three screens solutions are pretty popular among the sim-racers I know, but I happen to like open cockpit cars (60's F1) and the screen frames can intrude on the immersion.... You get it, I think.

This isn't me, but this guys setup and rig is nearly identical to mine:

I can't say for sure in his case, but in mine it's 1080P at 3feet (legs stick "through" the screen) and the FOV is about 100 degrees, give-or-take. You CAN see individual pixels, but when you are concentrating you just don't notice them at all. Moreover, because the individual cameras are accessible the view is quite customizable*....

[*rFactor]

The Pimax 4K seems to offer a pixel resolution pretty close to this, so that's the one I'm most strongly considering...not as a replacement for racing necessarily, but more for flying.

FWIW....

 

[Exavior]

That is true, and for flight-sims in particular VR would probably be the preferred method, which is the biggest reason I'm interested. For racing (wheelbuttons typically used for look-left/look-right) the benefits are less obvious--in racing you spend most of your time focused on the area directly ahead, a narrow cone of vision, with occasional glances further left and right along the horizon out to either side. Three screens solutions are pretty popular among the sim-racers I know, but I happen to like open cockpit cars (60's F1) and the screen frames can intrude on the immersion.... You get it, I think.

This isn't me, but this guys setup and rig is nearly identical to mine:

I can't say for sure in his case, but in mine it's 1080P at 3feet (legs stick "through" the screen) and the FOV is about 100 degrees, give-or-take. You CAN see individual pixels, but when you are concentrating you just don't notice them at all. Moreover, because the individual cameras are accessible the view is quite customizable*....

[*rFactor]

The Pimax 4K seems to offer a pixel resolution pretty close to this, so that's the one I'm most strongly considering...not as a replacement for racing necessarily, but more for flying.

FWIW....

One other thing that you are overlooking though is that your display there is flat. Sure it is better than a monitor, but everything is still perfectly flat. With VR you see everything in 3d all around. it is far more immersive.

 

[Hagrid]

Really? I always thought the Vive was considered the best?

Oculus doesn't have Roomscale I believe and I know that adds a while dimension to the Vive.

If I can get both for the same price is the Oculus really the way to go?

I have been using room scale

One other thing that you are overlooking though is that your display there is flat. Sure it is better than a monitor, but everything is still perfectly flat. With VR you see everything in 3d all around. it is far more immersive.

This x100000!
It's just not the same. I am screwed over now for games.

 

[tetris42]

One other thing that you are overlooking though is that your display there is flat. Sure it is better than a monitor, but everything is still perfectly flat. With VR you see everything in 3d all around. it is far more immersive.

This x100000!
It's just not the same. I am screwed over now for games.

This is the #1 thing I'm looking forward to from virtual reality. I don't care about all these mini-games for VR, but just being able to play existing games in true 3D (as opposed to half-assed attempts from 3D TV or NVidia's shuttter glasses) adds so much to the experience. I just wish there were more games in town besides VorpX for this sort of thing, since it only supports 100 titles or so.

 

[Hagrid]

This is the #1 thing I'm looking forward to from virtual reality. I don't care about all these mini-games for VR, but just being able to play existing games in true 3D (as opposed to half-assed attempts from 3D TV or NVidia's shuttter glasses) adds so much to the experience. I just wish there were more games in town besides VorpX for this sort of thing, since it only supports 100 titles or so.

There are quite a few really good titles! Hell, I play Rec Room Paintball almost everyday. I love it. It is awesome for unwinding.
Vorpx is pretty sweet. I played Bioshock and it was just incredible.

 

[sir-gold]

This is the #1 thing I'm looking forward to from virtual reality. I don't care about all these mini-games for VR, but just being able to play existing games in true 3D (as opposed to half-assed attempts from 3D TV or NVidia's shuttter glasses) adds so much to the experience. I just wish there were more games in town besides VorpX for this sort of thing, since it only supports 100 titles or so.

There is a VR version of the Dolphin Gamecube emulator that works similar fashion as vorpx. Metroid Prime supposedly plays pretty good in VR, other games not so well.