As originally shipped, Vive was at least half a gen ahead of rift. When Touch ships (8 months after vive), the controller gap will have closed but oculus' roomscale solution is clearly tacked on and not what the system was originally intended for. I think this will remain the key differentiator for the life of vive and rift.
3 sensors are required for a 2.5m x 2.5m play space. There are cumbersome guidelines on sensor placement (third sensor should be off to the side and not directly behind front sensors. Why??) and connectivity (oculus recommends the third sensor be plugged into a USB 2.0 port so as not to overwhelm the usb controller with too much data. The included extension cable with the third sensor is 2.0 only). Roomscale with rift will be more expensive, more difficult to set up, wastes space (A 1.5m square play space needs 2.5m square of room due to the limited FOV of the sensors), and does not support as large a space as vive does with 2 sensors.
Vive is behind in ergonomics but they seem to be quickly iterating on the hardware to make things better. The thinner cable is already shipping with new vives, and that alone makes a fairly big difference in comfort. There will be cheaper/simpler/smaller lighthouses and new controllers next year. I wouldn't be surprised if they released a better head strap at some point as well, although for me comfort is not an issue so much as taking it on and off.
3 sensors are required for a 2.5m x 2.5m play space. There are cumbersome guidelines on sensor placement (third sensor should be off to the side and not directly behind front sensors. Why??) and connectivity (oculus recommends the third sensor be plugged into a USB 2.0 port so as not to overwhelm the usb controller with too much data. The included extension cable with the third sensor is 2.0 only). Roomscale with rift will be more expensive, more difficult to set up, wastes space (A 1.5m square play space needs 2.5m square of room due to the limited FOV of the sensors), and does not support as large a space as vive does with 2 sensors.
Vive is behind in ergonomics but they seem to be quickly iterating on the hardware to make things better. The thinner cable is already shipping with new vives, and that alone makes a fairly big difference in comfort. There will be cheaper/simpler/smaller lighthouses and new controllers next year. I wouldn't be surprised if they released a better head strap at some point as well, although for me comfort is not an issue so much as taking it on and off.
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