General VR discussion thread

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Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
the main issue is the lack of support for the aspect ratio. no amount of software scaling will overcome developers not supporting the output natively. with the samsung odyssey being higher res and width, there is a better chance of devs supporting variable video output or at least non rift/vive res.

I saw some early reports that the non-standard FoV was causing issues with stretching and such, but people have been posting from recent play tests (they've been going around the world), and stating that the stretching issues have been fixed.

I think what tempts me the most is that I already own a Vive, which actually knocks a huge chunk off the full price since you can reuse the Vive base stations and controllers. But it's still $500.
 

gorobei

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2007
3,654
980
136
the thing about the pixmax8k is that it brings the primary thing everyone can agree on (higher res and fov). with tracking and controllers being the same as vive, the only downside is longterm customer support but as the TH article says: they have a record of delivering a finished product. assuming they can lock down the stuff they have promised for the oct 20ish next prototype, it is a viable contender on paper. the 90hz is partially on the gpu makers to solve, but assuming the hmd is 90hz capable on the lcd side then it isnt a step down from the vive/rift. [the biggest caveat i can see is heat. strobbed lcd backlight still seems like it will generate way more heat than oled. without active cooling it could severely shorten playtime or comfort. tho heated lenses are one way to minimize fogging]

that makes the only issue whether or not you think occulus or htc will come out with something better for gen 2.0. the lg demo shows there is some room for improvement on the ergo side. the ms vr units show inside out optical is around the corner.
but santa cruz looks like it wont be a high end gaming option anytime soon. htc is in the middle of divesting and selling off its divisions. valve is still going on lighthouse 2.0 so inside out optical for hmd or controllers is unlikely in the steamvr ecosystem. all the players could end up waiting to see how the 8k is received before jumping on the res/fov wagon.

if 210deg fov is vr gen2 and everything else is ergo/wireless/controller form factor, then gen3(lightfield display, full body tracking, realworld tracking and passthru) wont be for a while. with occulus splitting between go(mobile) and rift(gaming) it seems like a hedge on which tech gets cheap enough to bleed to the other market to make a gen3.

god, remember stardock vr? whatever happened to them.
 
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Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
[the biggest caveat i can see is heat. strobbed lcd backlight still seems like it will generate way more heat than oled. without active cooling it could severely shorten playtime or comfort. tho heated lenses are one way to minimize fogging]

Hm, that's an interesting point. I think a lot of the user demos that I've seen reports on were usually only for a fairly short period of time... about half an hour or so. Now, you might see some sort of fog build-up in that time, but it probably wouldn't be too bad. Although, it makes me wonder... why not just use a rather low RPM fan to help recycle air? I can't imagine that it would take all that much airflow to keep things from getting bad in there.

Did they do anything about the need for octuplet SLI to output that many pixels at 90hz?

It actually doesn't display at 2x4K. As Engadget reports, "As expected, I could not see any sub-pixels thanks to the insanely high display resolution, nor did I notice any ghosting. Interestingly, I only found out after the demo that the laptop was actually just pushing a 2,560 x 1,440 output, but what I saw was still significantly better than what I'm used to on other VR headsets." However, there are actually three models that they're coming out with. The Pimax 5K and 8K both use the same input resolution, but the displayed resolution is different. The Pimax 8K X will actually use 4K resolution, and has steeper hardware requirements.
 

Pheran

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2001
5,849
48
91
The Oculus store is having a horror sale for Halloween, and Boogeyman is only $1. Anyone recommend this game? For $1, I'll probably get it regardless.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
OK... I finally tried an Oculus Rift.

It didn't fit over glasses. It didn't look very sharp at all and was a big screen door screen.

But I could see how it could be some fun.

It's on sale at Best Buy this weekend for $349... hm... get it or wait for 2.0...
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
48,387
5,254
136
OK... I finally tried an Oculus Rift.

It didn't fit over glasses. It didn't look very sharp at all and was a big screen door screen.

But I could see how it could be some fun.

It's on sale at Best Buy this weekend for $349... hm... get it or wait for 2.0...

My Vive doesn't fit over my glasses either. I should really get some custom VR lenses to match my prescription, but I have family & friends who use it too, so I haven't bothered yet.

The SDE on my Vive is noticeable, but it doesn't bother me in most games. I've heard the SDE in the PSVR is almost non-existent, but I haven't tried it hands-on yet. These are definitely first-gen products. Eventually they will get proper 8K screens, go wireless, have enhanced tracking (i.e. Leap Motion & so on), etc. Even though the Vive is actually a pretty polished system, it's still an early-adopter system. The game library is still limited, it has SDE, a wire tethered to the computer, and so on.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
Ya, I'd look harder at the vive except it's $600 - even with the bundled audio thing for the current sale. I'd have to review which would work better for me anyway. Not sure how long this sale is on.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
My Vive doesn't fit over my glasses either. I should really get some custom VR lenses to match my prescription, but I have family & friends who use it too, so I haven't bothered yet.

I have them, and they do work. Also, they're really not that hard to take off if you need to, but it does look odd, because the piece isn't shaped the same as the glasses. However, they seem to fit? o_O

Albeit, nothing will fix how text is unreadable outside of the "sweet spot".
 

clamum

Lifer
Feb 13, 2003
26,255
403
126
I have them, and they do work. Also, they're really not that hard to take off if you need to, but it does look odd, because the piece isn't shaped the same as the glasses. However, they seem to fit? o_O

Albeit, nothing will fix how text is unreadable outside of the "sweet spot".
That's my biggest complaint, I think, about my Vive (current VR in general?). Right in front of my eyes it's great but peripheral vision is kinda blurry; it really hurts the experience/immersion. I think I could adjust my headset a bit more so it fits tighter and closer to my face and this should help some (I notice if I push up the headset a tad and hold it on my head the picture becomes clearer) but the blurriness will still be there. Overall though I do think it's pretty awesome.
 

IEC

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Jun 10, 2004
14,323
4,904
136
I currently have the Samsung Odyssey HMD, and think there's still a ways to go before VR headsets can be mainstream. Text in Windows Mixed Reality apps and games seems blurry at the periphery (maybe because IPD adjustment only goes down to 60mm minimum, so I'm outside the sweet spot a bit) and there is still SDE. I'm within the return period so will give a few Steam games a try and decide then if it's worth the ~$425 I spent to keep it, or if I'll return it and opt to wait for a second wave of devices.

Also, a note for eyeglass wearers. Samsung basically tells you you're SOL and to wear contact lenses in their manual. Not an issue for me, but something to keep in mind for some.
 

Pheran

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2001
5,849
48
91
The Oculus store is having "A Year of Touch" anniversary flash sale. Superhot VR is $10, plus a bunch of other deals.
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
126
My buddy got onward and said it was pretty good. I forgot to get it when the price was lowered. I wonder if it's still $25.
 

corinthos

Golden Member
Mar 22, 2000
1,858
2
81
Guys, so I bought Oculus Rift w/ 2 Touch Controllers and Free Eve Valkyrie game from Best Buy. I never got to redeem the emailed code to download Eve Valkyrie and the email said expires August 2017. Am I out of luck here or can i still possibly redeem it?

Also, is it true Robo Recall comes with all Touch Controller purchases? I got the bundle deal that came with the Touch Controller kit, so wondering how you get Robo Recall for free.
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
126
Guys, so I bought Oculus Rift w/ 2 Touch Controllers and Free Eve Valkyrie game from Best Buy. I never got to redeem the emailed code to download Eve Valkyrie and the email said expires August 2017. Am I out of luck here or can i still possibly redeem it?

Also, is it true Robo Recall comes with all Touch Controller purchases? I got the bundle deal that came with the Touch Controller kit, so wondering how you get Robo Recall for free.
Once you set up all your sensors and controllers and then go through the initial tutorial the free games should just appear in your account library. I am not sure if there was a limited time that they were giving the free games out.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
Guys, so I bought Oculus Rift w/ 2 Touch Controllers and Free Eve Valkyrie game from Best Buy. I never got to redeem the emailed code to download Eve Valkyrie and the email said expires August 2017. Am I out of luck here or can i still possibly redeem it?

I'd say try it out. If it fails, just talk to Oculus support and tell them what happened. They may say that there's nothing that they can do, or they might hook you up with a newer game that's being offered as a bundle.
 

clamum

Lifer
Feb 13, 2003
26,255
403
126
The Oculus store is having "A Year of Touch" anniversary flash sale. Superhot VR is $10, plus a bunch of other deals.
Mother scratcher. I guess it's already expired; SUPERHOT is $25 on the Oculus Store right now. Dangit. I saw it featured recently on TheMightyJingles' channel on YouTube and it looked pretty good.
 

WiseUp216

Platinum Member
Mar 12, 2012
2,251
51
101
www.heatware.com
Downloaded Fallout 4 VR last night but haven't had a chance to play it yet. Anybody try it? I'm leaving work early today to run a few errands so I should have a couple of hours to play.

I've not been using my Vive nearly as much as I had thought I would. Hopefully Fallout is the game that motivates me to use it. I already have 170-ish hours in the 2D version but I still like the setting and story.
 

pj-

Senior member
May 5, 2015
481
249
116
Downloaded Fallout 4 VR last night but haven't had a chance to play it yet. Anybody try it? I'm leaving work early today to run a few errands so I should have a couple of hours to play.

I've not been using my Vive nearly as much as I had thought I would. Hopefully Fallout is the game that motivates me to use it. I already have 170-ish hours in the 2D version but I still like the setting and story.

I've put maybe 4 hours into it so far. It's got a lot of problems but it's certainly a unique experience. It's very cool to be in that world and the combat is fun and intense. I am a bit worried about the performance, however. Large interior spaces like the Corvega factory cause my system to rely pretty heavily on reprojection. This is with the latest Nvidia drivers, beta branch of FO4, no additional SS through steamvr. My GPU is an overclocked pascal Titan X so if I'm having issues I can't imagine how choppy it is for others...
 

mooncancook

Platinum Member
May 28, 2003
2,874
50
91
I want to get myself a VR headset for X'mas. If I see my main use will be cockpit sims like driving/racing games and flight sims, is the Samsung Odyssey the best choice right now due to its higher resolution screen? My only experience with VR so far was on a Galaxy Edge S6+, and the resolution (I guess it's called screen door effect?) really annoyed me as the individual pixels were too obvious.
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
126
I like the game lone echo but I've never been able to progress in it. I get motion sickness after 20-30 min. It's a great game though and I'm sure resident evil is super creepy with VR too. Hopefully soon they start programming the move /walk functions to use the thumbsticks in the occulus.
 

jtvang125

Diamond Member
Nov 10, 2004
5,399
51
91
Man after watching youtube videos of people playing vr games I really want one now. I was thinking of waiting and see what 2018 will bring but I realize that anything coming out will likely to be beyond what I'm willing to spend anyways. Even Samsung's Odyssey with its better hardware isn't a clear winner over the Rift and Vive. With that I think I'm gonna go with the Rift. Anyone know if they'll drop the price to $350 again as Xmas gets closer? I have a couple of bucks in Amazon rewards that can drop it close to $300 if they have another sale.