Oculus Rift/HTC Vive / VR in general?

[InfinitusEquitas]

Just received a Samsung Gear today and gave it whirl using my Note 5.

I have to say I'm extremely impressed. The 360 photos and some of the videos were fantastic. Some issues definitely left to work out though.

Specifically made me feel kind of motion sick, and I don't get motion sick easily. A roller coaster especially made me somewhat queasy. Mind you I'm 100% ok on regular roller coasters and boats.

While I would highly recommend trying it out (definitely worth the $100 if you have the phone) there are definitely some issues.

1. Poor resolution. Nowhere near HD, and things are very blurry close up.
2. Screendoor effect. Everything appears as if through a screen door due to the very noticeable pixels.
3. Poor interface. Having to constantly tap the side of the headset really interferes with immersion.

If you never tried one of these, you'll also be surprised that you actually have to move around to look around My personal solution was clearing some space for my computer chair which does turn 360 degrees. Still I would not have minded a hand control to do some of the "looking instead".

The Oculus Rift is supposed to address all three of the issues that stood out to me the most, and there are some android controllers already out there. I just wasn't willing to pull the trigger quite yet.

Price wise, the rift will be available for $600. Of course that's just for the headset itself, and assumes you have a PC capable of running it. Personally I don't, so for me it would require an investment of about $300 more (at least) for a GTX970.

There will be bundle deals for the Rift and compatible PC, starting at $1500, but if the only upgrade you need is a video card it doesn't make sense. As always, it's also cheaper to actually build a PC yourself to match the specs, but the savings vs a bundle are not nearly as much.

Personally I will probably hold off on a PC upgrade, and by extension the rift, until the next generation of GPU's hits the shelves.

That said, I think that there is an immense future in virtual reality, including possibly a rebirth of arcade type businesses. For myself, the most interesting aspect will definitely be virtual tourism.

So anyone else have any experiences with VR?

 

[VisibleGreen]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

No experiences with VR yet but I agree that someday soon it will be in every home. It's just too cool.

 

[FireMyLaser]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

I have google cardboard with Samsung S4. It's impressive for what it is, but at the same time very limited (good enough to watch videos, but not much else). I have tried a quick demo with Oculus DK2 and is was amazing, but not optimal focus due to the quick demo. Though I am waiting for HTC Vive, and intend to get it on pre order, as it seems to me to be the most advanced VR for the next couple of years.

It is expected to cost even more than Oculus, but both are cutting edge tech. VR lets you experience otherwise impossible things, which I think justify the price to even adopt it early.

 

[Dr_Evil]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

No experiences with VR yet but I agree that someday soon it will be in every home. It's just too cool.

Personally I don't think it will be as big of a deal as people think it will be. Look at 3D movies. I don't think I know a single person that uses 3D at home. It isn't something I ever plan on getting. I don't care for VR either.

 

[FireMyLaser]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

VR is currently made for gaming enthusiasts. It will probably be 5-10 years before your mom and dad uses it to browse facebook.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

As a former S4, and current S5, and Note 5 owner, none of these phones have the capacity to deliver anywhere near what I expect from the Oculus or Vive. They don't have the pixel density, or the video processing power. Even the S5, which is the most up to date, gets pretty hot with use.

In the Oculus vs Vive arena, I'm at this point undecided. I think Oculus is a more thought out, polished product at this time. Personally I also find Samsung products to be superior to HTC products in implementation. (Having had phones from both.)

I do agree, given what VR has the potential to let us experience, it may well be worth even the early adopter pricetag. I mean there's zero probability that I'll climb would Everest, but it would be something I'd tour through in VR without a second though. Same goes for deep sea cave diving.

Will be interesting to see how things develop, but where I thought 3D would turn out to be a flop on a commercial level, and wearables would be mostly a flop, VR I think has the potential to be a game changer. Even things like going to the movies may well be offset with a decent VR headset.

One word of advise in trying this stuff... use good headphones. Completely different experience for me with a pair of noise cancelling headphones on, vs hearing the sound form my speakers.

 

[VisibleGreen]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Personally I don't think it will be as big of a deal as people think it will be. Look at 3D movies. I don't think I know a single person that uses 3D at home. It isn't something I ever plan on getting. I don't care for VR either.

Well with 3d movies it wasn't a natural feeling especially when some movies forced focus. But VR is basically a TV with a large field of view. Personally that to me would be great as you be more immersed in gameplay than a flat screen at a distance. But you might be right about the popularity.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Personally I don't think it will be as big of a deal as people think it will be. Look at 3D movies. I don't think I know a single person that uses 3D at home. It isn't something I ever plan on getting. I don't care for VR either.

3D ran into a content roadblock. The options to configure regular shows for 3d just weren't good, and the content that was created was expensive, not to mention the upfront price of the equipment.

VR on the other hand, has some very big advantages. Specifically while the upfront cost is significant, it's not as high as it was for large 3d TV's and even now, already there is quite a bit of content out there.

Camera technology continues to advance rapidly, and companies like google are creating very detailed 3d views of the world. Imagine being able to take a virtual drive down the california coast line? Or diving through underwater caves, or even going on a spacewalk. And these are just basic potential applications, hampered at present, mostly by lack of resolution, bandwidth.

Not to mention VR has the potential to revolutionize traditional movie viewing. With a decent resolution, watching a movie through VR, is far far more immersive than even an 80" 4k tv, at a fraction of the cost.

I have to admit, I'm excited fan boy. Suggest trying out some version if you haven't already. It's quite a bit more impressive, imo, than 3d tv's ever were.

 

[FireMyLaser]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

To sum up what VR is compared to 3D:

Google Cardboard and Gear VR only shows what VR can potentially do, but it is not proper VR. You can turn your head to look around, but it does not consider where your head is in space. Headsets like Oculus and Vive does this with such precision and speed that it completely tricks that brain, and you accept the virtual reality as real reality.
The mainstream population don't yet see the possibilities, but it will gradually grow. I've followed the development of VR since 2012, have and seen many examples, but I'm mostly excited about the things that I can't imagine yet.

Vive room scale demo. (everything is 1:1 life scale):

Oculus music video. (Imagine creating laser shows in this)

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Well, the thing that comes to mind first and foremost, from a gaming perspective, is the eventual creation of a MMORPG, with customizable avatars.

Where technology does need to catch up is in creating tactile full body feedback. Or alternatively, though probably several decades away, direct neural stimulation bypassing our senses. Lay down, put on a vr helmet, sleep paralysis is induced so you're not moving around, and off you go

(Not too far-fetched to imagine that your muscles can even be stimulated in the meantime so you get some exercise.)

Wonder how long we'll have to wait for a second generation vr system now that the first generation is so close.

 

[FireMyLaser]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Second generation is probably 1.5-3 years away. Ones Oculus and Vive is out, both develops and uses need the time acclimate to the new technology. Rushing the next generation will just make huge mess of incapability and it could kill VR. (my thoughts)

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Which is completely ok. We'll probably end up seeing a 1.1 version out before the holidays next year though, that's only incrementally better/more polished.

The main technical roadblocks I see now, are resolution and bandwidth, and those are likely to take longer to resolve since they require infrastructure input, and imo, in the US at least, there isn't an existing demand for more bandwidth. 3d cameras are also too expensive at present, but if the price on them drops down, we could see a whole new generation of go-pro type 360 videos, which would be a huge draw.

Given the investment required, I doubt we'll see more than 2-3 systems anytime soon, so compatibility is probably going to be less of an issue.

 

[Dr_Evil]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

One of the places I worked on aircraft engines had a borescope that used something like 3D VR googles. They did seem more helpful when looking for damage. I couldn't wear them for more than a few minutes though. The user manual even warned against using them for more than 30 minutes at a time. I imagine there will be similar problems with the products getting ready to come out.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

Oh I can definitely see people having issues with it and motion sickness is the biggest one that comes to mind, but I'm sure some will also experience issues once the goggles are off, after prolonged use.

The question is really whether oculus and others will be able to push out enough units to get the general public interested. Drones for example are very popular, but one of the reasons they took off so well is due to low pricepoints. VR meanwhile, will likely remain a luxury for a while.

 

[FireMyLaser]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

What does bandwidth have to do with anything? You mean GPU speed? There are speculations that the coming versions will use Lifi (Wifi using visible light to stream video without wires). And eye tracking to make use foveated rendering to take some stress off the GPU:

 

[ARG]

Re: Oculus Rift / Samsung Gear / VR in general?

The technology looks promising, but it's still at the early adopter phase. The content isn't all there yet, and the technology is still progressing rapidly.

For what it costs (GTX 970 or R9 390 + rift) for a proper setup I'm not really interested until it has content that makes it worth the costs. I doubt that will happen until 2018-2020 ish.