They really phoned it in on this one. No physical IPD adjustment, an 80hz LCD rather than the 90hz OLED, a very marginal resolution increase to 1280×1440 (which is still less than the $200 WMR headset I bought almost two years ago), and no FOV increase. The move to inside-out tracking means a more convenient setup, but it <i>will</i> lose tracking when you put your hands behind you (like shooting a bow, which just about ruins Skyrim VR)[1].<p>Small wonder Brendan Iribe left Facebook over this[2]. They clearly want to push their more casual all-in-one headsets and don't care much about the enthusiasts and gamers that helped get Oculus off the ground in the first place. Really hope Valve steps up this year with a decent headset + the Knuckles controllers. Nothing wrong with building headsets for the more casual consumers but why can't <i>someone</i> release a decent gen 2 headset with the upgrades that everyone has been wanting.<p>1: <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/03/hands-on-with-the-new-399-oculus-rift-s-more-pixels-zero-cameras-better-fit/" rel="nofollow">https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/03/hands-on-with-the-new...</a><p>2: <a href="https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/279364-oculus-rift-2-canceled-co-founder-leaves-facebook" rel="nofollow">https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/279364-oculus-rift-2-canc...</a><p>EDIT: After a little more reading it looks like the Quest (their equally priced all-in-one headset) has a higher resolution and a physical IPD adjustment. What the hell are you even paying for with this? You get a worse headset for the same price that lacks all the onboard hardware?
Announced a day after the HP Reverb, which has most of the features of the Rift S but 2160x2160 per eye.<p><a href="https://www.roadtovr.com/hp-rever-hands-on-impressions-pixel-packed-new-bar-for-windows-vr-headsets/" rel="nofollow">https://www.roadtovr.com/hp-rever-hands-on-impressions-pixel...</a>
I've been a VR dev since 2014, and market-share / adoption is a huge problem.<p>To a first approximation, you can not make enough money to run a studio in VR, even 5 years after DK1.<p>Ontario, Canada has a great system of grants for game developers, but they have basically stopped funding VR titles, because they don't make any money.<p>All of the people I know who went off to found VR studios are trying to survive on service work, rather than making custom IP. Either that, or working as loss-leader departments in larger companies.<p>It's worse than indie development, if such a thing were possible.<p>So ... yeah ... bring on the users while there are still some VR developers left.
As a current Rift owner, this seems like a bit of a lateral upgrade:
- IPD is fixed.
- LCD display
- Can't track hands behind you
- Narrower FoV<p>It seems this is comparable to the many WMR headsets already in the market. I would hope that the simpler design helps bring down the price though, I could see this overall being cheaper to manufacturer.
I would love to trade all these monitors for a virtual workstation. Every time there's new VR tech I hope that it's possible. 1280x1440 is definitely an improvement. I'm patient.
Hmm, I have a hard time understanding what advantage these all in one devices have over the various VR lens devices for random phones.<p>That said i'm not really impressed with the basic rift device I have. Mostly because the core software seems like garbage. The first blue screens I've seen in over a decade were caused by it. Then there are all the non fatal problems like the fact that the software apparently wasn't tested on machines that go into standby regularly. Then there are the weird USB discovery issues the hardware/software has (the software wants everything plugged into different controller ports but can't seem to figure out the USB topology correctly 1/2 the time, meaning sometimes it works then it decides not to work unless the machine is rebooted/etc).<p>I would say it generally works better than some of the stuff I used in the 90's but the resolution is strangely lacking given the price of the thing and other devices on the market.<p>So that said, the core problem of VR making people nauseous definitely hasn't been solved with the basic rift. Pretty much everyone I've demoed it to gets sick on games/demos which involve first person perspective. OTOH, there are some pretty cool 3rd person games (witchblood, moss, etc).
John Carmack and his friends made it clear that they have no interest in the PC being a first class VR platform when they tossed Brendan Iribe to the curb. The Rift-s is a big fuck you to all of the hardcore early adopters that made the Rift a reality.<p>I skipped gen-1 thinking gen-2 was right around the corner; unfortunately, three long years later the future truly looks like a "race to the bottom." VR is starting to feel like a cheap trick instead of something that promised the future of gaming - a toy that just collects dust on the shelf after playing a handful of crap mobile games.<p>The state of the industry from my perspective:<p>1. The VR industry seems to think PC gaming is dead<p>2. Oculus hasn't released better HMD in three years:<p>- Worse inside out tracking despite the need to be tethered to a PC anyway<p>- A downgraded refresh rate of 80hz after claiming 120hz was the sweet spot<p>- A single panel and a downgrade from OLED to LCD with no ability for IPD adjustment<p>- Is outsourcing work from Lenovo instead of doing in-house RND<p>- Scrapped headphones despite saying it was a critical feature of the OG rift<p>- Rumored to have a slightly worse FOV than the OG Rift's already small FOV<p>- Attempting to roll their own walled garden store<p>- Owned by Facebook<p>3. HTC hasn't released a marginally better headset in three years:<p>- Lenses are garbage despite the better display<p>- Future headsets are adopting inside out tracking despite it having worse performance than lighthouse<p>- Owned by HTC<p>- Terrible support<p>- Attempting to roll their own walled garden store<p>4. Pimax doesn't seem to have the manufacturing or support chops to deliver despite knowing exactly what the hardcore PC gamer wants<p>5. Valve can't seem to release anything - ever.<p>What a shit show.
For those with VR headsets of any kind: how often are you using it? Are we there yet with VR? If not, is it the hardware, the content, or both?<p>For now, I'd define "there" as at least 0.5 * time spent on console or PC gaming per week.
I think it's very clear that Oculus engineering efforts are dedicated to standalone devices like Quest rather than PC VR headsets. Which makes sense if you want to get 1 billion people using VR.
I'm glad inside-out tracking is becoming the norm. Significantly easier to setup and still had pretty good performance (although on the 2-camera Windows MR models you can't reach behind your back but whatever).<p>I think Windows MR is significantly underrated just for this fact. My question is, should I get this or just buy the Samsung HMD today?
I really wish <i>one</i> of these VR headsets allowed direct use as a display without their special drivers, and provided tracking data without using their SDK.
A significant portion of people (most maybe?) who are interested in this would like to see the specs and not some Apple inspired dumbed down web page with little actual substance about the product. Even apple gives you prominent access to tech specs. This page tries to get your email address three times. Very poor.
One of the biggest barriers to consumer adoption of VR seems to be the cost.<p>Is there a reason why it doesn't make sense for the manufacturers to do a subscription service? Seems like everything from phones and consoles to game streaming subscriptions is the trend (and makes sense).<p>If nothing else, it can help increase distribution and awareness -- at the end of the day, more people using the devices is probably gonna kick off more content creation and economies of scale to produce cheaper/better hardware.<p>Thoughts?
I'm thinking Rift S has an awkward position. It's not a gen 2 for those who already jumped in for Rift. So no buying there. It doesn't lower the bars for those who hasn't jumped in as neither headsets or graphics cards are getting cheaper. Then where is the market share?<p>Maybe a trade-in program could work. For the rift owners
they get the upgrade for a discount. Then for the newcomers, certified pre-owned Rifts for a low price.
I invested in a HTC Vive Pro when it came out, it's looking to be a good investment as these Gen 2 (I should say Gen 1.6) VR HMDs are pretty lack luster. Pair it with the Wireless Adapter, it would be difficult for me to change to inside out tracking and move back to a wired connection. Granted, I've sold some internal organs and first born child to obtain all of these things.
I've used a Vive once (a guy at work brought one in). Little sensors at the corners of the room, headset, hand grips. It was really neat. How does this rank next to Vive? I've been thinking of getting one (my kids would love the 3-d "drawing" app I tried). I have a good PC, should I be looking at getting the Rift S? A Vive? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!
I bought an Oculus Rift a couple months ago, and this seems like a mixed bag. Per <a href="https://uploadvr.com/oculus-rift-s-official/" rel="nofollow">https://uploadvr.com/oculus-rift-s-official/</a> :<p>> The original Rift used dual PenTile OLED panels for a total resolution of 2160×1200. Rift S replaces this with a single LCD panel with a resolution of 2560×1440...This provides a higher detail image with reduced “screen door effect”. However, you don’t get the deep blacks of OLED since LCD displays use a backlight.<p>Currently my #1 primary use of Rift is Elite Dangerous. One thing I don't want to lose in an upgrade is the inky blackness of outer space. Higher resolution would be lovely, of course, but how much higher is enough? I'd prefer to hold out for a next-generation headset with high resolution and OLED.<p>> The Rift used external USB sensors for positional tracking...Like the upcoming Oculus Quest standalone, Rift S instead uses onboard cameras for “inside-out” tracking.<p>This is a godsend. Onboard cameras could also potentially help with more...dynamic parts of your surrounding environment. By which I mean, I have cats. So this is not only a huge improvement, but it's something that I think can enable future improvements.<p>> No Physical IPD Adjustment<p>Since my IPD seems to be at the extreme physical end of the current Rift, I don't think faking it with software is gonna work for me :(<p>> The Rift featured integrated headphones....Rift S removes these headphones and instead...[s]ound is piped through the side straps directly to your ears. Having nothing against your ear makes sound feel more natural and lets you hear others around you, but the downside is it can be heard by others in the room and the audio quality may be lower. The headset also features a 3.5mm jack so you can use your existing headphones or any you buy in future.<p>I think if I upgraded to Rift S, I would just use my headphones with it instead of relying on the side strap audio. I don't find the Rift headphones unnatural; they don't break immersion any more than having a massive visor strapped to my face.<p>In total, I really wish there was a Rift S+ that had the innovations of the Rift S but not the compromises. As it stands I don't feel a burning desire to upgrade, but I wouldn't rule out switching brands if a better headset had the improvements of Rift S but not the feature regressions.
This is a bit off topic, but I was wondering if anybody that was given an NDA'd preview of the technology before the first version was released has ever commented exactly what it is that they were demoed? What was it that made everybody so excited to write big checks?
It's a gamble when you're on a Facebook product website, and you have whitelist certain scripts for the page to render. On other sites I can just block everything that has to do with Facebook.
Looks great, nice to not need external trackers. Only thing missing for me, is the option for a single connection over usb-c, the so called VR-link present on some newer gfx cards.
They promised Linux support and took money from people on that premise. Then, when they no longer needed us, they discarded us with empty promises of adding Linux support "in the future". Now they're shipping new products and - surprise - no Linux support. Oculus can shove it.
Quick question about Oculus setup: do you need to install some proprietary drivers, register on Facebook, run some additional "launcher" software to play games on Steam?
I’m imagining a time when they can project enough resolution into your retina that can mimic a 4K TV at a distance constantly, that would be one of the killer apps