Vive vs Rift: Help me decide what to buy!

[Frank]

Rift will take your breath away

As such, putting an Emphasis on roomscale is not a mistake. Walking around in VR is a great experience and was one of the first things I've tried in VR back in 2014.

Obsidian Ant was asking for a Video demonstrating translational tracking in ED before he bought one and I uploaded one of the first 'roomscale' videos using the DK2, an USB and HDMI extension cord whilst placing the camera 1.5m above and beyond recommended specs and lots of recalibrating. It sucks, but then I have a job and am not interested in becoming a "youtuber" and most people didn't seem to know there was an option to record non-stereoscopic videos in VR at all.

Currently, VR is a great thing to explore - Terra Incognita to some extent. To me, the Vive is more advanced and progressive, pushing the boundaries way further at a way higher risk.

Oculus is a casual approach, aiming at causing no nausea by providing third person games you don't need VR for. Of course there's no motion sickness in third person platformers using a console controller - simply because there's no feeling of presence in the first place.

One of the reasons I went with the CV1 is because I think that nice static cameras is a lot more reliable a way to track movement than using spinning mirrors (I assume that's how the lighthouses work). Anything mechanical has the chance to break down. The cameras might never cover as big a space as the lighthouses, but I'm sure it will be big enough for my hovel. After all, pushing all the empty pizza boxes and crisp packets to one side can only make a moderate clear space.

The HTC get-everything-in-one-go might work out cheaper than the Oculus way. But buying the roomscale as an add-on at a later date allows me the luxury of deferring my decision.

BTW I went to the Oculus website to see what length of cable they provide you with. All I could see was something that looked like a perfume advert with a bloke in a headset gawking with amazement. What's the length of the cable?

 

[jabokai]

From an AMA with Palmer, it's 4m. I can measure it tomorrow when mine arrives.

 

[FuzzySpider]

I'm not sure that the roomscale thing is such a marketing mistake by HTC. They've found a way to differentiate themselves from Oculus, and have done a good job of getting the true VR games off the ground. The whole thing about customers not having the space to flail around might not be such an issue with their target audience, America. Everything's big over there, including their living spaces.

It's definitely a mistake, and a big one. Look over this thread, and it looks as if at least two people have been put off getting this because of their marketing strategy.

The target audience for any product should be as large as possible. The price of the unit and the price of a PC required to run it already narrows things down to a comparative handful of the gaming market. In marketing this as a product you need a large free room to play they are narrowing it down still further.

If this is to be a long term sustainable product it will need the support of content developers (games etc). That won't happen if the user base is small.

You can make a product a success by appealing to a niche user base, but for that to work you need to have a large enough user base to begin with. Americans with money to burn and large houses with spare rooms who like physical interaction with video games rather than sitting at a desk or something is, I fear, way too narrow.

If this thing can be very simply set up on a desk à la Oculus Rift then HTC would be wise to point that out. Sell this product on versitility rather than trying to appeal to a tiny demographic which the Oculus doesn't really attempt to sell to anyway.

 

[Frank]

The simplicity and versatility of the CV1 is what eventually swayed me, but it was not an easy decision. I guess that's why I don't mind defending HTE's way of marketing their headset. In fact I quite enjoyed the fact that I had a genuine choice to make.

I wonder how many customers will deliberate over their choice. I do get the feeling a lot of buyers will simply go for the one that works with Steam. The problem with HTC might be less to do with the quality of their marketing and more the quality of their product. I didn't like the idea of setting up these two whirring lighthouses in my room. This might have been less daunting if there were more positive stories about how easy the set-up process was.

 

[bitstorm]

I do get the feeling a lot of buyers will simply go for the one that works with Steam.

I do think the software side of thing is being overlooked while everyone over-focuses on what (seem to be) relatively minor hardware differences.

I'm not saying Steam is better there, for instance it wouldn't surprise me if more developers integrated Rift support.

Myself I just don't understand all the complexities around it right now, I feel it's potentially the biggest *actual* factor but no-one seems to be talking about it too much.

 

[Arithon]

Just to clear up some incorrect information (don't read EuroGamer and Kotaku if you want facts - these guys both said Elite was Vive exclusive and would never support rift)..

..the Oculus is not seated only. When the motion controllers are released they will come with a second motion sensor, enabling full room tracking on the Rift.
The Vive and Rift both use Fresnel lenses and both suffer "god rays". It is *sightly* better on the Vive according to first hand-reviews who have made direct comparison.
The Vive requires a lot of space for setup, the Rift does not.
The Vive has a LOT of cables while the Rift has two.
The Vive has more accurate motion sensors (currently) with the two lighthouses compared to the Rift's one.
The Oculus is lighter and more comfortable to wear than the Vive.

If you want to sit and play Elite the Rift is perfect and requires little space. If you want to use VR for loads of other applications and have plenty of room (and money!) then the Vive has room tracking NOW and a camera for augmented reality.

My advice (to avoid tears) is for pity's sake try BOTH before you buy anything!

All the tech reviews and commentary in the world cannot account for your personal preference and unique situation. Do you have a big office? Do you have a big head? Big nose (like me)? Wear glasses? All these things might affect your choice beyond the specification of either HMD. And they are both a LOT of money, even the "cheap" Rift is £499. That's a huge amount of buyer's regret to live with if you get it wrong.

 

[[VR] Deggial]

The Vive has a LOT of cables while the Rift has two.

I mentioned this earlier, but I've got the impression that these "mundane" considerations are somehow overlooked while discussing FoV and screendoor effect.

The 'Lighthouse' sensores have to be optimally placed and they have to be powered!
These two preconditions might not necessarily be met simultaneously. In my experience, there are always too few plug sockets available in a room. And now, they have to be additionally close to the sensors! If not, you may end up with additional extension cords laying around in your room - something at least I find very distracting and uncomfortable.

 

[FuzzySpider]

I mentioned this earlier, but I've got the impression that these "mundane" considerations are somehow overlooked while discussing FoV and screendoor effect.

The 'Lighthouse' sensores have to be optimally placed and they have to be powered!
These two preconditions might not necessarily be met simultaneously. In my experience, there are always too few plug sockets available in a room. And now, they have to be additionally close to the sensors! If not, you may end up with additional extension cords laying around in your room - something at least I find very distracting and uncomfortable.

Just wondering here, what's the power consumption of the Rift vs the Vive? From what I've read these lighthouses don't have on/off switches, and in any case people are recommending they go up somewhere high. If you're looking to hide all the cables, and you're probably going to be hiding a six or eight-way extender somewhere if you're also powering a PC, monitors, speakers, HMD, and whatever else. That means a lot of plugging and unplugging if you're environmentally conscious.

For me at least it's starting to look like the wait and see what Samsung come up with is the best approach.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I wonder how many customers will deliberate over their choice. I do get the feeling a lot of buyers will simply go for the one that works with Steam.

That will be both of them then!... The only issue compatibility wise is currently the vive cant access the oculus store. I hope this changes but for now, from a consumer point of view surely this has to be a point ot the rift?

 

[[VR] Deggial]

Just wondering here, what's the power consumption of the Rift vs the Vive? From what I've read these lighthouses don't have on/off switches, and in any case people are recommending they go up somewhere high.

In standby, the Vive uses 5,5 Watt (2 × 1,0 Watt for the sensors + 3,5 Watt for the HMD). The Rift consumes 7,0 Watt.
However, the Rift is switched off completely when you switch off the computer while the Vive-sensores still consume 2,0 Watt.
(Reference; German; A very good article, by the way, and worth reading if you know German. At page 2 they compare Oculus' 'Timewarp' and Vive's 'Interleaved Reprojection technology')

2,0 Watt is definitely not an horrendously high power consumption. For comparison: a hi-fi system uses 10 Watt(!) in standby, a TV (LCD, 80-94 cm) 1,0 Watt.

My personal gripe with it is the fact, that the 'Lighthouse'-sensors have those moving parts which will continue their moving-part-thing on and on - even when not needed. Moving parts are inevitably prone to wear and tear and personally, I would have a bad feeling when running them without necessity.

 

[Frank]

That will be both of them then!... The only issue compatibility wise is currently the vive cant access the oculus store. I hope this changes but for now, from a consumer point of view surely this has to be a point ot the rift?

I uninstalled the SteamVR drivers after I got the Oculus 1.3 drivers because I thought there may be problems with conflicts. Do they both exist happily on the one computer?

 

[Soda Popinski]

Just wondering here, what's the power consumption of the Rift vs the Vive? From what I've read these lighthouses don't have on/off switches, and in any case people are recommending they go up somewhere high. If you're looking to hide all the cables, and you're probably going to be hiding a six or eight-way extender somewhere if you're also powering a PC, monitors, speakers, HMD, and whatever else. That means a lot of plugging and unplugging if you're environmentally conscious.

Just to clarify, the Vive's lighthouse sensors are "passive" and don't need to be connected to a computer. So each one only needs one power cord.

I uninstalled the SteamVR drivers after I got the Oculus 1.3 drivers because I thought there may be problems with conflicts. Do they both exist happily on the one computer?

I never uninstalled SteamVR when I installed Oculus 1.3. The DK2 defaulted to Oculus 1.3 without a problem.

 

[Frank]

I never uninstalled SteamVR when I installed Oculus 1.3. The DK2 defaulted to Oculus 1.3 without a problem.

Great. I might reinstall it and take a wee virtual wander through their store to see what they have on offer.

 

[Mark D]

A few days old but I hadn't seen this one http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/htc-vive-virtual-reality-hmd,4519-9.html

 

[vanfanel]

I mentioned this earlier, but I've got the impression that these "mundane" considerations are somehow overlooked while discussing FoV and screendoor effect.

The 'Lighthouse' sensores have to be optimally placed and they have to be powered!
These two preconditions might not necessarily be met simultaneously. In my experience, there are always too few plug sockets available in a room. And now, they have to be additionally close to the sensors! If not, you may end up with additional extension cords laying around in your room - something at least I find very distracting and uncomfortable.

They also should be mounted securely. Any kind of shake/vibration of the lighthouses will screw up tracking and make you uncomfortable.

 

[B1ll Adama]

Read this, think its the most concise review on CV1 VS Vive read to date:

http://forum.flyinside-fsx.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1617

 

[dumbo]

My personal gripe with it is the fact, that the 'Lighthouse'-sensors have those moving parts which will continue their moving-part-thing on and on - even when not needed. Moving parts are inevitably prone to wear and tear and personally, I would have a bad feeling when running them without necessity.

AFAICT the motors spin down in standby. They're also HDD motors - I really wouldn't worry about wear/tear.

..the Oculus is not seated only. When the motion controllers are released they will come with a second motion sensor, enabling full room tracking on the Rift.

Not exactly. The Rift/Touch are designed, and software developers have been instructed to target, 2 cameras in front of the player, slightly to either side. It will do 'standing VR' with some degree of turn limitation, but no-one is targetting 'room scale' on the Rift exactly. No-one really knows why.

The Vive requires a lot of space for setup, the Rift does not.

If you just want to do sitting VR, then the Vive requires the same space as the Rift (admittedly I don't know why you'd do that).

The Vive has a LOT of cables while the Rift has two.

It depends what you mean - but it does come with a metric ton of cables. There's 4 short cables to connect the breakout box, there's a power cable to each lighthouse, and for some reason it ships with a separate micro USB charger for each controller, and a huge long sync cable (that most people won't ever need).

But, in practice, after installation there's only 1 cable strip of 3 cables that you'll probably ever notice/touch.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I uninstalled the SteamVR drivers after I got the Oculus 1.3 drivers because I thought there may be problems with conflicts. Do they both exist happily on the one computer?

yeah..... i think it was the tested guys who said they had both set up on the same rigs, and it was just a matter of plugging in the HMD you wish to use.

if it was not tested, it WAS one of the other "decent" reviews.

Not exactly. The Rift/Touch are designed, and software developers have been instructed to target, 2 cameras in front of the player, slightly to either side. It will do 'standing VR' with some degree of turn limitation, but no-one is targetting 'room scale' on the Rift exactly. No-one really knows why.

in other news, those a little worried about rift room scale (i have slight pangs of concern) the fantastic contraption guys have said it is 90% just marketing and the reality is, if you choose to mount your cameras the same as the vive, you get the same room scale as the vive using touch and the rift.

That being said, because the default way to do it will be the cameras both in front of you, they are adding another mode which positions your contraptions a little differently to stop occulusion issues.

but ultimatly, both can be the same if you want it - tho you will then lose the rifts advantage of much higher detailed close hand tracking)

also, it took a matter of minutes to port the motion controls from vive wants to the oculus touch, and indeed, if you have a touch dev kit, and fantastic contraption, you can see for yourself as touch is already fully supported

I am posting from memory as the site crashes my work browser but link is here if you want it verbatim

http://www.polygon.com/2016/4/12/11414090/oculus-rift-htc-vive-fantastic-contraption

 

[jabokai]

Plus the Touch controllers just seem so much better - http://www.roadtovr.com/hands-on-oculus-touch-2016-prototype-brings-refinements-to-an-already-elegant-design/

 

[Mark D]

Plus the Touch controllers just seem so much better - http://www.roadtovr.com/hands-on-oculus-touch-2016-prototype-brings-refinements-to-an-already-elegant-design/

Possibly, but not being available at launch is a minus. Now it appears game developers are having to add new modes for the Rift to work around occlusion issues?