VR Question

[cmdr awesome]

I own the Vive, had DK2 before that and have tried the rift CV1 with Elite.

Neither is a bad choice. I get the feeling that the Vive will have more longevity - it has a more open ecosystem and better support for 3rd party devices. It is hard to find directly comparable sales figures, but before Oculus cut their prices it looked like Vives were outselling them by nearly 2 to 1.
However the vive headset is heavier and more expensive. For seated experiences the technical differences are negligible. I'd say that both Vive and Rift CV1 feel ~30% 'better' than the DK2. Not enough to transform the experience, but noticably better in lots of ways.

Money no object, I'd choose the vive. If room-scale is a factor (and room-scale is awesome), then still choose the vive. Otherwise, go with the rift and a GPU upgrade.

 

[VR Dextrovix]

I'm lucky enough to have both a Rift and Vive, as I'm definitely a VR advocate!

Just for Elite, you may as well use a Rift as it looks slightly better than when rendered on the Vive, although that is more because of ED rather than as a general rule in my opinion.

I don't like the walled-garden of Oculus Home though, and I really dislike the fact that there are exclusives although I understand from a business point of view why that is. And I'm guilty of contributing to it too, by purchasing Superhot because that was the only way to play it! I hope it's a timed exclusive and it gets on Steam eventually and I'd happily buy it again to play on Vive.

The Rift is slightly smaller for me in getting it around my glasses, although I bought prescription lenses from VR Lens Lab (https://vr-lens-lab.com) for both headsets which has made it easier.

One thing that has annoyed me is that 360 movement on the Rift is pretty hard with their awkward camera positioning, and any Touch game I can end up being orientated where the cameras loose tracking of the controllers.

Whereas the Vive works within it's tracking boundaries fully, and I find it much more pleasurable for 360 movement. Even though the headset is heavier with its cables, I found it more roomy for glasses use (although like I said, problem solved with prescription lenses) and a better room-scale implementation. And SteamVR's open approach should be applauded, unlike Oculus.

So really, it's horses for courses.

 

[popuptoaster]

I have one of these Pimax 4k headsets on the way, personally not interested in room scale and the reviews for this made it seem worth a look at the price (check everyday, GB often have flash sales i paid 250ish for mine) will post up my findings but there are several YT video reviews up, try to find a more recent one as apparently there have been software updates that improved some of the early issues.

http://m.gearbest.com/pc-headset/pp_423476.html?wid=21

Edited to say just found this vid, might be helpful!

[video=youtube;0leNzzUlAI4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0leNzzUlAI4[/video]

 

[betc]

I have a rift,

i would recommend either for ED (and roomscale)
both have pretty much identical games (revive/oculus store/steam)
both perform near identically

would lean more towards rift atm only because of the price gap - its pretty substantial

FYI i use rift for roomscale 3.5m x 3.5m and its bloody awesome

 

[d8veh]

Nobody seems to be mentioning the disadvantages of VR compared with monitors. I bought the CV1 and have a GTX1080 so was able to run it pretty high, but the resolution is not good enough to recognise ships at any distance. The info panels are located wrongly, so you have to look back over your shoulder to see who's on your contacts panel and to target modules. You can't watch TV while playing. The controls are all messed up. It's a lot of work to get the galaxy map so that you can use it. VR doesn't work with vari-focals because most of the display will be out of focus. Wearing glasses is a pain - literally: There's not enough clearance between your eyes and the lenses to accommodate most normal glasses, though some types are not too bad.

The experience is great, but all the inconveniences might soon wear you down until you go back to the monitor, like I did. I would make sure that you get a chance to try one and do the things that you normally do before buying either type.

 

[A D]

Take a look at the HDK 2 at http://osvr.org. Comparable to Rift and Vive (has same resolution, 90hz refresh, 110 degree FOV and positional tracking with IR camera), but much cheaper. However, word of warning - it's NOT PNP! There's an installer for Win 10 but you will find that you need to do some fiddling and be patient to get it working. Its supported by Steam, but still smallish game library. ED is natively supported though.

 

[BigBANGtheory [VR]]

I have one of these Pimax 4k headsets on the way, personally not interested in room scale and the reviews for this made it seem worth a look at the price (check everyday, GB often have flash sales i paid 250ish for mine) will post up my findings but there are several YT video reviews up, try to find a more recent one as apparently there have been software updates that improved some of the early issues.

http://m.gearbest.com/pc-headset/pp_423476.html?wid=21

Edited to say just found this vid, might be helpful!

Yes it would be interesting how you get on with it, my understanding is that the screen is limited to 60Hz which I thought was a problem with VR HMD.

 

[popuptoaster]

my understanding is that the screen is limited to 60Hz which I thought was a problem with VR HMD.

I thought it may be an issue but the reviewers don't seem to have an problem with it from what I can see, it uses a similar trick to Sonys playstation VR to "fake" higher refresh apparently, I'll have to wait and see if it works or not.

I never get seasick but i did get car sick in the back of cars when i was a kid so i'll let everyone know if it makes me ill.

 

[Harmoniser]

This is NOT true. Do NOT believe anyone who says that the vive and the Rift are equal for ED.

The only people who say they are equal are Vive fanboys who cant admit they have purchased a second rate ED experience. Elite looks SIGNIFICANTLY better in the Rift. As a matter of fact, "Elite looks SIGNIFICANTLY better in the Rift" should be the go to response any time someone on these forums asks Vive or Rift.

Ask anyone who actually OWNS both. Dont believe someone who owns a vive and "Tried a Rift one time"

Anyone who has done an A/B comparison and spent a good deal of time in both will tell you, compared to the Riff, the vive looks like crap.(for ED at least).

P.s. i own BOTH. The only reason i didnt return the vive is because the room scale was so fun. But i simply refuse to use if for ED when there is a perfectly good Rift sitting right next to it.

I agree, I own both and Rift looks much clear than the vive. If you are buying for ED and Pcars stick with the rift. I rarely use my vive. Roomscale is amazing but there not enough high quality content. Also rift has some good room scale experiences if you add more sensors.

 

[Tepescovir]

Two words: Lucky's Tale

Which is avalable on the vive, just like almost all rift games using revive.

 

[DaggerSnake]

Nobody seems to be mentioning the disadvantages of VR compared with monitors. I bought the CV1 and have a GTX1080 so was able to run it pretty high, but the resolution is not good enough to recognise ships at any distance. The info panels are located wrongly, so you have to look back over your shoulder to see who's on your contacts panel and to target modules. You can't watch TV while playing. The controls are all messed up. It's a lot of work to get the galaxy map so that you can use it. VR doesn't work with vari-focals because most of the display will be out of focus. Wearing glasses is a pain - literally: There's not enough clearance between your eyes and the lenses to accommodate most normal glasses, though some types are not too bad.

The experience is great, but all the inconveniences might soon wear you down until you go back to the monitor, like I did. I would make sure that you get a chance to try one and do the things that you normally do before buying either type.

These are valid discussion points for sure. I switch back and forth depending on activity. I prefer monitor and TrackIR for planet side activity and mission running. I'll put in the Rift for extended Res or Combat zone play or CQC (my personal favorite VR experience actually).

The galaxy map in VR needs development. Sure it's usable, but obviously not VR friendly or designed.

 

[CMDR Minion Blob]

Nobody seems to be mentioning the disadvantages of VR compared with monitors. I bought the CV1 and have a GTX1080 so was able to run it pretty high, but the resolution is not good enough to recognise ships at any distance. The info panels are located wrongly, so you have to look back over your shoulder to see who's on your contacts panel and to target modules. You can't watch TV while playing. The controls are all messed up. It's a lot of work to get the galaxy map so that you can use it. VR doesn't work with vari-focals because most of the display will be out of focus. Wearing glasses is a pain - literally: There's not enough clearance between your eyes and the lenses to accommodate most normal glasses, though some types are not too bad.

The experience is great, but all the inconveniences might soon wear you down until you go back to the monitor, like I did. I would make sure that you get a chance to try one and do the things that you normally do before buying either type.

Your arguments are outdated. I wear multi-vocal lens inserts custom made by VR Lens Lab (https://vr-lens-lab.com/) and they are awesome. I can wear my glasses as well as long as my frames are within Oculus guidelines (frame width) published on their website. This has been discussed several times on the forums and elsewhere. Wearing glasses is a pain, period for a number of use case situations, so you can do LASIK or wear contacts. VR is just one of those situations.

As far as TV/YouTube watching, download the Beta of http://hellov.io. Configuration is dead simple with the Rift and works really well. You can also browse the web or use any other ED utility you normally would on a resizable screen. Look up Dr. Kai's excellent video posted on YouTube about this utility; he's the one I've personally learned about its existence. Netflix support is also in the works, BTW.

The info panel location in ED is currently fixed, but you can disable the auto-popup and map them into your joystick or keyboard if they bother you.

As far as not being able to recognize the ships in a distance using a GTX 1080 is just complete B.S. Configure HMD to at least 1.5 and SS to 1.0 or better and everything is crisp. The Galaxy map control mapping is not optimal and requires some tweaking in most VR setups, but it works out of the box with an Xbox One controller, which I use anyway for SRV only. I use a Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS for everything else combined with Voice Attack, so I rarely if ever need to touch the keyboard.

Personally I have no stake what solution anyone uses; if you like monitors knock yourself out. I had owned both the Vive and now the CV1; returned the Vive before the 30-day return period ended. Frontier had never fixed the rendering on the Vive for whatever reason, so really, Oculus is the current gold standard at present in overall quality for ED. I recently upgraded to the GTX 1080ti, which made it even better as you can crank up the visuals even more without frame rate penalty but the 1080 remains a perfectly fine platform to drive the CV1.

In fact, I would not be playing ED if not for the VR presence and immersion. But each to his or her own.

 

[akaliel]

I wouldn't worry about the lawsuit. Zenimax is ran by a lawyer. He kicked out his business partner and game developer who started the company (along with Bethesda) around the year 2000. They are a very litigious company. But here they're just looking for a pay day, that's all. They're throwing around some big numbers to scare customers but at the end of the day Zenimax is worth around 2.5 billion dollars, which is less than Facebook's last quarterly profit. Eventually they'll pay to make it go away, or purchase Zenimax.

 

[space pilot]

Which is avalable on the vive, just like almost all rift games using revive.

Then both systems are equally good.

 

[Frank]

Nobody seems to be mentioning the disadvantages of VR compared with monitors. I bought the CV1 and have a GTX1080 so was able to run it pretty high, but the resolution is not good enough to recognise ships at any distance. The info panels are located wrongly, so you have to look back over your shoulder to see who's on your contacts panel and to target modules. You can't watch TV while playing. The controls are all messed up. It's a lot of work to get the galaxy map so that you can use it. VR doesn't work with vari-focals because most of the display will be out of focus. Wearing glasses is a pain - literally: There's not enough clearance between your eyes and the lenses to accommodate most normal glasses, though some types are not too bad.

The experience is great, but all the inconveniences might soon wear you down until you go back to the monitor, like I did. I would make sure that you get a chance to try one and do the things that you normally do before buying either type.

Your arguments are outdated. I wear multi-vocal lens inserts custom made by VR Lens Lab (https://vr-lens-lab.com/) and they are awesome. I can wear my glasses as well as long as my frames are within Oculus guidelines (frame width) published on their website. This has been discussed several times on the forums and elsewhere. Wearing glasses is a pain, period for a number of use case situations, so you can do LASIK or wear contacts. VR is just one of those situations.
...

Why do you need vari-focals when the whole image is focused at infinity?

 

[the100thmonkey]

Why do you need vari-focals when the whole image is focused at infinity?

Because the pixels aren't infinitely far away?

 

[PuffyEichhorst]

I have to admit, i really like my Occulus Rift and there are certain situations i put it on. It really gives mining a nice additional thing that makes it very impressive but on the other hand for ex0ploring i prefer my track ir cause i can do other things while playing.

The only downside i see is the resolution but it is fixable like it was allready mentioned in this thread but you need a strong gpu for screwing it up!

 

[rally]

I have both but use my vive more. I'm planning on selling the oculus to a friend soon as I tend to even play oculus games on the vive with revive. To each their own. They are pretty much the same although I feel the tracking is ever so slightly better on the vive if you have the lighthouses mounted in a good spot. I don't really care about the touch controllers vs the vive ones... they are both fine to me... different but fine. Oculus is slightly more comfortable if you dont wear glasses. They are both pretty uncomfortable though so it's not a huge consideration for me. You can buy a welding hood for a few bucks and make a mod that makes them more comfortable or pay a hundo for the vive one coming out in a few months. Anyway I really like vive. I only use VR for combat though. Even though I can netflix in VR and set up voice recognition for typing and all that, in the end its a lot of work to use VR for hauling or menu flipping. ... but vr is a game changer for combat! it never ceases to amaze me when I fire it up and suddenly I'm sitting in a space ship.

 

[popuptoaster]

Because the pixels aren't infinitely far away?

it doesn't matter where the pixels are, if you wearing reading glasses due to age you won't need them in a VR headset, near-sighted people are not so fortunate however so it depends WHY you have varifocals.

 

[evanevery]

Once you play ED on the Rift you won't be playing anything else for a while. (..or doing much of anything else anymore).

Its totally immersive and the controls are very well set up (be sure to turn on Panel Focus for all panels - inc Comms). Its amazing! Its immersive. Its a second life!

You will also want to use Voice Attack to eliminate the need for a keyboard...

Right now, ED is the reason for the Rift and the Rift is the reason for ED! There is no other game which works so well in VR...

The only downside to EDE/Rift/VA is now it has me drooling for the next release of the Rift. The resolution on the existing product is a bit of a compromise but the immersion and seamless head tracking easily outweigh the loss in resolution. This only makes me want more! ED/Rift/VA is the crack of VR applications!

Did I mention I liked the Rift?