Rift S vs Odyssey+ ?

Curtis R. Prophett · May 27, 2019

Does anyone have any experience with both the Rift S and the Odyssey+?

The O+ is an obvious visual upgrade from the Rift, but I am hearing really good things about the clarity of the screen on the Rift S. While it seems to be an obvious step up from the Rift, I would like to know how Rift S compares to the O+. If you have had experience with both, I would really appreciate your thoughts! Thanks!

lreese · May 28, 2019

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NlDaam6izM&t=463s

Curtis R. Prophett · May 28, 2019

lreese said:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NlDaam6izM&t=463s

Thanks!

I have definitely seen this, but it is hard to really guage what the real experience of difference is from the through the lens videos. Hoping to get a description of that experience from people who have first hand knowledge.

Crank Larson · May 28, 2019

I haven't got a Rift-S, but I'll have an Odyssey+ next week.

You can currently order it from amazon.com (not .co.uk) for delivery from USA, and it works out at just less than £310 delivered (including import tax). For that price, the choice between the Rift-S and it was an easy one. I currently use the Rift, and the main thing I'm looking forward to is the greatly reduced SDE (though I can still spend hours in the Rift and not really notice it there).

Thuen88 · May 31, 2019

I`ve been having 0+ for several months and got my Rift S today. Here is a quick comparison

Odyssey + Pros over Rift S

Much better black levels
Better colours
SDE is slightly less noticeable

The Rift S Pros over Odyssey +

Text is a little clearer
The headsett is more comfortable
Tracking is slightly better
The controllers are much better.

Here is the big issue I have with it and the reason Im probably gonna return it: The black levels in my eyes is just horrible. Its a total immersion breaker and its very clear you are watching a LCD screen when playing Elite. Im very disappointed here as several reviewers said it wasn't that bad and even better than the CV1 (Which is just wrong). The SDE is almost on par with Odyssey + which is nice though.

So my advice is to stick with the Odyssey + until a better headset with an Oled Screen comes to the market. To bad most brands are going with LCD`s today.

HeavyGroovez · Jun 1, 2019

On the subject of blacks, once you have seen Elite on those Samsung AMOLEDs - i have a Vive Pro that uses the same panels as the O+ - nothing else comes close.

I have 2 Rifts a very early one and a later one. Early one is garbage but the later one with Spud disabled has mega blacks. Unfortunately the red tint from disabling Spud drives you nuts.

Rift S black levels are what i would consider acceptable but its an LCD panel and they are simply not in the same league as OLEDs for blacks.

5k+ has atrocious blacks, literally unplayable as its like being immersed in grey soup.

Ive just ordered the HP Reverb and i know for a fact that given its an LCD black levels will be pretty mediocre but that 1056 PPI is going to be insane.

I really want an OLED Stripe HMD but the only one available is the XTAL and despite having the money i dont want to drop nearly 6 large on an HMD that will most likely be surpassed in a couple of years. Im fairly confident that we will see that level of tech at a more affordable price point by then.

lreese · Jun 4, 2019

I thought for Elite the Rift S has acceptable black levels once I played around with gamma a bit, but I also fly flightsims and flights at night in P3D has a very noticeable grey haze. All in all, still better than the Rift CV 1, though as that HMD had other problems in P3D.

VR_Yata_PL · Jun 4, 2019

removing „Haze” mod helps a lot with black in LCD panels also recomending do some changes in graphixconfig.xml (or overrride) <ToneMapType>0</ToneMapType> and <Saturation>0.170000</Saturation>

Crank Larson · Jun 29, 2019

Just to return to this, I can confirm that I am very happy with my upgrade from the Rift to the Odyssey+. It takes a couple of days to get used to the fitting (and the VRCover helps with that), but the image quality is superb. Tracking is spot on too, except for the very occasional glitch where my view drops to my lap - but that only ever happens when I'm putting the headset on, never while playing anything. I haven't had a chance to compare to the Rift-S, but am always happy when I'm not putting money into the coffers of Facebook...