Virtual Reality Reviews

I’m still on my CV1 as well, so haven’t really looked into the newer headsets heavily. My impression is that the latest gen are 1.5 rather than transformative though. Rift S seems to be practically a side-grade.

Personally I’m hoping I can tide my Rift over until the next gen.

Glad I'm not alone thinking the same! Is there actually any device on the horizon that appears to be game changer?
 
They asked me to send back the unit without the earphones and sent me out a reconditioned CV1 that looked new, still works great.


Yeah my left speaker went to. Got a free recondition within 2yr warranty (EU). I’m thinking can nurse it along if/when it goes again, but when the wire goes that will probably be it, unless someone’s selling them for OK rates.

Glad I'm not alone thinking the same! Is there actually any device on the horizon that appears to be game changer?


Nothing confirmed that I know of, but lots of patents and minor reveals of various R&D out there. If they can get foveated rendering to work that would be grand, the processing savings would be major. (Which might mean I won’t have to upgrade my kit to run higher screen resolutions or whatever ;))

Still waiting to see where the industry wants to go though. If they keep favouring the stand-alone models to get people into VR I do wonder what will happen to PCVR, especially on the software side.
 
The funny thing with resolution is, 1st gen had a very crappy one, so you needed "mucho supersamplingo" to overcome it :) The Reverb with it's native high res (2160x2160 per eye) supposedly doesn't need so much supersampling because the picture is already nice and clear.

None of my close living friends has a reverb for me to try though, so I can only rely on hearsay from this forum. Reverb G2 sounds sweet, but it doesn't use knuckles controllers, and it's hard to go back to previous gen controllers after experiencing finger tracking. Also I feel that going into WMR from SteamVR would be a serious downgrade ;-)))

Tried previous gen (vive) controllers with Onward and it was really off-putting seeing my hands outstretched for no reason ;-) I'm waiting for Valve to drop Index 2 sometime in the future. Meanwhile watching who will introduce seamless hand-tracking first. Come on Valve, those two cameras are sitting there, idling...
 
With all its flaws, the Rift still provides a decent experience and I feel like I can wait easily for another generation. I am just curious how much of a compromise the current generation is, i.e. is a Valve Index VR 1.5 or 2.0?
Valve Index is really a 1.5 gen, still a substantial improvement over the CV1. I have the CV1, and built a friends PC for his Valve Index and tried that one too.
The Index has even better comfort, i believe it's the top of the line. Over-ear headphones of baffling quality, excellent padding (with extra removable padding for different head shapes !), excellent balance...
The resolution is what would make it 2.0: it's still a very noticeable step up from the CV1, in clarity, FOV (which is plenty enough on the Index IMHO), and SDE. Still if you pay attention to the pixels you notice them, it's still not reality breaking as you know how the brain is tricked by VR.. Could be called 2.0 on that aspect, i think the "resolution barrier" is just barely passed here.
The controllers detect each finger very precisely.. they hold very well with a nice strap system, and have good ergonomics. Again top of the line here, but still it's not true inside-out tracking of your own hands, and the headset still needs tracking stations: that is still 1.5 overall IMHO.

Coming soon is the collab between HP and Valve (Reverb G2) for that 2Kx2K per eye headset, with the same mechanical system that is used for the Index, best of both worlds here, good inside out tracking, sub par controllers though. 2.0 ? almost. With inside-out tracking of your own hands (liberating them from the poor controllers) would make it completely 2.0.
It's available for pre-order in US, for us Europeans it will be july i think.
 
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To the list i would add in sims: Assetto Corsa (it has it own merits and downsides as a sim, VR is just a must have for simulators now), RFactor 2, Eve Valkyrie (space shooter, 3+)
In survival: No Man's Sky. Probably a 3, but i'm not the target public for that kind of game.
In adventure/action: i'm a big Lovecraft fan and the ending of Edge of Nowhere had me screaming. I'd put it in a solid 4+ territory just because of that fantastic ending, and those toe curling ice climbing / stunt sections + the innovative narration making use of VR to make the player experience hallucinations from the main protagonist.
I would add Chronos: it's got aspects from a metroidvania mixed with Dark Souls like fighting. It's actually really good and gets better the further you go. Enjoyed that one, even though VR only adds immersion here, as it could very well be a flat screen game. Still good on its own. A solid 4 too.
Another interesting experience: Star Trek Bridge Crew. Really a lot of fun if played with your friends. I suppose much less so if played with strangers. The VR experience is solid, there's positional audio for each character from where they stand on the bridge, interactions with controls are believable. Well done, but definitely not a solo experience.
 
Valve Index is really a 1.5 gen, still a substantial improvement over the CV1. I have the CV1, and built a friends PC for his Valve Index and tried that one too.
The Index has even better comfort, i believe it's the top of the line. Over-ear headphones of baffling quality, excellent padding (with extra removable padding for different head shapres !), excellent balance...
The resolution is what would make it 2.0: it's still a very noticeable step up from the CV1, in clarity, FOV (which is plenty enough on the Index IMHO), and SDE. Still if you pay attention to the pixels you notice them, it's still not reality breaking as you know how the brain is tricked by VR.. Could be called 2.0 on that aspect, i think the "resolution barrier" is just barely passed here.
The controllers detect each finger very precisely.. they hold very well with a nice strap system, and have good ergonomics. Again top of the line here, but still it's not true inside-out tracking of your own hands, and the headset still needs tracking stations: that is still 1.5 overall IMHO.

Coming soon is the collab between HP and Valve (Reverb G2) for that 2Kx2K per eye headset, with the same mechanical system that is used for the Index, best of both worlds here, good inside out tracking, sub par controllers though. 2.0 ? almost. With inside-out tracking of your own hands (liberating them from the poor controllers) would make it completely 2.0.
It's available for pre-order in US, for us Europeans it will be july i think.

Thanks, this helped me a lot to orientate.
While room-scale is fun, most of the hours I spent on VR were in simulation titles, so to me tracking stations and the rest are of secondary importance... With that in mind, Reverb 2 could be the definitive device for me.
 
I would add Chronos: it's got aspects from a metroidvania mixed with Dark Souls like fighting. It's actually really good and gets better the further you go. Enjoyed that one, even though VR only adds immersion here, as it could very well be a flat screen game. Still good on its own. A solid 4 too.
Another interesting experience: Star Trek Bridge Crew. Really a lot of fun if played with your friends. I suppose much less so if played with strangers. The VR experience is solid, there's positional audio for each character from where they stand on the bridge, interactions with controls are believable. Well done, but definitely not a solo experience.


Yeah I’m definitely going to get to Chronos at some point. 3rd person isn’t really my jam in VR but it does look slick.

I’ve got the Star Trek one but yeah, have only played it solo so far. Doesn’t really sing on that front.

I should really write up an NMS review. I put like an extra 80hrs into it in VR. I think it’s the shapeless nature of the gameplay loops, and the way they keep adding stuff, that means I’m treating it as an unfinished gameplay session ;)
 
With inside-out tracking of your own hands (liberating them from the poor controllers) would make it completely 2.0.


I’m not convinced this aspect is going to hold. Input detection would need to be very robust. It risks Kinect style annoyances ;)
 
While room-scale is fun, most of the hours I spent on VR were in simulation titles, so to me tracking stations and the rest are of secondary importance... With that in mind, Reverb 2 could be the definitive device for me.
That's what i am going to do as well. My apartment is very small i have absolutely zero room for a VR area. My friend who's got the Valve Index has got a full basement cleared for that purpose ! I also am very inclined towards simulations. So Reverb G2 it is.

I’m not convinced this aspect is going to hold. Input detection would need to be very robust. It risks Kinect style annoyances ;)
That's the only way forward i think. While Index wands are really good, it's still not completely full detection. Or haptic gloves will be a happy medium, if they manage to make those cost less than tens of thousands dollars, which seems a bit far away at the moment.
 
That's what i am going to do as well. My apartment is very small i have absolutely zero room for a VR area. My friend who's got the Valve Index has got a full basement cleared for that purpose ! I also am very inclined towards simulations. So Reverb G2 it is.


That's the only way forward i think. While Index wands are really good, it's still not completely full detection. Or haptic gloves will be a happy medium, if they manage to make those cost less than tens of thousands dollars, which seems a bit far away at the moment.

I do have an OKish room scale, but the only lasting appeal at the moment is if I can convince myself to do fitness stuff as cardio. But I can live without it, as I found VR to be best at sims, and that is the primary way to use it.

So yeah, I might get into Reverb 2, especially if I can offload the CV1 at a decent price (I just noted it still trades roughly at the same price as I bought it for).

Edit: Reverb 2 is compatible with Steam VR, right? Because it is never listed otherwise.
 

Viajero

Volunteer Moderator
I could actually swap my Rift for a Reverb for about $100. Should I consider it?
I also come from the rift. The answer is going to depend on your finances :p and the timing for the next Reverb iteration. The jump in quality and resolution from the Rift to the Reverb is significant and very noticeable imo. Plus no light houses etc. You need a rig that can move it though.

On the other hand if you can afford to wait for the Reverb 2 then you save in the hustle of 2 separate purchase/sale transactions and installations (assuming you still go for the Reverb 2 anyways).
 
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I also come from the rift. The answer is going to depend on your finances :p and the timing for the next Reverb iteration. The jump in quality and resolution from the Rift to the Reverb is significant and very noticeable imo. Plus no light houses etc.

I just checked on the second hand market, and seen two very fresh ads, one looking for a Rift, one selling a Reverb. $100 are not an issue.
I am actually hesitating because it seems Reverb 2 could be at the sweet spot in terms of product and that I should rather wait than to fool around with selling/buying another HMD...
Just a couple of posts earlier I was convinced that the Rift is a keeper until VR 2.0, now here I am contemplating a new headset. :)
 

Viajero

Volunteer Moderator
I just checked on the second hand market, and seen two very fresh ads, one looking for a Rift, one selling a Reverb. $100 are not an issue.
I am actually hesitating because it seems Reverb 2 could be at the sweet spot in terms of product and that I should rather wait than to fool around with selling/buying another HMD...
Just a couple of posts earlier I was convinced that the Rift is a keeper until VR 2.0, now here I am contemplating a new headset. :)
Yeah, if you don’t mind waiting a bit, holding on for Reverb 2 is a good choice.
 
The dealbreaker for me with the current reverb is the crappy first gen WMR controllers. Will be interesting to see if the v2 versions are an improvement. Supposedly more ergonomic etc.

I do still worry a bit that resolution increases without foveated rendering start requiring massive GPU grunt etc too tho. Certainly the Tested guys found kit like the reverb pushed their 1080s up to the edge:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeqJjICyzeo&t=7m35s


Which is my gear. And getting reprojection / having to tone down other game sparkle would be a bit of a meh pay off.
 
reverb pushed their 1080s up to the edge:
Which is my gear.
Well it is somewhat outdated now, it was out when ED: Horizons was a thing, you know :D But with new NVidias flooding the market soon(tm), I guess the whole pascal lineup will come down in price significantly. I myself am on a half tier higher 1080Ti and I'd say it is sufficient for most of the games out there, provided the game has its engine in order (ED doesn't, DCS doesn't ;-) ). On our Polish ED VR forum @Kyokushin has a Reverb paired with 1080Ti and his experience is positive, he basically says you don't need as much supersampling with the Reverb because res is already great.
 
Well it is somewhat outdated now, it was out when ED: Horizons was a thing, you know :D But with new NVidias flooding the market soon(tm), I guess the whole pascal lineup will come down in price significantly. I myself am on a half tier higher 1080Ti and I'd say it is sufficient for most of the games out there, provided the game has its engine in order (ED doesn't, DCS doesn't ;-) ). On our Polish ED VR forum @Kyokushin has a Reverb paired with 1080Ti and his experience is positive, he basically says you don't need as much supersampling with the Reverb because res is already great.

The 1080ti is still a beast, and given the 30-series cards are around the corner, it could become a real performance bargain on the used market-
 
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