Vive or Rift?

I can't really judge the Rift as I don't have it (did have the DK1 and DK2 sets though which were amazing at that point in time though hardly perfect or ready for 'normal' users) but I have the Vive and really, really love it. The sense of immersion is amazing and the room scale experiences really work. Controllers are fantastic too (although not suitable for things like this game). What was very impressive to me from the start was how exact the positioning is of both the headset as well as the controllers. Setup is not that problematic and helped by a great software environment (steam VR is really wonderful to use). I haven't tried this game yet (tbh I have VR more for experiences and slow games than for real action games) but I am looking fw to really sitting in that cocpit and looking around it.
 
I decided on the Vive for a few reasons. (I have not tried the Rift)
*Room Scale. At the time, the rift did not have room scale capability.
*It has a camera and a button on the headset. My hope was that I could use the camera to see my keyboard without having to take off the headset but that doesn't work in practice.
*I wear glasses. The Vive accommodates glasses easier.
*It's Valve's preferred solution and I'm mainly a steam gamer with no interest in buying my games from another "store"

That said, by all accounts, the Rift is lighter and has better optics which gives it a clearer picture.
If I was only interested in playing games while sitting at my desk, I think the Rift would be a better choice.

I love the room scale games though. Unless I'm mistaken, the Vive's room scale sensors/trackers are more accurate and better at covering a large area than the rift.
Am I mistaken? How well does the Rift room scale work?
If I understand correctly, the Rift's sensors are just IR cameras that track IR emitters on the headset, much like TrackIR.
The IR laser system in the Vive tracks the headset and controllers 3D position down to the millimeter. You can toss the controllers in the air and catch them even though you're looking at a computer generated representation of them.
 
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I have both, and 99% of the time I prefer the visuals on the Vive. The Vive display is noticeable brighter and more vibrant. The crushed blacks / banding and black smear on the rift are HORRIBLE and I can barely stand using it anymore. The only time I consider hooking up the rift anymore is flight sims, for the sole reason that the async reproduction is "smoother" on the rift. Usually when I do hook up the rift I end up switching back due to the black smear and horrible colors on the rift.

Rift = More comfortable. Slightly better performance. This is not raw FPS performance, but smoother transitions between reprojection so things have less stutter. This pretty much only matters in certain games or those that have marginal performance (read simulations Elite, DCS, FSX, etc..)
Vive = Better displays, with less distracting god rays. More usable room scale space to real space ratio.

Otherwise they are pretty much the same now days Rift Touch and Async Reprojection in SteamVR leveled the playing field for other things. I suspect the new audio head strap from HTC will remove the comfort difference.

As always some of this is subjective and depends on your A) Hardware, B) Tolerance for different artifacts (banding vs stutter, etc).

Your own admission to playing other games DCS, FSX, etc (however minimal) on your Rift would seem to support my point, which was a question to someone else BTW , questioning his use of the words "anything else", as if no other games were worthy on the Rift. The web is rife with reviews by people comparing and preferring one over the other for any number of games, for any number of reasons including display preference.

Other than that what was your point in responding to my question to StarlightPL?
 
My spec see below and latest CV1 Runtime has the cpu check and won't install if not passed. Mine did not pass but made Rift work by using a BETA version before the cpu check was added. The link is on another post. I also only have USB2.0 and it did not complain at all for all 3 devices. I use VR High E:D in-game settings with no added SS. It must have BLOOM=OFF to stop godray effect. Also must use AA=FXAA to at least smooth out lines of your cockpit or if you like it jagged and efficient on none. Also reduce the Draw distance. Experiment on other quality settings.
My next step is to try the ASW registry hack as I may get stuck if I install the latest 1.3 Runtime over the existing BETA. Not sure about that as I already at least got the setup working so really does not need to go through any more setup routines. I think some have managed doing that. ASW will smooth out the fps on a slower machine to be better but may reduce the higher fps on high end systems (i7 with GTX1070/1080).
The games are coming but Oculus Home still has much amateur demo stuff.
* (the new out today EVEREST being one these and although good is short to play so gets just 3/5)
 
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Your own admission to playing other games DCS, FSX, etc (however minimal) on your Rift would seem to support my point, which was a question to someone else BTW , questioning his use of the words "anything else", as if no other games were worthy on the Rift. The web is rife with reviews by people comparing and preferring one over the other for any number of games, for any number of reasons including display preference.

Other than that what was your point in responding to my question to StarlightPL?

Sorry if I offended. You seem to be reading some animosity in my post which was not intended. You're statement was "you doubt" everything else looks / plays better in the vive. I was simply explaining my opinion that yes most things look better in the Vive.
 
which was a question to someone else BTW (...) my question to StarlightPL?

You're over-analysing my answer to Kyennamo actually. I just pointed out a few times in this thread (and reflected in my "mini review" a few pages ago) that Rift is better out of the box with E: D. And if he is able to keep them both, I would use the Rift for E: D if I was in his shoes. No need to fumble with obscure settings, experimenting etc. And by "anything else" I was probably thinking about roomscale games.
 
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I love the room scale games though. Unless I'm mistaken, the Vive's room scale sensors/trackers are more accurate and better at covering a large area than the rift.
Am I mistaken? How well does the Rift room scale work?
If I understand correctly, the Rift's sensors are just IR cameras that track IR emitters on the headset, much like TrackIR.
The IR laser system in the Vive tracks the headset and controllers 3D position down to the millimeter. You can toss the controllers in the air and catch them even though you're looking at a computer generated representation of them.

Rift room scale actually works extremely well but having read a LOT on this subject I don't think anyone can honestly say that the Vive's Lighthouse tracking system isn't a technically better solution. I can certainly do the same toss and catch of the Rift controllers (which are things of ergonomic beauty) but I think perhaps where the Rift tracking system falls down is in the area of occlusion. I have two sensors on either side of my PC desk and, unsurprisingly, when I've got my back to the screen, they don't work (I guess 3 sensors attempts to solve this). Although I've personally not had a problem with this, I think there's also a problem of USB overload (with Rift, controller and multiple sensors each plugged into separate USB sockets, people can run out of either power or actual sockets). On the flip-side, setting up the Rift sensors is ridiculously easy (for ED you just need one sensor plonked on the desk in front of you) whereas mounting the Vive sensors (and getting power to them) was something that for me (my PC is basically in a corner of our smallish, nicely decorated hallway) was impractical and pretty much ruled out the Vive.
 
You're over-analysing my answer to Kyennamo actually. I just pointed out a few times in this thread (and reflected in my "mini review" a few pages ago) that Rift is better out of the box with E: D. And if he is able to keep them both, I would use the Rift for E: D if I was in his shoes. No need to fumble with obscure settings, experimenting etc. And by "anything else" I was probably thinking about roomscale games.

I was only pointing out that your wording suggests you feel the Rift is only good for one game and as I am sure many would feel that is not the case, I was therefore doubtful the statement would be met with universal agreement. Hard for me to over think what you were "probably thinking" if your not sure. Even , if you had invoked roomscale in your statement and people could only get up and jump around in the Vive (which just ain't so) there are many games that look the same or better on the Rift to many people. All I am saying is absolute statements in an opinion will be met with doubt by those who feel things are a little more varied.

PS
And I would die for your right to have that opinion so no sweat.
 
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when it works rift room scale with 3 cameras is outstanding. (this is not to say vives isnt either)

where the vive has the edge at the moment is, many people are over loading their usb bus with 3 cameras on the rift and as such are having all sorts of troubles that simply do not happen on the vive. luckily i have got mine happy after initial teething issues, but, for those who cant get a good experience from the rift despite having officially compatable hardware i think are right to feel pretty miffed.

I also think not having usb cables trailing back to your pc is nice and a +1 for the vive as well, plus not having to worry about cable extensions

no regrets my end going for the rift this generation but i got lucky. i think i also got lucky with my hmd with none of the red tint issues.
 
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So far i am super impressed with how fun the vive is while simultaneously being super disappointed with how bad it looks in Elite dangerous compared to the Oculus Rift.(regardless of settings)

My entire setup was bought for ED with room scale as an afterthought. And while I may be disappointed with the Vives performance in Elite dangerous I am thoroughly impressed with room scale and enjoying it FAR more than I expected to.

Fact is though...the optics on the Oculus Rift are significantly better. People who have a vive and "tried a rift 3 month ago" are likely not the best people to listen to in this situation. Trying one a few months ago is NOT the same as a side by side A/B comparison. And i promise you, anyone who has both and does an A/B will agree......The rift looks a lot better. Unfortunately, I notice a lot of bias here bases on which hmd a particular user has chosen so its often hard to get a straight answer

Well....i have chosen both. (And i have them both running on a 1080 with an i7 7700 and 32 gigs of ram). And having both i have no reason to favor one over the other. I initially wanted to favor the vive more(because of how fun room scale was and my utter disdain for facebook) but (when it comes to elite dangerous) the Rift is clearly superior by a significant margine. Dont believe anyone who tells you otherwise

So if you have a vive....enjoy it. Its a delightfully fun piece of tech. And it looks "acceptable" for Elite dangerous. But....if you are on the fence and have to choose one over the other i think you need to ask yourself "is this hmd specifically for Elite?" Because if you dont plan on doing room scale or playing other stuff than the Oculus should be your only choice(currently)
 
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For me, the Rift works better with ED just 'cause of its superior ergonomics. Nothing beats the Vive on room scale games and wioth steam as a platform, but only for ED, sitting down and wearing a headset for many hours, the Rift wins imo. The Rift's integrated external headphones (as we have discussed before Kyennamo :p) is a nice and comfortable touch.
 
For me, the Rift works better with ED just 'cause of its superior ergonomics. Nothing beats the Vive on room scale games and wioth steam as a platform, but only for ED, sitting down and wearing a headset for many hours, the Rift wins imo. The Rift's integrated external headphones (as we have discussed before Kyennamo :p) is a nice and comfortable touch.

Yeah.....For economics, the rift wins hands down again. Still though.....the vive is so damn fun.
 
Unfortunately, I notice a lot of bias here bases on which hmd a particular user has chosen so its often hard to get a straight answer
That's what you always have to expect in X vs Y discussions. People want to justify their investment and want to make sure the platform they've put their money on gets the most popular hoping it would get the most support in the future. It's just natural behavior.

Nothing beats the Vive on room scale games and wioth steam as a platform, [..]
Roomscale runs smooth on my Rift with 3 cameras, but given the recent discussions some seem to experience glitches with that configuration. I guess USB controller bandwidth is the achilles heel there.
What I don't get is how Steam as a platform would be an advantage for any of the two headsets as it works the same for both.
 
Inconclusive and, like any on-line poll, totally at the mercy of the whims of the internet, but I did a facebook poll today and these are the results so far.

sT9PJci.png


No explanation from the 3 unfortunately as to why they regret the Vive. I'll report back if this changes significantly.
 
Inconclusive and, like any on-line poll, totally at the mercy of the whims of the internet, but I did a facebook poll today and these are the results so far.

http://i.imgur.com/sT9PJci.png

No explanation from the 3 unfortunately as to why they regret the Vive. I'll report back if this changes significantly.

Haha.. I've actually commented on this, and the other couple of similar threads that have popped up in the Facebook group over the past couple of days.

As someone said above, people defend what they've bought, I don't think anyone can go wrong with either. I went with a Rift, and couldn't be happier.
 
As someone said above, people defend what they've bought, I don't think anyone can go wrong with either.

You totally could go wrong here. If you bought a vive specifically for ED, you "went wrong".

I am beginning to absolutely LOVE the vive. But i wouldnt even consider using if for ED anymore since i have a rift 2 feet away.
 
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You totally could go wrong here. If you bought a vive specifically for ED, you "went wrong".

I am beginning to absolutely LOVE the vive. But i wouldnt even consider using if for ED anymore since i have a rift 2 feet away.

Explain? (and I'm an Oculus fan here so it would be easy for me to just agree but from what I hear generally the Vive is pretty much just as good for ED).
 
Explain? (and I'm an Oculus fan here so it would be easy for me to just agree but from what I hear generally the Vive is pretty much just as good for ED).

No. It isn't, at least out of the box. What you get with plug and play are horrible jagged edges (aliasing) everywhere, and blurry text. It requires tinkering in SteamVR settings (thankfully we now have OpenVR adv. settings for that) and tinkering with Elite's own to accomodate the tweak.

I've done some reading in the meantime and found out oculus software can adjust the supersampling dynamically, hence the out of the box better results with E: D. Thus proving my earlier theory that it has nothing to do with better optics, runtime(? or Elite?) is just cranking the supersampling up. (see here, render target override description). Plus it gets applied on top of SteamVR supersampling settings.

EDIT: apparently it can be set to auto and runtime does this, as per this reddit thread.

Yes I have compared both pretty recently, no I wouldn't be able to play Elite on Vive after seeing it on the Rift if it were not for that tweak. Especially the text blurring on out of the box settings. Thank god for good forum people who found the settings needed for it to be crystal clear.
 
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