The VR thread

[Frogacuda]

I got a VR Cover replacement facial interface for Christmas, and boy does it ever make a big difference for active games, where having a foam sweat sponge on your face really got gross quickly. The VR Cover one is kind of a faux-leather pad and it's both cooler and less gross.

Related: I've been playing a lot more Beat Saber.

[Tain]

Rift S announced today:



https://uploadvr.com/oculus-rift-s-official/

A replacement for the existing PC Rift. $400, Spring. No longer uses external trackers, now runs at 80hz instead of 90hz (and thus maintains roughly the same performance requirements), Go-style lenses to help with the ringed effect, and the resolution is slightly bumped up to 1440p.

While there's nothing here that would get existing Rift or Vive owners super pumped, I think this would be really sick to pair with a gaming laptop due to the no tracker (or lighthouse) setup. I didn't expect them to ditch trackers so soon, honestly, and it kinda gives me hope that it'll truly be good enough.

They also confirmed cross-buy for Quest and Rift apps.

I'm still the most excited for Quest, though, and really want a date.

[kedawa]

Inside out tracking should be fine. I've had no issues with the Worldsense head tracking in the Mirage Solo, and the tracking in this thing is probably a lot more capable.

[Frogacuda]

Inside out tracking should be fine. I've had no issues with the Worldsense head tracking in the Mirage Solo, and the tracking in this thing is probably a lot more capable.

I don't think head tracking is really the thing people are worried about, it's the hand tracking, and the ability to track when you're doing things that aren't in front of your face. A great example might be Echo Arena, where you're pushing off the wall behind you and reaching in the opposite direction for the disc. It seems like the implementation here is pretty good and fine for most things, but I worry that it will still be a noticeable step down. I would have been much happier if they allowed external sensors as an optional add on. There's really no reason they couldn't have done this.

I am underwhelmed with the Rift S, especially the price. It's a product full of compromises, with some minor improvements to image quality, and that might make sense if it brought a price drop with it, but the fact is, it's $50 MORE than the Rift is at most places right now, and the same price as the quest despite the fact that the Quest has an SoC built in, independent OLED panels, and higher resolution. Everything about this feels like a compromise for a mainstream price point, but then the price point isn't there.

I can only hope they are planning a more substantial upgrade sooner rather than later.

[kedawa]

I thought the each controller had inside out tracking of its own. That's how the new prototype Worldsense ones work, anyway.

[Frogacuda]

I thought the each controller had inside out tracking of its own. That's how the new prototype Worldsense ones work, anyway.

No, the cameras on the headset track the hands in much the same way the old outside-in sensors do ("Constellation" tracking).

I also don't think that's true regarding Worldsense. There's no camera on their controllers.

[James]

I'm not really sure behind-the-back tracking is all that important, honestly. In front of your face, sure, 1:1 is absolutely required, but if you can't see your hands behind your back then the internal sensors should be more than good enough to get the job done for the short time the controllers will be there. Gotta admit, I'm kind of tempted by the Rift S just for dispensing with the sensors. I'm just not sure I'm tempted to the tune of $400.

[Frogacuda]

I'm not really sure behind-the-back tracking is all that important, honestly. In front of your face, sure, 1:1 is absolutely required, but if you can't see your hands behind your back then the internal sensors should be more than good enough to get the job done for the short time the controllers will be there. Gotta admit, I'm kind of tempted by the Rift S just for dispensing with the sensors. I'm just not sure I'm tempted to the tune of $400.

That last part is critcial. Everything about this says that it's built for economy. The screen tech is behind the Quest, and Quest obviously has a whole on-board system powering it, and yet we see this thing is actually the same price as Quest. It doesn't really make sense. If this was $250 or $300 I'd understand the decisions they made, and recognize that it could open up the market a bit, but at $400 it just makes no sense to me.

Also, tracking out of your line of sight is sort of an edge case, but it can be an issue in a game like Echo Arena, where you're pushing off of walls behind you, while reaching for something in the opposite direction. Games with IK and body presence can be impacted as well because even when your hands are out of line of sight, it could be apparent that your arms or general pose are not where they should be.

While Oculus' tracking solution was too demanding of the hardware in terms of USB bandwidth and power and led to a lot of headaches, I do think outside-in tracking or a fusion of both is the long-term future of VR. When we can get something Kinect like that is fast and accurate enough to really work in VR, we'll be able to deliver full body presence, and I think that's going to be worth the hassle of placing a sensor or two for most users.

[Frogacuda]

And now Valve has tipped their hand, with a teaser for their Gen 2 headset, the Valve Index. It apparently releases in May, aroudn the same time the Rift S is expected to drop.

This effectively confirms earlier leaks about a new headset, as the image is consistent with shots of that prototype. This leak also claimed the unit:

• Had a 130 degree field of view, substantially higher than the ~100 degrees of the Rift and Vive. This is corroborated, somewhat, by the large lenses in the prototype.
• Had the same resolution as the Vive Pro. Since the FOV is wider, this probably doesn't mean a dramatic improvement to pixel density, however.
• Would launch with Valve's new "knuckles" controllers with finger tracking. No surprise here.
• Would launch alongside a new title set in the Half-Life universe, which the leak suggested was a prequel and not HL3.
• The unit has some kind of socket on the front for a module of some sort. There appears to be a USB 3.0 port on one side of this cavity, and it appears to be covered by a transparent shield in the final version. I can only guess what this is for. A Leap-motion-style finger tracker maybe?

A few more takeaways:

• The unit has two external cameras, but these appear to be used for passthrough rather than inside-out tracking. Detailed anaylyis of the released image show hidden lighthouse tracking senseors embedded under the plastic, which are more clearly visible in the prototype.
• It does not appear that the unit supports eye tracking, which means we shouldn't count on a magic bullet to keep system requirements down. This unit WILL require a beefier system than the Vive did for comparable performance and IQ.
• There's a mechanical IPD adjustment, a feature dropped from the Rift S, much to the dismay of the big and little headed.
• The Vive branding is gone, but continues with other products like the Focus and Cosmos. This likely means HTC is not involved
• Common sense dictates this is a premium product at a premium price. While I don't think we'll see "prosumer" pricing like the Vive Pro, I would not be shocked if it were priced like the original Vive was at launch.

[Tain]

The Rift S and Quest are now up for preorder and ship in a month. There are some reviews going live for both, and they sound very positive about the tracking. The Quest is sounding mostly like what I expected so I went ahead and preordered.

Also, Valve went official with Index details:

https://store.steampowered.com/valveindex

Index, spec-wise, sounds like it'll be the best headset, but I'm having trouble picturing how much of a difference the resolution, lenses, FOV, comfort changes, and so on will make. Knuckles are the best VR controllers, but maybe not leaps and bounds beyond Touch. The price isn't ridiculous given how premium all of this sounds, but I'll have a hard time suggesting the total package over the Rift S given that the Rift S is less than half the cost. Maybe I'll wild out and get the Index HMD, but probably not.