I found out this weekend that I was wearing the Vive too low on my face. Once I raised it up a bit things got a lot clearer.
For giggles I picked up the Oculus rift this weekend so I could do a side by side comparison of them. While the Vive is definitely more immersive (at least until the Oculus touch controllers come out), I think the Oculus might be a better fit for my space. I have both systems set up in my basement office, which has a pretty low ceiling (7' 3"). As a result, the Vive sensors are only just a smidge higher than their minimum installation height. That and the fact that I am pretty tall (6' 2") appears to be causing some tracking issues with the Vive when I am standing up. Sitting down there are no tracking issues with the Vive. The desktop based sensor for the Oculus has no such issues, though I was sitting down the whole time I used it this weekend. So - one point in favor of Oculus.
That said, I did experience quite a bit of motion sickness/dizziness while using the Oculus, whereas I didn't experience that at all with the Vive. Its possible that this is due to the fact that I tried out much more intense vr experiences with the Oculus (Eve Valkyrie) vs the Vive (Serious Sam), but I'm not sure as I primarily felt ill/dizzy when playing lucky's tail on the Oculus. It was particularly bad when the camera would move and I forgot to move my head with it. The sensation was strikingly similar to what I used to experience as a kid after spinning around a whole bunch of times and then stopping. I.e., my head was stopped but the world continued to spin. Anyway +1 point for the vive.
Graphics wise I noticed no major difference between the Oculus and the Vive. The vive maybe has a smidge wider FOV. On the other hand, I found the oculus display to be more clear and that it was a bit easier to maintain the headset in a position on my head that kept the image clear. No points to either side as this was a tossup IMO.
Audio - Its hard to complain about the audio quality with regard to a VR headset, but its very clear that Oculus thought out the whole user-friendliness aspect a lot better than HTC. Having earphones built into the headset makes it extremely easy to just put on the Rift and play. The sound quality from the included headset isn't great, but it gets the job done. On the other hand, I have consistently found the process of putting on headphones when wearing the vive to be a chore. This is particularly true as one has to done the vive BEFORE donning headphones. While the vive's included camera helps with locating said headphones once the headset is on, the whole process remains cumbersome. Not to mention that the combined weight of the Vive plus decent headphones on your head make it feel like you are wearing a turban or some other head wrap. And in my case, the headphone cable is yet another cable that has to run down my back, along with the already substantial cables running from the Vive to my pc. So +1 point to oculus.
Comfort - Apart from minor differences in weight, strapping, etc., both headsets feel remarkably similar when on my face. I do prefer the cushyness of the vive's included face pads over the one size fits all oculus, but its the difference is not enough for me to give one set a mark over the other.
I just use the earbuds...I hate them, but everything else seems like a huge hassle.
Unfortunately earbuds are not an option for me. No earbuds I have ever tried have stayed in my ears. Its over the ear or nothing for me, unfortunately.
That's odd that you have to re-cal your room setup every time. I haven't had to run it since I set it up back in April and I use it almost every day.
That's odd that you have to re-cal your room setup every time. I haven't had to run it since I set it up back in April and I use it almost every day.
I unplug sensors after each use and have never had to re-calibrate. You do want to make sure the stem is tightened down and it is all securely attached to the wall.Honestly I think it has to do with the fact that the room I am in has a low ceiling, and because I unplug the sensors after each use. If I don't recal, the tracking tends to be pretty bad.
im not saying it is all that hard, especially if you are a giant conglomeration with over 50 years of consumer production manufacturing history and access to the optics experts at sony cameras/lenses.How did Sony do it? That headset is a revelation in comfort and optics.
The biggest problem at the moment is locking yourself into one or the other. While Oculus has some great stuff on its store, much of the really fun and more open ideas are on Steam and much of that isn't designed to work with the Rift. That may change more with touch, but still requires everything to have some recoding for support.
Man tell me about it, I just read about Google Earth VR and I am sorta pissed. Seriously...this is as absurd as games coming out that would only run on Nvidia and not on AMD. I *absolutely* understand the necessity for motion controllers, and here also, as an example, the reasoning why Google is using the motion controllers in Google VR to reproduce the intuitiveness of the Google Earth app in VR. But there shouldn't be any limits in terms of "hard-coding" support for ONE platform into software, that would be really stupid. So I really hope that "porting" such apps for whatever system as long as they have controllers isn't a big deal.
By the way, when you say "are not designed for the Rift" <--- for me is also a caveat. I am one of the people who AT THIS POINT has not an option for room scale whatsoever (unless I would start re-doing our spare room and make it into a VR room, and to be honest, it doesn't even sound too appealing to me). I don't even have the option just merely moving 2ft from my desk in any one direction. So any app for Vive which would be "designed" for this and expects such movement would be pretty much un-useable for me, regardless of how cool/fun it would be to. I really hope when Touch comes out that there will be ways, possibly even with "hacks" or whatever that the two will become interchangeable, also in such cases where there is no "official" support for one platform (for whatever reason). I absolutely agree w/ and hope that developers won't "lock themselves" into one platform.
I plan on getting Fruit Ninja, (I get Fruit Ninja on every platform) The Brookhaven Experiment, and Apollo 11 tomorrow. If anyone knows of other good games (and apps) to buy/try, I'd love some recommendations.
There is a patch now to remove the headset check. Look on reddit.Man tell me about it, I just read about Google Earth VR
This driver adds support for the Razer Hydra motion controller in SteamVR. If you own an Oculus Rift and a Razer Hydra – you can now play virtually any VIVE VR title on SteamVR!
I plan on getting Fruit Ninja, (I get Fruit Ninja on every platform) The Brookhaven Experiment, and Apollo 11 tomorrow. If anyone knows of other good games (and apps) to buy/try, I'd love some recommendations.
yes, WOW is the correct words to use.If you have a Vive, go grab Google Earth VR. It was released today for free. It is....WOW.