So, are we saying VR crapped the bed already?

[pooptastic]

Just curious, first off being there's no separate VR sub-forum here still.

I was down to get a Rift, or Vive, but both launched out of my price range. That, and a min-spec PC isn't really something you can expect to have the greatest experience with I'm sure.

Sony announces their PSVR, at a decent price i guess in comparison, and looks to be an ok compromise.

Then news about NEO come out, basically a new Playstation intermediary system they're coming out with. Mainly for VR, but also to sort of get a higher spec console out too.

I dunno, I guess i'm a bit peeved at how much of a hardware investment all VR seems to require, on top of the pricey units themselves. I'm sure the fresnel lenses or whatever add to the price, but really by that much? How long have we had 1080p range phones? like five years now? I bet you can find a brand new cell with 1080p that's under 200 bucks. An entire smartphone, not just a screen. Touchscreen to boot.

So where's the extra money going then, just payback for R&D?

Then there's the software. It all seems like demos, and all I read are apologists telling people to, "Get VR legs" or to "Keep/Stop playing the second you get sick", and things similar, enough so that it really sounds like there's more than a few things to iron out still.

Anyone here care to share their opinion?

 

[Anubis]

why would there be a VR sub forum?

itll have its niche and will be in the gaming forums

 

[cbrunny]

so... you're mad at... physics? capitalism?

 

[mnewsham]

VR isn't dead, the cost of entry is just higher than what most people are willing to pay at the moment, that and the developing ecosystem make it hard to recommend to someone who isn't extremely interested in VR already, or trying to get into the industry.

That all being said, VR has the potential to take off majorly in the next 4-8 years. I personally will wait until 4k+ HMDs and better text legibility so I can use it as a total desktop environment replacement. No need for monitors when you can simply create as many virtual monitors as you need/want.

 

[gorcorps]

Not sure how old you are to remember all of the different home tech advances, but new technology always costs a shit load. I remember when the PS2 came out and DVD was starting to take off. It hit about the time surround sound and good home theaters were becoming desirable (to make sure you had the best DVD experience possible of course)... so you needed a good 5.1 setup with optical input, and the optical cables were crazy expensive.

 

[Squeetard]

Yep, early adopters pay a premium. I was gonna order a vive but we are taking it in the rear in Canada. HTC tags us $100 over the current exchange rate plus we'll still have to pay duty at the border.

 

[IronWing]

Cussing and cursing not allowed in thread titles, might want to edit. Given your user name, maybe a moot point.

 

[Kaido]

Just curious, first off being there's no separate VR sub-forum here still.

It doesn't need a sub-forum yet, not big enough - still in the early-adopter phase. We do have a good discussion thread going here tho:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2460026

 

[clamum]

It's a new market/field/technology (not *completely* new, but for mass appeal it is). It's gonna be expensive and there's gonna be bugs and growing pains. The same as every other single piece of technology. Portable DVD players were insanely expensive just 15 years ago. Now they're cheap as fuck.

 

[TwiceOver]

Pft, holodeck or bust.

 

[Homerboy]

When those newfangled flat-screen TVs can out, the cost of entry was pretty steep too if I recall. Same with horseless carriages and lightbulbs.

 

[Homerboy]

Pft, holodeck or bust.

Almost there!'

http://secondnexus.com/technology-a...2&tse_id=INF_216b521cfd6d490584934534e0e9019b

 

[Kaido]

I was down to get a Rift, or Vive, but both launched out of my price range. That, and a min-spec PC isn't really something you can expect to have the greatest experience with I'm sure.

Sony announces their PSVR, at a decent price i guess in comparison, and looks to be an ok compromise.

Then news about NEO come out, basically a new Playstation intermediary system they're coming out with. Mainly for VR, but also to sort of get a higher spec console out too.

I dunno, I guess i'm a bit peeved at how much of a hardware investment all VR seems to require, on top of the pricey units themselves. I'm sure the fresnel lenses or whatever add to the price, but really by that much? How long have we had 1080p range phones? like five years now? I bet you can find a brand new cell with 1080p that's under 200 bucks. An entire smartphone, not just a screen. Touchscreen to boot.

So where's the extra money going then, just payback for R&D?

Then there's the software. It all seems like demos, and all I read are apologists telling people to, "Get VR legs" or to "Keep/Stop playing the second you get sick", and things similar, enough so that it really sounds like there's more than a few things to iron out still.

Anyone here care to share their opinion?

My experience to date:

1. Gave Google Cardboard a shot using a Viewmaster ($20) & my iPhone. Looked like crap on my aging 5S, but intrigued me.

2. Ended up purchasing a GearVR ($99) to use with my Note 5. Waaaaaaay better VR experience than GC. Not many quality apps/experiences available, and the ones that are good are fairly short. I have a lot of fun demoing it with people.

3. Liked the GearVR so much that I have a Vive on pre-order & will be pairing it with a Subpac vest.

The thing to keep in mind is that consumer VR is very, very new. This is bleeding-edge stuff. It's going to cost a lot, it's not going to work perfectly, it's going to be missing features, etc. Wait three years & you'll be able to buy very high-quality VR with a ton of titles for a reasonable price. Right now, we're in the early adopter phase of a well-known chart called the Production Adoption Lifecycle:

VR is super complex & not all of the bugs are even worked out yet. Simulator sickness is something that a lot of people experience. I didn't feel it strongly until playing Minecraft VR with the VR controls turned off, although it helps if you use a swivel chair or a drummer's throne to spin around on instead of just using the joysticks to turn, but it is not a pleasant feeling to experience at all. They're still working on stuff like lenses for people with vision problems, people with vision in one eye, etc. too.

However...I think VR is awesome & is here to stay. Experiencing high-quality VR isn't something you can really describe to people; it has to be experienced. A lot of people were skeptical until they put on my GearVR headset & ran through a few programs. It does feel pretty immersive & adds a really neat dimension to stuff like games & photos. Most people say something along the lines of "holy crap" when they fire up a movie on the moon in Oculus Theater & do other fun stuff like that in VR.

VR experiences are cool too & are one of the best features of virtual reality. I'm playing "Annie Amber" right now, which is kind of a light exploration/puzzle game where you go through a girl's life from birth to death, but everything is set in space. So you start out in the baby's room, go outside & the toys are all floating around the space station. Later on you fly through school desks floating in front of a planet. After that you fly around Saturn's rings with music records hanging out there in space. All with some neat ambient piano music playing:

It doesn't look like much in the screenshot, but from the headset, it looks like you're staring a mile down the rings. It's pretty crazy. VR gives you the opportunity to have a really personal experience, almost in the same way you do when you see a movie in the theater but even better because you can explore it at your own pace. So that's a pretty cool thing that VR offers in addition to games, videos, and photos. I think it's only going to get better over time, so if you're not ready to jump in now, just wait a few years until it becomes more mainstream.

 

[Kaido]

When those newfangled flat-screen TVs can out, the cost of entry was pretty steep too if I recall. Same with horseless carriages and lightbulbs.

Seriously...Walmart just had a 65" Sanyo 1080p set for $499.

 

[sontakke]

Come on guys, we all know what drives the early tech! VR should easily be the best thing since sliced bread but of course the price of the hardware and the price of the associated software has to come down first within reach of average pron user. Then you can see the exponential growth.

 

[Homerboy]

Come on guys, we all know what drives the early tech! VR should easily be the best thing since sliced bread but of course the price of the hardware and the price of the associated software has to come down first within reach of average pron user. Then you can see the exponential growth.

Not even porn could keep 3D rolling.

 

[vi edit]

I spend 8+ hours a day with a bank of monitors about 2 feet from my face. The last thing I want to do when I get home is sit down and stick a cell phone 2" away from my eyes.

It's not something you can share with a spouse, friends or kids either due to the essential blindfolding that happens with the current state of equipment. You lose "true" interaction with others.

It will continue to remain a novelty much like 3D.

 

[pooptastic]

Right, new tech is pricey.

I guess I'm just holding out for the Ford Model T of VR.

 

[desura]

I spend 8+ hours a day with a bank of monitors about 2 feet from my face. The last thing I want to do when I get home is sit down and stick a cell phone 2" away from my eyes.

It's not something you can share with a spouse, friends or kids either due to the essential blindfolding that happens with the current state of equipment. You lose "true" interaction with others.

It will continue to remain a novelty much like 3D.

Yup. That's how I see it too.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Trick question. VR was never allowed on the bed in the first place, it was forced to sleep on a pile of rags in the corner of the garage.

It's never been anything more than a cute toy and never will be anything more than a cute toy. The price of the hardware has not been whats holding it back, its the very limited appeal that's the problem. If VR was cheap and worked twice as well as it does now most people would still not want it as they would have no use for it.

 

[Mandres]

Still no killer app. Without Doom/Wolfenstein/other early 3d games there would have been no widespread adoption of 3d graphics accelerators for consumers. We'll see what comes out in the next 12-24 months I guess?

 

[TheUnk]

I spend 8+ hours a day with a bank of monitors about 2 feet from my face. The last thing I want to do when I get home is sit down and stick a cell phone 2" away from my eyes.

It's not something you can share with a spouse, friends or kids either due to the essential blindfolding that happens with the current state of equipment. You lose "true" interaction with others.

It will continue to remain a novelty much like 3D.

The screens don't feel 2" away from your eyes because of the lenses. Once you have the headset on you really lose any sense at all that a screen is that close to your eyes.

You can share with a spouse, friends, kids. It's actually more fun with them. They can watch everything you do on the screen. I actually have more fun watching my kid play some games than playing them myself. Job Simulator even has a spectator camera that the player can grab and move around as if on TV. Holoball has a 2 player mode where 1 person can get on your PC and play a pong like game with the person in VR. Overall it can actually be very interactive with others.

 

[mnewsham]

The screens don't feel 2" away from your eyes because of the lenses. Once you have the headset on you really lose any sense at all that a screen is that close to your eyes.

You can share with a spouse, friends, kids. It's actually more fun with them. They can watch everything you do on the screen. I actually have more fun watching my kid play some games than playing them myself. Job Simulator even has a spectator camera that the player can grab and move around as if on TV. Holoball has a 2 player mode where 1 person can get on your PC and play a pong like game with the person in VR. Overall it can actually be very interactive with others.

People see it as a singular experience because no one else has a VR headset besides other tech nerds.

Trust me, Facebook didn't buy Oculus for the games.

 

[vi edit]

You can share with a spouse, friends, kids. It's actually more fun with them. They can watch everything you do on the screen. I actually have more fun watching my kid play some games than playing them myself. Job Simulator even has a spectator camera that the player can grab and move around as if on TV. Holoball has a 2 player mode where 1 person can get on your PC and play a pong like game with the person in VR. Overall it can actually be very interactive with others.

I'd rather play a board game or sit on the couch with a controller and play xbox with them. By sharing, I mean actually being able to see and interact with them. In..like...person? *shrug*

 

[Kaido]

I spend 8+ hours a day with a bank of monitors about 2 feet from my face. The last thing I want to do when I get home is sit down and stick a cell phone 2" away from my eyes.

It's not something you can share with a spouse, friends or kids either due to the essential blindfolding that happens with the current state of equipment. You lose "true" interaction with others.

It will continue to remain a novelty much like 3D.

I disagree. Two things to consider:

1. 3D is awesome for stuff shot in 3D like Avatar or Gravity, but nobody wants to wear glasses at home just to watch TV - even though the 3D experience on modern 3D HDTV's is REALLY good (plus a 3D Bluray player, 3D-capable HDMI cord, 3D TV, 3D glasses, etc.). However, VR is not the same as 3D movies - VR is 360, either in 2D or 3D (not all 360 content is 3D, in fact, most of it is not). VR is immersive, whereas 3D is more, ah, gimmicky. Stuff like VR experiences is more like reading a book rather than playing a board game IRL with your family, it's more personal. Think a Nintendo DS or Gameboy instead of multi-player in-person Nintendo Wii. TL;DR: 3D movies doesn't equal VR, totally different things even tho both employ 3D displays.

2. While the hardware is not there yet, VR desktop software is being actively developed and is VERY cool. You want a 30" virtual monitor? No problem. How about a curved, floating 70" HDTV in a CGI living room? Check this out:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/457550/

Wanna hang out with Rick & Morty in an animated room? Or look at your monitor with an outer space backdrop? Or sit in a movie theater? No sweat!

http://imgur.com/3gJlWR1

We're going to need much higher-resolution goggles to really make VR monitors useful for fine-detail stuff like text, but people are already playing games like Counter-strike on virtual monitors:

https://youtu.be/OcMCe4LESKE?t=429

I think that has a lot of potential for day traders & other people who use a ton of monitors, because eventually you'll be able to setup fifty 50" monitors in a 360 globe with a live Hawaii beach backdrop without having to spend a penny on a physical monitor.