Disappointing Oculus Experience

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rocketr2

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So I just tried for the first time the Oculus at the local Best Buy, and I was very disappointed. I had tried the samsung VR set with a s6 phone and it was just fine nothing great, and I thought for sure the Oculus would be a much better experience, but thats not the case. I feel that visually it doesn't look very good, its just like you're looking at a computer screen with a magnifying glass. If feels low res and a bit blurry. I was hoping it would be something crisp, vibrant, and colorful, like a retina display, or a new oled 4k hdr screen. But no, it looks washed out, and the colors kind of opaque like a TN panel. Just wondering if the HTC vibe is the same.
 
Dunno, don't have a Vive. From what I've read online and comparing specs the image quality seems to be pretty close. I got what I expected. Resolution could be higher, guess that's for the next generation devices. Played DCS, War Thunder and Elite Dangerous with it and am thouroughly enjoying myself. The interfacing could be better. Have to use the keyboard every now and then. Tried the Block demo with a Leap Motion taped to the Rift. That was a blast and a glimpse of where VR is going to take us. Only anoying thing about the Rift is having my glasses press down on my nose. Need to get prescription lenses in there without a frame. Expected that to be taken care of but it looks like a third party is working on that now. Watching 3D feature movies is also acceptable, got me a $600 View Master with moving pictures!
 
rocketr2 said:
So I just tried for the first time the Oculus at the local Best Buy, and I was very disappointed. I had tried the samsung VR set with a s6 phone and it was just fine nothing great, and I thought for sure the Oculus would be a much better experience, but thats not the case. I feel that visually it doesn't look very good, its just like you're looking at a computer screen with a magnifying glass. If feels low res and a bit blurry. I was hoping it would be something crisp, vibrant, and colorful, like a retina display, or a new oled 4k hdr screen. But no, it looks washed out, and the colors kind of opaque like a TN panel. Just wondering if the HTC vibe is the same.
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I tried the demo at Best Buy and same experience. In fact, I felt like the GearVR looked better visually. I don't know if it was the Oculus rep that was doing a bad job setting it up or what, she didn't even tell me how to do the lens adjustment. Do yourself a favor and try the Vive, much better experience. Oculus really botched the entire launch from demos to shipping units, shame.
 
If you're going to go Vive based on the weakneses of the Rift you're shortselling yourself. VR might not yet be up to your standards. Besides, if you're into the whole room experience and hand movement controllers, the Vive is the only game in town right now. Try the Vive before you order one, optics wise they're pretty close from what I've been told by people that own both. Simmers seem to lean to the Rift and the FPS crowd leans to the Vive.
 
I have a DK2, and even though Elite Dangerous etc looks totally shitty, the immersion after a few minutes makes you forget the pixelated mess for the most part.

Give it another year or two and try again. I am waiting for the CV2/Vive2 to show up to get a CV1 on the cheap. lol
 
The Vive has a smaller "sweet spot" and tends to be less focused around the periphery of the displayed image. I.E. If you look straight ahead, things are focused, but if you move your eyes away from center without turning your head, it turns into a blur fest. The Rift has the edge in this regard as well as a much less, almost invisible screen door effect, a better set of straps and being much lighter, more comfortable to wear. But overall, they aren't that dramatically different. Controllers definitely give the Vive the edge, But as far as the HMD itself, the Rift is superior, especially where sims are concerned.
 
You must take a demo of the Vive, as you did with the Rift. I was all set on the Rift at first, but after trying both, it was no contest. The Vive was much a better experience. I felt as though I was really in another place, whereas with the Rift it looked like I was peering at everything through a scope. I mentioned this to the Oculus rep giving the demo, and he said there is nothing that can be done about it. Obviously not everyone has this problem otherwise the Rift wouldn't be as popular as it is. Apparently certain face shapes are to blame. But whatever the reason, without the immersion, it is just not VR. The Vive has a control to adjust the lens distance from your eyes (although I didn't need to use it at the demo) which the Rift lacks.
I didn't notice any blurry spots with either one during the demos, but I wasn't checking for it either.
Regarding the pixelation, you said " its just like you're looking at a computer screen with a magnifying glass". Well that's because it's pretty much what is happening. Your eyes are very close to the screen, so you will see the pixels. That part didn't bother me much (it is an alternate world after all). You may find, like many others have, that once you experience the immersion, the pixelation isn't important. So definitely try it.
 
Caveat: My experiences are with a Vive not a Rift.

DSR is really a godsend for VR, Elite dangerous look like hot garbage till I tweaked the steamvr config file to render at 1.5x resolution. Really helps with aliasing and reading text. I was the same initially with the crappy graphics, it was probably even more jarring for me as I game on a 4k display for 2d, but once you get in the cockpit of a ship in ED or any other VR game you completely forget about it and get sucked into the experience.

You want to know what convinced me that VR will work for the masses? Seeing my mom completely absorbed in a round of Space Pirate Trainer and watching her completely comfortable playing with the controls provided, now keep in mind this is someone who has never touched a gamepad in her life.
 
Resolution issues, tracking issues, framerate issues...basically I need to wait about 10-20 years for VR to let it get to the point where it'll be usable FOR ME.

Because right now, using VR, be it on the Vive, the Rift or the GearVR, use-times of more than about 10-15 minutes triggers a migraine. Not "nearly", I mean I need to go take take serious meds, darken the room and I'm essentially down for a day.
I made that mistake at a convention a couple years back with the first-gen Rift. One of my partners came away ill. I was basically an invalid for the rest of the day and the day after.
 
I had the DK2 and it turned me green a few times until I gave up on it.....it was so awful, like being exposed to lethal levels of nuclear radiation awful. I would literally go from feeling great to deathbed awful in under twenty minutes of DK2 usage and it would take a few days to recover. Simulator sickness is not like motion sickness, because there is no medication to take for simulator sickness. Simulator sickness is actually the exact reverse of motion sickness, and I loath motion sickness to the point where I refuse to go on boats.
Simulator sickness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My unopened VIVE is still sitting in the corner of my room.....I suppose I should try it out and see if its better for me, but I gotta make some space in my room and I'm a bit lazy at the moment lol
 
wow you bought dk2 and vive? Thats a lotta dough
Let us know what you think about experience difference between the two
 
I've used both the CV1 and VIVE and even though the VIVE appeared slightly lower res, it had more presence. Not sure why, could be brighter and more vivid, or something else unique to the lenses and shape of the headset.

Though, my CV1 has some of that red haze on black screens, and the right display seems to have a lighter black level. Oculus is replacing it right now.

I returned the VIVE due to one of the controllers having haptic feedback problems.

Hopefully they double the resolution of these soon. Even if you run games at half the resolution, it will be up scaled and colors will appear more solid with lack of screen door.
 
I'll just tack my Rift experience onto here. Games looked outstanding. Better than any 3D I've ever seen. Sadly, however the Rift is not for me. My glasses don't fit nicely in the headset and I can't see shit without them. So that's strike one. Strike two is that the only way to get it to sit on my head in a way that I can see things well is for the bottom of it to jam right into my cheeks, which is uncomfortable after a very short time. I could have dealt with those two however but the final strike came from me getting nauseous after a short time while using it. Even in Lucky's Tale, my stomach would twist and turn after a short time. So sadly I have to take my Rift back to Best Buy. I'm glad I tried it out and I'm glad I didn't spend $800+ on the Vive. Hopefully with future revisions two of those three issues will be fixed (HMD's can't do anything for my eyes).
 
sleepybp said:
wow you bought dk2 and vive? Thats a lotta dough
Let us know what you think about experience difference between the two
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The best part of VR headsets early on was their resale value.

I bought a DK1, sold at profit for a DK2, sold at profit for a Vive, (after it shipped) decided that I couldn't afford it right then, and sold at a really big profit (local sale, so no Ebay/Paypal fees!).
Then a month later, bought another Vive to keep.

With the money that I got from selling the old headsets, the Vive was practically 1/3 the price.
 
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