Rift s whos getting one?

Soldato
Joined
19 May 2012
Posts
3,633
The HTC Cosmos should be announced later this month which also has inside out tracking. I'm looking forward to seeing some head-to-head reviews of both headsets before I decide which to get.

I've been put off by headsets with higher resolutions due to the exra strain on a GPU but the new Oculus Rift S has a full 1440p screen with a lower refresh rate of 80Hz to compensate so it doesn't require a faster PC than the original Rift.

Apparently the Oculus Rift S has a narrower field of view than the original Rift which doesn't sound good. Neither does the downgrade from OLED to LCD. Although the screen door effect has improved a lot compared to the original Rift.


The 80hz thing is genius.

the loss of built in audio isnt.
the loss of non improvement of fov is also a big f up.
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Jul 2010
Posts
5,882
The feedback from those who've used it say it's a very comfortable headset and the tracking works well. I think on the whole it'll be a good VR headset for new VR users. For those of us with existing headsets looking for a substantial FOV and resolution upgrade and who want the best tracking, it's not for us.

However there is a faint possibility that the Rift S could use external sensors to track the controllers in future, it just depends if there's enough call for it. That'll probably come from the esports community who need to be able to hold the controllers near the headset for aiming down sights, or for holding onto walls while looking away from them in Echo VR where the controllers would be occluded.
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Jul 2010
Posts
5,882
I wonder why they partnered with Lenovo on this one?

Rumours are the high-end Rift 2 was cancelled (presumably because it'd be too expensive) which led to Brendan Iribe leaving the company as he didn't want to be involved in a race to the bottom. They may well have had to quickly find a replacement, as the Rift is now 3 years old and so is overdue a refresh (and also various design flaws like the audio ribbon cable breaking might make it uneconomic to continue with it). Potentially Lenovo were already working on a headset so Oculus decided to partner with them. As the Rift S looks nothing like a Rift it seems like the headset is more a Lenovo design with Oculus tracking technology.

You would have thought the Rift S would have been a Quest with possibly extra cameras, but this design is quite different.
 
Associate
Joined
24 Nov 2003
Posts
925
Location
London
Not I. Will be hanging out for the virtual dust to settle and when the technology/price is right for virtual headsets/tracking systems.
Looks like things are moving forwards fast which is extremely positive!
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Jul 2010
Posts
5,882
It still has audio plus you now have the option to use your own headphones via standard 3.5mm jack, same as the Go.

I've got a Go and the built in audio is actually really decent, and apparently the Quest and Rift S speakers are even better. It makes it super easy to get into and out of the headset. The headphones on the rift can sometimes be a bit awkward in this regard as you sometimes have to flip them out of the way then re-adjust when the headset is on.

The biggest issue with the piped audio is sound leakage - it leaks a lot, so you'll have to wear headphones if you have people near you and don't want to disturb them, or if you're playing a multiplayer game and don't want your voice transmission to echo.

Oculus has said they might investigate third party add-on headphones if there's a demand. Rift style third party clip-on headphones already exist for PSVR so this should be easy.
 
Soldato
Joined
31 Dec 2006
Posts
7,224
There's little doubt what Facebook are intending here... it's a clear attempt to sweep up those who've stayed away from VR until now, balking at the price tag and perhaps with a system not quite up to the task. The 'Rift S' does make that easier.

There's always the HP Reverb for people who want higher res and greater FOV... and have the system to run it. The Vive Cosmos is also going to offer better performance. It's clear where the 'Rift S' is going to sit in the marketplace, and I don't think that's a bad thing. VR needs wider adoption, and this can only help. It's not really aimed at those enthusiasts who've been in the VR space for years now.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 May 2012
Posts
3,633
I don't think the Rift S is necessarily a bad product for newcomers.

I just think they should have released a headset for the higher end users too at a higher price point.

Rift S
Rift X or Rift 2
Quest

As a product line.

With the Rift S being the budget entry point into VR and the other headset being much more expensive but having OLED Screens, top class built in audio etc.



I'm guessing they have inside information that Valve and HTC are both doing nothing this year at the high end of the market.
 

Asa

Asa

Associate
Joined
15 Nov 2011
Posts
411
There's little doubt what Facebook are intending here... it's a clear attempt to sweep up those who've stayed away from VR until now, balking at the price tag and perhaps with a system not quite up to the task. The 'Rift S' does make that easier.

There's always the HP Reverb for people who want higher res and greater FOV... and have the system to run it. The Vive Cosmos is also going to offer better performance. It's clear where the 'Rift S' is going to sit in the marketplace, and I don't think that's a bad thing. VR needs wider adoption, and this can only help. It's not really aimed at those enthusiasts who've been in the VR space for years now.
It just sucks that there are good Oculus-exclusive games released and coming soon, and no well-supported way to play them on a high-end headset.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 May 2012
Posts
3,633
It just sucks that there are good Oculus-exclusive games released and coming soon, and no well-supported way to play them on a high-end headset.
TBH I'm holding my breath on the games released by Oculus. Asgard's wrath's gameplay looked very meh.

If they want to further VR, they could do with investing in even more VR game studios. As it stands, the huge limitation to bring people to VR is also the fact that there are very few AAA games of a decent length available. At some point in time one of the big boys will have to eat the cost of a very strong software development team to get some system sellers there. I only see Sony doing this.
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Nov 2018
Posts
2,710
It just sucks that there are good Oculus-exclusive games released and coming soon, and no well-supported way to play them on a high-end headset.

The Rift and the Vive are high end products. The Rift S is more more of a sideways move but equal to the original Rift. Okay HTC have the Pro which is higher but that's it. The Pimax headsets dont seem high end to me.

What are you calling high end? Purely a resolution improvement? VR doesn't relegate like GPUs do where you by a high end GPU and it becomes a mid end product after 2 years.
 
Associate
Joined
17 Oct 2005
Posts
2,246
Location
Perth, Australia
Oculus say the FOV on the Rift S is a bit bigger than the Rift, problem seems to be the people demoing it arnt getting setup properly with the headset. Its the same as the PSVR put it on and then slide the headset into your face by holding the release button down.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 May 2012
Posts
3,633
Oculus say the FOV on the Rift S is a bit bigger than the Rift, problem seems to be the people demoing it arnt getting setup properly with the headset. Its the same as the PSVR put it on and then slide the headset into your face by holding the release button down.

Oculus are always a bit evasive with FOV numbers.
In my experience the Rift's FOV always felt very limiting, partly due to the binolcular approach.
Hopefully its a tad better, but I'm not hopeful.

The 80hz thing is quite cool though. I think if we can all adjust to 80hz its potentially a game changer for performance issues.
 

Asa

Asa

Associate
Joined
15 Nov 2011
Posts
411
The Rift and the Vive are high end products. The Rift S is more more of a sideways move but equal to the original Rift. Okay HTC have the Pro which is higher but that's it. The Pimax headsets dont seem high end to me.

What are you calling high end? Purely a resolution improvement? VR doesn't relegate like GPUs do where you by a high end GPU and it becomes a mid end product after 2 years.

I have a Rift and I have an Odyssey+. The step-up is pretty big, and the Reverb is said to be even better. I still have my Rift in a box just in case, but I'd be loathe to have to use it and the Rift S isn't exactly calling my name either.

I don't want to **** on the Rift or anything. It was a great headset. I just wanted more from the Rift S.
 
Back
Top Bottom