Dk2 - still worth a punt?

Mr_Sukebe

Mr_Sukebe

Mr_Sukebe

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Just looking through options on VR headsets.
The optimum solution appears to be the Vive as the best allrounder, but clearly they're £690.
The CV1 does have some pros and cons, but is harder to source and is often going for a similar price.


The potentially interesting option is a DK2. Clearly not as good, certainly so from a comfort level and also roomscale. However I've been getting the impression that it's not "that" far adrift on the visuals. More importantly, they're now available for around £200.

So, worth a punt at £200?
 
I used a DK2 and the resolution and screen door effect was bad enough to make me sell it a week later.

As an experience it was stunning but once the initial euphoria died down I was absolutely gobsmacked at how poor the image quality was. It was quite literally a pixelated and unreadable mess. Your mileage may vary of course but because I was into flight sim games it meant I could not tolerate low res and unreadable instruments and HUD displays.
 
The Rift may be cheaper at present than the vive, but remember with the vive you ge the controllers and two lighthouse boxes with it.

With the Rift you only get an xbox controller, the oculus touch controllers and second sensor are due out later this year and will bring the whole cost nearer to the Vive.
And you really want to have the controllers for the Rift as you get a much better experience than using a controller.

Also you can run a lot of the Rift games on the Vive using Revive.

There is a lot of doubt as to whether the rift can do roomscale as it only says it can do 180 degree tracking, whereas the Vive does 360 degrees.
 
It depends. The DK2 scratched my VR itch just fine for the time I had it (well, still have it. It's in it's box in my bedroom). I wouldn't go back now I have room scale Viveness but if someone had a lower specced PC and only a few hundred pounds it's a good starting point.
Oculus hoome and AWT make all games nice and smooth. The res is bad for hardcore sims but for every other game it's a good headset.
 
For the time I had it (since last year) the DK2 was great. However although the hardware was good the software was poor.
The screen door was bad but not enough to put me off. For me the lack of games and the motion sickness were the main reasons I did not get along with mine. Even tough there was a lack of games I model 3d stuff and could see the models in VR via Unity.

I sold it to CEX and got £200 cash for it last week.

I am still thinking weather to go for the CV1 or VIVE but can't make my mind up.
 
Just bought a DK2 via the Bay. Should be here early next week. I figured that if I really couldn't get on with it, would make more sense to risk was it not only a significantly lower sum of money, but also a value that just doesn't appear to be decreasing at the moment.

Looking forward to seeing how ED pans out.
 
DK2 is only going to be supported a short while longer so I'd not buy it to be honest.
Infact I recently sold it for that very reason.
 
If you are low on budget you might have a look at the razer HDK2.
It has the same display resolution as Rift and Vive and it works with OpenVR (SteamVR games). No motion controllers yet but it is an open system so you will be able to add that later too.
From what i read it is not as plug and play as rift and vive yet though.
 
Picked up a s/h DK2 over the weekend.

Let's deal with the bad points:
- Hadn't realised this whilst collecting, but have subsequently that the owner must have been a smoker. Sure you know what I mean by that. Does mean that I'll probably not keep this particularly unit for that long
- My PC doesn't have USB3 connections (yet, I have ordered a card, which will be here on Wed). Whilst the DK2 does work, and works fine with say DCS, ED won't run. Apparently it does a sanity check of hardware and won't fire up if it's not happy
- The pixels are very much in evidence. Reminds me of the old front projection screens that were the only way to big screen prior to plasma TVs. Initially you think "hmm, that ain't good", but it's fairly easy to quickly ignore them and get on with enjoying yourself
- Resolution is not good enough to read small text. Haven't had time to try out the debug tool, which can supposedly help
- Nausea, yep had some of that after a session of low level flying

And the good things:
- Tracking simply worked. I understand that the CV1/Vive are much better, but I never had a problem
- Was very smooth and I remember only a very small number of "judder" whilst trying DCS. I'm using a 1070 with an old i5 2500, so nothing special. Additionally, my DCS settings were at close to max, so there's clear room for tuning
- The big one, the experience. Just wow. It's hard to put into words how much better it makes games like DCS. I have several aircraft, but mostly fly the Huey helicopter. That has brilliant visibility in most directions, and that allows you to really take advantage of the ability to look in any direction, to help judge landings, where you are to buildings etc. Simply phenomenal. Within the helicopter, the dashboard really does feel next to you. I have a leap motion, which I'm going to try to get running later this week for trying to control switches on the dashboard.


In summary, I'm definitely sold on a VR as a technology. Just awesome, even with it's caveats. Living in London, my intent is to visit PC world on Tottenham Ct road, who apparently have a Vive on show. So I'll be able to get an understanding in it's relative comfort and pixelation.

As for the DK2. This was only ever due to be an extended home test to see if I think VR as a technology is worth it. My logic being that I might lose £20-50 if I resell it quickly, but that amount is a massively lower level of risk than blowing £750 on a Vive.
 
danoliver1 said:
Just wait till you use the motion controllers and room scale on the vive it add a whole new dimension literally.
Click to expand...

I really don't have the space for room scale as the missus is not going to let me put a PC in our lounge. So I'm stuck in a small office space area. That's fine for cockpit driven games like ED, DCS and AC, but not much use for wandering around.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
I really don't have the space for room scale as the missus is not going to let me put a PC in our lounge. So I'm stuck in a small office space area. That's fine for cockpit driven games like ED, DCS and AC, but not much use for wandering around.
Click to expand...

Same here i use 10m hdmi and usb cables to extend vive from the bedroom to the living room even then i only have 1.5m x 2m space which is still fine. Its not about being able to wander around its more about being able to duck and pivot on the spot with arms outstretched without hitting anything.
 
Update:
Change of mind and change of plan.

From a few days more playing with the DK2.
- SDE has become something of a downer for me. I find it really obvious and have struggled to ignore it
- Linked to the above, the resolution is no great shakes, meaning that distance objects are just a blob. Surprisingly, less of an issue in DCS, but I found it very off putting in Assetto Corsa
- Received a USB3 card today, but couldn't get it to work with my DK2. Initially fired up, then stopped for no apparent reason. By then, I was struggling to maintain the motivation
- I wear glasses, and whilst I can use them with the DK2, it's most definitely less comfortable than just looking at a screen, and after every session left me with smudges on my glasses
- Still getting light nausea on some games
- Put the above together and we have a product that can only really be used on a low number of games I own (ACS, DCS and ED). Didn't rate the dems I tried, and being fair, the trio mentioned were why I wanted to try it.
Never got it running with ED. Not an issue with ED itself or the DK2, rather my ancient base unit that I couldn't get running with the USB3 card.
Not impressed in ACS because of the resolution, though I liked the situational awareness.
Awesome experience in DCS. If you have any interest in flight and a VR headset, seriously, you SHOULD try this. The base version of DCS includes a couple of aircraft that you can try for free. Just do it. Even then it's not perfect.
Outside of those, clearly it's bugger all use for anything else I presently run.

As such, the DK2 is going and right now I think I'll wait until gen 2 in the VR arena.

In the meantime, the funding considered for say a CV1 has been put down on a nice Dell 27" Gsync monitor. Clearly that has benefit for ALL of my software.
Sure, it'll never create "I'm there", but I've found a way to close the gap in DCS with the use of things like "snap view" via my HOTAS on a thumb control. Means that some of that awareness is available at thumb control. No, it's not the same, but not a complete loss and means that I'm comfortable in my Huey.
The lower technical requirements of the monitor and it's Gsync capability means that despite running at 2500*1400 res, that I can add in more "visual effects", so it does look good.
 
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To VR or 4k that is the question

The DK2 doesn't use usb 3 or support it, surprised that no one else has said this to you. I noticed no difference between both ports (usb 2/3)

I also have a DK2 and the most important thing is to make sure that the frame rate stays above 75 fps

1070 Gtx that should be doable, what it the clock rate of your 2500k ?


I can with an overclocked fury nitro
I play Assetto Corsa with a Force Gt wheel and pedal setup and its amazing (lost hours lapping the ring)

Ark is also amazing but you really have to tweak settings to make it fluid.

I agree with the lack of res and sadly we will need a huge jump in dpi and res to improve that. Once you adjust to it its fine.

I have a 4k 40" monitor while it gives me the res i seek i just will never feel in the game like in when using the DK2.

Its already a game changer at its current level ("affected" on friends is epic, and blows there mind).

Ive tested both the vive and cv1 and while both offer a slight improvement they dont warrent the upgrade, felt like going from a 1080p screen to a 1200p screen.

I also dont have enough space for a room setup so the vive controllers are wasted on me.
 
KMW>

No idea what the issue with the DK2 and USB3 was. The Oculus software was complaining about me not having a USB3 and the theory on the ED forums was that this was why ED wouldn't load up. As DCS and ED were the two key games that I was most looking to use, was a bit of a downer.

My i2500 is clocked at 3.6ghz and was never ever close to running at 100% in DCS. Frame rate was not an issue

Only really tried it with both DCS and ACS.
I found the resolution and screendoor really bad in ACS. Sure, the sense of speed was brilliant, but I struggled to pick out the road ahead on fast tracks. I preferred it on a monitor.

DCS was a different story. Wonderful feeling of "being there", to the point where the resolution could be overlooked. For all that, I found a solution with "snaplook" and my CH Hotas, meaning that I can nearly achieve the same viewpoint.

So DCS was better (but couldn't be mostly mitigated with careful setup on my monitor), ACS worse (IMO) and ED wouldn't run.
To me, that made the allocation of funds towards a really good G sync monitor, which clearly benefits ALL of my applications and games, a fairly easy one.

Don't get me wrong, I still want to have VR, but I do think I'll be waiting for gen 2.
 
i think for someone interested in VR the DK2 is a good step into proper VR. The limitations are clear (SDE) and res but for its price its a steal. I wouldnt pay more than £180 *cough* :D

And the good thing about the DK2 is that some games that do not work in the CV1 you can juryrig to work with the DK2. e.g. dying light and alien isolation. Also a lot of demos are available for free (on various VR websites) for the DK2.

Before spending £550 on a CV1 or £800 on a Vive i would advise newcomers to get smt like a dk2 first to see if it is their kind of thing.
 
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