Next-gen VR

mid_gen

mid_gen

mid_gen

Soldato
Joined
20 Dec 2004
Posts
16,350
I had a DK2 for a while but after trying out the Vive and CV1 I've decided to sit out the first gen of consumer hardware and wait for the next round of hardware....so question is...

Are there any rumours or talk of next gen hardware? Looks like in the next 12 months we're going to have semi-affordable GPUs that can drive 4k HMDs along with the other rendering advances on the way.
 
Personally I think it will be at least 12-18 months before any new versions are released. There is no information or rumours to be had as far as the next gen VR is concerned. I asked a similar question here a few weeks ago and have since trawled the web for any tidbits of info or rumour and found nothing.

I think it is possible that if PSVR does well in the market, it may spur HTC and Oculus (and maybe other companies) on to improving their hardware and getting it on the market sooner to compete for market share (with better specs, reduced pricing and AAA titles). The trouble is that GPU's along with the VR HMD are so prohibitively expensive for mass market adoption and the GPU's still don't really have enough grunt (IMO) to really run 4K or 8K VR as well as it needs to.

I'm thinking that it will be when the GTX1170/1180 hits the market that we may see new VR hardware with 4K (possibly curved OLED) screens, a wider FOV and running at a stable 120FPS coming on the scene. I can also imagine them being smaller, lighter, better ventilation and comfort etc etc.

I am holding back and going to see what PSVR turns out like and may buy that in the interim and if it is 'good'. It also depends on whether I also have to replace my PS4 with a PS Neo/4.5 and the cost of doing so. I do hope HTC, Oculus and others move quickly and bring out drastically improved next gen kit, along with more powerful and more affordable GPU's sooner rather than later as I am really itching to get in on the VR scene but right now I don't think they are good enough or have the AAA titles they need to really make it shine. It's also not affordable to the masses and this is a big problem for them.

All guesswork right now though and it's no good just speculating and dreaming of what will come or when.
 
My knowledge of this stuff is pretty limited, but I reckon the biggest botleneck at the moment is that current rendering technology means the scene has to be created twice, which doubles the amount of data sent back and forth between the CPU and GPU. Google 'draw calls' to see why this is a bad thing, particularly with DX11.

I think there's already the potential for DX12 and Vulcan, combined with stuff like SMP and LMS (google again) to significantly increase performance with existing hardware.

Then we just need the V2 headsets with high-res HDR screens and built in eye-tracking. Oh, and they'll have to improve the optics as well cos off-centre is currently a bit crap and will only be more obvious with higher resolutions.
 
Foveated rendering should be ready by the time the next next wave (remember that dev kits of the next Vive headset are already out there with the camera addition) of VR. Nvidia/SGi showed off their tech a few days ago at SIGGRAPH.

Hopefully Leapmotions hand tracking matures though Im unsure how that will be packaged as they seem to have some very cool tech on the go.

I expect both are likely to be the significant improvements the gen after next...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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I think before we have the next-gen kits we need some decent games. No point in having an amazing piece of kit that does 4k when we don't have any big games to attract people to the concept.

While I've enjoyed playing on the Vive, and I plan on getting one this week, most the games just seem like tech demos right now. Short and fun, but that's about it.
 
Ulti-Resis said:
I am holding back and going to see what PSVR turns out like and may buy that in the interim and if it is 'good'.
Click to expand...

Think that's going to be my plan for now if they get some good launch titles, and the price is right. I thought the DK2 was decent value but the early-adopter tax on the CV1/Vive is too steep for me at the moment, and I've been put off by the number of people I know having problems with the Vive.

Foveated rendering isn't too far off, I seem to remember an experimental branch of UE4 knocking around recently with some nVidia tech on show.
 
Now that HTC and Oculus are competing we will get a push for 4k as the screen door is the next big hurdle to overcome. Next year 4k samsung phone panels should be the norm and I believe both HTC and Oculus will be pushing for first to market on a 4k VR display.
So i'm thinking as early as next year we should start seeing 4k screens.

Most of the technical hurdles for VR have been overcome. We have controllers, we have tracking. I don't think it'd be that hard for them to swap a screen out.

So next years my prediction for second Gen.
 
JanM said:
Now that HTC and Oculus are competing we will get a push for 4k as the screen door is the next big hurdle to overcome. Next year 4k samsung phone panels should be the norm and I believe both HTC and Oculus will be pushing for first to market on a 4k VR display.
So i'm thinking as early as next year we should start seeing 4k screens.

Most of the technical hurdles for VR have been overcome. We have controllers, we have tracking. I don't think it'd be that hard for them to swap a screen out.

So next years my prediction for second Gen.
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not a chance of that happening as there are no GPU that would push that amount of pixels
 
Brun said:
Some people are already rendering with 2x supersampling (4320x2400), and that's without any of the optimisations Nvidia introduced with Pascal.
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I have a 1080gtx and can do SS at 2x every game with reprojection on.

However i hate reprojection so compromise at around 1.5x to 1.6 x with reprojection off.

you might be able to run very basic games with a current GTX1080 if a new vive was 4k etc but any complex games would struggle
 
Vive and Rift are now everything else is like waiting for the next big thing just means you are not having fun now.
Yes I would love to have a 4K Vive but I do not see that coming about for consumers for 3-4 years and my reasoning is simple.
Yes the tech for the HMD is going leaps and bounds but pc hardware is 1 gen away think how long we had maxwell before pascal, pascal is good but a single 1080 can not even max out all 4k games on a normal monitor.

Plus when most people say 4k vive they mean 4k per eye that is the equivalent of 8k normal which is 5+ years away with all the shiny turned on.

Me I will enjoy my vive and slowly upgrade my pc to the beast it will need to be for 4k/8k.
 
If nvidias efforts can bear fruit, then it might not be as many years away.

http://www.vrfocus.com/2016/08/nvidia-video-details-foveated-rendering-techniques/

“Our researchers used SMI’s prototype eye-tracking HMD to perform a careful perceptual study of what people actually see in their peripheral vision in VR. Our researchers then used those insights to design a new rendering algorithm that enables much greater foveation, or reduction in rendering effort, without any discernible drop in visual quality.”

We might not need so many horses. If vr can break free from needing the latest and greatest gpu beef, then it might be more viable for a standalone box at a friendly price.

Losing that tie in can only be a good thing forward.
 
lokiss said:
If nvidias efforts can bear fruit, then it might not be as many years away.

http://www.vrfocus.com/2016/08/nvidia-video-details-foveated-rendering-techniques/

“Our researchers used SMI’s prototype eye-tracking HMD to perform a careful perceptual study of what people actually see in their peripheral vision in VR. Our researchers then used those insights to design a new rendering algorithm that enables much greater foveation, or reduction in rendering effort, without any discernible drop in visual quality.”

We might not need so many horses. If vr can break free from needing the latest and greatest gpu beef, then it might be more viable for a standalone box at a friendly price.

Losing that tie in can only be a good thing forward.
Click to expand...

My only concern with this is how many of us gamers max out the FOV to our liking, if this tech from what I am reading reduces peripheral work to max out the center while it may be good for certain things "gamers" using it may jut have another reason to complain about the blur on the periphery of vision.
 
According to Nvidia they've already grabbed a 3X performance boost from foveated tracking. Don't worry too much about peripheral vision, Calranthe, human retinas really are utter garbage anywhere outside the center. Your brain essentially makes up everything outside your tiny center focus, using a mixture of imagination and static images captured from quick subconscious target adjustments called "saccades". Very little of what you see in peripheral vision is actually based on live image capture. As long as the system is fast enough to track the saccades (which apparently it is) then your brain will dream up your peripheral vision in exactly the same fidelity it does IRL.

So we have a 3X performance kick. Knock that up to 4X and we can drive twin 4k displays. I'd be surprised if that isn't doable in the next 12-18 months.
 
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