Poll: Oculus Rift - HTC Vive - Have you pre-ordered or not interested?

Have you pre-ordered or not interested?

  • I have pre-ordered the Rift

    Votes: 77 15.5%

  • I will pre-order the Vive

    Votes: 21 4.2%

  • One of the options when prices reduce

    Votes: 141 28.4%

  • I am not interested in VR

    Votes: 87 17.5%

  • Waiting it out for reviews before deciding

    Votes: 171 34.4%
  • Total voters
    497
I am curious to whether Vive will be delivered by April, considering some developers apparently haven't even got a final DK, and HTC still seem to be changing things. Makes me wonder how far, if at all, they are with the manufacturing process.

That and the share price of HTC having dropped by half over the past year, makes me cautious of HTC, even though I have been a big fan of their brand over the years.

And as I mentioned earlier, the required room space is an issue for me at the moment so people saying that the graphic quality is greater on the Rift, that's a good selling point for me. I'll still likely get both, but I'm in no rush for the Vive.

Edit:
Interesting article with the CEO of HTC though, so it will be interesting to see how they go as a company.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/htc/12091988/HTC-CEO-Cher-Wang-We-had-to-rethink-phones-as-a-company.-VR-is-more-important..html
 
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When people go on about room size this, room size that.

You do realise that both the Rift and Vive are capable of exactly the same things and neither are required or constrained to one of those.

The Vive can do seated just as well as the Rift can do standing. The only difference being in how its done and the control scheme in use, by 2H 2016 both with be equal at both.
 
spikerules said:
Yes and Oculus is just now implementing this whereas Vive will come with it in April...
Click to expand...

Both tracking solutions have their pros and cons.

Having "smart" base stations (i.e. the Rift's cameras) means that, in theory, tracking additional objects is as easy as adding a couple of rigid position IR LEDs - I can see rudimentary tracking even coming for the Xbox One controller from its two front facing IR lights.

Cheap 3rd party tracking modules could also be possible and could be placed on other objects.

"Dumb" base stations (like the Vive lighthouses, that just require power) mean that the positional tracking sensors need to be "clever" and in turn are a little more power hungry and makes tracking additional objects a little harder.

Both solutions offer the same degree of accuracy when it comes to tracking, both are equally as capable of dealing with occlusion and both have the same problems with with occlusion.

Since we haven't seen the consumer version of the Vive yet (and we don't know the final screen / lens configuration they're using) the only real features that differentiate the Rift and Vive in my eyes are:

1) Rift has built in headphones - seriously an overlooked feature, love this!
2) The Vive has a front facing camera - actually amazing, also love this!
3) The Rift has finger tracking on its controllers - going to be great for social experiences

Saying that "Oculus is just now implementing room scale tracking" is like saying "Vive is just now implementing a VR headset".

The Oculus Rift DK2 shipped in July 2014, 8 months before the Vive was announced. The Rift DK1 was shipping a year before that.

Oculus had a public demo of an consumer ready touch controller about 3 months after the Vive was announced - with room scale tracking.

You've no idea what's going on behind the scenes and suggesting that Oculus is playing catch up is just uninformed.

Saying ALL that, on balance, due to the headset being the more expensive part of the VR ecosystem, I think the Vive is the better buy if you're just going to get "one".

Resolution, screen door, mura correction, feild of view, screen refresh rate, they're all going to end up pretty similar meaning the headsets will be much alike - but the built in Camera included as part of the most expensive part is going to be great for the 1st generation for the Vive. The controllers can be updated separately and won't impact the cost too much, although this isn't necessarily likely due to creating fragmentation of their own eco system.

Coming with the controllers is another massive bonus - it's a shame Oculus didn't manage to make that happen.

P.S. The second that video alluded to the fact that the Oculus Rift tracking volume is limited to a 3 by 3 square (rather than it being a limitation imposed by the playspace needed by the game) I lost a lot of confidence in anything they had to say. Field of view is categorically something developers, who have access to both, have commented on the Rift being a wider field of view and the Vive being taller. Watch any of the developer commentaries working with the Vive and you'll see just as much glitching with the controllers as they mention they had with the Oculus Touch.
 
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Spotted this just now from the Tested guys.


Seems quite a disappointed video really. Not overly impressed by the front facing camera. No real optical or resolution increase, no first party (actually any) game demos (yes yes I know its a hardware show, but still..) and no idea of price. Also interesting to hear the lack of long term interest/plan from the marketing guy in the interview, but that could be just him.
 
Hiijinx said:
Will wait and see. I thought I would love my 3d monitor but hardly used it, only for the initial novelty.
Don't want the same to happen for this piece of kit.
Click to expand...

I've played Project Cars in VR for more hours this past week than I've used the 3d mode on my monitor in the past 2-3 years :)
 
The front camera on the Vive...had me thinking a really nice feature for ED/racing sims etc would be the ability to calibrate the in-game cockpit by placing markers on your wheel/hotas/pedals, chair even.

Might have to convert my basement into a full scale replica of my Constellation in SC heh :)
 
RoyMi6 said:
First of all, I feel obligated any time I defend the Rift to say that I have every intention of buying the Vive myself (in addition to my pre-order of the Rift) - but no, one camera is good enough for room scale IF you're not using controllers.

The DK2 can actually be used for room scale stuff at the moment. The one problem is occlusion from the tacking camera when you turn your back to it. The consumer version of Rift headset has tracking IR LED's on the back of the headset so that single camera tracking is more robust, even if you were just seated.
Click to expand...

Apparently the touch controllers include a 2nd camera, so that is the room scale issue for controllers solved anyhoo

but yes I agree, I can't see the Vive being considerably cheaper than the rift, and from what I've read so far the Rift seems to have the slight edge on the issues that are most important to me (comfort and SDE)
 
I like the room scale concept but the fact of the matter is that I play games, sat in my chair, in the lounge. As much as I like the room scale idea I just would never use it. It would be a great feature but a wasted one on me. Would be a bit like me buying a lamborghini to drive around in 30mph limits
 
I personally cannot imagine room scale being that great of an experience right now. Maybe in the future when they figure out the technology to get wireless fast enough, but all I can think off is either getting caught up and tripping over the cables, or accidentally yanking at the cables and pulling the PC of my desk :D Even in the demo's I've experience I've had some guy trail behind me lifting up the cable. The only current work around I can think of atm is having some sort of loop for the cable to go through attached to the ceiling to lift the cable off the ground/walking area.
 
As an ED / EuroTrucker / Sim Racer I have pre ordered the Rift CV1 for April to replace the DK2 I love.

They are not taking the money yet, so only in a queue and can cancel when ever.

Love all those saying going to wait for the Vive because of price etc when theyhaven't even started orders yet and they have no idea on price / dates etc etc.

When I have my CV1, I will be happy watching all the disapointed Vive followers posting about how pricey / etc it is.

It is like all technology, earlier adopters pay, but have all the fun until it goes mass market.


Edit : Not impressed with the HTC video, a lot of fluff and not confident that they will have a good working product for sale in April as they only just putting out dev kit 2's now. I hope they do it to push the market and I may also get a Vive to see how it stacks against the Rift.
 
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andybird123 said:
Apparently the touch controllers include a 2nd camera, so that is the room scale issue for controllers solved anyhoo
Click to expand...

There's no apparently about it :) I linked to the Touch website that states this is a certainty in an earlier post (https://www.oculus.com/en-us/touch/ - http://i.imgur.com/ALhIAoW.png)

Winky_The_Winking_Turtle said:
I personally cannot imagine room scale being that great of an experience right now. Maybe in the future when they figure out the technology to get wireless fast enough, but all I can think off is either getting caught up and tripping over the cables, or accidentally yanking at the cables and pulling the PC of my desk :D Even in the demo's I've experience I've had some guy trail behind me lifting up the cable. The only current work around I can think of atm is having some sort of loop for the cable to go through attached to the ceiling to lift the cable off the ground/walking area.
Click to expand...

It's actually not too bad. Have a look at the hover junkers multipler demos they set up (or this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai4MCmZz28o) and you'll see there's next to no requirement for someone to help you.

Additionally, it's a MASSIVE bonus that the Vive includes a camera to let you deal with cord issues. From my own experiences doing pass through video it's funny how limited it feels when you use something that doesn't let you do passthrough - it seems like such a chore to have to take off the headset to find the enter key, or fix the cable, or find your controller that you put down. It is the epitome of a first world problem however "boo hoo! My VR headset doesn't have a front facing camera!" :)

Also, ceiling mounts are sometimes more a curse than a blessing. The cable on the ground has the effect of pulling the headset "on", and even if you step on the cable I've never found it to actually be a problem.

Ceiling mounts on the other hand pull the headset OFF at the limit of their range. They also cause MORE tanglement issues and take you "out of the moment" because they get caught up with your hands - something a lot of people overlook!

Ultimately, yes, wireless will kick ass :D
 
I don't blame anyone for waiting it out for the Vive but I don't feel it is viable for me with the room I have and even if my Mrs let me have the Spare second bedroom I could see a disaster happening with the cables. I can see it being a real plus though and those who have the room and can somehow keep the cables tidy when gaming will have loads of fun.
 
I heard something about there being a 3.5mm port on the headset itself if you wanted to use your own headphones, the data is then carried over the same same main cable to the PC which breaks out to USB, power and HDMI? Might be wrong there though.

By all accounts the included set are meant to be excellent though. Might look flimsy but give great positional sound.
 
I'm mostly interested in VR for seated applications like flight simulators and virtual cinema, so I'll be getting which ever is best at those things, regardless of price.

Also I'm going to wait for the release of new graphics hardware before ordering anything so I can get the most out of VR. This is going to be a very expensive year of tech.
 
Struggling with the whole room concept. It sounds great, but from a game perspective (titles at the moment), moving a round a room, surely when you get to the room limits means you have to move back, and thus wouldnt that translate back to the game, I.E. you are then going back on yourself?
 
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