Rift S R.I.P.

[Ravenger]

Looks like the Rift S will be the last Oculus dedicated PC VR headset.

Oculus is pushing the Quest 2 with link cable (which will be 90hz at some point) as a replacement and better solution than Rift S.

How that stacks up with latency and image fidelity remains to be seen.

 

[Ravenger]

What are the differences to using a quest 2 with link cable vs a dedicated headset?

The image is compressed when using the link cable, unlike a PC headset which sends raw uncompressed video data. That not only affects video quality (the picture is noticably softer) it adds a bit of latency.

Also currently Quest link is 72hz, vs 80hz on the Rift S, and 90hz+ on other PC headsets, which makes a difference in fast paced games.

I've used link (with the official cable) on the original Quest and it was much sharper than the original CV1, but nowhere near as sharp as my Go or Index. I imagine it'll be sharper on the Quest 2, and Facebook are continually improving it. It will never be as good as a dedicated PC VR headset, but it is perfectly acceptable.

 

[Ravenger]

Are you 100% the overall softness isn't down to the screen type? Pentile matrix (quest 1) vs RGB stripe ( Rift S) is not a trivial difference is it? Worth noting that the Quest 2 is moving to stripe.

No, it's a noticably softer image, not due to more SDE or pentile fringing. Now the image quality may be better on Quest 2 as the resolution is higher, and the compression may be better. As I said, Facebook will be improving this over time. Link works noticiably better now than it did on release.

So is quest 2 a viable replacement for my rift s?

Possibly. Norm from Tested said it wasn't as good a PC image as his Index, but I'm betting it'll be an improvement over the Rift S.

 

[Ravenger]

I guess we'll have to wait for reviews and see how link works on the Quest 2 first.

 

[Ravenger]

I was afraid of this. Comon Oculus some of us don't need a mobile gpu and battery pack installed into it, adding to the price. What's the point of PC owners paying for all this redundant material.

The big thing though is the possibility of upgraded wireless PC VR. The Virtual Desktop developer is excited about the possibilities.

 

[Ravenger]

I'm all for wireless don't get me wrong I'd just like to see an alternative for PC only users at a reduced price.

Agreed, unfortunately there's currently no decent competition at the lower price point of the VR market. No-one can compete at that price point.

 

[Ravenger]

Mike from Virtual Reality Oasis says the PC VR experience is very good, and the FOV is better than the Rift S, and it should get very good when the link improvements come through.

 

[Ravenger]

Why didn't they just allow direct connection and use our PC hardware? Seems like a missed opportunity

That is disappointing. If Virtualink was still a thing then perhaps it might have been possible, but new cards don't have it.

 

[Ravenger]

Is the link cable any different to standard USB-C cables? £90!!!
https://www.oculus.com/accessories/oculus-link/#plug-in

It's fibre optic, which enables it to be longer than standard USB3 cables.

You can use a decent USB2 cable at the cost of a few milliseconds latency (and large money savings). Link is nowhere near maxing out the current USB2 bandwidth. It's limited at the moment due to the bandwidth capabilites of the original Quest.

 

[Ravenger]

I think the dissapointment isn't canning the Rift S. Its the fact they didn't upgrade the Rift S and continue a higher end superior PCVR headset.

But its clear why they didn't..

To be honest, I don't think Facebook realised how successful the Quest 2 would be. They were caught by surprise and couldn't manufacture enough to keep up with demand.

However you are right. If the Rift S had been a clear upgrade to the CV1 then they might have been dominating in PC VR as well as standalone As it was the Rift S was more of a sidegrade with only the sharpness and lenses being massively better. Even the controllers were a step back, being unbalanced, more cramped layout and less robust than the CV1 controllers.

 

[Ravenger]

One things for sure, there's going to be a lot of second hand Rift S's and Quests on the market soon. That too should have a good effect on VR adoption.

 

[Ravenger]

Yup - I sold my Rift CV1 and Rift S.

Just keeping my Go, Quest and Quest 2. I've even stopped developing for desktop VR - Quest only now.

I'm hoping I can retire my Go now. I really only use it to watch 3D movies, and the Quest 2 resolution should be a massive improvement. I'll miss the little remote, as that's more convenient for media playback, but possibly hand tracking will replace that.

 

[Ravenger]

I don't know how much more Alyx there'll be, but (and this is from a position of complete ignorance), I would assume that integrating virtual reality for piloting/racing/vehicle sims, would be fairly straightforward, and potentially always worth the extra effort.

There's also ports of existing 2D games like Skyrim, etc. which are relatively cheap to develop and which bring much bigger games into VR than could be justified by the number of VR capable PCs out there.