Why are VR headsets still so big?

Hawk Tuah · 30 May 2020 at 21:34

When you look at how fpv goggles (like Fatshark Dominators) have shrunk down, how come the much more expensive VR gaming headsets are still designed to look like they're a headset with a mobile phone strapped at the end?

smilertoo · 31 May 2020 at 00:35

They keep adding hardware to them, once they've fixed the tracking etc they'll look at shrinking them again. They should get down to about half the bulk of current headsets.

CuriousTomCat · 1 Jun 2020 at 11:50

People want great features and that takes up space. Mobile phones have got bigger, graphics cards have got bigger etc.

People want VR to have a wider field of view instead of tunnel vision. Bigger resolutions etc. It takes up space. Those are the things people complain about.

Ravenger · 1 Jun 2020 at 13:31

Lenses are the biggest issue - they take up a lot of room, and they need to be spaced correctly away from the eyes and screens.

andybird123 · 6 Jun 2020 at 08:45

Ravenger said:
Lenses are the biggest issue - they take up a lot of room, and they need to be spaced correctly away from the eyes and screens.

well, sort of, the biggest issue is the screens, most of the advancements of small screens is for mobile phones so that is basically the form factor we are stuck with... several of the display makers are experimenting with VR specific micro displays but no one seems to have actually bit the bullet and gone in to production with them

if the screens were smaller the lenses could be smaller and the whole headset could be smaller

the smaller more lightweight VR solutions are looking like they are going to be based more on a mini projector/waveguide AR type device, so the ski goggles with a phone strapped on design all the VR headsets are using currently is looking like its a bit of a dead end

lightfields are the future

varkanoid · 6 Jun 2020 at 20:57

Bug One said:
When you look at how fpv goggles (like Fatshark Dominators) have shrunk down, how come the much more expensive VR gaming headsets are still designed to look like they're a headset with a mobile phone strapped at the end?

Due to the Fatshark just being a VR "Viewer" or goggles it has no tracking either. Quest is basically a VR headset with a mobile phone strapped to it however it also has tracking and other features that the FPV Goggles do not have.

You cant really compare the two bit like comparing a cinema to a home projector screen.

ArmitageShanks · 6 Jun 2020 at 23:29

One word really: optics.

Fatshark FPV goggles have probably less than half the FOV and correspondingly much smaller screens than a VR headset. My first VR headset (which I actually bought for FPV flying when it was still in its infancy) is incredibly compact...but it only has a narrow 40 degree FOV.

As one engineer once said: "Ye cannae change the laws of physics"