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Context for people not following VR religiously: the Vive is $200 more than the Oculus Rift however it includes hand controllers and an extra tracking device. B

Context for people not following VR religiously: the Vive is $200 more than the Oculus Rift however it includes hand controllers and an extra tracking device. Both come bundled with 2 games if you pre-order. The Rift also has integrated headphones that are attached to the strap whereas Vive has a headphone jack on the headset. They both have integrated microphones. Edit: Rift also includes an Xbox controller in the $599 bundle and Oculus will be selling their own hand controllers (called Touch) in H2 2016.

tmikaeld 11y ago
I was just looking for how to get sound from the headset, thanks!
- haydenlee 11y ago
  No problem! As a VR developer I'm pretty bummed that Vive isn't including integrated headphones. It's such a pain to put on headphones and the headset at the same time.
  - gcb0 11y ago
    but that convenience will surely backfire if the included headsets are not super-ultra-hi-def-audiophile-yada-yada
    - haydenlee 11y ago
      Having tried the CV1 multiple times I can say the headphones are surprisingly incredible. Every time I use them I'm impressed. I doubt I will ever use other headphones with the Rift.
    - eghad 11y ago
      That, and at the price point of this gear, it's safe to assume they'll have their own preferred headset/earbuds. It's an additional wire, but really not a huge deal.
djloche 11y ago
- Rift: headset, headphones, tracking camera, headphones, xbox controller, bundled games: $600 - Vive: headset, 2 tracking cameras, 2 one-hand controllers, bundled games $800
- IshKebab 11y ago
  The Vive doesn't use cameras to track.
  - iLoch 11y ago
    To elaborate, the base stations project infrared in a way that can be picked up by the HMD. The HMD then sends back position and orientation.
    - rtkwe 11y ago
      To further elaborate: http://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-valve-s-amazing-lighthouse-tracking-technol-1705356768 http://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-valve-s-amazing-lighthouse-tr... The exact design may have changed but the dual sweep is probably the same.
  - eghad 11y ago
    It does have a forward facing camera to enable AR/Hololens- like experiences though. But yeah, it's using the Lighthouses for tracking (relative for seated VR, absolute when standing)[1]. Fortunately for other VR systems they're open source and freely available to integrate into any hardware system. [1] http://metaversing.com/2015/03/23/examining-the-valvehtc-vive-ecosystem-basic-lighthouse-operation/ http://metaversing.com/2015/03/23/examining-the-valvehtc-viv...
  - djloche 11y ago
    Interesting. I guess it's not really a good 1-1 comparison if Vive and Rift have such widely different tracking systems. I'd guess that Rift is less expensive to the end consumer thanks to Facebook subsidizing, and HTC/Valve waited to price their VR device higher so they could position their device as the 'expensive high end' gaming VR device. Both Rift and Vive are probably going to be sold at a loss for at least few years just so they can get the market segment to boom, so they can manufacture at a large enough scale to profit.
IshKebab 11y ago
But you didn't even mention the biggest difference - the way they do positional tracking. The Rift uses a camera pointing at the headset to track it, which means you have to be in the field of view of the camera. It's designed primarily for seated experiences. The Vive uses two laser "lighthouses" and phototransistors on the headset to triangulate its position. It's actually really clever and allows room-scale VR. I somewhat suspect that the Rift will be more successful - not many people have an entire room to dedicate to VR, it's cheaper, easier to set up, the dangling cable problem isn't so severe when seated. I'm going to predict that Vive-style VR will be most popular in dedicated VR venues - i.e. instead of going to laserquest or paintballing, you go to a VR place. There are actually already some in the UK in shopping centres. I think they're called VR Zone or something like that. They're seated though, and I haven't tried them.
- haydenlee 11y ago
  The Vive's tracking does not magically get around the constraint of having to be within field of view of the tracking devices. The lighthouses also have FOV.
  - rtkwe 11y ago
    The inverted tracking and placing the two in opposite corners does though. Going under one and facing away from the other will probably break the tracking but otherwise there's enough swept by either lighthouse to keep tracking. http://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-valve-s-amazing-lighthouse-tracking-technol-1705356768 http://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-valve-s-amazing-lighthouse-tr...
    - haydenlee 11y ago
      But that argument is true for the Rift cameras too. You can place Rift cameras in a similar setup to Lighthouses and achieve similar tracking volumes.
      - rtkwe 11y ago
        In theory yes you could but out of the box it doesn't support that. Is there any support for that currently or planned? I've never seen multiple cameras talked about with the Rift.
rtkwe 11y ago
I'm really interested to see what the gap will be once you include the Touch controllers into the Oculus's price. Under $100?
- Tepix 11y ago
  I expect the Oculous touch controllers to cost $199, this would make the Rift more expensive than the Vive in most parts of the world (you have to pay shipping twice).

tmikaeld 11y ago

I was just looking for how to get sound from the headset, thanks!

haydenlee 11y ago
No problem! As a VR developer I'm pretty bummed that Vive isn't including integrated headphones. It's such a pain to put on headphones and the headset at the same time.
- gcb0 11y ago
  but that convenience will surely backfire if the included headsets are not super-ultra-hi-def-audiophile-yada-yada
  - haydenlee 11y ago
    Having tried the CV1 multiple times I can say the headphones are surprisingly incredible. Every time I use them I'm impressed. I doubt I will ever use other headphones with the Rift.
  - eghad 11y ago
    That, and at the price point of this gear, it's safe to assume they'll have their own preferred headset/earbuds. It's an additional wire, but really not a huge deal.

djloche 11y ago

- Rift: headset, headphones, tracking camera, headphones, xbox controller, bundled games: $600 - Vive: headset, 2 tracking cameras, 2 one-hand controllers, bundled games $800

IshKebab 11y ago
The Vive doesn't use cameras to track.
- iLoch 11y ago
  To elaborate, the base stations project infrared in a way that can be picked up by the HMD. The HMD then sends back position and orientation.
  - rtkwe 11y ago
    To further elaborate: http://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-valve-s-amazing-lighthouse-tracking-technol-1705356768 http://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-valve-s-amazing-lighthouse-tr... The exact design may have changed but the dual sweep is probably the same.
- eghad 11y ago
  It does have a forward facing camera to enable AR/Hololens- like experiences though. But yeah, it's using the Lighthouses for tracking (relative for seated VR, absolute when standing)[1]. Fortunately for other VR systems they're open source and freely available to integrate into any hardware system. [1] http://metaversing.com/2015/03/23/examining-the-valvehtc-vive-ecosystem-basic-lighthouse-operation/ http://metaversing.com/2015/03/23/examining-the-valvehtc-viv...
- djloche 11y ago
  Interesting. I guess it's not really a good 1-1 comparison if Vive and Rift have such widely different tracking systems. I'd guess that Rift is less expensive to the end consumer thanks to Facebook subsidizing, and HTC/Valve waited to price their VR device higher so they could position their device as the 'expensive high end' gaming VR device. Both Rift and Vive are probably going to be sold at a loss for at least few years just so they can get the market segment to boom, so they can manufacture at a large enough scale to profit.

IshKebab 11y ago

But you didn't even mention the biggest difference - the way they do positional tracking. The Rift uses a camera pointing at the headset to track it, which means you have to be in the field of view of the camera. It's designed primarily for seated experiences. The Vive uses two laser "lighthouses" and phototransistors on the headset to triangulate its position. It's actually really clever and allows room-scale VR. I somewhat suspect that the Rift will be more successful - not many people have an entire room to dedicate to VR, it's cheaper, easier to set up, the dangling cable problem isn't so severe when seated. I'm going to predict that Vive-style VR will be most popular in dedicated VR venues - i.e. instead of going to laserquest or paintballing, you go to a VR place. There are actually already some in the UK in shopping centres. I think they're called VR Zone or something like that. They're seated though, and I haven't tried them.

haydenlee 11y ago
The Vive's tracking does not magically get around the constraint of having to be within field of view of the tracking devices. The lighthouses also have FOV.
- rtkwe 11y ago
  The inverted tracking and placing the two in opposite corners does though. Going under one and facing away from the other will probably break the tracking but otherwise there's enough swept by either lighthouse to keep tracking. http://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-valve-s-amazing-lighthouse-tracking-technol-1705356768 http://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-valve-s-amazing-lighthouse-tr...
  - haydenlee 11y ago
    But that argument is true for the Rift cameras too. You can place Rift cameras in a similar setup to Lighthouses and achieve similar tracking volumes.
    - rtkwe 11y ago
      In theory yes you could but out of the box it doesn't support that. Is there any support for that currently or planned? I've never seen multiple cameras talked about with the Rift.

rtkwe 11y ago

I'm really interested to see what the gap will be once you include the Touch controllers into the Oculus's price. Under $100?

Tepix 11y ago
I expect the Oculous touch controllers to cost $199, this would make the Rift more expensive than the Vive in most parts of the world (you have to pay shipping twice).