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> Oculus was a bit better but pricier It was the other way round; Vive was considered better but significantly more expensive.

by bitL 9y ago

noncoml 9y ago
In which way(s) is Vive supposed to be better?
- hesdeadjim 9y ago
  The lighthouse tracking system is almost incomparably better than the optic sensors of the Oculus.
- wlesieutre 9y ago
  I haven't followed too closely but IIRC the tracking hardware is the big difference between the two. Vive has passive beacons and the headset and controllers can locate themselves within the room based on the time of sweeps of IR laser beams. This is very fast and doesn't add CPU load. Oculus does it with computer vision and (for room scale) 2-3 1080p 60Hz cameras. I've read reports of USB 3 bandwidth problems; you have to be careful about what gets hooked up where and some people went as far as adding a PCIe USB card to handle them. EDIT: Oculus has published official notes on this, see link below. They recommend two sensors on your USB 3 ports and the third on USB 2 to get it on a different USB controller. https://www.oculus.com/blog/oculus-roomscale-balancing-bandwidth-on-usb/ https://www.oculus.com/blog/oculus-roomscale-balancing-bandw...
  - noncoml 9y ago
    Thanks for the clarifications. I was ready to purchase the Oculus Rift, but now I think I will go for the Vive.
    - wlesieutre 9y ago
      I'd read up on the other factors if I were you. I've also heard that Oculus is lighter weight and more comfortable, but that Facebook/Oculus have made some unpopular moves on platform openness and pushing for Oculus-exclusive titles. Overall I have a more positive impression of Vive, but I haven't used either company's retail hardware so I don't have a strong opinion on them.
      - BatFastard 9y ago
        That is because many people hate Facebook, and there for love anything that is not from them. Some people have similar feelings toward Value, who is not the bully on the block. But the anti-FB contingent is louder.
        wlesieutre 9y ago
        I have some sympathy for the "don't support exclusives" argument. It's up there with taking money from Dell to release games that will only run on Dell displays. If there were significant differences between the platforms' capabilities I'd be more sympathetic, but they're basically interchangeable.
- sp332 9y ago
  It's more comfortable out of the box, and they have a $100 band that makes it even better. However the PSVR uses a completely different style that is much better.
arielweisberg 9y ago
That's pretty debatable. In many ways they are very close and have gotten closer since launch. Vive was better for the brief period where Touch was unavailable simply because you either have tracked controllers or you don't. Post Touch it comes down a bunch of other things because you can get either and not regret it. * The Vive tracking system has more usable range, but that doesn't mean anything for > 80% of spaces. * Touch controllers are much better than the Vive wands (pick your reasons). * Oculus USB requirements are a disaster as is the USB extension situation. * Oculus can run four sensors with fewer occlusion issues, and yes I still have occlusion with 4 sensors. * Optically you find people on either side in terms of which is better. Without double blind testing several samples of each I wouldn't assume anything. * I'm not sure if they have parity for reprojection performance * Vive has the passthrough camera which seems to be poorly utilized. * Oculus comes with built-in headphones, that's 100$ add on for the Vive. * Rift doesn't come with a third camera that's a 60$ add on. * Rift was lighter, but newer Vive units have gone on a diet bringing them closer. * Vive has a longer cable and if you have a primo space like mine it's a big deal. You need a biiig space though. The Vive is more expensive right now. Optically I think the Rift is better, and it's dirt cheap to add prescription lenses to (<30$). The Rift works with Oculus Home without hacks, but the reverse is not true of the Vive.
- balls187 9y ago
  Who has a VR ready PC and doesn't have headphones? IQ wise, I've used both, and I found that optically the Vive was better.
  - cloakandswagger 9y ago
    I thought the integrated headphones were a stupid idea when they first announced them, but after using the Rift they are a must-have in my opinion. It's one less thing you're tethered to, they make jumping into VR faster and they are surprisingly high quality.
    - rocky1138 9y ago
      I like that they are easily removable. Developing a game on the Rift with them attached was a huge pain (remove headset, do some code, put headset on, test).

> Oculus was a bit better but pricier It was the other way round; Vive was considered better but significantly more expensive.

by bitL 9y ago

> Oculus was a bit better but pricier It was the other way round; Vive was considered better but significantly more expensive.

noncoml 9y ago

In which way(s) is Vive supposed to be better?

hesdeadjim 9y ago
The lighthouse tracking system is almost incomparably better than the optic sensors of the Oculus.
wlesieutre 9y ago
I haven't followed too closely but IIRC the tracking hardware is the big difference between the two. Vive has passive beacons and the headset and controllers can locate themselves within the room based on the time of sweeps of IR laser beams. This is very fast and doesn't add CPU load. Oculus does it with computer vision and (for room scale) 2-3 1080p 60Hz cameras. I've read reports of USB 3 bandwidth problems; you have to be careful about what gets hooked up where and some people went as far as adding a PCIe USB card to handle them. EDIT: Oculus has published official notes on this, see link below. They recommend two sensors on your USB 3 ports and the third on USB 2 to get it on a different USB controller. https://www.oculus.com/blog/oculus-roomscale-balancing-bandwidth-on-usb/ https://www.oculus.com/blog/oculus-roomscale-balancing-bandw...
- noncoml 9y ago
  Thanks for the clarifications. I was ready to purchase the Oculus Rift, but now I think I will go for the Vive.
  - wlesieutre 9y ago
    I'd read up on the other factors if I were you. I've also heard that Oculus is lighter weight and more comfortable, but that Facebook/Oculus have made some unpopular moves on platform openness and pushing for Oculus-exclusive titles. Overall I have a more positive impression of Vive, but I haven't used either company's retail hardware so I don't have a strong opinion on them.
    - BatFastard 9y ago
      That is because many people hate Facebook, and there for love anything that is not from them. Some people have similar feelings toward Value, who is not the bully on the block. But the anti-FB contingent is louder.
      - wlesieutre 9y ago
        I have some sympathy for the "don't support exclusives" argument. It's up there with taking money from Dell to release games that will only run on Dell displays. If there were significant differences between the platforms' capabilities I'd be more sympathetic, but they're basically interchangeable.
sp332 9y ago
It's more comfortable out of the box, and they have a $100 band that makes it even better. However the PSVR uses a completely different style that is much better.

arielweisberg 9y ago

That's pretty debatable. In many ways they are very close and have gotten closer since launch. Vive was better for the brief period where Touch was unavailable simply because you either have tracked controllers or you don't. Post Touch it comes down a bunch of other things because you can get either and not regret it. * The Vive tracking system has more usable range, but that doesn't mean anything for > 80% of spaces. * Touch controllers are much better than the Vive wands (pick your reasons). * Oculus USB requirements are a disaster as is the USB extension situation. * Oculus can run four sensors with fewer occlusion issues, and yes I still have occlusion with 4 sensors. * Optically you find people on either side in terms of which is better. Without double blind testing several samples of each I wouldn't assume anything. * I'm not sure if they have parity for reprojection performance * Vive has the passthrough camera which seems to be poorly utilized. * Oculus comes with built-in headphones, that's 100$ add on for the Vive. * Rift doesn't come with a third camera that's a 60$ add on. * Rift was lighter, but newer Vive units have gone on a diet bringing them closer. * Vive has a longer cable and if you have a primo space like mine it's a big deal. You need a biiig space though. The Vive is more expensive right now. Optically I think the Rift is better, and it's dirt cheap to add prescription lenses to (<30$). The Rift works with Oculus Home without hacks, but the reverse is not true of the Vive.

balls187 9y ago
Who has a VR ready PC and doesn't have headphones? IQ wise, I've used both, and I found that optically the Vive was better.
- cloakandswagger 9y ago
  I thought the integrated headphones were a stupid idea when they first announced them, but after using the Rift they are a must-have in my opinion. It's one less thing you're tethered to, they make jumping into VR faster and they are surprisingly high quality.
  - rocky1138 9y ago
    I like that they are easily removable. Developing a game on the Rift with them attached was a huge pain (remove headset, do some code, put headset on, test).