8 ms·

Headsets today are not that expensive and they're getting cheaper.

ghaff 5y ago
And basically no one wants to wear them besides some hardcore games and other niches. Certainly not going to wear one for a business meeting.
- MikusR 5y ago
  Basically no one has tried them.
- sho_hn 5y ago
  This to me is one of the sticking points I've been wondering about: Are VR/HR headsets just inherently too uncomfortable for mass adoption, or will we be willing to put up with them? Surely this depends on a lot of societal/economic factors (i.e. a "you do it or don't eat" job market, say) and the evolution of the form factor (size/weight/quality/individual ergonomic options). Is it just a variant of "button-less on-screen keyboards?! we will never!" or is there something more fundamental? I'm curious about the state of the art of serious research on this, if anyone has some good links/references.
  - drusepth 5y ago
    >Surely this depends on a lot of societal/economic factors (i.e. a "you do it or don't eat" job market, say) and the evolution of the form factor (size/weight/quality/individual ergonomic options). I think the former is a way bigger factor than the latter, here. Even on the old first-gen HTC Vive, I was entirely comfortable "working" 8+ hour days wearing one (coding, painting, and sometimes gaming). They've also improved massively since then in weight, weight distribution, softness, and heat management. I'd say the biggest detractor is how they look (and some other smaller factors like not being able to feel "safe" cut off from your surroundings, but all major VR companies are working on that, too). However, how they look ends up not really mattering much if you're VRing from home, where no one can see you.
    - smallerfish 5y ago
      Really, you could code on a Vive? What resolution would your IDE be in? Did it bring any real benefits over coding on a flat monitor? Would you have a visual of your keyboard or were you just touch typing?
      - ahartman00 5y ago
        This was a good blog post and discussion of someone working full time in VR. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28678041 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28678041
        smallerfish 5y ago
        Thanks! That's interesting.
- nomel 5y ago
  I use mine 30 hours a week, coding in ImmersedVR. You can make them comfortable. I feel like most commenters here haven't actually tried VR, or maybe had a bad experience.
suby 5y ago
Everyone already has a phone or desktop computer. Hardly anyone has a VR headset. VR headsets with good enough resolution for comfortably reading text is still very expensive, but even if the cost was cheap it's competing against something that everyone already has.
- distrill 5y ago
  $300 is a barrier to plenty of people but it's really not a sticking point for a lot of the target demographic.
  - sho_hn 5y ago
    From an employer POV, a hypothetical equivalent $300 VR headset would be cheaper than two 4K 27" screens. Cost could even incentivize adoption, really.
    - checker 5y ago
      It's certainly an interesting concept. I'm not an expert but from what I've come across, it's currently very expensive to match the resolution of a 27" 4K monitor that's 2 or 3 feet away from your eyes. This is because the headset would need a very high pixel density on the very small screens sitting a few inches from the user's eyes. I'm sure someone has done the calculation somewhere but I couldn't find it. This page says we're at 2,000 pixels per eye but we need 4,000 to get "Immersive VR" (not sure if that will fit this use case) https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/virtual-reality-desktops-save-money-space/ https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/virtual-reality-desktops-save-... So it might happen eventually. People are actually leveraging "Virtual Desktops" now, but accepting the inherent resolution issues.
- vineyardmike 5y ago
  > it's competing against something that everyone already has. thankfully (?) we have forced-obsolescence and improvements in tech so over time, as things improve, they may make different decisions. > Everyone already has a phone Also i doubt the VR/AR headset would compete with a phone.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

And basically no one wants to wear them besides some hardcore games and other niches. Certainly not going to wear one for a business meeting.

MikusR 5y ago
Basically no one has tried them.
sho_hn 5y ago
This to me is one of the sticking points I've been wondering about: Are VR/HR headsets just inherently too uncomfortable for mass adoption, or will we be willing to put up with them? Surely this depends on a lot of societal/economic factors (i.e. a "you do it or don't eat" job market, say) and the evolution of the form factor (size/weight/quality/individual ergonomic options). Is it just a variant of "button-less on-screen keyboards?! we will never!" or is there something more fundamental? I'm curious about the state of the art of serious research on this, if anyone has some good links/references.
- drusepth 5y ago
  >Surely this depends on a lot of societal/economic factors (i.e. a "you do it or don't eat" job market, say) and the evolution of the form factor (size/weight/quality/individual ergonomic options). I think the former is a way bigger factor than the latter, here. Even on the old first-gen HTC Vive, I was entirely comfortable "working" 8+ hour days wearing one (coding, painting, and sometimes gaming). They've also improved massively since then in weight, weight distribution, softness, and heat management. I'd say the biggest detractor is how they look (and some other smaller factors like not being able to feel "safe" cut off from your surroundings, but all major VR companies are working on that, too). However, how they look ends up not really mattering much if you're VRing from home, where no one can see you.
  - smallerfish 5y ago
    Really, you could code on a Vive? What resolution would your IDE be in? Did it bring any real benefits over coding on a flat monitor? Would you have a visual of your keyboard or were you just touch typing?
    - ahartman00 5y ago
      This was a good blog post and discussion of someone working full time in VR. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28678041 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28678041
      - smallerfish 5y ago
        Thanks! That's interesting.
nomel 5y ago
I use mine 30 hours a week, coding in ImmersedVR. You can make them comfortable. I feel like most commenters here haven't actually tried VR, or maybe had a bad experience.

suby 5y ago

Everyone already has a phone or desktop computer. Hardly anyone has a VR headset. VR headsets with good enough resolution for comfortably reading text is still very expensive, but even if the cost was cheap it's competing against something that everyone already has.

distrill 5y ago
$300 is a barrier to plenty of people but it's really not a sticking point for a lot of the target demographic.
- sho_hn 5y ago
  From an employer POV, a hypothetical equivalent $300 VR headset would be cheaper than two 4K 27" screens. Cost could even incentivize adoption, really.
  - checker 5y ago
    It's certainly an interesting concept. I'm not an expert but from what I've come across, it's currently very expensive to match the resolution of a 27" 4K monitor that's 2 or 3 feet away from your eyes. This is because the headset would need a very high pixel density on the very small screens sitting a few inches from the user's eyes. I'm sure someone has done the calculation somewhere but I couldn't find it. This page says we're at 2,000 pixels per eye but we need 4,000 to get "Immersive VR" (not sure if that will fit this use case) https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/virtual-reality-desktops-save-money-space/ https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/virtual-reality-desktops-save-... So it might happen eventually. People are actually leveraging "Virtual Desktops" now, but accepting the inherent resolution issues.
vineyardmike 5y ago
> it's competing against something that everyone already has. thankfully (?) we have forced-obsolescence and improvements in tech so over time, as things improve, they may make different decisions. > Everyone already has a phone Also i doubt the VR/AR headset would compete with a phone.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]