4 ms·

Blacks are essentially a solved problem with (micro)OLED. Controls are a non-issue, it's no different than holding a screwdriver or pen, humans are quite adapte

Blacks are essentially a solved problem with (micro)OLED. Controls are a non-issue, it's no different than holding a screwdriver or pen, humans are quite adapted to using tools to manipulate the world and we have hand and finger tracking on top if necessary. Latency again, not really a major problem, works well enough, this is VR after all, not telerobotics, if the game engine has to cheat a little, that's fine. Focus adjust exists in a couple of prototypes, but so far hasn't made it into the consumer space, I'd rate this as a "nice to have", most people quickly get used to the fixed focus. The big problem VR has to overcome is getting resolution parity with monitors. At the moment VR is still extremely low resolution, even headsets in the 2000x2000 realm are, due to the image being stretch across ~100° FOV, only the equivalent of an old 800x600 monitor. That's not good enough for a lot of uses. It works fine for VR games, but barely works for 2D movies and even less so for text. Given that the majority of content out there is made for larger resolutions, that's the biggest stumbling block for VR as it means people have to get out of VR and use another display device. I think once resolution is solved, that will be the killer-app for VR just by itself. As it means a VR headsets, which can be turned into an AR headset via camera pass through, is able to replace every screen you currently have. That will be the point where people can start ditching their multi-monitor setups and have essentially an empty desk with just a headset. The appeal of getting ever bigger TVs will also vanish when you can have a virtual IMAX screen in your headset. It will still take some years until VR/AR headset are good enough and comfortable enough to replace TVs and monitors en masse. But I have little doubt that it will happen sooner or later. All the VR gaming stuff is really just a bonus here and I don't think we'll get mass VR adaption just from that.

trafficante 5y ago
The software side of this vision is already surprisingly mature and mostly waiting for hardware to catch up. On my Quest 2, I can pop into a virtual environment with 5 desktops scaled around me in 3D space, a physical keyboard fully rendered into the environment that also tracks my fingers, and a scaleable camera “portal” positioned over the location of my doorway (in physical space) that displays a camera feed of anyone entering the room. If I’m trying to relax, I can hop into a virtual movie theater on the moon and watch a 3D Blu-ray rip or play most modern AAA pc games. All of this while sitting in a lounge chair in my living room. And then, of course, there’s all the 6dof VR games but, after Alyx barely moved the hardware sales needle, I don’t think that sort of thing is what’s needed to drive mass adoption at this point. VR needs much better screen tech, high performant SoCs, and a “coolness” factor. I wonder if there’s a company known for all three that has repeatedly yoinked entire markets even though they entered “late”?

trafficante 5y ago

The software side of this vision is already surprisingly mature and mostly waiting for hardware to catch up. On my Quest 2, I can pop into a virtual environment with 5 desktops scaled around me in 3D space, a physical keyboard fully rendered into the environment that also tracks my fingers, and a scaleable camera “portal” positioned over the location of my doorway (in physical space) that displays a camera feed of anyone entering the room. If I’m trying to relax, I can hop into a virtual movie theater on the moon and watch a 3D Blu-ray rip or play most modern AAA pc games. All of this while sitting in a lounge chair in my living room. And then, of course, there’s all the 6dof VR games but, after Alyx barely moved the hardware sales needle, I don’t think that sort of thing is what’s needed to drive mass adoption at this point. VR needs much better screen tech, high performant SoCs, and a “coolness” factor. I wonder if there’s a company known for all three that has repeatedly yoinked entire markets even though they entered “late”?