Windows PC and an internet connection are required for Oculus Rift - please review recommended system specs.
Step into Rift. Whether you’re stepping into your favorite game, watching an immersive VR movie, jumping to a destination on the other side of the world, or just spending time with friends in VR, you’ll feel like you’re really there.
I’ve finally received the Rift I pre-ordered 6 minutes into launch, and my first experience with it blew me away.Having read every article, every review, and having a dedicated tab in Chrome open to the Oculus Subreddit, reading all I could before I finally got my hands on my own unit, I didn’t expect to feel the amount presence that I did. I was worried about the negativity towards the FOV (field of view), the resolution, and the “godrays” (crepuscular rays). I was preparing for disappointment, and I’m glad I was, because I was able to appreciate it all the more. I’ve now also had the experience of thoroughly testing out the HTC Vive, which I also pre-ordered and received the same day as the Rift, so I can offer some comparisons as well.Immersion:It really is difficult to describe quality VR other than to say that you really feel like you’re there. There’s a demo that places you atop a skyscraper in a busy steam punky city filled with a zeppelin, a hot air balloon and bustling below. There was so much depth, the scene just felt enormous. I really felt that great expanse. I felt an equal amount of presence in the Vive, if not more thanks to its out of the box roomscale experience. Walking around physically adds a great deal of depth. The Rift is a stand-up or sit-down experience for now, with touch controllers and a second senor to come later this year. That will equal the playing field for a roomscale experience.The FOV:The field of view is difficult to measure and convey. It’s the center of many debates, and there is a lot of misinformation about this, and many inaccurate image representations and measurements. It’s going to also differ from person to person, based on how close your eyes are to the lenses, and whether or not you wear glasses, so I’ll just stick to perceived comparisons with the Vive. Both the Rift and the Vive have very acceptable FOV’s. If you’d like to get an idea of what it’s like wearing one of these headsets, take a toilet paper roll, cut it in half, and look through them with both eyes. It’ll give you a very rough idea. It’s also comparable to wearing ski goggles. The Rift has a very comfortable FOV, and very similar to that of the Vive, but the Vive’s does appear larger. The Rift’s FOV feels like a squarish circle, whereas the Vive looks like a much more uniformed circle. If you mod the Vive you can also eek out a few more degrees, increasing the FOV just a bit more. I could also see the ghosting from the edges a bit more so on the Rift, due to imperfect stereo overlap. I can see this on the Vive as well, but due to the Vive’s lens shape it’s a bit less prominent. Easy to ignore on both devices… and mild. I’m just being thorough.The resolution:The Rift has a resolution of 2160 x 1200 pixels, as does the Vive. 1080 x 1200 px per eye, but because the screens are so close to your eyes, and because of the way the image is stretched by the lenses, you’re seeing something that looks closer to a 720p image if not somewhat less. It’s definitely not as sharp as a standard monitor, but it’s very acceptable. Go in with low expectation and expect to be impressed. When I first stepped into Oculus Home it was beautiful. Comparing resolutions to the Vive, the Rift comes out ahead. The Vive trades FOV for a bit of a hit to the resolution. Both are beautiful, but the Rift is noticeably clearer. Some text that was easily readable with the Rift was difficult to make out on the Vive.Godrays, halos, and flare:Okay, here’s where it really disappoints. The godrays and halos are in fact present and very distracting in a lot of scenes. I found that it took some playing with the position of the headset to minimize them. Positioning the headset slightly higher than what felt natural gave me the best results, but they were still very present. There are of course a lot of games and experiences where they’re a non-issue. I didn’t at all notice them in brightly colored scenes, or in 180 / 360 degree videos. They were most present in high contrast scenes, extreme during menus, and very distracting in experiences taking place in space, or in the dark. Watching a video in a VR theater was nearly impossible. I’d quickly end up with a headache due to the halos, which is similar to having a flashlight shine through a pair of binoculars. It’s caused by the many facets of the Fresnel lenses used by both devices. Because the Rift has more facets, it’s more of an issue. Both devices suffer from this problem, though the Vive slightly less so.SDE (screen door effect):Because of how close the screens are to your eyes, and the current resolution limitations, VR has to deal with SDE, which is what it sounds like, like looking through a screen door. Thankfully, the Rift’s SDE is so minimal it’s hardly noticeable. It’s there, and you can see it if you look for it, but it’s just so faint, and easy to ignore. The Vive’s SDE is somewhat more prominent, again a trade-off of the larger FOV. There’s a noticeable difference between the two, but both are acceptable. It’s not a deal breaker for either, and you’ll quickly ignore it when you start playing.Tracking:Tracking is very good, and surprisingly accurate. I felt absolutely no delay between my movements and the motion inside the Rift. And the motion inside the rift is perfectly smooth. There’s no unnatural blurring, or any other sort of issues.There are IR sensors all on the front of the headset, as well as the back, so with one sensor you’re still able to rotate yourself fully and still be tracked properly.Comfort:The Rift has comfort down. Keeping the strap somewhat loose and having the straps hug the back of my head I can wear it four hours without any discomfort. If it’s hurting your face or leaving an impression than it’s too tight. The Rift is considerably more comfortable than the Vive in my opinion. Although there are ways to mod the Vive for more comfort, the Rift is much lighter, and so much easier to put on and take off, especially considering the Rift has built in headphones, whereas the Vive does not.Audio:The built in headphones are really very decent. Audio is very important to me. My main headphones are AKG K712 Pro’s, and I also own a pair of Hifiman HE-400i’s. The Rift has on-ear headphones that are very comfortable and sound great. It’s something that I very much would have liked to see from the Vive. The Rift’s headphones can be removed as well if you wanted to use your own, or they can be flipped out of the way. Their position is easily adjustable.Other thoughts:Both the Rift and Vive have their strengths and weaknesses. The Rift has the advantage in terms of optics. It looks clearer and has a more relaxed focal point. That is, my eyes can wander off center a bit before it becomes blurry, whereas with the Vive when my eyes wander the image becomes blurrier sooner, though, removing the Vive’s face pad and modding it with your own thinner pad will improve this drastically, while also increasing the FOV. Though the Rift and Vive have the same displays, they use different lenses, and as such have various trade offs as detailed above. If you need roomscale VR now then you’ll want the Vive. If you can wait, the Rift will be releasing its touch controllers later this year with an additional sensor, which will allow for roomscale as well.Having said that, overall, I’m very impressed given the current limitations of technology, and though I’m looking forward to improvements in resolution and hopefully a fix for the godrays, I see no reason to wait, other than because of its limited availability. VR ready now! ;)
It’s hard not to be impressed with these VR units, for a few hundred dollars you can get experiences you never could just a couple years ago. You can go anywhere with google earth, explore space, get exposure therapy for phobias, etc. All is not perfect though so let’s go through some of it.The resolution could be better, when you first looking into it, people talk about the resolution, and it’s true it’s not great, however once you are “in” there and your brain starts doing things, you completely forget about it. It’s absolutely amazing how well it “tricks” your brain into thinking things are real. The other issue is higher resolution means you need more graphics card, and even at the current resolution you need a pretty expensive graphics card. You can easily drop $1200-$1800 on a machine that has a higher end graphics card to run the system smoothly at full frame rate. Currently none of the Mac’s have enough video oomph for the Oculus but it sounds like they are working on it.It really does trick your brain, and it’s scary how well. I actually got mine to see if I could exposure therapy a fear of heights and it absolutely works, almost too well. There are several heights experiences and when I first started they all instantly triggered my fear of heights. You can find yourself flinching from objects that might hit you and bracing for impacts. The other issue in some games, roller coasters etc. can be motion sickness (or they call it VR sickness, but same feeling). The roller coaster rides can be real enough to your brain your stomach can drop out and feel turns etc.and I can pretty quickly get motion sick after a few minutes on those games. However, for most games it’s not an issue for me.Overall if you don’t mind the expense, or if you already have a gaming PC with a big video card, it’s an amazing experience. It would be great if it was cheaper, or they had a dedicated PC/graphics unit they sold with it, or it could offer higher resolution without needing $1000+ graphics card etc. but overall it’s pretty amazing what you get for $500.
Really an amazing system. Using this I’ve had the same revelation as when I got my first Atari 2600 at age 10. It really has changed everything. The system feels refined when you get it. I applaud Oculus and Facebook for the packaging. The case is very high quality and it looks expensive. One instantly feels they are getting what they paid for by how it is packaged. I wish my smartphone that cost twice as much was packaged as nice. The Rift is shockingly light. I had owned the Gear VR for over a year and really didn’t use it a lot. The Rift is half the weight of the Gear VR and far more comfortable for my big melon. I can wear the Rift for 6 hours before it starts to sting the back of my head or I get sweaty around the eyes. I also have the Touch Controls which are amazing and the reason why I finally fell in love with VR after not being sold with the Gear VR. Being able to manipulate the VR world instead of just passively watching makes all the difference. The only complaint is needing so many USB ports. Each sensor requires a USB port, plus the headset. Oddly, only one can be USB 3 and the others have to be USB 2. That throws using a single hub for all three out the window. Not to mention I would love to get a third sensor for the back but the idea of running a USB cord through the wall and across the attic to the other side of the family room feels far too much work right now. I highly recommend if you are looking to make the leap but like me held out because $800 was far past your pain point. At $400, this system is worth it. Honestly, after playing it, I would justify $600.
From excited to heartbroken very quickly.
WOW! I got the Oculus + Touch controllers set up and the combination is amazing. I’ve used the Oculus before without the touch controllers and had an alright experience, but…
We all love the Oculus Rift, specially my 19 yr old and his friends. It’s amazing! The VR games are fun, exciting and beautiful.
I had to rewrite my initial review which was based on a mistake that I admit to committing during the initial setup, but let me tell you that this is the most fantastic investment…
A great vr headset, I had to return mine when I got it because of a display artifact, bought a replacement elsewhere and it’s been great!
Screen is much better than Vive.
Positives:- gives you perspective of what to expect when they get it right somedayNegatives:- resolution is absolutely inadequate.
The Oculus Rift is absolutely mindboggling. I lose track of time playing games or just doing the demos.
best thing I buy in many years, for pc is easy to use because the design. much better than Vive and ps4 vr (I have ps4 vr also)
comments powered by DisqusI just received the unit and installed in on my two week old predator 300 VR Pascal ready computer. After thirty minutes of use the head unit became very hot causing a headache…