Please Help. Vive or Oculus? Which is better and why? Recommendation needed before purchasing!

[pjb]

Hi all, hope you can help.

After reading the awesome 'Ready Player One', I'm desperate to make the jump into VR but are torn between which system to purchase - Vive or Oculus!

I've got the right spec PC (Asus G20), so i'm all set to go and tried both, but just having difficulty biting the bullet on one of them.  

I appreciate that you're all likely to be Vive fans, so it would be great to know why you bought Vive over Oculus? 

 

Any advice to help me make that purchase would be great. My fear is ending up with an expensive bit of kit that is redundant in about a years time...

Thanks in advance. 

[Cpt_Good]

I chose the Vive after much deliberation and trying both out. Allow me to say up front, they'll both be antique electronics in 2 to 3 years.

Vive;

Pros,

1) field of view wider than Oculus. Huge difference in room scale shooter games.

2) tracking, marginal difference in room scale games

3) plug and play, nice for the Cpt

Cons,

1) Heavier, more face pressure with stock strap

2) more difficult to mount base stations (light houses)

3) more $

Oculus;

Pros,

1) less $

2) slightly better resolution

3) lighter weight

Cons,

1) tracking issues, you will need 3rd tracking device. Comes with two

2) Tracking devices connect thru USB, lots of cables

3) glitches, experience with fellow players in Robotron

 

So, to sum up, East Coast or West Coast. Which is better? I chose the Vive, not disappointed at all. It's not perfect but it is one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. Truly, regardless of which device, totally blew me away.

 

I don't care if they become antique's, this stuff is amazing. Good luck with your choice and my advice is to get it done quickly. You can't imagine what you're missing, hope to see you soon in Rec Room/Robotron.

 

Take care, Cpt Good

 

[Se7en]

This answer has been made so much easier after the WWDC this week. 
Vive has Apples blessing. 
now im not a huge fan of Apple. But there is no denying the face Apple excel at being a luxurious brand and has some of the best products. 
If they have picked Vive as the goto VR systems for Mac's then the decision should be pretty easy. 

[pjb]

Many thanks  ! That is really helpful. 

Appreciate it. 

[pjb]

Thanks  - I saw that news as well and had the same thoughts, which is definitely helping me make that decision - albeit, i'm not keen on buying a top spec imac and GPU. What made you buy HTC over Oculus before this news though? 

 

Thanks again. 

[Se7en]

---

wrote:

Thanks  - I saw that news as well and had the same thoughts, which is definitely helping me make that decision - albeit, i'm not keen on buying a top spec imac and GPU. What made you buy HTC over Oculus before this news though? 

 

Thanks again. 

---

 The answer you will get from me as the reason i got the Vive was because of 3 letters. H T C.

I live in a country where Vr is not/Was not for sale.

Im a big HTC fan and buy everything they make. So as soon as they announced a VR unit i ordered it. 

Then began my research into what i had just brought :manvery-happy:

I then had to build a PC to use the Vive. 

All the time i read more and more and everyone was saying how much VR was mind blowing and the best thing ever. When i finally got the HMD and the PC and its was all ready i was blown away. 

I have since tried the Rift and its a decent unit but i still love the Vive more. 

Im now fully converted to VR i dont play normal games only VR ones. I champion VR to anyone that will listen i give demo's to anyone that wants to try and i now work with a lot of developers in pre testing games before they get released to market. 

On top of That im working with a team of guys (Helixxvr) that are as crazy as i am about VR and we are making a Virtual TV show to be released later this year and we are also launching a New Release Show this weekend (fingers crossed)

What ever you pick to experience VR i think you will be very happy. 

 

 

[pjb]

thanks  that's really helpful. 

I've never owned or used an HTC product, hence why i'm a little hesitant about buying into them. Sounds like you are a really into VR, which is so cool. I think it's going to become huge. Thanks again for the advice and good luck with the TV show and new release show - where can I watch them?

 

[Se7en]

stay tuned to Vive community i will post links in here 

[CaTaPulT]

Here is why I went for the Vive over the Oculus.....

 

1) More adjustments to fit it to your face which gives you more room in the HMD for people like me who wear glasses.

2) The front facing camera, this might sound like a gimic but it's handy when in VR, when playing satnding games or other VR experiences, it's very easy to get disoriented as to where you are in the play area, yes, the Vive has the chaperone system but some games will override the floor markings of the chaperone system, as for the walls, it's a matter of which wall are you facing. With the camera, a quick double click of the system buttons (either controller or the one on the headset) will show you a infrared image of your room. This way you can see where you are.

3) Controllers can be recharged instead of having to remove batteries to replace or recharge like the Rift's Touch controllers.

4) Better tracking system than the Rift, 2 lighthouses in your room will cover you and what you do in VR, the Rift would require 3 to 4 sensors to do the same except each one requires a USB-3 connection I believe. The Vive lighhouses only have a thin power cable connection, the rest is done wirelessly.

 

Those 4 are the reasons I went with the Vive over the Oculus Rift, the Oculus is a good headset but I liked the features of the Vive better.

Regards: Jack

[MartinMarty]

I knew nothing of VR, saw Vive on after-Christmas sale, was intrigued, did a couple hours of Googling, felt good about Vive based on room-scale dominance and I thought that showed a bigger/better/more insightful overall design, and I hoped that would apply to other areas of the product and to future developments.

 

Now, do you/I/anyone really have a big enough room that it makes a difference, versus an Oculus with 3 base stations? For me, maybe not, but possibly, and again, I just like the idea that it was designed with that type of play in mind.

 

As for HTC, I thought to myself, "I think they make cell phones". It is not a brand that I have many pre-conceived notions about either way. I was actually pleased to hear  talking them up.

 

Unfortunately, the best technology does not always win, thus I am troubled by the money play between the "big three" with Oculus/Facebook and PSVR/Sony obviously having very deep pockets when I see [really compelling] titles being released only for those platforms. That being said, I'm happy with my Vive purchase, I have more super-cool content than I have time to play, and it is almost a relief that it will be hopelessy obsolete in a year or two and I'll have a chance to re-evaluate based on the state of the game and buy back into whoever is best at that time.

 

: Just one more thing for emphasis.. I think whichever one you pick is going to be obsolete in a year or two. You might keep it alive longer going for addons like the delux headstrap, hopefully wireless options soon, etc. But I think the HMD itself is too prone to major improvements that cannot be retrofitted. I mean, c'mon, the world in VR looks great but it doesn't look real, the SDE is present, and this will only be fixed by more resolution. Those improvements are not far off and that is likely going to obsolete your CPU, GPU and HMD. In the mean time, you're going to want a haptic vest, trackers for your legs, VR gloves, etc. All of this stuff exists. It doesn't even take a breakthrough. It just needs to be productized and packaged for the consumer. Plus, wearing the Vive is about as hot as strapping a toaster-oven to your face, so whatever solution there is to increase ventilation to more like the Rift, is not likely to be upgradeable, but I expect there will be major improvements in the next generation. My point is, buy it now with the knowledge you'll probably be buying again in a couple years. Because you're missing fun NOW! I wish I had jumped on the train a year sooner.