Oculus Rift S VR Headset Launching Spring 2019 for $399

Started by the-pi-guy, Mar 21, 2019, 11:26 PM

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the-pi-guy

Oculus Rift S VR Headset Launching Spring 2019 for $399 | ResetEra

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https://www.oculus.com/blog/announcing-oculus-rift-s-our-new-pc-vr-headset-launching-spring-2019/

 Bye bye external sensors!


   Today at GDC, we unveiled Oculus Rift S--a new VR headset that combines the convenience of built-in Oculus Insight tracking technology with the full power of your PC. Built on the Rift platform, Rift S gives gamers and tech enthusiasts access to the most immersive content that VR has to offer, and it's launching in Spring 2019 for $399 USD.  Click to expand...      Higher Resolution on the Best PC VR Gaming Platform


 Rift S works with the Rift platform, giving you access to the top-selling and most immersive VR titles on Day 1--and even more groundbreaking games like Asgard's Wrath, Defector, andStormland on the horizon. Improved optics and display technology deliver a sharper picture with higher pixel density for an even more immersive gaming experience. Games on Rift have never looked better.



Increased Comfort and Integrated Audio


 We partnered with Lenovo™ to design Rift S, drawing on their experience in the VR and AR space and feedback from the Lenovo Legion™ gaming community. Lenovo co-designed the Rift S for increased comfort, better weight distribution, and improved light blocking, as well as a simple, single-cable system for a clutter-free experience. Rift S features the same integrated audio system as Oculus Quest and Oculus Go, with a headphone jack that lets you use your own favorite headphones.



Oculus Insight for Precise Room-Scale Tracking


 Like Quest, Rift S features Oculus Insight, our state-of-the-art inside-out tracking technology. Say goodbye to external sensors--Oculus Insight gets you into the game with ease. Using computer vision algorithms, Oculus Insight captures, traces, and navigates physical spaces in realtime. The Rift S headset features five sensors to maximize tracking volume in support of the existing Rift library. Oculus Touch controllers, redesigned for inside-out tracking, bring familiar hand presence and input so you can grab, point, and gesture through the best of VR.



Introducing Passthrough+


 We're also enabling a true stereo-correct passthrough feature, Passthrough+. It utilizes core Oculus runtime advancements, including ASW, to produce a comfortable experience with minimal depth disparity or performance impact. It's especially helpful any time you need to step or see outside of your play space.



A Shared Platform


 Because Rift and Rift S share the same core platform experience, current Rift owners will be able to take advantage of our continued software updates. They'll also enjoy access to the same games available today and coming in the future.

 We can't wait to share more in the weeks ahead. Sign up for all the latest updates at oculus.com/rift-s.  Click to expand...    
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the-pi-guy

For the most part, it's more of a sidegrade, than an upgrade over the Rift.  

For every component that's improved, there's something that's slightly worse.  

I don't think I'd get it to replace my Rift.  

But, I was thinking about it, and this could be a heck of a headset to go with my laptop.

Legend

Passthrough sounds great.

the-pi-guy

Original rift no longer being sold.  

Hopefully the S comes soon...

the-pi-guy

https://youtu.be/HRqdWfrMnYM


At 13:25.  When he says "my first Rift S experience", the YouTube caption generator says "my first ripped dog experience".  So that's hilarious.  


He says that the Rift S is good, despite what people say of the specs.  

the-pi-guy

I can't use Rift S, and neither can you. - The Blog of Palmer Luckey

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1. Mechanical IPD Adjustment
An oldie, but a goodie. This is the way most VR headsets have tackled IPD tolerance over the decades, driven largely by microdisplay-based architectures with narrow eyeboxes that required perfect positioning to work at all. It allows the HMD designer to focus on other qualities like FOV and field curvature. Tying physical adjustment to the distance between virtual cameras is a great way to ensure the scale of the virtual world is correct, and a single HMD can be adjusted to fit a wide variety of users. It does add a small amount of weight and a moderate amount of fragility. This was the approach used in Rift CV1, though we tied the adjustments together in a way that slightly impacts people like myself with asymmetrical faces. Good enough!

2. Custom Sizing
This is my personal favorite, and will dominate the VR industry in the long run. Every adjustment on an HMD adds weight, bulk, complexity, cost, and fragility. If the headset is fitted to match the end user from the start, you can minimize and sometimes eliminate the need for adjustments! This is a common principle behind almost all wearable goods, from shoes to clothes to watches to sunglasses - it is the reason your wardrobe is not dominated by one-size-fits-all unisex jumpsuits.

Given the small size of the VR market, it is hard to justify fully custom sizing for every single HMD sold. Luckily, you can get huge gains out of even a handful of options! I am not a huge fan of Magic Leap, but one thing they did right was achieving IPD Tolerance by making two different versions of the ML1, one for wide IPD and one for narrow IPD. Focals by North is taking a similar approach with their smart glasses, but have dozens of different sizing options.

I won't mince words. Rift S should have done this. The logistical overhead of managing a handful of different SKUs with slightly different plastic pieces holding the lenses at slightly different distances would have allowed Rift S to keep costs low and expand the addressable market for VR without cutting out new and old customers alike.

3. Perfect Collimation
Nothing is perfect, but . It is possible to design optical systems with a very wide sweet spot/eyebox and little need for physical adjustment, but not without tradeoffs. Playstation VR is a good modern example, using solid and heavy lenses with a fairly long focal length to create an wide enough eyebox for most users. This comes with a penalty to weight, cost, size and panel utilization (and thus resolution), but it is hard to argue with the results, especially for a headset that regularly sells for $199. The Rift DK2 also had a large-ish eyebox that allowed it to be a useful development tool, but there is a reason some users created aftermarket modifications for lens spacing - we knew it would not be responsible to launch DK2 as a consumer product, and it took nearly two years from the launch of DK2 to make something we felt comfortable pushing as the One For All solution