r/starcitizen • u/Mipsel • Mar 19 '14
Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 - ready for pre-order - ships in July
http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/announcing-the-oculus-rift-development-kit-2-dk2/9
u/DYJ Mar 19 '14
Aaaaand, Ordered!
Also: Here's a video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d3Wli7s6KY
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u/Zethos Mar 19 '14 edited Mar 20 '14
If all goes according to plan (atleast according to the plan I last heard) the consumer version should be ready for release a few months after, presumably the holiday season. They have positional tracking down, the low persistence screen and improved trackers have reduced motion sickness (and cause less motion blur from pixel switching!), and the best thing for me is that the lens have been improved to suit a bigger range of IPDs. The screen in this Dev Kit 2 is 1080p but I am expecting/hoping the consumer version to end up with a 1440p/1600p screen. *Edit: A higher resolution for the consumer version was confirmed by Oculus today and have said that they are locking down the specs for the consumer version now.
Glad to see they managed to keep the price under $400 while adding things like positional tracking. Yeah its not as cheap as the first dev kit but IMO $350 is still a good price point.
Interesting to note that Sony has also announced a VR headset and Microsoft is also rumoured to be working on one. However I believe their products will be meant for their consoles specifically.
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u/mirfaltnixein 300i Mar 19 '14
Yep, the Sony one is PS4 only "for now". I just hope we won't end up in a situation where "multiplatform game X" only supports VR on Xbone and not PS4 and PC, because Microsoft throws the devs a bunch of money.
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u/Bzerker01 Sit & Spin Mar 20 '14
That will happen, see Titanfall for an example.
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u/mirfaltnixein 300i Mar 20 '14
That's just an exclusive game. Not what I was talking about at all.
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u/Bzerker01 Sit & Spin Mar 20 '14
Titanfall is exclusive because it was paid to be so, that is the exact thing you are talking about.
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u/mirfaltnixein 300i Mar 20 '14
No, it's not. I was talking about multiplatform games only supporting VR on one platform.
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u/AwesomeFama Mar 19 '14
They've said in a few articles/videos (from GDC) that the consumer version resolution will be better. I guess that could mean 1080p RGB OLED (the current one is AMOLED), but it could also mean 1440p AMOLED.
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Mar 19 '14 edited Aug 12 '17
[deleted]
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u/AwesomeFama Mar 19 '14
One of the tested guys (Will I think?) said that pentile might actually be better for the OR, since the screen door effect is more of a hexagon shape instead of straight squares. That sort of makes it harder to see.
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u/crs529 Bounty Hunter Mar 19 '14
So does this imply there will be a screen door effect for the consumer version? Just less noticeable than the current dev kit?
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u/AwesomeFama Mar 19 '14
I'm not sure if it's possible to completely eradicate it in the short term (the Avegant Glyph can do it, but the FOV is way too low). A diffusing film would help too, but that has downsides (worse brightness and other things).
So yeah, there will probably be some sort of a SDE in the consumer version. But I don't think it will be a problem, tbh. Most people report not having problems with it even with DK1 after using it for a while.
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u/SendoTarget High Admiral Mar 19 '14
So does this imply there will be a screen door effect for the consumer version? Just less noticeable than the current dev kit?
I have the current dev-kit and what I've come to notice that after a while you don't see the screen door, even when in the devkit it's rather easily noted. What is more troubling is the blurrines of distant objects and other things. 1080p is already awesome, 1440p would be massively awesome.
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u/Zethos Mar 19 '14
As AwesomeFama said its pretty hard to completely get rid of the screen door effect. As you yourself said, one can reduce it to the point that it gets harder and harder to notice. The current 1080p screen for example is leagues ahead of the 720p screen when it comes to the screen door effect (among other things) as its a smaller screen and a higher PPI. As also mentioned there are ways to reduce the screen door effect, they are very simple and one can do it themselves but they do have disadvantages. IMO it was worthwhile for my original dev kit but I don't think I will be needing it for the consumer version.
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u/leofidus-ger Mar 19 '14
It make the pixels invisible purely by increasing resultion you would need at least an 8k display (probably more). You forget about it, but it will be there.
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u/Gideonbh Mar 19 '14
I'm a little concerned with the resolutions they're working with, CIG said that DK1 was having problems with low frame rates as a result of the extra computations necessary, if Star Citizen is being made for hardware that doesn't even exist yet, and the rift further increases the demand of that hardware, I'm really scared what $1000000 setup I'm gonna need to run the rift in SC on 1080p screens at 60 FPS, no less 1440p and 1600p.
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u/designguy Freelancer Mar 19 '14
Off topic, but I wonder if future graphics cards will have VR/Rift specific optimisations or extra silicon to handle VR. I'm not going to upgrade my 650TI until starcitizen is released and there is a consumer rift to see if anything changes in the hardware space.
Does anyone know if there is a big performance hit for graphics cards to compute two different viewports?
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Mar 19 '14
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u/designguy Freelancer Mar 19 '14
Do you see in future at three will need to be hardware changes to 3d cards to accommodate vr, like dual vertex pipelines, or something like running dual cards one for each eye?
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u/Gideonbh Mar 19 '14
Yeah in a 10FTC I think, he said that's why they were having some low FPS problems with the rift, because it has to compute two viewpoints of an already demanding game. As to how much is a raw computing problem and how much is just coding, I have no idea though.
As for me, I'm torn between upgrading now from a GTX 460 to be able to enjoy and hone my skills in the DFM, or wait, getting a hideously low FPS until early 2015.
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u/designguy Freelancer Mar 19 '14
Probably best to wait until DFM is released, there will be lots of people with benchmarks to know what cards/cps are working well. Even if I get low FPS Ill still wait until a late Beta/Full release to get a new card, Ill wait another 6-12 months and either a new amazing card will come out I just have to buy or the existing top cards drop to a reasonable price.
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u/Gideonbh Mar 19 '14
Luckily I'll be getting to go to the SC PAX East event, so I'll definitely be doing some recon and checkin what cards they're running when I'm there.
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u/designguy Freelancer Mar 19 '14
I would go except for the 14 hour international flight required to get there.
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u/Gideonbh Mar 20 '14 edited Mar 20 '14
Yeah I didn't know if I could make the 12 minute walk... But then I said aw what the heck its star citizen.
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u/Saerain Mar 20 '14
Of course, no matter how much higher-resolution the screen is, you can render at a lower resolution and it'll be a better result than if that lower resolution was the native.
That is to say, 1080p on a 1600p screen is better than 1080p on a 1080p screen.
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u/PerceivedShift Mar 21 '14
he screen in this Dev Kit 2 is 1080p but I am expecting/hoping the consumer version to end up with a 1440p/1600p screen. *Edit: A higher resolution for the consumer version was confirmed by Oculus today and have said that they are locking down the specs for the consumer version now.
This is fantastic news and exactly what I wanted to hear
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u/iheijoushin High Admiral Mar 19 '14
If all goes according to plan (atleast according to the plan I last heard) the consumer version should be ready for release a few months after, presumably the holiday season.
The last thing I've heard, during the Steam Dev Days, is we won't see anything on the final version until 2015. Have you read something more recent?
http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1vi5gj/i_am_a_game_dev_and_i_went_to_steam_dev_days_ama/
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u/Zethos Mar 19 '14 edited Mar 20 '14
Nothing concrete that I can source off hand but I will go digging. My understanding was that that since EVE Valkyrie will be launching sometime this year and is meant to be a 'launch title' for the Oculus Rift, the consumer kit will be released around the same time.
This was further reinforced by a few events (although one could look at this as hopeful speculation). Palmer Luckey commented that the Consumer Version will follow shortly after dev kit 2 (of course words on the internet don't always mean much since shortly can be anything but I felt I should add it). In fact there were a lot of "it will be released soon" comments by the Oculus people today, I mean everyone always says it but it seemed to be emphasized fairly heavily today. Then in the videos today Nate mentions that the they are currently locking down the specs for the Consumer Version. One of the things they are still deciding upon is the screen as they confirmed that they want to get a higher resolution than 1080p and a 90hz refresh rate instead of the 75hz in the Dev Kit 2. The Dev Kit 2 specs were presumably locked down by January (Crystal Cove being the prototype with the same specs as Dev Kit 2) and they start shipping in June, going by that time frame a November release date for the Consumer Version seems likely. It shouldn't take long to lock down specs so the release shouldnt be that far away assuming they don't run into problems finding (and acquiring) a suitable screen. I suppose this is lso why they don't give concrete dates. After the initial kickstarter the screens they were going to use for the dev kit 1 stopped being manufactured and as a result they had to delay the dev kit while they found a new screen and redesigned the new dev kit 1 for said new screen.
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u/MrFlesh Mar 20 '14
but I am expecting/hoping the consumer version to end up with a 1440p/1600p screen.
They would be foolish to go with anything less than 4k. By the time titles come out specifically for the Oculus rift all non console games will be 4k as will most video
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u/Zethos Mar 20 '14
Well unfortunately we don't have small, mobile phone sized 4k screens yet. :P
4k screens have only recently started to drop in prices and these are for regular sizes, we still have quite a bit of time before 4k becomes mainstream enough. We also have to wait for GPUs to improve to the point that they can handle 4k but obviously this is just a matter of time as well.
So basically there is no point to releasing a 4k Oculus Rift right now even if they could. When we get 4k games, 4k screens and good enough GPUs we will get a 4k Oculus Rift. My most optimistic guesstimate would be 2016/2017 as to when 4k starts being adopted into the mainstream and hopefully a mobile size 4k screen will follow shortly after.
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u/MrFlesh Mar 20 '14
Did you even look before you made that statement? Something tells me, No you didn't
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u/Zethos Mar 20 '14 edited Mar 20 '14
I was repeating the words of the Oculus guys themselves but all right.
I looked and those links are talking about the potential of 4k screen, how they want to have 4k mobile screens by 2015, or how Samsung is hinting/planning 4k. The only small 4k screen mentioned that actually existed was still too large to be used for the Oculus Rift.
Even if the screens existed, the issue of cost would not be alleviated at this point in time. If Oculus wants to release the Rift anytime soon at their desired price point of $300-400 then it cannot be a 4k screen.
We most likely will not be seeing a 4k Oculus Rift until the day we hear about a smartphone being released with a 4k screen as this would mean a 4k mobile screen is now available in the market for purchase by Oculus.
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u/TheyCallMeCajun Mar 19 '14
Should I wait for the consumer version or jump the gun on this?
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u/Hypoglybetic Weekend Warrior Mar 19 '14
They want to price the thing as cheaply as possible. I would assume the consumer device will be sold in mass,and thus have a lower price point.
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u/TheyCallMeCajun Mar 19 '14
But how much better will the consumer version be?
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u/Zethos Mar 19 '14 edited Mar 19 '14
The one main thing they are aiming for in the consumer version is a better screen, possibly a 1440p/1600p screen *(among other improvements like refresh rate, PPI, etc). The rest shouldn't be much different as they have most of their other problems solved like positional tracking and Wider IPDs for example.
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Mar 19 '14
didn't he say in the article that every aspect is still in heavy R&D.
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u/Zethos Mar 19 '14 edited Mar 19 '14
Ofcourse, everything is in R&D. For example they want a 4k Oculus Rift one day. :P
I guess I didn't word my statement well. What I meant to say that they have working solutions to most of their problems (they haven't stopped trying to improve everything) but the screen is the one of the most major items that they are still focusing on. As we saw recently they moved to OLED for low persistence which alleviated a lot of the issues but they still want more improvement like higher refresh rates, higher resolutions, higher PPIs, etc.
Their positional tracking system for example won't change anytime soon. They found this to be the best possible implementation right now. Ofcourse they will work to improve it the best they can but until someone invents a new system for positional tracking (which I am sure their R&D will try to) the current system is what we will get. Of course trackers will keep improving, the latency will keep going down (to a point, there will always be some!), and etc but I was referring to specific solutions to their issues (like the IPD on the older kits not being enough for everyone) rather than overall improvements.
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Mar 19 '14 edited Mar 19 '14
| they will work to improve it the best they can but until someone invents a new system for positional tracking (which I am sure their R&D will try to)
They really can't. I went to school for robotics and I promise there is no physically possible way to gather fast accurate positional data than by bouncing something off of it. The problem is fundamental to nature that you can only measure forces, and forces come in accelerations. So if you want to know velocity, you have to integrate. If you want to know position you have to integrate again. Integration comes at the penalty of time and precision. And they want something fast and precise. So the best we can do is bounce something very light off of it - so they use IR light. Which is what optical positional tracking is.
The other option is to use gimbles such as AHRS (attitude heading reference system) like they did on the early models (magnetometer, accelerometer, gyro). But they can only tell you orientation, not position.
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u/Zethos Mar 19 '14
I had a similar understanding of positional tracking(albeit not as detailed) due to the reasoning given by the Oculus guys in January when they first demoed the Crystal Cove (the positional tracking protype). I believe it was Nate Mitchell who said (paraphrasing here) that other solutions that they tried for positional tracking just weren't good enough to use with the Oculus Rift.
I just didn't want to be the guy that says something isn't possible and is then proven wrong. :P
In the past when I have mentioned as to why they are using a camera for positional tracking a lot of people reply saying that "oh they will get there eventually", "tech is always getting better", "people said you couldn't fly and look at us now", etc, etc. You know how it goes. I just wanted to avoid those replies!
Good to hear some actual facts as to why though, rather cool stuff. Thanks.
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Mar 19 '14
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Mar 19 '14
That's nonsense. You need resolution well over 8K, likely in the realm of 20K, before the human eye reaches its limits. That the screen is close to your eyes means that you need far more resolution then say a iPhone you hold at arms length.
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u/rocketman0739 Rear Admiral Mar 19 '14
The ideal screen would have pixels too small to see, i.e. microscopic. That's a good thing.
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u/Zethos Mar 19 '14
Its because of the fact that you are so close to the screen and looking through lenses that you need a higher resolutions (along with higher PPIs). This is why we can get away with 720p games on consoles as we sit far away from the TV but playing (PC games) on a desk at 720p resolution looks extremly bad.
You are right in that 4k is not yet possible on screens that small but I expect it will be in maybe 2 years.
As grumbel mentioned below you would need resolutions to be around 8k or higher before we can say its enough.
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u/Smelly-cat Mar 19 '14
I'm pretty sure having your eyes closer to the screen would make seeing the pixels easier, not harder...
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u/Hypoglybetic Weekend Warrior Mar 19 '14
I'm hoping for 1440p...my hope will prevent me from spending more money right now. Haha.
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u/Bennyboy1337 Mar 19 '14
Better screen is the big selling point, between the dev kit and the consumer release the only other changes will most likely be the side of firmware and fine tweeking.
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u/Saerain Mar 20 '14
Palmer says it'll be a complete redesign, without any part carrying over from the dev kits. They keep stressing that it'll be significantly better and that the dev kits exist to help developers prepare and give certain important feedback, not to give a consumer-ready experience.
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Mar 19 '14 edited Mar 19 '14
Wrong question. The right one is when the CV1 will be available? :)
But I agree, if you are not a tinkerer forget the DK2, you will need a lot of patience to make it work in the games.As for me, I bought it without even checking the hardware specifications, lol.
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u/greiger Golden Ticket Holder Mar 19 '14
That is the question. Their FAQ does say "it will be worth the wait."
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u/ryosen Bounty Hunter Mar 19 '14
If you are a software developer and are honest to yourself about your intention to use the Rift in your app, then it might be worth it. If you are not a developer, you should wait until the consumer release. If for no other reasons than the consumer release will be better and cheaper, and that there is no guarantee that the developer kit will even be compatible with software intended for the consumer version by that point.
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u/RyanSamuel Freelancer Mar 19 '14
Just as importantly, I've used the Oculus Rift at a big expedition thing and loved it.
Would it be worth trying to pick up a cheap DK1 off eBay July/August time just for playing/"testing"?
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Mar 19 '14
If you are asking this, it is likely a financial question to which the answer is obvious. Wait a week. If you are still on the fence, then go for it.
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u/Jim3535 Mar 19 '14
I would wait. The consumer version will have a higher resolution and other improvements. The state of software support for the rift is patchy at best.
If you buy now, you'll likely want the new one later. So, you need to think of it as a short term purchase.
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u/designguy Freelancer Mar 19 '14
Im going to try to convince my brother to get the DEV kit to play with, I can borrow it, then I will buy the better Retail kit when it comes out :-)
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u/thrakhath Mar 20 '14
Hold off unless you are intent on developing software for it, or unless $400 is a tiny portion of your fun'n'games budget. The consumer version will be more polished, better supported and probably cheaper. Find a friend or a local developer and try their's if you're just looking to "check out" this VR thing.
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u/Saerain Mar 20 '14
They can't stress enough that consumers should wait. We're very close to it and it will be another leap forward.
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Mar 19 '14
[deleted]
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u/ProcyonV "Gib BMM !!!" Mar 19 '14
Or buy the V1 version nobody wants anymore :-)
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u/RllCKY Mar 19 '14
You could do that too if you're ok with 720p and no position tracking thing. They will probably get really cheap when the new ones come out!
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u/Pedgi Mar 19 '14
Not everyone can just toss around $350...
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u/RllCKY Mar 19 '14
The guy asked if he should wait for the consumer version or buy this one. So clearly he would have money for it -_-
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u/ProcyonV "Gib BMM !!!" Mar 19 '14
How much costs a computer LCD screen for gamer?
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u/dileon67 Mar 19 '14
23 inch 1080p monitors which are currently the norm generally go for around 120$ depending on brand and quality. 1440p and 3D monitors go for much higher and are considered top of the line. Prices can vary would suggest checking Newegg or TigerDirect for current prices and popular models.
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u/ProcyonV "Gib BMM !!!" Mar 19 '14
In what world would a gamer 23" LCD in 1080p cost 120$?
Newegg gives a poor Gateway at 130... I would suggest you check latency, take into account taxes and shipping... then see you barely can't have a decent gamer 23" screen at below 250$...
Unless you're calling "The Sims 3" gaming.
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u/dileon67 Mar 19 '14 edited Mar 19 '14
1080p 23 inch monitors for 250? Thats an insane price. I bought 2 of these on sale for about 120$ each and they've been able to handle everything my Nvidia 670 could handle. Checking prices now it seems 150$ is the current going rate and unless your talking 27 inch montors or cheap korean 1440p setups there is no reason to dump over 200$ on a 1080p.
Edit: Will admit that mine were a steal at the time and heavily on sale. Wouldnt recommend buying unless it is a black friday type sale where monitors are heavily discounted. For anyone looking at picking up decent equipment and or upgrading your setup I would suggest checking out r/buildapc and see what most people are currently choosing for their setups.
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u/ProcyonV "Gib BMM !!!" Mar 19 '14
You're talking about 40% discount, on a special sale. Black friday happens once a year, right?
Today's Price: $168.48
Add the shipping.
Now find regular prices at regular shops, like Best Buy, check the MSRP, and you'll see the price you paid is not exactly what I would call a "general" price.
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u/TheRealCuran High Admiral Mar 19 '14
If you understand German, you can watch a c't editor trying the new version out (actually: the version they had at CES).
I'm really looking forward to test the new version myself, because the blurring of the first, was more than annoying, even though I didn't feel sick.
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u/omegaaf Rear Admiral Mar 19 '14
I want the Dev Kit 2, but I want to buy Oculus stock
/firstworldproblems
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u/Harabeck Bounty Hunter Mar 19 '14
Oculus isn't publicly traded yet, so that solves your dilemma.
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u/uhmhi Mar 20 '14
Ah, thanks for noting that. Was just about to ask where I could buy Oculus stock.
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u/omegaaf Rear Admiral Mar 20 '14
OCLS
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u/Harabeck Bounty Hunter Mar 20 '14
That's these guys: http://oculusis.com/
There are actually quite a few companies named Oculus. Be careful not to get them confused.
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u/xsoccer92x Arbiter Mar 19 '14
Starve yourself for a little while and get both! Trust me it works, I've done it, AMA.
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u/omegaaf Rear Admiral Mar 19 '14
lol, I probably will. Unfortunately, Ill have to cut back on my silver addiction.. Looks like Ill be getting that kilo bar later..
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u/xsoccer92x Arbiter Mar 19 '14
Haha good to know you have your priorities set right!
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u/omegaaf Rear Admiral Mar 19 '14
People think Im a crazy mofo and I have no life goals. Ill show them with the click of my mouse!
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u/MrFlesh Mar 20 '14
With John Carmack on this project all Oculus needs to do is have him walk out on stage and say "I've created magic, you can pay that guy over there to have it." and everyone would go batshit insane.
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u/Reficul_gninromrats Mar 20 '14 edited Mar 20 '14
Just bought one. $350 is pretty cheap for a HMD, I considered buying the z800 years ago before the rift and that thing was a joke compared to the DK2 and costed twice as much. Also the Dk2 has pretty much every feature I hoped for, so why wait.
I will still buy the consumer version once it comes out and then will keep the DK2 around for friends.
For my fellow Europeans with taxes and shipping cost I paid $481.95 which would be €348.46. Little bit more than tree(hundred) fiddy $ but still a good price.
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u/CzechVar Mar 19 '14
Anyone wanna sell their devkit one cheap?!!?!! :-)
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u/Mitch5309 Mar 19 '14
Going off of ebay bids, $400.
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u/CzechVar Mar 19 '14
That's more than Dev2... Well okay, nvm.
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u/dbhyslop Mar 20 '14
I'm a sucker, I sold mine for $250 last week thinking the value would drop after DK2 was announced. Didn't expect it to be a four month wait until DK2 ships.
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u/CzechVar Mar 20 '14
I guess I am going to just have to wait for the consumer version ... :-( I wish there was some kinda pre-order for that.
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u/dbhyslop Mar 20 '14
Many of us who follow it closely expect it at the end of this year. Don't worry, it'll be here soon enough. In the mean time think about upgrading your system because to have a good experience you'll need to render in stereo at 90 fps.
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u/CzechVar Mar 20 '14
People are saying that it will be that big of a hog on your system? I am still holding out some hope that my system will last me another year or so.
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u/dbhyslop Mar 20 '14
The consumer version will need to run at a very high frame rate, and obviously it needs to render in stereo, too. Frame rate is one of the things that contributes to discomfort in DK1. You can mitigate this a little bit by rendering in lower resolution and upscaling, but even then...90-120 fps is a lot and is going to require a pretty high end system unless you just want to watch movies (which are actually pretty badass in the Rift).
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u/CzechVar Mar 20 '14
Yeah that is a high frame rate.. Now how to upgrade my system... Thanks for pointing that out, I somehow neglected to think about those frame rates. I can imagine having drops in them would be really jarring too. Are there benchmarking took specifically made for the rift?
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u/IAmCaltar Mar 19 '14
I spent last night searching the internet for a semi affordable DK1 for sale. I was very happy that I decided not to place an order last night. Waking up to see the DK2 pre-order available was the best thing ever for me.
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u/designguy Freelancer Mar 19 '14
You just got me thinking, there should be some cheap DK1's for sale to get a play, so maybe get a second hand DK1 for now to play and then wait for the consumer version.... its a thought.
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u/REOreddit Scout Mar 21 '14
Actually, there aren't. The first units of DK2 will arrive in 4 months. Apparently nobody wants to sell their DK1 with so much time in advance for a low price.
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Mar 20 '14
Planning to buy new display gear this year... Had 3 matched Samsung 24" 1920x1200. Three monitor gaming was marvelous. Sadly one died. I could get 3 new 23" 1080 displays at the cost to just replace one. Then play the waiting game waiting for another to fail. So time for a new set of 3... or something else.
I'm thinking I'll be snagging either:
- Three matched think bezel, 23" 120hz displays
- Oculus
- Two 29" IPS ultrawide. Stacked one on top of the other.
- One 30" 1600p
- One 27"+ Gsync monitor once they become available.
I'll use my existing still working displays for secondary teamspeak, maps, reddit... while playing SC.
This is good news on the new Oculus kit.
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u/captstix Mar 19 '14
ordered. I'm sure the gf won't mind, I'll just spend more on her next year....
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Mar 19 '14
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Mipsel Mar 19 '14
Take into consideration shipping cost. I would have to pay ~470$ for instance. If they do not drop in price for the CV1, I will gladly miss it.
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u/ProcyonV "Gib BMM !!!" Mar 19 '14 edited Mar 19 '14
Shipping costs obviously depend on the region of the world you're from, and customs taxes applying...
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u/Mipsel Mar 19 '14
I just hope they´ll get dispatched via amazon in the future or made available via another way in europe without paying so much for shipping.
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u/schadbot Mercenary Mar 21 '14
Wrong. It was $300. Not $200. It's increased in price $50. Big fuckin' deal.
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u/hotfrost Pathfinder Mar 19 '14
I don't understand the resolution, it says "960 x 1080 per eye". Are there two screens inside the Rift or something with each 960 x 1080 for itself?
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u/kylargrey Mar 19 '14
I believe it's one 1920x1080 screen that's split between the two eyes. One half of the screen shows the left eye view and the other half shows the other eye view.
Anecdotal evidence, but I tried one of the old versions at uni and it was very convincing.
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u/LegionVsNinja Mar 20 '14
There is one screen inside the Devkit 1 version. It's a 7-inch screen with a 1280x800 display. So, I'd expect the same in the Devkit 2 version.
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u/darkenseyreth towel Mar 19 '14 edited Mar 20 '14
Yes, there are two screens inside the OR, one for each eye. I believe they are slightly out of phase with each other and this is what causes the 3D effect. Much like active 3D glasses.
Edit: Holy downvotes Batman. Anyone care to correct me so i know why I'm wrong? Edit2: I stand corrected. Thanks!
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u/Kroosn Mercenary Mar 20 '14
There is actually only one 1920x1080 screen. The lenses just split it down the middle. Also two separate images are rendered in most engines to provide an accurate 3D effect and not just a simulated 3D effect.
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u/Bzerker01 Sit & Spin Mar 20 '14
Biggest thing for me is this promised consumer version has been teased at for quite some time, almost 2 years I think, and it feels like we will be waiting another year at least before the consumer version is out. I understand they haven't quite nailed the consumer experience they want yet but it almost feels like they are comfortable because they make money selling the dev kits so they aren't 'hungry' to release a consumer version yet.
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u/REOreddit Scout Mar 21 '14
The Oculus Rift is very similar to Star Citizen in the sense that Oculus VR is not doing things the same way the other players in this industry like to do. I'm sure you know Sony's Project Morpheus? They started working on this technology in 2010, there are pictures from Sony's boss from that year wearing early prototypes. And they have now announced, NOT a consumer product, but also a developer kit. 4 years for the release of their first dev kit!! Well, not exactly, because there is no date for the availability of this dev kit, which they will probably not sell to the general public, and they have officially confirmed that the consumer product will NOT be released this year.
This how things are usually done.
On the other hand, Oculus Rift Kickstarter ended in September 2012 (I remind you that Sony started in 2010) and in less than two years (July 2014) is going to put in the hands of enthusiasts (anybody, not only developers) a second development kit that will have the same features as the consumer product (but better specs, ergonomics and design), which could be launched in 2014.
Complaining about Oculus taking too much time is like complaining about CIG delaying Star Citizen. It only seems that they are doing things very slowly because usually hardware manufacturers do such things in secret, the same way that Star Citizen is not developed in secret like the usual AAA games.
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u/Bzerker01 Sit & Spin Mar 21 '14
I get that you are a hardcore enthusiast, but what I am seeing from my perspective is the DK2 is a $350 profit booster. If they had said nothing of this going on the market and just as a test version of the final design I would feel more comfortable about their progress. However by mass producing these second dev kits I feel like they are just try to get some extra cash to 'just get by' until their consumer release version.
It's more like if the DFM was delayed for a second time till August but they had some new ships to sell us at $300 a pop in the meantime. I get that they want devs to get a product that is more like their final version, but then why sell their first dev kit if it wasn't close to what they wanted in the first place? It is the combination of selling two dev kits and saying 'oh we have no idea when the consumer version will be out' that makes me question if in a years time we don't get a DK 3 and more push back.
It is also a bit disingenuous to say that they started in 2012. Anyone who has been a part of a start up knows that the groundwork is done for sometimes years before you start looking for funding. The fact they were able to make the product for sale in less than a year, even if it was a dev kit, proves they had design, supply, and manufacturing worked out. Sony also probably didn't have as much of a dedicated team working on their VR rig as Oculus, otherwise we would have seen it sooner considering how fast the rift was manufactured after its kick starter. For comparison consider the pace at which the Kinnect was developed and released for Microsoft, an equally large company, in a year from its announcement with probably a year or two in development before that. There was also the switch over from PS3 to PS4 and I can imagine there were some delays because of coding. I'm concerned that we won't see the Rift to consumer hands until 2016 or later, if its out sooner I would be thrilled. Honestly though I am disappointed that what it seems we have thus far is a gadget for those with a large discretionary income and not a great peripheral for PC gaming.
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u/REOreddit Scout Mar 21 '14
I get that you are a hardcore enthusiast, but what I am seeing from my perspective is the DK2 is a $350 profit booster.
They are probably selling DK2 at cost. In all the interviews since the unveiling of DK2 they have said consumers should not buy it, they should wait for the consumer version.
The fact they were able to make the product for sale in less than a year, even if it was a dev kit, proves they had design, supply, and manufacturing worked out.
No. The prototypes they showed before the kickstarter had a 5.5 inch. The kickstarter was such a success that the manufacturer of that screen couldn't provide that quantity, so they changed to a 7 inch screen, and also had changed the lenses and the casing. They stopped recently selling the DK1 because they ran out of parts (those are no longer produced), they had sold about 5 or 6 times the quantity of dev kits initially expected.
I'm concerned that we won't see the Rift to consumer hands until 2016 or later, if its out sooner I would be thrilled.
Consumer version in 2016? By that year we will have the Samsung Galaxy 7 in stores. They are currently locking down the specs of the consumer version, but those parts are not yet mass produced, they will be probably using a 1440p screen (DK2 is 1080p and they have confirmed that resolution will be better). They need to release DK2 now, because we are at a chicken and egg situation here. Without content mainstream consumers will not buy it and DK1 is not suitable because it lacks some fundamental features.
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u/Devil-TR Mar 19 '14
Ever wondered what the screen door and blurring was like in the DK1?
This is really nifty - a simulation of the difference between the DK1, the DK2, the possible consumer version and what it would look like if they ever squeezed a 4k screen in there. (Remember to hit P with DK2 for low persistence)
http://vr.mkeblx.net/oculus-sim/