VR Consoles (1 Viewer)

scott-atkinson

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Has anybody had any experience of using VR Consoles?

There are a few out on the market at the moment, Oculus Rift and Playstation VR immediately spring to mind amongst others..

But are they any good? And are they worth the high price tags?
 

Uncle Gizmo

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I have one that came with my phone. Basically you slip your phone into it and your phone becomes the screen that you view. Half of the screen creates an image for one eye and the other half of the screen creates the image for the other eye, giving you depth perception and 3D... This is quite a good and cheap option for experimenting with because you've got the phone anyway!

Is it any good? ---

In my personal experience there wasn't anything new, anything I hadn't seen before on a PC in some form or Another, except for one thing, and that was watching Michael Watson sing & play a piano in his studio flat I think somewhere in Canada. The recording was in three dimensions it was as if I was stood in the room watching Michael play the piano I Could Turn Around 360 degrees and see his kitchen, his dog, I could see out of the window and a lorry went by. Watching it again many times you could watch different things sometimes I would just watch Michael playing and singing and sometimes I would just watch the dog. It's the most fascinating experience you can imagine it's as if the artist Michael Watson was playing and singing just for me. I was completely transported into his studio. I will never forget the experience.

This was done with a Galaxy S6 Edge and I think it was called an Oculus VR or something...

It could well be this one:-

https://www.doohickey-hut.com/produ...MI0JaKsqCc2AIVBrvtCh0_UwDYEAQYAyABEgK97_D_BwE

or it's predecessor (if there is one)

This is an image of michaels studio:-
https://www.oculus.com/experiences/gear-vr/842698025796123/

A very poor substitute for the actual experience but you might get an inkling of what I'm explaining...

When I said there wasn't anything new I meant in the technology. What was new and what was impressive was the feeling of actually being present with Michael as he played and sang Just For Me. This is a first Glimpse at where this new medium can take us and it is fantastic. Imagine, this was done with a bog standard phone and a small plastic receptacle for the phone, and a bit of software. Imagine what will happen, what will be accomplished once they start developing the technology specifically for this application...
 

Vassago

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I have a Playstation VR. The lower definition is greatly made up for by the 360 viewing. There are even apps specifically for the VR. Hulu has a VR version as well that gives you the appearance of multiple rooms watching a huge TV wall for whatever it is you are watching until you switch to a VR video in Hulu. The games are fun, especially with the motion controllers. They have greatly expanded the game collection this year as well. Non-VR games can be played with the VR. It creates a very large screen in front of you. I thought that was a very cool feature. You can adjust the size of the screen as well. The VR headset also acts as a gaming headset, complete with built in mic. The audio has to go through standard in-ear headphones though to block outside noise and not interfere with your VR headset. Those get uncomfortable for me after a bit.

The downsides are that it does become uncomfortable after a couple hours of play and there are a LOT of cords involved. You also lose HDR when connecting to a TV through the VR box, for some reason they didn't provide an HDR pass through, so you have to disconnect the box when not in use if you intend to play games in HDR on your TV. You also need a swivel chair for the best experience so you can look all around you without hurting yourself.

All in all, I'm happy with it. I'm looking forward to multiplayer VR games. I think the more that they release and the more people using them, the more gaming will change for everyone. Skyrim was released in VR this year. (VR Call of Duty or Destiny would be awesome!)
 

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