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Rift versus Vive. I have only one winner.

janherca
Explorer
After using both during a few weeks for me there is only one clear winner: Oculus Rift, and let me explain my reasons for saying this.

Five key points:

1. Products are compared poorly. We must compare the HMD on one side and the controllers in the other. Since Touch will not come until September, we must remove Valve's "cutlass" controllers from the comparison. We must also take concepts as room-scale outside the comparison. Both Rift and Vive allow room-scale. Simply games for Rift are more focused on playing seated. But that will change with the arrival of Touch. We have to compare pears with pears, so I will focus on comparing the two HMDs and nothing else, which for now is what Oculus has released.

2. Focusing on the HMDs, there are four key aspects. First is the arrangement of pixels. Rift is noticeably better what means it feels to have higher resolution than Vive, and also less screendoor effect. It is quite remarkable, not slightly. For example, in a game like Elite Dangerous it means that in Rift you can comfortably read the interface panels and in Vive you need to lean forward. It is a very noticeable difference.

3. Ergonomics. Absolute Zero for HTC Vive. Vive in my opinion is a Developer Kit 2 put in a nice box. It has the same ergonomics as the Oculus DK2, I mean, painful. Weight badly distributed that causes that after half hour of play my cheeks hurt, where all the weight is supported, and it hurts my head. From the backside there go four wires attached! (yes, yes, four), which form a rigid assembly pulling you down and creating an enormous discomfort in both standing and sitting experiences. Sitting is even worse. The absence of integrated headphones is very noticeable and it is a mistake. Putting them on is a nuisance every time you use the HMD. Rift is more rigid in its foam, but on the contrary it feels super light on the head and it don't press your face at all. This allows a huge difference in terms of hours of use. I have played up to two hours at Rift without any discomfort symptom. With Vive, half an hour and I'm in trouble.

4. Lens glare. This effect of Fresnel lenses is equally pronounced in Vive than in Oculus Rift. Both share the same problem. In games with high-contrast black backgrounds with bright interfaces, such as Elite Dangerous, it is a problem that is very pronounced and very annoying. You can only reduce it by decreasing the brightness of the interface, but even that way it pops out. This is no better in Vive than in Rift. Both equally bad.

5. The most important point in my opinion, the one and only that leave in nothing previous three, is the Async Time Warp, the wonder created by the genius John Carmack. HTC Vive does not have this technology and it is super noticeable. I have done tests on a PC slightly above the minimum specs required by Oculus and Valve. The card I've used is a GTX970. In Rift all games are extremely smooth, even the most demanding, as Elite Dangerous or Project Cars. Never, never I have a drop of frames. In any moment. With HTC Vive sometimes there is judder. Not a judder to stop you playing, but there are moments in games as Elite Dangerous when entering a space station where definitely the wonder created by Carmack shines in all its glory. A GTX970 is enough to play Elite Dangerous in Rift, but not in HTC Vive.

All my current experience, both sitting and standing, both installing, buying games, settting options, etc. Everything is comparatively better in Rift than with Vive. The only plus point for HTC is the tracking system. It is very good. The sensors have a huge tracking volume and are very accurate. Oculus camera, although is great for being just a camera, is below. But also consider that HTC Vive are two base stations that must be placed in a very specific position in the room, and that is a hassle installation.

Overall, after two weeks of testing with each other, I have a clear winner. Oculus Rift. There's no more. I only can say that from now on, except for games or apps only available in SteamVR, I'm going to enjoy the rest in Rift. And I am convinced that when Oculus releases Touch most of the content that is now exclusive to SteamVR and is only room-scale oriented will also be available for Rift. So I have no concern in that regard. Oculus is not going to be as a device with a fragment of the content of VR. Developers are super eager to get their creations to the widest possible audience.

I do not do this analysis in order to alienate anyone from the idea of ​​purchasing the product from HTC. I only expose this as informative, but I recommend to anyone who is in doubt of what product to buy that if he or she has a way to test the products by a friend, do it, try the same game in both headsets, and evaluate calmly after a long gaming session which product you are interested in more. Rift and Vive are expensive purchases. My advice if you are in doubt is to have patience and seek the opportunity to try and see if what I say in this analysis is true or not. I've read dozens of reviews and each makes an assessment putting pears and apples on the table. There are those who appreciate the room-scale above all things, and of course that is a feature with limited support in Rift since it only gives you one sensor and HTC Vive carries two. If all you want to experience the VR is the room-scale, then surely Rift disappoint you. But in my opinion, that is not the way to do an objective review of the products. We have to compare what is now available in both products, and within that, evaluate all what they offer, from installation, to purchasing of content and using the content. Again I recommend to not trust any review, including this one, and please, try first hand the products before buying them. Perhaps if you are patient and wait for Touch you end finding that all Oculus products (HMD, sensors and controllers) are better than HTC equivalents. And that would make worth the waiting.

Have fun
208 REPLIES 208

EliteSPA
Superstar

Zoomie said:

@EliteSPA If this is true then the sweet spot in the Vive must be enormous.  On my Rift it's considerably larger than the DK2 and the image stays in focus all the way to the edge.

Maybe someone like @ThreeDeeVision can weigh in on the sweet spot difference between the two.



Cant confirm it @Zoomie until my rift arrives, but thats what I read and saw on all the reviews, maybe wrong but again until I have the Rift cant do any comparison, maybe @ThreeDeeVision can tell us more about it.
i7 6700K @ 4.2 GHz | Corsair 16GB DDR4 PC2300 | GTX 1080 Ti | Asus z170-Pro | Corsair RGB Strafe Keyboard | Logitech G27 | Oculus CV1 + Touch + 4 Sensors | Win 10 64 bit | Acer Predator x34 @ 100Hz

jab
Rising Star

Tadin said:


jab said:

Stopped reading at point 1...


So your not interested in knowing which Headset is better, not even a little curious ? Because thats at least 75% of the Vive (all be it 100% of the Rift until Touch)


I am interested in the best VR experience, since after all this is supposed to be a VR headset.

janherca
Explorer

EliteSPA said:

The sweet spot on the Vive is better then Rift as I saw in some honest reviews comparing both.


Lot of reviews and saying things like that about sweet spot or FOV or other lens features. From my experience this weeks, no change at all in FOV or sweet spot from one to another, at least not something so noticeable like the resolution of the screen. We have about one hundred degrees in FOV more or less. If you play a game in which you are at a big open space, you can be a little worried about this. But for example, in any sim game, like Elite or PCars, that limited FOV seems natural because it make you feel you where a helmet. I do not agree with those that asks for more FOV desperately. You can move the head. We do it a lot. Our human peripherial vision is super bad, so we need to move the head constantly.

I see resolution more critical, or for better say, perceived resolution, because you can increase it with several techniques. Subpixel array matters, and inter-pixel space also matters. Oculus has managed to have a better panels clearly. That supposes in huge difference in some games, the difference that makes you read texts or not without moving your head back and forth.

in6seconds
Expert Protege

Tadin said:


jab said:

Stopped reading at point 1...


So your not interested in knowing which Headset is better, not even a little curious ? Because thats at least 75% of the Vive (all be it 100% of the Rift until Touch)


point one is dumb because you're taking out the vive controllers just because the rift does not come with the touch? you realize the touch is not a part of the cv1, but the vive controllers are clearly a part of the vive.

Gigantoad
Adventurer
Good comparison, but also a little unfair to be honest. It's perfectly valid to compare just the HMDs, but it doesn't change the fact that Vive ships with motion controllers right now and Rift doesn't. If you're talking about HTC throwing a product onto the market prematurely, you could just as well make the point that Oculus did the same thing by releasing the HMD without touch controllers. By not acknowledging this and comparing just one (admittedly most important) component instead of the whole product, and worse, giving points to Oculus for what seems to you will  be the better touch controllers somewhere down the line without having ever used them, you don't inspire a lot of confidence with the "clear winner" statement.

Tadin
Heroic Explorer



Tadin said:


jab said:

Stopped reading at point 1...


So your not interested in knowing which Headset is better, not even a little curious ? Because thats at least 75% of the Vive (all be it 100% of the Rift until Touch)


point one is dumb because you're taking out the vive controllers just because the rift does not come with the touch? you realize the touch is not a part of the cv1, but the vive controllers are clearly a part of the vive.


I've used the Vive and its fantastic, the motion controllers really are a huge part of VR, but I still think its useful to have a comparison of the Headsets, especially if you're like me and still waiting for a Rift that looks like it won't arrive much before Touch.

AnotherCrazyCan
Adventurer
I've found (from an outside perspective, not looking in) that the only reason the Vive is 'better' is because of the touch controls and roomscale gameplay. Like that other guy said it feels like it was rushed to market to compete with the oculus. I really think that if the Oculus Touch controllers end up releasing and being better than anything the Vive comes out, that many games will be ported and retrofitted for the Oculus. I think I also remember reading that roomscale sounds better than it actually is and the seated experience will eventually rule out.
Facebook bought Instagram. How exactly did they ruin them?

monsterOzero
Protege
If the VIVE was owned by Facebook it would have been destroyed by the critics.

"800$?!?!? LOLZ!!"

SDE?!? 2016?!? LOLZ!!

"It's clear that the Facebook VIVE was rushed to the market to counteract the HTC RIFT...HTC have done their homework with the hiring of John Carmack and the release of the DK1/DK2. The Facebook VIVE is a fail"

Or I can imagine What would happen when Microsoft buys HTC.

Microsoft VIVE anyone?

Maxxgold
Rising Star
Just wanted to help you out with point 4. If you actually turn up the gamma or brightness it actually reduces the lens flare. Its not ideal but that is what I do in Elite Dangerous and it works pretty well. If you notice, in games that are brightly lit there is no lens flare. So I decided to brighten up games that have darker scenes and it is working. In Elite Dangerous space is still dark, while turning up the gamma and turning down the HUD brightness.

janherca
Explorer



Tadin said:


jab said:

Stopped reading at point 1...


So your not interested in knowing which Headset is better, not even a little curious ? Because thats at least 75% of the Vive (all be it 100% of the Rift until Touch)


point one is dumb because you're taking out the vive controllers just because the rift does not come with the touch? you realize the touch is not a part of the cv1, but the vive controllers are clearly a part of the vive.


I'm not comparing Rift with Vive in the usual sense of comparing all in the box because HTC has forced users to buy a pair of controllers that are in a different product category than HMDs, as Sonly and Oculus are doing. So for a more objective comparison, I think that for now we must focus on comparing what we have in both boxes, and wait to end of the year to compare the rest of things. I think that is the fair way and the most useful for people having doubts about what to purchase that are more concerned about HMD than about controllers.