Odyssey VR vs Oculus Rift

[FrejkiChodak]

Ive got a Rift right now and I sometimes switch back to monitor because the screen-door effect and low res in general is not nice. Is the Samsung HMD Odyssey a big step up? I'm reading 1.78x higher res, so that should be good.

How is the Odyssey with playing in DiRT Rally, AC, R3E, etc? Just as easy to setup?

edit: going from
https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/7cvhwc/ordered_a_samsung_odyssey_to_compare_with_the/
and
https://forums.oculusvr.com/communi...s-rift-after-extended-time-w-each-impressions

it seems the higher res is not that noticable :/

 

[RCHeliguy]

I'm just about to add SFX-100 full chassis motion to my NLRv3 seat mover so inside-out tracking sounds like a good solution to any potential tracking issues when things get violent. I'd need to try an O+ to check the ergonomics but they simply aren't available in the UK so I'll be sticking with my Rift for the foreseeable.

I've seen some motion rigs like the half sphere roller concept that use a separate sensor mounted to the rig so the software knows how the rig is moving. So far they only work with a Vive sensor, but they were working support for a Touch controller to track the rig relative to the user.

The problem with Inside/out and a moving rig is that the results could be very erratic depending on where you are looking and how wide a field of view it uses when it is looking out. From a software standpoint that could be very tricky.

The NLRv3's software compensation idea would seem to be good, but it depends on whether you have a harness on and are moving in sync with the chair. I assume that's why there are such varied results with it. If you are sitting on a softer seat and are bobbing around out of sync with the chair movements than it's software would have a hard time compensating for where your head is relative to the motion. If you are highly linked to the seat, belted in with your head pushed into the back than the results are likely much better.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

I think Oculus is embracing inside out because of their stand alone Go and Cruz headsets. This is a smart move to help bring VR to the masses by keeping things simple. Oculus claims that their next Rift 1.5 headset will also have inside out tracking, BUT they claim that they will address the tracking issues other products have. Time will tell. Also expected is 140 degree FOV but at the same pixel pitch, so more pixels, but spread out.

My guess is that we will see a divide in the future. The SteamVR 2.0 platform we be the high end and keeping their passive base stations. Just stick them in the corners of your room and give them power. No USB cables, still pretty simple, supports multiplayer and excellent tracking. My guess is that the Knuckles controllers will be expensive and will end up being the new best in class hand controllers. StarVR would have fit into this new high end well. Pimax is also on SteamVR along with Vive and Steam may release their own headset.

Keep in mind that SteamVR is an open system and there is an ecosystem of peripherals because of that. It supports tracking devices and other 3rd party hardware that Oculus, WMR and others have no provisions for.

So while Oculus is currently in the lead (for PC VR), they are a closed system. PSVR has the overall VR lead by a margin, unless you include the cardboard headsets that were being given out with smart phones.

This makes me think that the bottom end of VR will end up on Consoles and stand alone devices, and Oculus will end up focusing completely on stand alone devices and abandon the high end leaving it to SteamVR with it's base stations. Just a guess

You must have missed on Vive Cosmos, inside out tracking too, so there is really nothing new with stations tracking. Well, may be Foveated VivePro but it's essentiasly the old one.
And from what I've read WMR users have no issues with moving rigs. Not sure how that works though.

 

[Turk]

The idea of inside out tracking is great because it simplifies setup quite a bit and if all you are using it for is the HMD for driving, that's fine. I still consider the Rift more polished and even the Rift can easily max out my 1080Ti in driving games.

Inside out tracking seems to be the way to go. No matter how many external sensors you have there's always the chance they can't see something. I reckon the plan is to get it so cheap you could put it in anything, even controllers which would eliminate issues with tracking controllers.. I think it will end up that way because a cheap version of inside out tracking would be useful to so many industries. If it was cheap enough you could put it in all sorts of devices that have nothing to do with VR.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Inside out tracking seems to be the way to go. No matter how many external sensors you have there's always the chance they can't see something. I reckon the plan is to get it so cheap you could put it in anything, even controllers which would eliminate issues with tracking controllers.. I think it will end up that way because a cheap version of inside out tracking would be useful to so many industries. If it was cheap enough you could put it in all sorts of devices that have nothing to do with VR.

As long as they are tracking the hand controllers with cameras in the headset, inside out tracking will always be a compromise. If they add cameras to the hand controllers, then inside out could work.

I think you have the blind spot issues backwards. The inside/out tracking systems have serious blind spots. If you have passive radiators like the SteamVR system does and you have a base station in each corner of your room, you will always have perfect tracking unless you sit on your hand. A system like that has redundancy and more information than it needs to place your hand controllers.

I'm running a Rift with 3 sensors, and that system works well but can be messed up. The SteamVR system with 4 base stations is nearly full proof.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Not sure why they can't just use fisheye cameras, front and back. Perhaps real time distortion correction is too computationally expensive.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

BTW, good article explaining WMR controllers tracking and its flaws.
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-fix-motion-controller-tracking-loss-windows-mixed-reality
And yes, as article says, head tracking is rarely an issue.

 

[RCHeliguy]

BTW, good article explaining WMR controllers tracking and its flaws.
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-fix-motion-controller-tracking-loss-windows-mixed-reality
And yes, as article says, head tracking is rarely an issue.

FWIW I got my son an Odyssey+ because he decided he wanted it instead of a Rift. He's mostly happy with it. For most games it's fine. For some games it's very frustrating. He has a 1080Ti and a 7th gen i7 on his gaming computer. He has found that he has to adjust his timing in games so he doesn't get erratic behavior.

I also have a friend who has both a Rift and an original Odyssey. In his words the Odyssey is great when he is on the road and using it on his laptop for an RC flight simulator where he using his TX and receiver by USB and not the hand controls. In his words the Odyssey is only good as a display and worthless for gaming if you need to use the controllers.

I've heard these sentiments over and over again. As a display it works well if you find it comfortable. That's a more subjective area. Some people find it comfortable and don't like wearing the Rift, but more people find the Rift comfortable and have some issues with how the Odyssey feels.

The bottom line is that the devices we have now still all seem like 1st Gen devices even if they have had slight upgrades. I don't see anything worth upgrading to yet, but will buy as soon as there is a clear jump to a new level.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Vive Cosmos looks interesting but HTC is lip tight on the actual spec.
If what Qualcomm demoed is indeed a prototype as rumored, it's worth a wait.
https://vrscout.com/news/ces-2019-qualcomm-vr-headset/

 

[Deleted member 197115]

I love the optics on the ODYSSEY+, but the comfort is terrible. I get a burning sensation on my forehead with the pad rested on it. It's unbearable.

Also, now the screens on mine fail to come online, staying black.

VR Cover just released replacement cover for Odyssey+
https://vrcover.com/product/samsung-odyssey-plus-replacement/

 

[Soulstoner]

VR Cover just released replacement cover for Odyssey+
https://vrcover.com/product/samsung-odyssey-plus-replacement/

Thank you! I've ordered this and their headphone covers.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Not sure why they didn't go for velour like original Odyssey cover replacement, but we'll see how it works.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Just noticed that Vive Cosmos has extra cameras on sides. No more blind spots when bow shooting.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I think it would need down firing cameras on the outer edge of the headset to see a controller under your jaw.

 

[RaceNut]

After using the Oculus Rift DK2 and now, CV1 since release, I recently tried the Samsung Odyssey+ for a couple of weeks. In the end, I returned the Odyssey and kept the CV1.

Odyssey+ Pro's:

• Screen resolution was a nice improvement but, not a big step up
• Head strap was comfortable for me, easy to adjust
• Inside-out head-tracking worked nicely (better than I thought it would)
• More Affordable VR HMD package (especially at special prices - $300)
• Reduced Lens-reflection compared to Rift CV1

Odyssey+ Con's:

• Blurry display image (trade-off for reduced SDE)
• Head-phone audio quality significantly less than Rift CV1
• Hand-controllers not as slick and seamless to use as Oculus Touch Controllers
• HMD mount could do with a bit more adjustment (Angle)
• Smaller Focal Sweet-spot compared to Rift CV1
• Larger steps in Fresnel-lenses are noticeable (visual rings)
• Some WMR issues with multiple titles (Possibly Steam-VR related)
• Not able to use extension cables (work fine with the Rift)
• WMR VR-ecosystem not as robust and functional as Oculus'

The top 2 or 3 Con's were the deal-breakers for me. While I don't play games with the hand-controllers very often, our guests love to try VR for the first time using them and those experiences are priceless to witness.

I imagine the WMR-Steam VR issues are things that will all be sorted eventually and most others don't have the same issues either so, it may have been due to hardware-config. I just could not adapt to the blurry nature of the display nor could I accept the reduced audio-fidelity compared to the Rift.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Oh man, you must have missed renderTargetScale fix if you found image blurry.
Granted it should have worked out of the box, but they just recently (2 days ago) fixed it in WMR for Steam public release, before you had to do ini file massaging.
Corresponding Steam thread
https://steamcommunity.com/app/719950/discussions/0/3276824488715073552/
Surprised by your audio complaint, Odyssey AKG phones are more than decent, don't have Oculus to compare directly, but all comparable reviews I've seen favor Odyssey in that regard, plus head-fi is my second hobby, guess I'd noticed if it was really that bad. But may be Oculus is indeed so good, don't know.
I am starting sound like Samsung fan, should stop that.

 

[RaceNut]

Oh man, you must have missed renderTargetScale fix if you found image blurry.
Granted it should have worked out of the box, but they just recently (2 days ago) fixed it in WMR for Steam public release, before you had to do ini file massaging.
Corresponding Steam thread
https://steamcommunity.com/app/719950/discussions/0/3276824488715073552/
Surprised by your audio complaint, Odyssey AKG phones are more than decent, don't have Oculus to compare directly, but all comparable reviews I've seen favor Odyssey in that regard, plus head-fi is my second hobby, guess I'd noticed if it was really that bad. But may be Oculus is indeed so good, don't know.
I am starting sound like Samsung fan, should stop that.

Yeah, I wanted to like the Odyssey+, the resolution provided a bump in the image quality but, all things combined, I just couldn't see it replacing the Rift. The Rift audio provides much better bass than the Samsung HMD although, not as good as my Sennheiser head-phones (no surprise there).

 

[Turk]

As long as they are tracking the hand controllers with cameras in the headset, inside out tracking will always be a compromise. If they add cameras to the hand controllers, then inside out could work.

For inside out to take over it would have to get really cheap, I think they can probably get it down to a few euros. I think they'd prefer if there weren't extra boxes you had to set up desperately to get VR working. As good and all as the rift and vive are at tracking, it's basically a fixed in place system that requires too much setup.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Oculus released the Go and now the Quest that are completely stand alone units. That is for mass adoption because even configuring a PC or being tethered to a console is way too much setup for many. That is one end of the spectrum and they are covering it.

At the other end are people who setup a powerful PCs for gaming. For them the Rift or Vive setup is trivial and worth it so you don't have all the current compromises of inside out tracking. It's not even remotely too much setup.

At this point the ONLY value the WMR headsets offer is being able to connect to a laptop when you are on the road which is a real niche application and frankly there are performance issues and VERY VERY few laptops are powerful enough to actually game with pushing a WMR headset. I think they just cloud the water and cause confusion. So if the average WMR user is connected to a desktop system, they are chained to a small play area around the computer and popping up a few sensors/base stations on tripods is trivial to do.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Right, and Oculus S is joining Vive Cosmos abandoning external stations tracking.
https://uploadvr.com/oculus-rift-s-code-references/

 

[RCHeliguy]

Nothing about that contradicts a thing I said.

Oculus "claims" that they've solved the hand tracking issues that still plague the WMR headset. If they have, great! Of not than I'll wait off for a better SteamVR headset.

Oculus is abandoning the top end of VR because they are trying to go main stream. They are trying to drive VR adoption so they can make money off software. Makes perfect business sense. As a result SteamVR may be where all the better high end equipment ends up. They will be more expensive and niche.