VR Oculus Rift and HTC Vive comparison

VR, an unfamiliar word one year ago, has became the new trend of technology. In this article I’m going to compare the two best selling headsets —— HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. And for these who wants to get one but can’t afford two, this is a great opportunity to decide which one to get.

Unboxing

        After you have unboxed the Vive and sorted the different kinds of wires and connecters out, you will be amazed how complicated the hardware is. In comparison, the Rift has a much clearer and simpler hardware composition, just have a sensor and a few wires taken out and you are ready to go.

Setup

        Generally the rift is a rocket readied to launch. Just connect the Xbox One controller, the headset and the sensor to the computer, run the installation, and you would be ready to experience the mightiness of the VR world in less than 10 minutes.

       

        The HTC Vive is far more complicated. For start, if you want to fully utilize it, you will need quite a space. HTC has a minimum requirement of 2m*1.5m and a suggested area of 3m*3m. Which is a quite a big investment if you don’t live in a  mansion. The vive also comes with two lighthouse base stations which needs to be mounted onto the walls. HTC suggests that you simply bolt them both into the walls, which will create four holes on your walls. After you have setup the complicated hardware, you will still need to run the lengthy installation. The whole process takes about 30 minutes.

Comfort and design

        When it comes to the biggest difference besides user experience, it would be the outer looks of each headset. The HTC looks more primitive, like a race car stripped to the essentials, while the Rift, wrapped in fabric, looks more futuristic. There are 37 visible sensors outside the Vive making it looks bulkier and adding additional weight to the headset. As a result, the Vive weight 555 grammes while the rift weights only 470 grammes. Although this doesn’t sound much, when you’re playing for a long time, it can make a huge difference. Nevertheless the bigger size, in some way, does work to the Vive’s advantage. For example, the Vive is far more glasses friendly than the Rift though both headsets claims to support people glasses. Unlike the Rift, the Vive has an adjustable view length to provide more space for people wearing glass.

Controllers

        The tracking for the Vive controllers area perfectly fluent and they cooperate perfectly with the headset. The triggers are in the perfect place for your index finger, making shooting games – such as Hover Junkers – a dream to play. There’s a clever button in the grip, too, that makes picking up objects feel intuitive; simply clench your fist. The touch pad is also very brilliant on the vive controllers. You can use them to browse menus and they can have different functions in different apps. Such as a weapon menu in Hover Junkers and a brush selector in Tilt Brush.

       

        The Rift comes with a rather not-so-upscale X-box one controller and a wireless remote. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it isn’t designed with virtual reality in mind – and it shows. Pure VR games such as Vanishing Realms and the upcoming Arizona Sunshine simply won’t work with it. However, it’s still excellent for sit-down gaming, such as the brilliantly addictive Eve: Valkyrie. Nevertheless, it’s still quite a disadvantage to the rift. Although rift is developing Vive-like controllers, they won’t be on market till the end of the year and they would be sold separately.

Experience

       

        There are 37 sensors outside the Vive to provide fluid movement, and also a front camera which can cast a blue outline on walls and objects when you get too close, helping you not to bump into something. The Vive provides a 15ft*15ft tracking space with the two base stations. Playing games in VR offers a totally different experience to using a TV or monitor. Having a 360-degree, three-dimensional environment means you can be far more involved. Vive has been able to take advantage of these wireless controllers, it’s a triumph both in design and usability.

        Nevertheless the bigger issue is whether you have the space available to dedicate to the Vive. If the answer is no then its biggest advantage, being able to stand and move around, is negated.

Games and Software

       

        Although the HTC Vive isn’t bundled with any game impressive. But there’s also a lot of games and softwares you can buy. Arguably, the HTC Vive’s strongest games have to be bought, and there are a couple of crackers that have proved to be a blast. Multiplayer shooter Hover Junkers is superb if a little rough around the edges, but my favourite  is Vanishing Realms. Even though it’s still in early access, it provides a solid few hours of monster smashing.By contrast, most of the Oculus Rift’s games feel like they can be played on a normal monitor or TV as well. In some ways Chronos is similar to Vanishing Realms, and is a superb game in its own right – but the mere fact that it’s third person and using an Xbox controller makes it far less immersive.

        That’s basically the core difference between the two headsets — their user experience. While the Rift provides a primitive and basic style of gaming playing, the experience you get from a  Vive feels more mature and developed.

Image and sound quality

       

        The Vive has a resolution of 2160*1200, which means an individual eye would have a resolution of 1080*1200.With a refresh rate of 90Hz, they are both superior than the Samsung Gear VR. It has a video 100 degree field of view. With an identical tech specs, the Oculus Rift is no worse than the HTC Vive when it comes to image quality. Nevertheless it has a smaller  FVR space of 5ft*11ft. With the sensor either on the floor or the desk, it’s rather inconvenient.

        Both headsets appear a little pixellated, but it’s possible to see more of the Vive’s sub-pixel array on occasion, meaning the red, green and blue lights of which the pixels are made are a little visible. Due to the way the lenses wrap the screen, you also get some light-rays at the edges of your vision, but I find this less of an issue on the Vive. On the other hand, I find text easier to read using the Oculus; it seems to blur less when I move my head while reading.

        For sound however the rift is far more advanced. With the high quality built-in speaker instead of the ear buds on the Vive, it provides a higher quality and convenient way of experiencing the VR world.

Price and cost

        Of the two virtual-reality headsets, the HTC Vive is the more expensive at £689/$799; the Oculus Rift costs £499/$599. That’s a fair difference, and I’d also argue that the games bundled with the Rift with will keep you entertained for far longer than the Vive’s offerings. However, those Vive controllers are awesome, and I expect the Rift’s motion controllers are likely to cost a fair sum when they’re released, making the price difference between the two headsets negligible.

Conclusion

        Both headsets has pros and cons, but still there’s ways to decide which to get. For example, if you are a tech geek with a  big house, you might consider getting the HTC Vive. Nevertheless if you don’t have a lot of time setting up, a big space and crave for the best experience, the Rift would be your choice.

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