Running Oculus without Computer

All the processing needed to do the distortion and dual stereo views is done in software on the computer. The Oculus Rift by itself is incapable of displaying anything in stereo. By default, the single display panel present in the Oculus Rift acts like an ordinary computer monitor, so if you did get something like a DVD player to output to it, you're only going to see half of the image in each eye. The end result is that the left and right sides will appear overlaid on each other. There is no way to view anything properly within the Rift without attaching it to a computer.

Edited to add: Well, I suppose side-by-side 3D video might be made to work, but if the original images are compressed horizontally, they will continue to look that way in the Rift. Also, unless each side of the 3D video is pre-distorted to account for the Rift lenses, the resulting video will be significantly distorted when viewed through them.

Yes, barring all that, what do we need to do to get the Rift running standalone?

The only way you could get the Rift to run "standalone" is to create a converter box that takes any signal that goes into the converter, two side-by-side images depending on the nature of the original video, and outputs it in a way that displays it properly in the Rift. In short, you need a computer. There is no way to make the Rift work standalone without integrating some sort of computer into it.

Hi Guys, I understand your objections, let's assume they aren't an issue.
I'm looking for information on how to turn the unit on. I had assumed it just needed USB power but apparently it needs a signal from the computer, probably the oculus software, in which case I'm SOL. Has anyone experimented with this? Is there a simple tweak to turn the unit on or is the DK2 intentionally looking for the oculus software?
Thanks,
Eric

I did some testing for you using DK2. I rebooted to a bare install of Windows that had no Oculus software installed. When I plugged in the USB connection, the Rift would turn on for 10 seconds, display the Windows desktop during that time, then power off. After that, if I pressed the power button it would immediately power off again. If I disconnected and reconnected the USB cable, it would power on for 10 seconds again before powering off. Since I last had the Rift in Direct Mode, I booted back into my regular Windows install, set for Extended Mode, then went back into the bare Windows install to test again. I got the same results. So it appears that connecting the Rift to a computer isn't enough; it must have Oculus software installed.