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Finally got to try both the Vive and CV1 ....

ziphnor
Expert Protege
I currently own the DK1 and the DK2, but decided to hold back a bit on the CV1 because of the price. Yesterday i visited a friend who owns a CV1 and an HTC Vive for a evening of VR. When i got back home i did something weird: I ordered the HTC Vive. I realize that there are many comparisons available, but thought the more the merrier, so here is my perspective.

Most comparisons focus a lot on the HMDs themselves for obvious reasons, but it is actually not that important. Both headsets are great, but lets get it over with: 

Vive Pros:
- Significantly less "god rays"
- Lets less light in
- FOV seems slightly better?
- Found it much easier to get the IPD right
- Better tracking system

Rift Pros:
- Much lighter than the Vive
- Great integrated headphones
- Ever so slightly less SDE
- Better comfort
- Automatic activation when placed on head

Looking at that you might wonder why i ordered a Vive, the Rift seems to the better choice on paper (though the god rays are annoying). However, i dont have confidence that Oculus will provide room scale tracking on the same level as the Vive in the near future. Even if the tracking system can handle it, the lack of the safety grid combined with their stated preference for seated gameplay is enough to make me order the Vive. Room scale and the motion tracking really is the significant differentiator here for me. It provides an amazing sense of immersion completely unparalled by the current rift experience. It made me loose interested seated gaming without "hands" completely.

Ive seen many people disregarding room scale because its unsuitable for completely free roaming games. And its certainly true, that room scale by itself is probably not the solution for Skyrim style games. It does however open up for a whole range of other game types that have plenty of merit. Simple games such as The Lab, Pirate trainer, Holo Ball, Holo Point and The Brookhaven Experiment clearly demonstrate this.

I know one other person who has both the Vive and CV1, and he actually decided to sell his CV1 (to save money for the CV2) because of room scale. I really hope Oculus hurry up with their touch controllers and change their view on room scale (perhaps for CV2?), but for now i am betting on the Vive.





Windows 8.1 | i7 5820k@4.3Ghz | Asus Strix 980 GTX | Asus X99-A motherboard | 32GB DDR4 2133Mhz | 1TB Samsung 840 EV0 SSD | Corsair HX750i PSU
68 REPLIES 68

truefranco
Protege
I, like you had the chance to try both, CV1 on bestbuy and Vive on a Microsoft store. My only consern was about the resolution with everyone here saying that diferent was day and night. Let me tell you something, everything is a LIE. Vive looks beatifull, brighter and bigger screen. I'm not even going to talk about the controls. They are awesome.
I'm soo glad I canceled my rift order.

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
It is these threads which make the wait even more unbearable. I am just itching to see the difference between them both when my Rift arrives (please God this week).


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.

rat8cheese
Protege
@ziphnor - you're probably going to bring down the Rift supporters down on yourself but I agree with you completely (you can read my previous posts).  I've had my Vive for a couple of weeks now (tried DK2 previously).  The HMD themselves are more similar than different.  Maybe if there was a SIGNIFICANT difference it would matter but due to the similarity it's fairly obvious to me that room scale and motion tracked controllers right out of the box add more to immersion than some integrated headphones, lighter headset (by 0.2 grams and Vive doesn't feel heavy to me), and arguably better resolution.  

Games like Elite where text appear blurry on Vive are software issues.  The developers have already said it can be fixed on the software end.  And finally when Touch comes out Oculus will have a fragmented device.  2 things I hate are fragmented markets and DLC.  😛

My only complaint after weeks with my Vive is probably more of a complaint with the overall VR market.  There is simply not enough content.  For the people waiting on their headsets I'll say right now it's no big deal.  By the time the headsets arrive hopefully there will be more content out there.  There are reviewers out there that are pro Rift or pro Vive and then there are those that say skip VR now and wait.   If I did it over I probably wouldn't skip but I certainly understand where they are coming from.  In another year there will be a full Vanishing Realms, full Starseed, maybe even a Portal (hey, Labs teased it!!).  That's what I'm excited about.

edmg
Trustee


My only complaint after weeks with my Vive is probably more of a complaint with the overall VR market.  There is simply not enough content.


There's plenty of content: Project Cars, Assetto Corsa, Elite and FSX alone could keep me happy until the next generation of headsets appear. When Dirt Rally finally supports VR again, you probably won't see me for months.

What there's not is much roomscale content that's more than a tech demo. You could play your fill of pretty much all the roomscale games on Steam in a week, and... then what?

ziphnor
Expert Protege

edmg said:



My only complaint after weeks with my Vive is probably more of a complaint with the overall VR market.  There is simply not enough content.


There's plenty of content: Project Cars, Assetto Corsa, Elite and FSX alone could keep me happy until the next generation of headsets appear. When Dirt Rally finally supports VR again, you probably won't see me for months.

What there's not is much roomscale content that's more than a tech demo.


Thats a fair point, but personally i dont find any of those games particularly interesting. Id rather play the "tech demos", the feeling of presence and immersion is so good that i dont care that i am just shooting at blue boxes in Holo Point for example.
Windows 8.1 | i7 5820k@4.3Ghz | Asus Strix 980 GTX | Asus X99-A motherboard | 32GB DDR4 2133Mhz | 1TB Samsung 840 EV0 SSD | Corsair HX750i PSU

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

ziphnor said:


edmg said:



My only complaint after weeks with my Vive is probably more of a complaint with the overall VR market.  There is simply not enough content.


There's plenty of content: Project Cars, Assetto Corsa, Elite and FSX alone could keep me happy until the next generation of headsets appear. When Dirt Rally finally supports VR again, you probably won't see me for months.

What there's not is much roomscale content that's more than a tech demo.


Thats a fair point, but personally i dont find any of those games particularly interesting. Id rather play the "tech demos", the feeling of presence and immersion is so good that i dont care that i am just shooting at blue boxes in Holo Point for example.


And that's really what it all comes down to: personal enjoyment. All the threads trying to predict the death of Oculus or the Rift or the death of VR altogether are childish and silly. Posts like yours seem a bit more fair and insightful. You and I had a similar experience; where I tried the Vive first and then went home to order the Rift. It's the nature of things - some of us like variety. And knowing that I can play the Vive or Gear VR whenever I want made it easier to own the Rift. And personally I absolutely love my choice.

The biggest difference I can see with someone who is happy with their Rift vs those happy with their Vive is this: Rift owners invite family and friends over to their house to experience a new wonder; Vive users go to Rift forums to talk poopoo.

It's strange, really.

Chivas
Expert Protege
The Vive is a very good choice, but I think the Rift is the better choice.  The Rift is the better headset, and the Touch controllers will also be more refined than the Vive wands.  The two camera Rift tracking system is as solid as the Vive's laser tracking.  The only thing we are not sure of is the room size, and safety grid.  That said a chaperone system is quite easy to develop, so we will have to wait and see what Oculus comes up with.

ziphnor
Expert Protege

Zenbane said


And that's really what it all comes down to: personal enjoyment. All the threads trying to predict the death of Oculus or the Rift or the death of VR altogether are childish and silly. Posts like yours seem a bit more fair and insightful. You and I had a similar experience; where I tried the Vive first and then went home to order the Rift. It's the nature of things - some of us like variety. And knowing that I can play the Vive or Gear VR whenever I want made it easier to own the Rift. And personally I absolutely love my choice.

The biggest difference I can see with someone who is happy with their Rift vs those happy with their Vive is this: Rift owners invite family and friends over to their house to experience a new wonder; Vive users go to Rift forums to talk poopoo.

It's strange, really.


If your priority is simulators and similar, then the CV1 is probably the better choice i would agree. Its more comfortable for extended use and its cheaper (and "siming" you wont need the touch controllers).

Like you i am also pretty tired of the various fan-boys, it almost seems religious for some.  
Windows 8.1 | i7 5820k@4.3Ghz | Asus Strix 980 GTX | Asus X99-A motherboard | 32GB DDR4 2133Mhz | 1TB Samsung 840 EV0 SSD | Corsair HX750i PSU

ziphnor
Expert Protege

Chivas said:

The Vive is a very good choice, but I think the Rift is the better choice.  The Rift is the better headset, and the Touch controllers will also be more refined than the Vive wands.  The two camera Rift tracking system is as solid as the Vive's laser tracking.  The only thing we are not sure of is the room size, and safety grid.  That said a chaperone system is quite easy to develop, so we will have to wait and see what Oculus comes up with.


I cant speak on the topic of two camera Rift tracking obviously, but so far i have not been impressed by the tracking volume of either the DK2 or CV1 camera. Its true that a chaperone system is not hard to do (but i think the camera on the Vive is a nice addition providing additional ways to deal with real world interference). However, the point is not what is *possible*, but rather what will actually be done. Oculus does not seem very interested in room scale, and their attitude is likely to affect game developers working with the rift, especially if they dont design a buildin chaperone system early on.

If you were designing a game that was suitable for room scale, would you target the Rift? Most likely you would make it available on Steam and focus on supporting the Vive, and then add Rift support as an after-thought.

And then there is you last statement: "We will have to wait...". Actually no, we dont, because Vive has already delivered IMO :wink: 

Just to be clear, i hope Oculus comes out with Touch controllers that makes the Vive wands look like Commodore C64 joysticks, and that great room scale support materializes on the Oculus platform, i just doubt it will happen (and if it does ill just buy the Rift as well 🙂

Windows 8.1 | i7 5820k@4.3Ghz | Asus Strix 980 GTX | Asus X99-A motherboard | 32GB DDR4 2133Mhz | 1TB Samsung 840 EV0 SSD | Corsair HX750i PSU