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SDE is leaving an after-effect on retina?

EarlGrey
Expert Protege
Five-hour play sessions with an Oculus Rift are giving me “grid eyes”
http://arstechnica.com/staff/2014/10/multi-hour-oculus-rift-sessions-are-doing-weird-things-to-my-ey...


Basically he's saying the SDE effect is leaving a grid "burned" into his retina. I imagine this effect is similar as to seeing a very bright object for a short time (like a light bulb) and then look away only to still see something like a after-effect image of the light bulb in your retina. It's temporary though.

But this is pretty worrisome nevertheless. I've not gone through 5 hour continuous sessions with the rift on, mostly just short sessions and always with pauses. I imagine some go through longer than 5 hours straight.

I think the problem here is that the SDE-grid is fixed in position, it does not move even if your head moves. So the same grid is being beamed into your eyes. One solution would be to provide for some ambience lighting for the grid so it's lit as well, somehow.

Of course it's not the dark parts of the grid that are being "burned" into his retinas, it's the lit pixels there are being "burned", the grid that he sees is actually the part that wasn't seen 🙂 funny that.

But this is something to take note of as one of the main concerns Oculus has are those sort of safety issues. If this is a serious issue then it could deem the product not safe for use, which effectively ends the Rift.
59 REPLIES 59

jherico
Adventurer
That guy is an idiot. The grid is in constant motion relative to your eyes, because your eyes are in constant motion. In fact, if that weren't the case, you wouldn't be able to see the screen door effect at all, because your brain would edit it out the same way it edits your blind spot out of your perception.

While the perception of reality may seem odd after hours in the rift, and the sudden lack of a screen door effect may be especially noticeable once it's not there, nothing is being 'burned into your retinas'.
Brad Davis - Developer for High Fidelity Co-author of Oculus Rift in Action

legomaster86
Honored Guest
I spent around 4 hours in Alien Isolation today (longest I've spent in a rift game), and I have not seen this phenomenon. This is probably due to the fact that my eyes are constantly darting around the viewable screen. Does Hutchinson have the inability to move his eyes? If I were to stare at the center of the Rift for that duration, a screen door effect would be the least of my problems.

Sharpfish
Heroic Explorer
It's similar to if you sit in a dark room with a bright white monitor, then move out you can often see the monitor screen image over what you are looking at. In other words it appears completely temporary and for me at least it stopped happening, or being noticeable, after the first week of use. :arrow: :roll:
EX DK2/VIVE/PSVR/CV1/Q2/PSVR2 | Currently Quest Pro (PCVR) | VR developer
RTX 3080 FE / 12900k / Windows 11 Pro

ThreeEyes
Explorer
All anyone needs to do is look up eye adaptation or rod and cone bleaching on Wikipedia. Nothing is beIng burned onto anyone's retina. Go watch someone welding without eye protection or stare at the sun. That is how you burn your retina.

And just to head off more of these alarmist threads, the Rift DK2 is not radioactive, doesn't cause iron poor blood, doesn't stunt your growth, and doesn't affect sperm mobility.

Or at least I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

Earl, why all the DK2 is dangerous and Oculus is going to fail threads? Time on your hands?
But... but... but... I just NEED to know about the Baba! The Baba has me hypmotized! :shock:

steveoz32
Expert Protege
I've got a bit of this going on, after having the rift on and off for the first couple of days, if I close my eyes this morning it feels like the diamond pattern is there, or at least, a similar sensation to lots of dots when a TV isn't tuned in to a terrestrial signal.

That said, if I 'think' about it and look into the black of my eyes, it's not really there, I think it's more to do with the brain interpreting what you have had strapped to your head for a day or so and it should go away spending sufficient time in RL!

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
"ThreeEyes" wrote:
Time on your hands?


He has only posted 302 times which doesn't indicate that he has got time on his hands.

I think what he may be describing is eye strain. Spending 5 hours in a rift without a break is a bit insane.

mrcrisp
Protege
5 hour sessions staring at a screen inches from your face- what do people expect?

If you were to watch a 5 hour movie or play 5 hours on monitor- you're not going to do yourself any favours.

Take breaks ffs- also the `grid` affect on the eyes is only temporary, it's not like the Rift is blasting a million lumens into your eyeballs and burning an image onto your retina.

Does this guy also stare at the sun and complain that his eyes experience an `after-affect`? :lol:
PC Specs: i7-5820k, 16gb DDR4 2400mhz, MSI gaming mainboard, MSI GTX 980 4gb, Samsung Pro SSD, 2x1tb WD Black HDD, 700w Certified PSU, 3xAcer 27" monitor, 47" TV, Xbox360 Controller, CH Pro HOTAS, Fanatec Wheel+Pedals, Windows 7 64bit.

Anonymous
Not applicable
I don't understand how anyone thinks that it can burn your retina. The screen is much, much dimmer than even walking outside on a sunny day. It cannot burn the retina, at least not any more than being an outdoorsy type of person.

ThreeEyes
Explorer
Evactly. It's a Galaxy Note 3 cell phone screen. Those don't strike me as being arc light bright. Especially since it's an image focus and not a pinpoint. If anything the light is spread over a much larger area of the iris than you can get looking at a Note 3 screen.

Run in low persistence and it isn't even on all the time.

But we all have to be scared. And scared that this article means the end of Oculus - which so many don't like anyway because of their terrible shipping, scratching lenses, inability to work flawless as a development kit, limited field of view, etc, ad nauseum...
But... but... but... I just NEED to know about the Baba! The Baba has me hypmotized! :shock: