[ajayc123]

Mundane Diwali Cleaning Gets me into a new Rabbit Hole
Diwali is around.

But something strange happened a couple of days back when the commander-in-chief issued an edict that I shall clean the study cum bookshelf that I had inherited from my son recently ("ulti ganga" - yes this happens when kids move away to hostel for higher studies, and their stuff is repurposed for other use). The commander-in-chief's commands are simply a one way street, do it or perish, and I had no choice.

Anyway, trying to get back on track. For each of the items that were tumbling out of the figurative 'pandora's box', I had to take a simple decision: keep, give away or trash it. I stumbled upon an old ANTVR Box that was purchased by my kids during the so called big Diwali sales many years back. This one looked like a decent case for throwing away (surface peeling off, faded etc). The mind working vigorously to escape the drudgery of the cleaning task, suggested that I should take a break and check out this specimen.



The Out of the World Experience
I started fiddling with my mobile to check how I can find some content that can be used with this contraption. My son, who was wandering around, suggested that I should check youtube for some content, and in a few seconds, I stumbled upon a cute dinosaur video and started watching it. And then, the youtube took me to a VR roller-coaster front seat ride experience (you have to be really tactical to get a front seat roller coaster ride even in an amusement park, and yes I switched off the lights to improve my immersion levels). Though my body did not experience the G's, the visual effect of roller coaster ride was very engaging. After about 15 minutes of this whole experience, I came out half dizzy (a muted version of the dark dome roller coaster rides that you experience in the amusement parks - like the Universal Studios, Disney etc).

I remembered that long time back, I had heard about the the Oculus Rift, at that point I had not delved deeper.

But this experience pushed me to explore more, and a few you tube videos later, I was quite stunned by the progress that has been made. If a basic ANTVR like thing can give you some solid thrills, then these dedicated headsets must be way ahead.

The most impressive one that I could locate was this one. This one is just amazing, almost blurring the boundary between virtual and real: Varjo XR3. Impressive. But then you can buy a car for the money that gets you this. Makes me sad . Reality sets in.

https://youtu.be/23RS3RAg16k

This video talks about another popular one, the Oculus Quest 2. (coming from Meta). Seems quite interesting, and this once costs a cracker, but NOT A BOMB.

https://youtu.be/_mwLmz750uY

And Now, the Oculus Quest Pro is just days away from launch.

https://youtu.be/LhfKRoIWC2c

Seeking the Community Wisdom
Anyway, I thought why not tap the diverse community to find out about their experiences with the VR world. Maybe you could talk about your experiences if you have used any of the VR headsets, the popular use cases, and if it is even worth going down this path. Please feel free to share your thoughts.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Gadgets section. Thanks for sharing!

[lordtottuu]

I fell into this rabbit hole a few years before. Wanted to buy an Oculus but unsure of the FB/Meta data privacy non-sense, I went with a mixed reality headset instead, a Lenovo Explorer.

Those were the early-ish days of all of this which meant there were no killer apps. Played a game or two (Super Hot is just pure exhilaration in VR), watched a movie, all that jazz but eventually the novelty wears off. I sold it during the pandemic to someone doing meta verse development and called it a day.

I’m still eager to get back into the space once the sector matures a little bit.

[Karthik.guru]

My first experience with VR was way back in 2014 or 15 right around the time when Google Cardboard was gaining popularity. I bought a mobile-phone-holding VR headset knowing full well that it wasn't going to be as good as something from HTC or Oculus, but I just had to scratch the itch of knowing what it might be like.
From the very first hour of use I knew that this was the future of gaming, specially for someone like me who plays mostly racing games. And now almost a decade later, stuff like the Shutoku Revival Project is exactly what I had dreamed of when I was a kid.

Sadly VR is still quite expensive and I have yet to build some sort of rig to enjoy such luxuries.

Sharing a video of the fun that awaits with VR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z93OK...annel=Shred402

[lordtottuu]

Ahh, it wouldn't let me edit my earlier post so here are some additional thoughts:

1. Make sure to get a headset with adjustable IPD. This is important if you have a non-standard face structure/size. IPD stands for interpupillary distance and is a critical factor in a headset looking blurry vs razor sharp. Some headsets let you change this in software but it's not as great as the hardware controls. You could compare it to keystone correction in projectors, only worse because your eyes are an inch from the screen and you can see every visual blemish and artifact.

2. A resolution of 2880 x 1440 might sound great on paper but when it's inches from your face, it probably isn't. There's a reason TV look great with paltry resolutions while it's easier to discern when the phone's screen is not higher resolution. It comes down to PPI vs viewing distance. When the distance is inches, it's hard to break away from basic mathematics.

3. Don't underestimate a headset's field of view or FOV. I try to find something with at least 100 degrees as I feel claustrophobic and like I'm wearing blinders otherwise.

4. Make sure your mind is ready for VR and can handle it. Lots of people experience intense nausea and lack of balance so make sure you check it out in an open space with a spotter around. I'm sure you can find tons of videos of people hurting themselves or destroying property around them due to disorientation.

I'm waiting for the higher resolution screens, with higher refresh rates so I can finally give up multiple large displays for my workstation and carry a wearable screen instead, digital nomad style!

Mods: Feel free to merge this with my earlier post. Please and thank you.

[Karthik Mathur]

I have been a VR Enthusiast for years. Started off with Google Cardboard, then Google Daydream (my choice of phone was linked to it!), the Oculus Quest 1 and now the 2. You just can't go wrong with the Quest 2.

It's a standalone VR headset so you don't need a high end PC to play games. Though it does play PC VR games like Half Life Alyx by connecting to the PC through Airlink or wired USB cable.

The Quest Pro is too expensive and the upgrades are in areas that you might not really use. Plus, the battery life is lower than the 2.

My favourite game has to be iBCricket. I've bought a bat attachment for the controller and its as good as playing cricket in real life...even better probably coz a 140kmph bouncer can't hurt me here!

I would recommend that you buy it and try it for yourself. If you are into video games, you'll certainly love this.

[digitalnirvana]

I've had an el cheapo Chinese VR glass which works by keeping your mobile inside the device. It doesn't work well but can give a watered down experience of how VR should be. For a few thousand rupees this is an ideal starting point.

And then I bought a Facebook / Meta Quest 2 and it has blown me away. Yes it's pricey and the battery life is terrible and the setup is clunky. But once it's done, the sheer immersion is incredible. And keep in mind this is not even the best VR headset in terms of hardware. And many things are not yet intuitive.

Things will really change when Apple come in with their VR play. They'll shake everything up just like Zune vs iPod or tablets vs iPad. Or, you know, like everything else before it vs the iPhone. I expect that's when VR will become mainstream.

Right now unless you're a geek who wants to watch Netflix in a theater sitting alone you can skip the current gen devices. Especially if you wear glasses. But if you have the spare cash and do want to buy one, definitely get the Quest 2. Privacy concerns did you say? Well I'll be damned we're all playthings in Zuckerberg's Metaverse anyway.

I can't wait for us to be glued to these things like in Wall-E.

Outside™ is dead. Long live Outside™.

[ajayc123]

The question that I am still trying to address is why? Still trying to get a handle on the use cases, and their relevance. I would love to get one, if I can justify its use, for its projected useful life. How life will be different, by having this? And if you get it, and just keep it aside after a few days, then what’s the point?

For an analogy, when we spend on another device, we use it quite regularly (example smart phone, smart watch etc). Then there are others that are purchased for the novelty factor, but after the initial excitement wears off, they just gather dust.

[dragonfire]

A layman question: Is this good for watching movies? Are all movies watchable using these or there are movies specifically made for VR headsets? What are the best headsets to buy for movies?

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by ajayc123

The question that I am still trying to address is why?

Well it depends on what you want to use it for, but here are some use cases.

1. Games especially for sports or fitness
2. Movies of a certain industry that has led every technological innovation in media & filmmaking
3. Travel

Out of the current gen headsets the Quest 2 scores the best. Youtube VR, Netflix VR are incredible. I couldn't try Prime Video VR as its geo restricted.

But as I said, it's nowhere as user friendly as other gadgets. The devices are heavy, do not work well with glasses, and have UX issues. Mine is sitting in the cupboard gathering dust.

You'll only regularly use it if you are a heavy media user or into gaming.

[onej_maverick]

This is a very interesting thread for me to read from a consumers point of view.

I have been working on VR content development and even hardware for almost 9 years now. I got the Oculus DK1 back in 2013 via crowd funding. The hardware specs about VR headsets is already covered in the thread, so i will just talk about my experience here.

Being a co founder of a simulation games development company, getting into VR made a lot of sense for me. We launched a VR roller coaster ride, along with real time hardware effects back in 2014 in Chennai (Express avenue mall). So we kept trying to understand and extract other use cases from VR other than games or entertainment.

In the last few years we have developed VR content to train professionals in the areas like welding, car maintenance, factory operator training and more. Most recently for the last two years I am focusing on training medical undergrad students using VR which I strongly believe will improve cognitive learning and also makes students less nervous while treating their first patients. Specially compared to Mannequin based learning. Its amazing as a content creator and coder to see students actually benefiting from our work, 500+ students are training using our VR platform as of now, which is not a big number yet, but i believe it will get better with time and awareness.

As a user, I do play a lot of games, and we have almost all headsets here at our office, Oculus DK1,2, Rift, Rift S, Quest, Quest 2, HTC Vive, Pico and HP Reverb. I do have a simkit + logitech G29 , so playing F1 2022 with simkit+VR is so much fun, it feels so much more scary to brake late or take high speed turns than on the non VR version.

VR headsets are not the best way to watch a movie though, its better than a 50 inch TV i would say, but worse than something better. Also many might be uncomfortable wearing the headset for more than 20 minutes. And most importantly, movies don't use the two super powers VR brings to the table, Depth (stereo vision) and 360 Rendering. If a movie is made for VR with 360 stereoscopic cameras, that would make a lot of sense.

Cheers

[Samfromindia]

Well like most people, VR journey started with Google cardboard years back. However one of the first encounters with proper VR glasses happened in a game fest way back in 2017 with HTC Vibe.

The VIVE setup


Bhpian Blooming Flower trying out the glasses


One of the many setups


And the cosplay !

[ajayc123]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

Well it depends on what you want to use it for, but here are some use cases.

1. Games especially for sports or fitness
2. Movies of a certain industry that has led every technological innovation in media & filmmaking
3. Travel

Out of the current gen headsets the Quest 2 scores the best. Youtube VR, Netflix VR are incredible. I couldn't try Prime Video VR as its geo restricted.

You'll only regularly use it if you are a heavy media user or into gaming.

Looking at my use cases:

- Fitness: Yes I do commit about 10-15 hours for my fitness per week (mostly running and walking), so yes, I can bring some VR based fitness activity into the mix.

- Content consumption: Watch video content on YouTube, mostly infotainment, but not much into movies/content on other platforms like Netflix so far.

- Games: hardly play, but tempted.

- Travel: What’s that ?

Does it look like I am trying to desperately find every possible reason to get one.

Originally Posted by onej_maverick

This is a very interesting thread for me to read from a consumers point of view.

I have been working on VR content development and even hardware for almost 9 years now.

Wow, thank you for writing in, you get the “resident expert” badge.

In the last few years we have developed VR content to train professionals in the areas like welding, car maintenance, factory operator training and more. Most recently for the last two years I am focusing on training medical undergrad students using VR which I strongly believe will improve cognitive learning and also makes students less nervous while treating their first patients.

Commendable innovations.

Playing F1 2022 with simkit+VR is so much fun, it feels so much more scary to brake late or take high speed turns than on the non VR version.

Very tempting.

VR headsets are not the best way to watch a movie though, its better than a 50 inch TV i would say, but worse than something better. Also many might be uncomfortable wearing the headset for more than 20 minutes. And most importantly, movies don't use the two super powers VR brings to the table, Depth (stereo vision) and 360 Rendering. If a movie is made for VR with 360 stereoscopic cameras, that would make a lot of sense.
Cheers

Continuing to research on the hardware scene, while Quest 2 seems to be a tempting option for what I am willing to spend on this, but, I am getting a sense that this hardware is getting close to end of life, and I might be better off waiting a bit more quarters for Quest 3. Reactions?

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by ajayc123

Looking at my use cases:

- Travel: What’s that ?

Immersive 360° travelogues which are almost indistinguishable to being actually there.

[manishk123]

Keen to experience this technology, but being an Apple fan boy, waiting for them to come up with their VR headset which is currently under development. Like everything Apple does, hopefully this will also be best in class.