Oculus Rift S full review

On May 21, deliveries of the new PCVR helmet from Oculus (Facebook), which bears the name Rift S and costs $ 399, will begin. What can the letter S mean in this title? Superior (superior)? Is this helmet superior to its predecessor, the Oculus Rift? It is believed that rather the letter S got this gadget from the word Simplified - simplified. Let me try to justify why.

Simplified Setup

Good old Oculus Rift (no longer available for purchase) was famous for its zamorochennoy installation. For its standard work, 2 external infrared USB cameras were needed, and for a full-fledged roomscale experience you need to connect a third sensor. Hundreds of users shared their life hacking online to install sensors for the game.



The whole epic was supplemented with a not entirely transparent setting of the equipment - sometimes the application on the computer asked to turn the sensor 10 degrees clockwise, and then turn it to its original place - and everything began to work.
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Previous tracking using external USB sensors was abolished in favor of Inside-Out tracking (called Insight) using five cameras on the helmet itself. No more external devices, but only a VR helmet whose cable needs to be connected to one USB and one DP ports.



Rift S controllers are very similar to the good old Touch, but the rings are now turned upward. Exactly the same controllers are used in the Oculus Quest stand-alone helmet, so you can use one set of controllers if you acquire both sets. Oculus Touch still holds the bar for the number one controller for virtual reality (the article was written before the release of the Valve Index and Pimax Sword).

Simplified Design

The Oculus Rift S was developed in partnership with Lenovo. This can be seen right away on the firm Halo strap, with which the helmet is mounted on the head.



A similar mount can be found on a Lenovo Explorer helmet or, for example, on a Playstation VR. The size is changed with the help of the wheel on the back of the head, and with the help of the button on the bottom of the helmet, you can move the lenses away from your face to fit your glasses or to fit the set more closely to fit your head.



Most users find this method of attachment more comfortable compared to the Rift. Although the mass of such an attachment is larger, all weight is now retained on the forehead and the back of the head, so the helmet no longer presses on the face. However, with the introduction of Halo strap, the opportunity to tilt the helmet itself up or down in order to catch the “sweetspot” lens definition area disappears, which can be a critical disadvantage for people with a certain shape of the head.

Rift S also got rid of the physical setting of IPD (interpupillary distance) due to its design features. And although using the built-in software, you can change this parameter, some people (if the eyes are set very close to each other or vice versa) this method may not be suitable, so before buying it is better to check on your own experience (the easiest way to do it now, for example, on a Playstation VR).

And the last drawback of such a strap is the impossibility of leaning your head (for example, if you want to watch the movie reclining), since the rear wheel of the mount will abut and cause discomfort.

Simplified immersion

The presence of five cameras on the Rift S allows you to transfer a stereoscopic picture of the real world around the user to the helmet displays. This simplifies not only setting up the playing area, but also controlling security during the game. Images from the cameras can be displayed on the screens at any time using the button on the controller, which makes it easier to interact with the outside world during the VR session - if you need to, for example, take a coffee mug from the table, turn to the person in the room or move the furniture to the side.

Optics

Inside the Oculus Rift S there is one LCD panel, which gives a high packing density of subpixels and a sharper picture compared to the OLED on the Oculus Quest or the Oculus Rift. This is not the most clear and not the most contrasting displays on the market, but reading the texts will be easier than on the original rift. Another feature that is worth paying attention to is the frequency of updates. It is 80 Hz instead of 90 Hz on other helmets of the first generation. Rather, the reduction of hertz is due to the desire to lower the system requirements for computers. 80 FPS should fence an absolute majority of users from seasickness that occurs in virtual reality at a frame rate below 72 FPS, but if you plan to play high-dynamic games, then do not rush to choose and be sure to try the new helmet on yourself before buying Rift S .

The black level is not as deep as OLED panels, and horror lovers will notice this. But most will not even notice the difference. Therefore, if you may be concerned about this factor, be sure to test the black level, for example, on the Oculus Go helmet, in order to understand whether the Oculus Rift S. will suit you.

The good news is that with the new lenses you can almost completely forget about the reflections of “god rays”, which so much annoyed in the original rift (see illustration below).

Simplistic sound

A very big difference from the original rift is the audio system of the new Rift S. Now it's built-in speakers in the helmet. This is no longer a headset like its predecessor, but nevertheless it is not the same solution as on Oculus Go and Oculus Quest helmets. The sound quality has undergone significant negative changes and the low frequencies suffered the most. Of course, it is possible to connect your own headphones through 3.5 jacks, but with a Halo strap, this not only makes immersion in VR into a two-step process (first we put on the helmet, then touch the headphones and pull them, trying to hide the wires conveniently), but also makes impossible to use headphones with a rim over the head.



VR enthusiasts have already found a solution to this problem - you can buy Koss Porta Pro headphones and attach them using the fasteners printed on a 3D printer from the guys from Tested www.thingiverse.com/thing : 3615447, but this does not negate the fact that Rift S lowered sound quality in comparison with its predecessor for the sake of simplicity.

Tracking

Despite the fears, tracking Insight with Oculus cameras turned out to be much better than the Windows Mixed Reality sets, and in some cases even better than the original Rift. The tracking area of ​​the controllers is not only higher than the viewing angle, but thanks to the information from the IMU sensors, the Oculus Touch can in some cases cover even the blind spots behind the back. Of course, there may be situations in which Insight tracking loses - these are sports games (for example, Echo Arena or The Climb), where the hands are often far out of sight, but the situation is far from critical, and players can learn to bypass the situation with the blind. zones.

Total

Oculus Rift S is definitely not Oculus Rift 2.0. And maybe not even Oculus Rift 1.5. Seth has many controversial qualities that are unlikely to convince the owners of helmets of the first generation to transfer to the new product from Facebook. The competition in the PCVR device market is becoming too dense (we see the Valve Index, HP Reverb, Pimax 5K +, HTC Vive Pro Eye, Samsung Odyssey +) and it is possible that Oculus just stopped fighting for the audience of owners of VR helmets of the first wave. Instead, they created a helmet for engaging a new audience - as simple as possible, comfortable, and user friendly. This is very good for the virtual reality ecosystem, for “casual” users, but not enough for an upgrade.