Q: 4m x 4m requires at least a 5.6m headset cable due to the diagonal length. Are you guys using extenders? Or you have the PC inside the tracking space?
A: The cable is ceiling mounted in the middle of the room so the actual required cable length is shorter than 4m. heaney555 is probably right in their assumption that the cable of ES08 is as long or shorter than that of the production unit.
Q: So just clarifying the FOV with the Vive, are you sure you fully adjusted the eye relief so that it is closest to your eyes i.e. widest possible FOV? Even in this configuration are you saying the Rift still has a wider FOV?
A: I brought the lenses as close to my eyes as possible without touching my eyelashes. It's about the same on Vive and Rift but Rift feels a little wider horizontally to me while the Vive has my preferred FOV shape.
Q: Doesn't the vive FOV waste a lot of screen real estate and couldn't it be simulated in rift by darkening parts of the screen?
A: It wastes a portion of the image that still has to be rendered. It's more efficient the way the Rift works but I still prefer how it looks on the Vive.**
Q: 1. Your headset of choice? 2. Better optics? 3. Preffered FOV? 4. SDE difference between all 3? 5. Have you tried touch? Did you like it or found any things that annoyed you? (such as tracking problems). 6. How are the added headphones on the rift? 7. Ergonomics on which one are better? 8. What software seems better for the consumer?
A:
1) I like and dislike different things about all of them. No favourite.
2) Rift > Vive > PSVR
3) Vive > Rift > PSVR 4) Rift > PSVR > Vive
5) I'm not too experienced with Touch. We don't have a Touch in OUR office since our project doesn't utilize motion control but I had a couple of opportunities to try it out and was very happy with how well the tracking works. There were a couple of issues with finger recognition and rumor has it that's the reason why they delayed it.
6) IMO the most important difference between the three. The headphones provide an even target across all users for devs and add so much comfort.
7) The Rift and PSVR are equally comfortable IMO. Vive is a bit lacking in terms of ergonomics. 8) For consumers the Oculus software is way ahead at the moment. It's completely plug and play in our experience and feels like a polished console UI, even in its current beta state. My personal preference is the Steam VR interface though simply because it supports voice chat and that's what we use to communicate between our VR room and office.
Q: Re: #6, as a dev how are you guys taking advantage of this? What differences can we expect with sound on the Rift when using the integrated headphones?
A: Everything is tuned specifically for these headphones. The position of the in-game listener lines up with the position of the driver in front of your ear to ensure that you get the most acurate 3D audio possible. The best thing of an integrated audio solution is that what I create will sound to you exactly like it sounded to me while I made it. If you play our game you hear everything like we wanted it to sound just like you see the world we created exactly like we wanted it to look because we use the same screen you use.
Q: Is there anything cool that you can do in the home screen like with the Vive you can blow up balloons and whack them around, that to me was sooo cool even though it sounds so simple, just because it felt so real?! Also, is there anything else that seems relevant, or that we might like to know?
A: That's part of the longbow demo, not of the actual homescreen on vive. You can set your own 360° photo as a wallpaper with SteamVR which is pretty cool. Oculus Home is not customizable at the moment but it's a fully geometric 3D zen garden scene with animations and a subtle crackling noise coming from a fireplace on the left of the player.
Q: I believe that the Vive comes with a standard set of earbuds, which were also shipped with the Pre. Is your dev team fine tuning the experience based on those earbuds? Also, I know that the Vive comes with a jack to plug in external headphones, but is there also a jack for an external mic? My MMX 300 has a separate plug for the mic and for the audio.
A: No mic jack. We try to work with the included IEMs whenever possible to make sure it will sound on your end once you get a Vive exactly like we meant it to sound. Over-Ears like the MMX 300 might be an issue with the Vive though. Positional audio is fine-tuned to sound right on the included IEMs, not on over-ears where the driver is much further away.
Q: Which do you like better and why?
A: I don't really play favourites. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. From a comfort standpoint I like PlayStation VR the most, for the quality of the headset alone I like Rift the most and for the most compelling out of the box experience the Vive.
Q: Could you elaborate on the comfort of the PSVR? I can't really get a good sense of how it is built just from what we have seen online. How does it differ from the Vive/Rift in how it sits on your head?
A: The nice thing about PSVR is that it doesn't press against your face. The mounting mechanism is a cushioned ring you wear around your head. You can wear it for hours without getting that feeling of weight on your cheekbones. Keep in mind that I don't use a PSVR regularly and the unit at our office is not the current model shown at GDC but from what I can tell close or identical.
Q: Do you mean the Rift doesn't press against your face with any noteworthy amount of force? From the sounds of it the display for the PSVR actually kind of hovers in front of your face and is only attached to the ring on your head. From what I've heard the Rift is very light and barely noticeable, but I can't imagine that headstrap would be able to hold the display a distance from your face without touching it the way PSVR seems to.
A: The Rift doesn't press against your face but it still touches it and applies a bit of weight on your cheekbones. It's great comfort wise but I can wear PSVR for longer without even noticing it.
Q: Is there gap at the nose part on PSVR that lets light in more than the other 2 headsets?
A: Since PSVR doesn't touch your face for the most part there is more light leaking in than with the Rift and Vive. Not just at the nose but all around the eyebox It's not too bad IMO but you might want to play in a dark room if that's something you don't like.