(Part 3) Best products from r/virtualreality

The rift is a very good deal right now, coming in at $200 cheaper for the controller+headset it's hard not to recommend that route until HTC drops their price a bit, but I will give you my observations.

If you have space I recommend the Vive as tracking can get wonky on the Rift in a large space(bigger than 4m diag), and having a large space for VR actually makes VR much more gratifying in my opinion. The Vive is also a bit better for people willing to tinker and upgrade as it is a little more open and available for those sort of things(see tpcast, delux audio strap, aGlass). Initial setup on the Vive is also a bit easier since the two trackers only need power cabled to it, while the rifts cameras require usb cords(no power) running all the way to the computer.

The Rift is definitely more ergonomic, and it breathes better causing less heat and sweating. It's possibly the more cost effective purchase at $200 cheaper, and it has more of that polished just works kind of look and feel to everything. I like to compare it to an Apple vs Android sort of thing, while SteamVR is a little more robust(android), Oculus home feels a bit cleaner and more polished(iOS). Then again, you can always just use SteamVR on the rift natively if you want since it supports both headsets, Oculus home only works with the rift. As far as the just works part, The nice thing with the rift is you just put it on pick up the controllers and you are in, it even has voice commands that work very well to launch the game. There is no on/off button on anything, it all just works and starts automatically when you put it on as long as your computer is on, don't even have to start up oculus home. The Vive has a similar autostart feature, but it is a bit more clunky, requires steam to be running, doesn't always work in my experience, and requires holding a power button on the headset to initialize followed by the power buttons on both controllers.

If you go with the Rift I highly recommend buying a third camera as this will allow tracking basically on par with the Vive outside of large areas and also has the added benefit of having a bit better occlusion resistance than the Vive which is limited to 2. Also be aware of the USB requirements for the rift. You are going to want at least 3 free usb 3.0 ports and one usb 2.0 port. If your pc does not have this, I recommend adding this..

https://smile.amazon.com/Inateck-Express-Connector-Controller-Internal/dp/B00FPIMJEW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1494008967&sr=8-4&keywords=pci+usb+3.0

Honestly, even if it does I still recommend one of these as splitting up the usb 3.0 connections between your motherboard and this card helps prevent strain on bandwidth which can lead to tracking issues, and if your pc is capable running everything through usb 3.0 instead of one on 2.0 helps tracking as well.

Thanks for your insight and wisdom, that is really what makes reddit great and internet forums in general. Someone like me being able to learn and discuss with someone like you. And hopefully the other way too, so that we all are enriched and the community benefits.

Kevin was around back in those years, with his nose to scene, but I wasn't. Do you feel there was anything good that came out of all that sega experimentation, even if it didn't directly benefit sega? Maybe it helped other companies, other tech in the industry, or just certain people who got good ideas or knowledge off of sega's mistakes? Was there anything positive that came of it in anyway?

I used to work at IBM, I was told to read some books, http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Magic-Politics-Personal-Computer/dp/0816013918 , and game over, http://www.amazon.com/Game-Over-Nintendo-Conquered-World-ebook/dp/B0060AY98I/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426550681&sr=1-7&keywords=game+over and many other books, to learn the history of companies from various perspectives, I always like to read and learn more, can reco any books on sega history?

Losing the money badly, do you think if they had say, a 2 billion dollar cushion like Oculus supposedly does today, to just test all kinds of hardwares, softwares, just burn through zuckers money at free abandon kinda, could they have kept squandering it to a point where they began to make money? If so, speculating of course, how much money do you think Sega should have needed back then to turn it around? Do you think that 2 billion oculus has today, can keep them competitive to the likes of steam, msft, apple, google, etc, is 2 billion all that much against such competition? Carmack had strongly suggested he wanted minecraft for oculus, well now MSFT bought that IP, steam has Half Life 3d more than likely, so just from a computer historian point of view, I am interested in learning all this history, even as it is happening, and peoples view points on it.

I never bought any of the systems you mentioned, the dreamcast was the only one that interested me. What do you think sega could have done to not get developers to hate them, and again your speculation is useful, because maybe the ideas you have could be used by people/companies today, to not make those mistakes again. Could sega have been more supportive of developers? I will not name names, but I would like you to know some general stories I am hearing right now, about various solutions of many things. The developers have hardware in their hands, some of these KEY AAA developer types. And they see problems in various softwares, so they want to fix these problems, well one company has closed source the softwares, and wont share the code, so the developers had to go through this one key programmer that is the code master at the company to suggest changes, (lets call him carmack, but that is just a placeholder name, in no way am I saying it is oculus or carmack in this thought experiment) here is the problem though today, this carmack code master decided he wanted to get paid a higher salary for all the slave code work that was being heaped upon him by all these new issues, and he went to his bosses, give me raise! They are saying FU, we can get a billion coders from india and china to replace you for pennies on the dollar!! So what I am hearing is he is getting mad, and he is one of these code masters that believe in job security, so he didn't document code very well, in fact he may have done lots of tricks in his code to even make his job more secure, I understand the code masters reasons for doing things, I understand the companies reasons for doing things (closed source wise), I understand the developers frustrations that they can't make progress because of these things, but the rest of us, the consumers, are all being hurt by this apex of scenarios. What is the solution from the macro scale, to best benefit the most number of people?

As to reputation, I agree it is very important, people want to feel they are being treated somewhat with freedom, respect, dignity, decency, like a human being and a gentleman. They dont like to feel they are being dictated to by a tyrant, controlled, lied to, backstabbed, used, threatened. Kevin has tried to advise time and time again to certain companies NOT to make the mistakes of the past, the mistakes of previous cycles of VR, the mistakes of a Sega, and he sees them being made again, and so few will listen at sage advice like his, and yours, to consider the past, learn from it, or be doomed to fail from repeating it. I have tried my best to impart to many companies, and even certain people in those companies, how IMPORTANT it is to listen at people like you, people like Kevin, for just reputation affects alone, and they seem to not wish to do so.

I have often said, what does it gain a Padawan Palmer to own the whole neuromancer metaverse, if you snowcrash your soul? I guess the big takeaway, if people don't like your reputation, they will just stop working with you, and that could hurt the whole industry, where we could instead have bridges built and cooperation that does well for the whole industry to benefit us all. Thanks for your time, I appreciate it greatly.

(These are all (non-fiction) books. If you want research papers I can give you a bibliography of things you might find a few interesting things within.)

Virtual Reality by Howard Rheingold is a very good place to start for a founding in the history of VR (right back to the invention of the HMD by Ivan Sutherland in the 1960's) but was written before the current reignited interest in VR that Oculus has triggered;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtual-Reality-Revolutionary-Computer-Generated-Worlds--And/dp/0671778978/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396019470&sr=8-1&keywords=virtual+reality+howard

If you like Rheingold's writing style then The Virtual Community might be of interest to you. Not directly related to VR, but as VR becomes more mainstream (& especially with players such as Facebook expressing interest) it is only a matter of time until VR becomes a popular interface to virtual communities;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0262681218/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If such sociological aspects of computers/VR interest you, then Sherry Turkle's books are fascinating;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0262701111/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0684833484/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0262012707/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

As somebody else already mentioned, Infinite Reality is a nice read, but is very 'light' on science/technical detail;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0061809500/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you like your cyberpunk fiction then Cyberspace: First Steps is great - it even has a foreword written by William Gibson;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0262521776/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For more of a brain-fuck read, take a look at The Cyborg Experiments;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/082645903X/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For basic virtual environment/virtual world background I can recommend these two (Richard Bartle is the guy who invented MUD1);

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0131018167/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0631182144/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And if by 'the VR experience' you mean 'immersion' or 'the sense of presence' then the first section of Virtual Space is a good start before diving into back issues of MIT Presence;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtual-Space-Spatiality-Inhabited-Worlds/dp/1447111001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396019722&sr=8-1&keywords=virtual+space+spatiality

Great! So, the Cable Matters USB3 10ft cable you linked seems to work for others.

But, the AmazonBasics HDMI 10ft cable sounds fishy in the reviews. A long with a bunch of other HDMI cables (10ft). One review said the 15ft cable worked great (amazonbasics).

Based on youtube, this one does not work at all.
Ultra Clarity Cables
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GBBSZFE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Someone is also saying it all depends on your motherboard?

My computer has a USB 3.0 port with the [battery]+ symbol, so I'm going to take a leap of faith and purchase the cables matter 10ft usb3 cable and the 10ft amazonbasics hdmi cable.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C7SA21U/?th=1
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-High-Speed-Female-Extension-Cable/dp/B01D5H91KE/


Should arrive a day before my Odyssey+

> I would’ve never measured it and I might’ve made a big mistake.

Sigh.. yeah.. Oculus saved a buck fifty on manufacturing costs by excluding mechanical lens spacing adjustment, but instead let customers play Russian roulette depending on the shape of their face.. An unbelievably stupid decision.

Anyway, the first version of Rift, this fella, was a bit tight in the glasses department, so for Rift S, Oculus compensated. They may, in fact, have overcompensated with this excessively wide, deep face gasket. There's plenty of room for glasses, but if you have a flat, wide face, it can have a negative impact on the visuals as your eyes get stuck pretty far from the lenses, lowering the field of view & affecting lens clarity. If your head is more on the slim, angular side it should be just fine though. You do want to get your eyes as close to the lenses as possible, so you'll probably find contacts preferable as putting glasses in there most likely increases the eye-to-lens distance.

There's a company called VRCover that makes replacement face pads/gaskets, though, and they'll be releasing their Rift S products "soon," which will no doubt feature models that are a bit.. slimmer. There are also prescription lens inserts available. They're a bit pricey, but a drastic improvement in friction of use as you can effectively have a pair of glasses permanently attached to the headset, so definitely worth it in the long run (compared to fiddling with the glasses every time you take the headset on or off, and risking scratches to either the headset or your glasses).

If you don't want to get those lens inserts though, I highly recommend getting some kind of lens protector to protect both the headset & your glasses. The ones in that link worked great with the old Rift, but unsure about Rift S as it has differently shaped lenses.

I recommend this card: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01AVSN2YG/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

With these usb extension: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0179MXKU8/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I experimented with the inatek card as well but there is some debate about whether it can handle more than 2 or 3 sensors at a time even though it has 4 or 5 ports depending on the model. The orico is usb 3.1 so it has twice the bandwidth but only has 2 ports, because of this I have 2 orico cards installed with the default windows drivers. If you go this route or recommend it to somebody else make sure they have at least 2 pci-express x4 slots open. The card can be put in a pci-express x4, x8, or x16 slot without issues it physically won't fit in a smaller slot.

https://www.amazon.com/SZCO-Supplies-Brass-Crusader-Helmet/dp/B007XP1ECS
This one is pretty good and also not that expensive.

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Carrying-PlayStation-Headset-Accessories-Black/dp/B073PVDMT5/

Fits the Samsung O+ perfect after cutting some foam out for the headphones.

Before and After comparison showing what foam I had to cut out. It was pretty much a 1 minute hack job, I didn't do a good job making clean cuts but it fits snug and secure. https://imgur.com/pmgbU6D

I just use these, they're pretty decent: https://www.amazon.com/Mount-Oculus-Rift-Sensor-3-Pack/dp/B07NP6BM39/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=oculus+rift+mount&qid=1562584987&s=electronics&sr=1-5

Yes, one second.

​

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Mixed-Reality-Headset-Controllers/dp/B075XZ5F1G/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=windows+mixed+reality+headset&qid=1573799467&sr=8-4

Where are you in the world?

In Canada, the HP headset seems to be discounted the most on amazon and Staples.

EDIT:Just did a quick check on UK and DE amazon. Seems the HP is cheapest all around.

What do you mean active extensions?

I just purchased this, I assume because it has the signal repeater that is what you're referring to?

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0179MXKU8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I had trouble with the cable I purchased earlier, it was not working below 70% battery, but that kind of makes sense. Incase anyone has a similar issue, make sure your quest is fully charged before trying this out!

(Oculus Link does charge the headset, but my assumption is that it draws way less power above 90% battery life.)

i bought these and they work fine:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00NH12O5I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01D5H91KE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

same products should be available on .com site

These are what I use. I like 'em! Might want to measure: I think that I got the 43mm ones but I'm not 100% sure.

Have a look at this video ! In about 5minutes he explains that you want a high quality USB 3.0 cable.

Try this cable in 10ft length.