With the VR hardware market offering so many options, let’s take a minute to go through a few of the best offerings!
Oculus Rift
Resolution
2160 x 1200 | 90 Hz | 110° Field of View
Position Tracking
Constellation positional tracking system
Motion Controllers
Oculus Touch
Minimum Requirements PC-BASED
Intel Core i5-4590
AMD Radeon R9 290 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
HDMI 1.3 output
Three USB 3.0 ports
One USB 2.0 port
16 GB RAM
The Oculus Rift remains a strong contender for VR since bringing this niche experience of visualization to mainstream entertainment. With its dense display and well-crafted lenses, the Rift dominates for providing high-quality cinematic experiences. The headset requires a standalone infrared camera for positional tracking, which makes for best usage when the user is seated. One of the main drawbacks to the Rift’s widespread distribution is its rather high-end hardware requirements and demand on computer resources; expect to have many of your system’s ports and performance to be taken by an Oculus device!
HTC Vive
Resolution
2160 x 1200 | 90 Hz | 110° Field of View
Position Tracking
Lighthouse tracking system
Motion Controllers
Oculus Touch
Minimum Requirements PC-BASED
Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350
AMD Radeon R9 290 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
HDMI 1.4 output
One USB 2.0 port
4 GB RAM
HTC deployed their headset nearly the same time when Oculus released their commercial version of the Rift. Best known for entry-level to VR and game development, the Vive gives full immersion best suited for movement-intense or room-scale focuses. As the target audience for the Vive is toward gamers, the minimum hardware requirements match those of the Rift, and demands a powerful rig for optimal use. However, the positional tracking allows for greater versatility than the Rift due to its intention to track the field an entire room.
PlayStation VR
Resolution
1920 x 1080 | 90 / 120 Hz | 100° Field of View
Position Tracking
Lighthouse tracking system
Motion Controllers
PlayStation Move
Minimum Requirements Console-Based
Sony PlayStation 4
HDMI-capable display
For those that have the PlayStation 4 (if not you, maybe your kids!), PlayStation followed HTC’s lead and directed their VR development toward the gaming audience, especially dedicated for their console. The main benefit to the PS VR is its affordability and easy pairing to its parent console. Instead of relying on an intensive PC rig, the headset pairs right the portable PlayStation! Its portability and affordability does come at a cost – users are limited to Sony’s marketplace, and quality is compromised compared to the higher end Vive and Rift. This headset is a real contender once its marketplace and app development become more open and ready to adopt!
Oculus Go
Resolution
2160 x 1440 | — | —
Position Tracking
Built-in accelerometers
Motion Controllers
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Minimum Requirements Standalone
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Rolling out in early 2018, this headset will allow users to experience actual immersion without the need of plugging in a phone or computer. As a means to rival competitors, Oculus hopes to compete against its “lite version” rivals of Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream. Instead of relying on the user’s input – a VR-capable smartphone – the Go will run on a light version of standalone processor and LCD screen. This will cut out a few cables from our computers to make possible incredibly portable, high-quality VR experiences, and avoid burning our short-lasting smartphones!
Samsung HMD Odyssey
Resolution
2880 x 1600 | 90 Hz | 100° Field of View
Position Tracking
Inside-out Position Tracking
Motion Controllers
Motion Controllers
Minimum Requirements Standalone
Windows 10 PC
Like the Go, Samsung’s next step after the Gear VR is to jump toward more standalone device development. Their approach includes building on the concept of mixed reality experiences; while the main experience is still to be immersed in another environment, the hardware intends to make use of the user’s physical surroundings. The Odyssey supposedly takes into account your body movement and fields the nearby surroundings, such as detecting room boundaries and setting points for collision detection in your virtual experience. This is one of the best options for a standalone headset without the need for extra cables or devices!
