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Oculus Rift - Pixelated?
My sister just got to test Oculus Rift at a conference. I am not sure which version, presumably the DK2. Apprently the pixels are extremely visible, making the experience lackluster.
I read up on the issue. I suppose it simply happens when you are looking at a screen from such close distance (and the screen resolution isn't flawless).
Are there any DK2 owners who would like to share their opinions? I was planning on buying the consumer version this spring. Now I am a little worried. I understand that VR is not about flawless resolution, but I was hoping it would not be pixelated to the point where that is what you notice all the time.
Is that the case in your experience?
I read up on the issue. I suppose it simply happens when you are looking at a screen from such close distance (and the screen resolution isn't flawless).
Are there any DK2 owners who would like to share their opinions? I was planning on buying the consumer version this spring. Now I am a little worried. I understand that VR is not about flawless resolution, but I was hoping it would not be pixelated to the point where that is what you notice all the time.
Is that the case in your experience?
Comments
The problem is the angular diameter of a pixel. The Oculus Rift will typically cover a much wider angle of your field of view than a normal computer monitor. With the same number of pixels as a computer monitor, that means each pixel has a larger angular diameter, and thus appears bigger. That makes it look pixelated.
I self identify as a monkey.
Thanks. I see what you mean.
Is it not possible to make smaller pixels though? Some mobile phones have fairly high resolutions, so I suppose the pixels are smaller and have higher density? Which would improve the angular diameter at such short distances.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
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It is pretty much a problem that hasn't been fixed yet. They are working on it and IDK if it will require new hardware when it is finally finished. Right now that's the best available and just gotta live with it.
That being said they do have prototypes that are much better and are close to a finished product will be nearly flawless compared to what you are experiencing right now.
That said, there are some things you can do, but it's about trade-offs, not fixes:
1) Reduce the field of view covered by the screen, making it more akin to a 3D television than virtual reality.
2) Increase the resolution, which makes it much harder to get adequate rendering power and monitor bandwidth to make it work at all.
3) Render at a higher resolution where you're looking and lower everywhere else, as this won't be noticeable--until you move your eyes, at which point, it looks all wrong.
4) Greatly scale back the graphical expectations so that your VR world looks like a 3D game from around the turn of the millennium, which means you need massively less rendering power to handle it.
But it's not all bad news. Appearing pixelated isn't a binary thing; it's a continuum. You have some implicit threshold of how pixelated is too pixelated. If games weren't above your threshold, you wouldn't play them. One may have different thresholds for 2D sprites, traditional 3D graphics, and VR, however.
Furthermore, the threshold varies by person. The challenge for the Oculus Rift and its competitors is to make something that, while hardly good enough for everyone, is good enough for enough gamers that they can sell a bunch of them.
http://uploadvr.com/oculus-rift-display-improvements/
Like I said its being worked on and will be much better.
I've logged easily 800+ hours on a DK2 between work and home use. The screendoor effect is what its known as and it becomes a much less issue over time. The lenses reduce the effect alot and the CR lenses are WAY better then the DK2 lenses. That plus the increased screen res makes a world of a difference. Your still going to notice that screendoor effect the first 10 or so hours you use a oculus or any VR device. But over time your mind starts to adjust for the effect and you will start to notice it less and less until it becomes a non issue.
There are many ways to adjust and make the screen door effect less but theres no way to 100% eliminate the effect without increaseing the screen res even more so. Something along a 4k+ res. But then you run into the issue of graphics cards not being able to push out the image to the VR device fast enough. Some like the Vive use different the optic lenses to mask the effect (almost eliminating it) but its still somewhat noticeable at first.