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Oculus Rift Display Quality: Horrible

Aroddo
Protege
Ok, my Rift just arrived and it installed without a problem.
This is actually the first time I ever used any modern VR device.

And the highly praised quality of the display is utter shit!

The whole 'screen' you see looks like you see it through fine wire netting.
Small Text is barely readable, because the resolution feels like an old CRT VGA display.

Imagine it like this: The text above fills your ENTIRE viewport. And not only is it pixelated - you also can effortlessly see that the white font is made up out of different colored lines! Think TV before they invented LC-Displays.

Oh, the 3D effect is top notch. But you might as well be using an iPhone 1 and view it from 10 cm away to get a feel for the perceived resolution.

NOTHING you see or read on the internet prepares you for how bad the display quality is.

Cancel your orders, then try it out first if you can, then either buy or wait for the next generation.
Don't be an idiot like me and buy on good faith.

220 REPLIES 220

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

krectus said:

I am a videophile. 


Well, we do have the primary reason you think that Home is garbage  😄

I can understand why a videophile would have a reaction such as yours; similarly, the Angry Joe review of the Rift talks about the fact that "audiophiles" may not like the built-in speakers. Of course, that is soon to be remedied because Facebook recently purchased a leading audio engineering company.

Personally, I'm not disappointed with either the video nor audio, because I'm a "gamerphile" who started with the Atari 2600. For me, being part of gaming evolution and revolution is a glorious thing. The Oculus Rift could have shipped with the original Dungeon Master game...



.. and I would be perfectly happy due to the immersion factor. Virtually Reality is finally, truly here, for the first time. I can't fathom being derailed by mere resolution and slight visual distractions during the first few moments before an amazing Game or App is loaded.

But I can see how someone with a lengthy career in visual media could feel that we should be farther along. All I can say to that is: soon enough!

Aroddo
Protege
I played on a C64, and I still remember the early PC days with CGA and EGA graphics.

On the other hand, I had a VR hmd on my head 20 years ago, and even though the graphics were rather primitive, the basic features were the same. It also probably cost a million dollars.

My utter disappointment has more to do with how all media coverage glossed over the terrible display quality and less to do with me not being used to primitive CG.

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
lol @ the idea that "pixel art" is what the Rift really entails for anyone who can afford a real PC.

Here's screenshots from my PC and Rift useage:

Looking behind me while hanging on a wall during The Climb




One of the final rooms you walk in to with Dead Secret




One of my favorite levels in game, Floor Plan




And I have a really old View Sonic monitor with 1440x1200 resolution @ 60hz; which means that those images look better on the Rift, in-game, than what you're seeing in those screenshots.

Anyone claiming that the Rift is giving gamers "pixel art" has either never used a Rift or strapped it on their head backwards.

peihound
Protege
dungeon Master now your showing your age zenbane 🙂
If any one remembers the original Elite on the bbc computer, will truly understand "crap" gfx, the game play was superb, first of its kind.
Just look at how things have progressed with games these days.
Vr is in a similar position with the tech available, sure there is faults but being the first retail version its pretty damn impressive imo.

Aroddo get it up for sale asap if your unhappy with it, give it a few more years for the tech to mature and it might just be as good as your expectations.  😉

VirtuallyMe
Honored Guest
If you want to wait until they release a dual 4k display for around $1000, great.  Just keep in mind that it'll likely have a dual GTX 1080 SLI minimum requirement in 2018.   4K is very taxing on a GPU, let alone 2  4k feeds.

nAV2016
Heroic Explorer



krectus said:

I agree the screen was much lower quality than I had expected.  Comparing it to an iphone 1 isn't a stretch.

However the image may look like garbage when in the home screen and looking at menus, this issue does all but go away once you are immersed in a VR game.  You BARELY notice the issue when you are active in a game and REALLY notice it when you are in menus and such.

But for a $600 "high-end" device the screen resolution is a joke and one of it's worse qualities.  They spent a lot of time getting a lot of things right, I wish they would have done so with the screen resolution.  It's embarassing that this is the released version.

I'm not going to return mine, but I am annoyed.


The screens aren't low resolution (they're higher resolution and far higher in pixel density than the 1080p monitor I'm typing this on), the reason for the lower apparent pixel density is because the screens subtend a much larger angle than a conventional monitor.  When sitting at my PC, my monitor takes up only a fairly small portion of my field of view.

The main reason the resolution can't yet be higher is there isn't graphics card hardware capable of that level of performance.  VR is very expensive - not just because you have to render each eye, but your render target needs to be about 30% larger than the actual screen since the image as sent to the Rift must be distorted to compensate for the lenses.  Plus, going for 90 Hz requires a lot, and trust me, as a DK2 user - judder is vastly, vastly worse than screendoor, even the higher levels of screendoor that the DK2 had.  Even dropping a couple FPS down in the DK2 was a horrible experience.


Today i am expecting my rift, I have been waiting for this thing since January. I bought the DK2 and thought the 3D effects where amazing however the screen door effect kinda broke the immersion and no IPD setting means i cannot actually see things crystal clear.
Man i do hope the rift, especially after reading this thread (CV1) eliminated most of the screen door issue associated with the DK2?
I am not expecting a miracle but a worthy upgrade. After reading this thread i am slightly concerned the difference between DK2 and CV1 is not that huge? or is it

Applecorp
Rising Star
From what I have gathered there is an improvement in the screen door effect but it isn't significant, it's still there.

Aroddo
Protege
@Zenbane
your screenshots look great. I wish it would look like that in virtual life.

However, it actually looks more like this.

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
If it really looks like that in your Rift then there's something seriously defective with either the VR device itself or your PC. Although I'm pretty sure at this point you're just having fun saying stuff on a forum; not really sharing anything realistic.

My screenshots depict exactly what I see with my Rift being worn.

nAV2016
Heroic Explorer
I wonder if the GPU makes the difference here..between the 2 screenshoot. I made a pc specifically for this VR experience. I have a titan X graphics card..this better make a difference..lol