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Sony's Dirty Little Secret

kevinw729
Honored Visionary
Sony JP rush to patent their 'Lighthouse' style new tracking system - in order to address serious issues with PSVR and growing returns:


https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959
29 REPLIES 29

jab
Rising Star
Again this is a solved problem. You can use a single Lighthouse transmitter as a front facing 'camera' above the monitor, if you only want seated experiences same as the one camera Rift setup.

kevinw729
Honored Visionary

jab said:

Again this is a solved problem. You can use a single Lighthouse transmitter as a front facing 'camera' above the monitor, if you only want seated experiences same as the one camera Rift setup.

I think you are proposing a solution that has no reality with the political situation that the company finds itself with Valve/HTC - there is no way we are going to see any support for a Lighthouse to be used with the Rift (beyond a DIY project with no company sanction or software support).

The bridge of opportunity between Valve and OVR was burned some time ago, and now with the issue of how much support the Valve VR Room loaner gave to DK2/CV1 development, I am sure this will become a bigger bone of contention.

Up until this point, broaching any subject that did not include the use of Constellation was met with a brick wall (that had a tendency of falling on you) within OVR.
https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

Anonymous
Not applicable
Here is the thing -

With 3 sensors we should still be able to have room tracking. With touch it allows even more control on how that works.

The sensors also gives other benefits once everything starts to cool down and programming plays catch up as well such as a body suit that tracks even more of the body with little cost as well (for example, knowing where your feet are) compare to having to create a whole new wireless transmitting bulky device like we already see some 3rd party vendors making for the Vive.

As far as room scale goes - it kind of is a dead end as there wont be much past it. Once we hit room sale you run into other problems we don't have a fix for yet. For example, the big elephant in the room - movement - between the player and the rest of the world. Right now we're using tricks such as teleportation and hooks to get around. Some of them work in their own way, but really, not the best way to be moving around.

We do have joy sticks with the current controller designs and that helps a ton, but it is still making people feel a bit uneasy when they talk/run from place to place.

Now, when people say room scale - I don't really see anyone use room scale - what I see is people wanting 360 degree tracking instead. The ability to turn around and see more of the world. Not many people have enough space really for be moving around much with in that 3rd world - so allowing some is good - but over all they want to be able to turn and shoot a gun at a zombie before actually being able to start walking forward much.

Right, so is lighthouse better than Constellation? In some ways yes and some ways no. I think Lighthouse is a lot more simple for sure, but it too has problems and risk just as much as the Constellation system has.

What I hope to see in the future if they're going to keep using Constellation is a wireless version of it instead. All the sensor would need is power and reconnect back at the computer. This would put it on par of the Lighthouse system - and if they bring some of the processing to the sensor as well - it could even lower the requirements to something pretty simple as well.


kevinw729
Honored Visionary

Mradr said:

With 3 sensors we should still be able to have room tracking...

As far as room scale goes - it kind of is a dead end...

Right, so is lighthouse better than Constellation?...

Okay, first off I am not getting into the "is one better than the other" argument - that is so subjective, and usually used as a means for "supporters" to attack each other - I am focused on discussing the thought behind the business positioning and the decisions that need to be made to get a company that is seen by some as toxic back on track to support the community.

For me it's interesting to previously see all the posts saying you could do Roomscale with two sensors (that RTVR video), then the anger at OVR for saying they advise three sensors, and now the papering over the cracks with "3 sensors is adequate!" - I think we need to face the fact that there is still some work needed on Constellation no matter if it is a good solution or not.

It is not helped that the main advocate for the system and chief-developer has had to abandon his position within the company - what was left for Nates team was not very professionally documented, and they have been playing an uncomfortable game of catch up just to release. To the point that the latest software update has made the Guardian system dangerous for users - adding to the woes and possible claims!!

I am hearing the "Roomscale is a dead-end" comment a lot on certain "supporter" forums - from claiming that the hardware could easily do Roomscale to now dismissing the setup strikes me as damage limitation. I get that there are other immersive apporaches for VR, but when a discussion is about "effective and reliable Roomscale", to then try and say "it does not matter" makes it sound like deflection from an uncomfortable reality?
https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

Percy1983
Superstar

jab said:

This is a solved problem. Within the limits of current VR technology the Lighthouse system just works, and is A LOT easier to setup then running USB extension cables and battling driver and USB compatibility issues.
Not to mention it is available to be used by anyone not limited by some in house commercial agenda.


Personally I would rather have low voltage USB extensions around my room compared the high voltage mains extensions I would need for the light houses.
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elboffor
Consultant
You cant exactly extend the 12v cables though can ya atmos, thats what percy is saying 
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elboffor
Consultant
Because extenders are not readily available.
Sure you can cut them and then wire in and extention yourself but most people wont do that
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elboffor
Consultant
link ten for the vive from amazon uk then
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Percy1983
Superstar
I would be more worried about a voltage drop using a 12v extension.

Anyway, my original point was depending on the location of plugs, your computer and the sensors/lighthouses in some setups the vive will work out better and in others the oculus will there really isn't a definitive answer of one being better/worse, just trying to add balance to your usual anti-oculus stance.
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Percy1983
Superstar

Atmos73 said:

What's the volts drop on a 5m 5 volt USB cable?

What standard cabling are you using, what materials are used in the connectors?

Back to my point do you agree that is some cases it may be easier/better to extended a USB cable rather than a mains cable. I am not saying either is exclusively better but you seem to think one is.
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