When comparing HTC Vive vs Oculus Rift, the Slant community recommends HTC Vive for most people. In the question“What are the best VR headsets?” HTC Vive is ranked 1st while Oculus Rift is ranked 2nd. The most important reason people chose HTC Vive is:
Vive supports room tracking in a 15ft by 15ft (4.6m squared) space, through use of a 'Lighthouse' (base station). The Lighthouse allows tracking an arbitrary number of points at sub-millimeter accuracy 100 times a second.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Allows freedom of movement
Vive supports room tracking in a 15ft by 15ft (4.6m squared) space, through use of a 'Lighthouse' (base station). The Lighthouse allows tracking an arbitrary number of points at sub-millimeter accuracy 100 times a second.
Pro Comes with wireless controllers for interaction
Wireless controllers will be available for Vive that will allow interacting with the VR world. These controllers have motion tracking, allowing you to physically pick up and manipulate objects in a natural way. This allows much further immersion than playing with a standard console controller.
Pro Immersive experience thanks to physical movement tracking
Instead of merely providing a 3D 360° view, the Vive offers a more realistic immersive experience by tracking your physical movement (head movement, as well as hand movement through the controllers). Most VR headsets would allow you to pick up an item by pressing 'A' on a controller - the Vive lets you walk towards an item, reach out, and pick it up with your hands.
Pro Can walk around a room easily with passthrough camera
There is a camera on the top of the headset, meaning the player will be able to have that camera feed sent to their headsets screen, which will allow for the user to see what is around them and in the room without having to take off the headset. Also when you start up the Vive for the first time you set a play space boundary and when you get near that afterwards while playing a transparent grid pops up to say "Hey, you're about to run into a wall or something else!"
Pro Made in collaboration with Valve - an experienced high quality vendor
The HTC Vive is made by HTC in collaboration with Valve, the creators of Portal, Half Life, CSGO, TF2 and more. They are also the owners of Steam. HTC bring their hardware manufacture and design experience, and Valve their gaming experience to bring a device that is both well designed and provides a good user experience for gamers.
Pro Tied to Steam
Being that the Vive is made in partnership with Steam (one of the biggest gaming platforms in the world), the support and games found for it should not be an issue for those familiar and already purchased into the Steam ecosystem.
Pro Uses OpenVR
Pro Room-scale tracking
The HTC Vive's room-scale tracking is a standout feature that allows you to freely move around in a virtual space. The precise tracking provided by the base stations enables you to physically interact with the virtual environment, adding a whole new level of realism and immersion to your gameplay. You can walk, duck, and dodge in the virtual world, making the experience incredibly engaging.
Pro Immersive visuals
The HTC Vive offers stunning visuals that transport you to a whole new world of virtual reality. The level of detail and clarity in the virtual environments provide an unparalleled sense of immersion, making your gaming experience truly captivating.
Pro Extensive game library
The HTC Vive offers an extensive library of games and experiences to choose from. With a wide range of genres and experiences available, from thrilling action games to mesmerizing exploration adventures. The diverse game library provides endless options for entertainment and ensures that you'll never run out of new experiences to try.
Pro Easily extensible through built in USB port
The built in USB hub allows for other devices to be plugged in for power and communication. This means the user can extend the function of the Rift through extra peripherals that work alongside it such as the Leap Motion.
Pro Easy to adjust lens distance
There's a dial at the base of the unit that can be used to adjust lens distance. This helps focus on the display, which is essential for best text clarity. Being that everyone's eyes are different, this greatly helps to make for an experience that anyone can enjoy with clear visuals.
Pro Easily use the headphones you prefer
The headphones the device comes with are detachable, this means you can use your own headphones if you prefer their fit/quality.
Pro Out-of-the-box game engine integrations for developers
Rift integrates with Unreal Development Kit, Unreal Engine 4, and Unity 4 without any workarounds, which makes it easier for developers to create games for Oculus Rift.
Pro Familiar experience of playing games
For those used to the traditional way of playing video games, using a controller and sitting in a chair, the Rift should feel quite familiar. It does offer a virtual reality experience through what you view, with some tracking interactions, but mainly it is much like playing a traditional console or PC game where you are viewing the game on a screen (directly in front of your face of course) and controlling the game with a gamepad or keyboard and mouse.
This should appeal to those that would like to experience VR gaming but do not want to compromise on their traditional control methods or afford the room for gaming that takes place standing and walking around ones room (such as the Vive).
A slight evolution on traditional gaming without being too unfamiliar in control or setup.
Although true, touch controllers are still the main control method for most games.
Pro Comfortable fit and easy setup
The Oculus Rift is designed with user comfort in mind, featuring adjustable straps and built-in headphones for a snug and secure fit. Setting up the headset is also straightforward, with clear instructions, making it accessible to users of all skill levels.
Pro Vast library of games and experiences
The Oculus Rift offers a wide range of games and experiences to suit different preferences, from action-packed first-person shooters to captivating puzzle games. With a diverse and constantly expanding library of content, there's always something new and exciting to try, keeping players entertained for hours on end.
Pro Immersive gaming experience
The Oculus Rift provides an unparalleled level of immersion, with stunning visuals, 360-degree tracking, and intuitive controls. The realistic graphics and vibrant colors transport players to another world, making them feel like they are truly inside the game.
Pro Ability to control and improve ones VR viewing with a built-in latency tester
Being able to test for latency and adjust accordingly can help improve the experience of play. This tester uses a real-time microsecond precision measurement of motion-to-photon latency, which can help optimize the latency being experienced in order to cut down on delays of movement to visual interpretation. Basically as you move your head to look around, there will be a delay of information as it has to first be transmitted to the PC that you moved, then the correct info has to be sent back to the display in order to show this movement in an accurate and believable way. The longer the delay the less real the VR experience with a side effect of causing motion sickness. Having a tool to adjust this can be beneficial in getting as close to a real world VR viewing experience.
Pro Works natively with Windows 10
Windows 10 supports streaming of XBox One games to any Windows 10 PC. With the native Oculus support built in, this means the user can also stream XBox One games to the Rift as well. While VR will not be supported in those games due to the fact they were not made for it, you can still experience those games on the Rift screen making for a large viewing area thanks to how close the screens are to ones eyes.
Pro Freedom to use any up to spec PC components
This device is driven by any desktop PC, providing it run the Oculus SDK. This hardware agnosticism makes is positive because of the freedom it provides to both consumer and developer. No matter the PC components being used, as long as they are up to the Rifts specs, the device will work.
Cons
Con Comfort and cable management
While the HTC Vive is generally comfortable to wear, some users may experience discomfort during longer gaming sessions. The weight of the headset and the pressure on the face can cause discomfort or fatigue over time. Additionally, the cables connecting the headset to the PC can be cumbersome and may require careful management to avoid tangling, which can be a minor inconvenience during gameplay.
Con Quite expensive
With a price tag of $599, the HTC Vive is the most expensive virtual reality headset currently on the market. While it does offer more with included controllers and tracking cameras, the cost is higher because of it.
Con Bulky cable can inhibit movement
The cable that is used to connect the HTC Vive to your pc and other Vive peripherals is quite bulky, which may also cause some tripping incidents.
Con High specs for required minimum PC equipment is a barrier to entry
HTC suggests at least nVidia GTX 970 or AMD R9 290 for your graphics card, and an Intel i5-4590 or AMD FX 8350 or higher for CPU. If you need to upgrade computer components to be VR ready, the cost will be even higher than the Vive's $800 price-tag...making the barrier to entry extremely high.
Con Works best in large clear areas
While the device can be used in small confined areas, the best experience is going to be in a large empty room, which allows for one to have the room needed to walk around freely.
Con The resolution (2160x1200) has not justified the price worth
Con Dropped GNU/Linux and OSX support
After Facebook partnered with Microsoft, Oculus dropped support for both GNU/Linux and OSX operating systems. While they are small markets, it is sad to see a company with enough funds to support them decide that they are not worth the support at this time.
Con Exclusive games for the Rift
Could be seen as a pro but this could be bad for the whole VR market because it could turn into console wars for VR, instead of a brand of monitor like it should be. Imagine Asus monitor exclusives. Timed exclusives as well as Rift platform exclusives that never leave the ecosystem leaves other players with other headsets out, something that has not been an issue for PC games (only PC games, not console to PC games obviously) before this, which is one of the major reason enjoy PC gaming.
Con Limited game availability due to a proprietary store
You can only officially get software and games from their official store. This can limit competition for pricing and availability, thus artificially creating scarcity for their platform.
You can purchase games from Steam as well, but the games purchased in each store can't be seen in the other. Why fragment the market and user experience?
This is something already seen on digital stores that lock content to one platform such as Nintendo's, Sony's, and Microsoft's. Through limiting competition on where you can purchase digital goods, prices tend to never fall that much, seeing years old games that still sell at full release prices more often than one would think.
While it is still early to know for sure what route Facebook will take, keeping titles expensive for long swaths of time or allowing prices to degrade in a natural fashion due to age, their current track record for honesty in their endeavours leans more towards locked down expensive content.
Con The installer requires SSE 4.2 on your CPU to be able to install but this is not mentioned anywhere in the specs
Con Potential for motion sickness
While the Oculus Rift's tracking is generally smooth and responsive, some users may experience motion sickness or discomfort, particularly during intense or fast-paced games. This can be a downside for those who are prone to motion sickness, and it's important to be aware of this potential issue before purchasing the headset.
Con Requires high end computer components
Video card requirements: nVidia GTX 970 or AMD R9 290 (or greater)
CPU: Intel i5-4590 (or greater)
RAM: 8GB (or greater)
These specs will limit the number of users that will be able to use the Rift, as a compatible computer may add to the already high $600 price tag.
For a totally smooth experience an nVidia GTX 1070 or an AMD R9 Fury would be recommended. $400USD+ cards!