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VAMatt on 22 March 2021
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Peh said:
VAMatt said:

I'm glad to hear that they're sticking with VR. But, the whole industry really needs to get rid of cables tethering the headset to the console/PC. That cable, IMO, the single biggest drawback of the current VR headsets.

That's not easy to solve, though.

With higher res and higher framerate you cause higher datarates. A cable can deliver it, wireless is a different story. 

We got WiGig (60Ghz) for the Vive Family for Wireless PC VR. That is based on the Wi-fi Network protocol. But works only for a few meters and still does not reach the bandwidth of a cable. AFAIK, HTC is still the only one who is doing that. 

The alternative are standalone HMD's, which can't compete with PC VR quality for obvious reasons. 

So, we are running in an issue here. People demand higher resolution, higher framerate, better graphics and wireless with best tracking running on potato hardware (Hyperbole). That's simply not possible by today's technology.

Yes, I agree.  That is the fundamental problem faced by VR, and (I think) the biggest hurdle remaining.  

I've used every major tethered VR headset excluding the Index.  I own PSVR and I owned Gear VR.  IMO, Gear VR was the overall best experience because of the relatively higher level of immersion possible without a cable.  There are much better looking games on the tethered headsets. Many of the games are much better in many other ways as well.  But, you simply cannot forget about the cable(s) in most games.  You must pay attention to them, otherwise you'll get wrapped up.  So, either you're consciously thinking about cables, or you're ignoring them for a minute until you get wrapped up and have to stop playing to untangle. Either way is extremely immersion breaking.  

I have not used in Oculus Quest, nor have I used the wireless accessory for Vive.  I hear very good things about the latest Quest.  My buddy, who has been messing around with VR since the early days of Rift DK2 (that's when I first was exposed as well), and is much more of a VR enthusiast than I am, speaks highly of it.  So, I think I may take the plunge this year. 

I haven't been doing much with VR lately, because I kind of lost interest after a couple of years when I finally accepted the reality that the necessary levels of immersion just weren't really possible yet in high rez, cutting edge games.