I don't see how this will excite the mainstream with its affordable price when you still need an enthusiast GPU to run it. I don't see why this would be any more attractive than the sub £400 original Rift, there's not a whole new market waiting for it.
Constellation is dead, as it should be. It should all be about inside out tracking from here on out. Facebook won't step backwards and won't acknowledge that constellation is superior to their inside-out tracking even if others prove that it is. Do we know whether there are IR LEDs on board the Rift S? I bet there ain't.
the touch controlers use constellation and there is no technical reason why they could not support the cv1 sensors and it may happen... it depends on demand.The HMD does not have them, but it does not need them... Nate confirmed this. he admitted that in 2 cases which he said oculus decided were fair compromises, the tracking of rift s touch was not as good as cv1 - when right behind your back or some contortion, and when right up close to your face.
BUT he said the hmd tracking was rock solid and without the issues of chairs etc blocking tracking that cv1 has.
i think the win for mainstream is the simplicity. you plug it in put it on, draw a box round you and you are good to go anywhere. That and the visual quality is improved.
for me it is the FOV which is the biggest killer. the rest i think i can forgive.
Nate Mitchell confirmed in his Tested interview that the Rift S and Quest Touch controllers have IR LEDs and that they'll look into adding sensor support to improve tracking if there's enough demand for it.
I get that constellation effectively still exists for the controllers. The cameras simply moved onto the HMD.
But no IR LEDs on the HMD? It's the HMD that needs accurate tracking, much less tracking tolerance can be forgiven for the controllers. Oculus are never gonna support external sensors only for the controllers.
Tech Radar have published a good write up...
Oculus Rift S hands on review | TechRadar
When I first read the specs I was a little disappointed, but then I read them again and was actually quite excited about it.
It may not be what everyone was hoping for, but it also has more than what some were thinking it would have.
It still looks like a quality product and FAR better than some other more recent released models.
The only thing I still cant find is the FOV, what is it?
A small single screen doesn't necessarily mean it will be 'small' though. Ok, it will be more limited than a double screen, but that also has its issues, quality of the image should win every time, over size of the image. Having said that, I would still like a better FOV than what the CV1 has, but not bothered if its only marginal.
Would I upgrade? Not sure.... yet.
My thinking is if I can sell my CV1 for roughly half the price of the new one then its maybe worth while but not going to rush out and buy one quite yet as I am still happy with my CV1.
So I wonder who is going to go after “high end” VR? Isn’t steam presenting something today?
Rift S certainly isn’t the groundbreaking headset everyone was wanting, but it’s caught more media attention than anything else in VR news in the last year.
MRTV meets VR 365
When the dust settles RiftS is going to go down the list of VR HMDs to pick.
Rift S is in the WMR camp. The thing is it’s not even as good as the best WMR HMD. It’s not the cheapest at one end and doesn’t have the 2k per eye as the HP HMD. Cosmos will have everything the OLED, the resolution and the tracking with two extra side cameras.
Unless Valve suprise everyone with a Wide FOV today HTC is in a good place IMO.
Or go for the Pimax and wait for the Base Stations, Headstrap and Knuckles.
In the impulse purchase VR market it’s going to come down to marketing.
Sales will dictate the leader and not specs.
If it drives millions more into VR, then it’s job done and better for all of us.