My Oculus Rift CV1 Review

[xgibbousx]

I just got my CV1 last night. I didn't want to wait 3-4 months to get one so I picked up a brand new one off of Craigslist for $900.00 (pretty good deal considering they can easily go for twice that on Ebay). Just had to drive 15 minutes down the street and done. Then I ran to Best Buy and got an Nvidia GTX 980 for $500.00 to go with it. I found the Craigslist post at 7:00 PM and was home by 8:00 PM with both the Rift and GTX 980 in hand.

 

First off, I have to say that this thing is not some gimmick, fad, novelty, etc. I've been literally blown away from the first moment turning it on until writing this post. It is truly revolutionary and amazing. I've had visions of my life going to waste as I spend endless hours neglecting real life and immerse myself in this virtual world.

 

I quickly realized last night that you need to have your normal monitor and Oculus Rift plugged into your video card at the same time in order to play 3rd party software like DCS (you also need to enable 3rd party apps in the Oculus Home settings). The video card I got only has one HDMI port and three Display Ports but both devices require one HDMI port each. Therefore, I was only able to have one device plugged into my video card at a time. Because the Rift was the only thing plugged into the video card, I was only able to play around with the Oculus Home stuff last night which was still truly amazing and oriented me very well.

 

The Oculus Home demos (e.g. Dreamdeck, Lucky's Tale, Invasion, Lost, and the home screens) showed me what it means to have stereoscopic 3D and full environment immersion combined. I wasn't expecting how incredible this experience would be. The other thing that blew me away were the cheesy looking headphones on the Rift. They actually sound incredible and fully complete the immersion factor. I also like the XBox controller and realize how well the entire package was put together.

 

I woke up early in the morning and went out and bought a Display Port to HDMI adapter from Fry's Electronics. This allowed me to have both my monitor and Rift plugged into my video card at the same time to get things like Steam VR and DCS running. I finally got DCS running and have to say that I wasn't prepared for what I was about to experience.

 

The first thing I played with was the full-scale Su-27 in the hangar at startup. It's literally life size. I was even able to move around it quite a bit and check out the engine intakes and landing gear wells. I kept saying "Oh my God" over and over again with a massive grin on my face.

 

Next, I did the F-15 cold start Instant Action mission. This just floored me. The cockpit looks and feels completely real. You actually see/feel the full scale of the jet. You actually feel like you are sitting in it. I literally just sat there in awe and looked around the cockpit for about 15 minutes. Just admiring the knobs, gauges, instruments, scenery, and other aircraft. I was peeking around corners, around the seat, over the side, over the nose, and over the wings.

 

Then I started the damn thing up, taxied, and took off. Every part of that was done slowly and savored. I was going so slow and in such admiration that it took me 10 minutes just to taxi out. I enjoyed every second of it (I usually try to get out to the runway as quickly as possible). I could go on and on about this. There was a sense of exhilaration and speed that I've obviously never experienced before in a flight sim. It's amazing how easy landing and flaring is with depth perception!

 

All in all I would give the experience 10/10. I am now downloading a bunch of other games to try out like Climb, Elite Dangerous, and Project Cars. I would recommend this product to anybody and I'm glad that I've had the pleasure of experiencing it early on.

 

Feel free to ask questions and I will be happy to answer them.

Edited May 2, 2016 by xgibbousx

[DerekSpeare]

I literally just sat there in awe and looked around the cockpit for about 15 minutes. Just admiring the knobs, gauges, instruments, scenery, and other aircraft. I was peeking around corners, around the seat, over the side, over the nose, and over the wings.

 

Yep...pretty much sums up my first experience, too...welcome to the VR party!

 

:thumbup: :beer: :thumbsup:

 

(and we do need a VR emojii)

[hannibal]

im excited for you sir. i hope to join both of you guys in june/july

[_Acoustic_]

Nice write up, can't wait to have this experience! My original ship date of March was pushed to May 2-12 so I'm hoping for an email tomorrow!

 

With your updated gpu, did you drop every setting to nothing and adjust from there or did you just jump in?

[xgibbousx]

Nice write up, can't wait to have this experience! My original ship date of March was pushed to May 2-12 so I'm hoping for an email tomorrow!

 

With your updated gpu, did you drop every setting to nothing and adjust from there or did you just jump in?

 

Just jumped in with my original settings at high/medium. I saw the "jitter" that people are talking about (where the in-game frame rate doesn't match the 90 Hz refresh rate of the screens) but it was still insanely immersive for me.

 

I went down to low settings and it removed some of the jitter but it was still present to some degree. I figured the reduction in jitter wasn't worth the reduction in visual fidelity so I put my settings back. I might try to do some performance tweaks later though.

[Vivoune]

(and we do need a VR emojii)

 

Indeed! []°

 

Thanks for the write up xgibbousx, I really beleive we're at the verge of a revolution in our hobby. Will you still play on your screen to do missions or mp now?

 

And by the way, any time enjoyed being wasted isn't wasted time! ^^

[BigDuke6ixx]

First off, I have to say that this thing is not some gimmick, fad, novelty, etc.

 

Never a truer word spoken. Funny how people throw the word 'gimmick' at VR....and then do back to their funny looking cockpits with a monitor or three for the tiny winy outside view.

[SkateZilla]

Indeed! []°

 

Thanks for the write up xgibbousx, I really beleive we're at the verge of a revolution in our hobby. Will you still play on your screen to do missions or mp now?

 

And by the way, any time enjoyed being wasted isn't wasted time! ^^

 

[Vivoune]

 

Ah perfect, discrete and subtle smiley! :lol:

[xgibbousx]

Indeed! []°

 

Thanks for the write up xgibbousx, I really beleive we're at the verge of a revolution in our hobby. Will you still play on your screen to do missions or mp now?

 

And by the way, any time enjoyed being wasted isn't wasted time! ^^

 

I will never play on a screen again. I was able to successfully complete the A-10 Weapons Practice instant action mission yesterday without issue in the Oculus. Therefore, I should be able to handle any other missions including MP.

 

The biggest "problem" with the Oculus is that the resolution still needs to go up a lot. There is still a general blurriness factor evident especially with distant objects. However, I believe we are at the threshold of what would be considered acceptable blurriness given the sense of immersion. This means that most people (probably 75%) can spend 100% of their time simming in the Oculus at its current resolution. I see the resolution being the main selling point with Oculus versions moving forward in the future.

Edited May 2, 2016 by xgibbousx

[SDsc0rch]

great write-up - thx! rep inbound : )

 

i'm curious about the HDMI/DP2 arrangement.. can you have OR on HDMI and your monitor on DP2?

[xgibbousx]

great write-up - thx! rep inbound : )

 

i'm curious about the HDMI/DP2 arrangement.. can you have OR on HDMI and your monitor on DP2?

 

Yes, I have the OR running directly into the HDMI on my video card.

 

I also have my monitor running into a DP2 on my video card through an HDMI to DP2 converter.

[greenhut]

My CV1 rift arrived yesterday. Agree it is a revolutionary experience. Not perfect (resolution, focus, screen door), but amazing (immersion responsiveness, and more).

 

After the standard demos, I fired up the A-10, and sat on pause marvelling at the cockpit in 3d. Just amazing.

[xgibbousx]

My CV1 rift arrived yesterday. Agree it is a revolutionary experience. Not perfect (resolution, focus, screen door), but amazing (immersion responsiveness, and more).

 

After the standard demos, I fired up the A-10, and sat on pause marvelling at the cockpit in 3d. Just amazing.

 

Every time I hop into the cockpit I am totally amazed even after a dozen flights. It just never gets old.

 

Yeah, the resolution still needs to be greatly improved. I'm already excited to see what the next iteration produces. I wonder what kinds of tech they are working on.

[SFJackBauer]

xgibbousx, tip:

 

Put the Rift, choose your favorite aircraft, eject and walk around it.

[Purg]

Had my Rift for a few days. First thing I loaded after the Home demo was DCW2 and the Mirage. It just blew my mind. I have a GTX780 and at times my frames drop into the 40's but you wouldn't know it from the cockpit. The head tracking is so smooth.

 

I've since jumped in a few more pits, you notice all those little things you never did before that just adds to the experience. The textures pop, the switches look like actual switches. Even the ADI in the A-10C, the ball is 3D, you can see the gap in the internal housing where it sits.

[Insonia]

Can you read the dial, indicator and targat(without tags) clearly?

[j0nx]

Cool writeup. Can't wait for mine when oculus sees fit to remove their head from their rear end and actually ship it to me later this month...

 

I've been playing in 3D surround for years and have a Gear VR so I may not be as blown away as you but still looking forward to it. I'll have to dig up my HDMI to DVI adapter for my single monitor that I plan on using for the rift.

[xgibbousx]

Can you read the dial, indicator and targat(without tags) clearly?

 

You still have to lean in to see small text clearly. There is still a ways to go before we get to high-clarity resolutions (probably the CV3 or CV4).

[Swoodle]

(probably the CV3 or CV4).

 

Probably CV2 which we won't see for years. If mobile phones are starting to use 4k screen then VR will adapt the same, however like I said years.

[xgibbousx]

Probably CV2 which we won't see for years. If mobile phones are starting to use 4k screen then VR will adapt the same, however like I said years.

 

Yeah, it could definitely be with the CV2 if it takes some years to come out.

 

Here's a really interesting read:

 

http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4123

 

It's Palmer Luckey's (the creator of Oculus Rift) first post on the MTBS3D forums. If you read through everything, you can experience how something like the Oculus Rift actually comes to life from the roots.

 

He's basically looking for some kind of immersive 3D experience back in 2009. He's interested in either a 3D monitor setup or an HMD. People guide him in the right direction and he gets introduced to stereo 3D HMD's (LEEP 3D).

 

He hangs around on the MTBS3D forums for a while modding other people's HMD's and finally decides to start creating his own. This ultimately results in the Oculus Rift.