Buying a full-on PC/console tethered VR headset is an expensive proposition. If you are like me then you need to be really sure you are going to get your money's worth when you drop several hundred pounds on a full-scale VR system. And there are plenty of options out there, some of them quite cheap.
So this article attempts to answer the question "Why drop several hundred on a full-on VR system when you can get much cheaper VR solutions?"
First, you need to understand today's VR market. You can categorise the market in several ways.
Is it VR/AR/MR?
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| An example of Augmented Reality - virtual on top of real. |
really means a completely artificial world. Everything you are seeing is being drawn by a computer. AR (Augmented Reality) means that a computer is drawing artificial objects on top of a view of the real world. The most widely known example of AR is Pokemon Go, which had millions of people across the world wandering around the streets with their smartphones (and occasionally walking into traffic). People were chasing Pokemon that were drawn on their phone screens over a camera view of the world.
You have MR (Mixed Reality) as well. Technically, MR consists of Augmented Reality (Artificial objects overlayed onto the real world) and Augmented Virtuality (Real world objects that can interact with a virtual world). If you brain is starting to explode then I invite you to forget the term Mixed Reality because of the next question.
Is it available today?
There are loads of VR/AR/MR technologies out there that are still in development. Microsoft, Intel and other companies are all working on their own versions. The future is exciting, but it is also full of marketing, pipe dreams and frankly, wishful thinking. If you are interested in what you can buy today, then you can buy VR and that is about it.
Mobile vs Tethered VR
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| Google Cardboard - Ultra cheap |
Today, the definition of "mobile" goes a bit deeper as well, because it currently literally means VR on your mobile phone, which you then turn into a VR headset with a headset accessory you put your mobile into.
So to summarise what is available?
Mobile-phone based VR and full-on "tethered" VR, it really is that simple.
So how do the 2 types compare?
There are several major points of comparison between mobile and tethered VR.
| Mobile VR | Tethered VR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display Resolution | Similar to 1080p | Similar to 1080p | ||
| Effective Resolution | 720p | 720p | ||
| Field of View | A little restricted | High | ||
| Refresh Rate | Moderate | High | ||
| Relative Cost | Inexpensive | Really expensive | ||
| Quality of Experience | Okay | Good | ||
| Feeling of Immersion | Poor | Excellent |
Let me explain these ratings:
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| Samsung Gear VR - A controller doesn't improve mobile VR. |
- Display Resolution - Both mobile and tethered VRs have similar pixel resolutions on the displays, a little higher than what you would get on a full HD TV, but of course on a very small display.
- Effective Resolution - The problem with these displays is that they are centimetres from your eyeballs. When viewing VR worlds, the actual resolution appears more like 720p i.e. if you watch a movie on a virtual screen in the game and have it a large but comfortable size, it will be around 720p. The effective resolution is probably the single most obvious limitation of today's VR technology.
- Field of View - This means how much to the left/right and up/down can you see. Mobile VRs have quite restrictive lenses on them, which means it feels like you are looking through a small tunnel. Tethered VR doesn't have this problem and has a very natural feeling Field of View.
- Refresh Rate - Basically, mobile is 60Hz and tethered is 90Hz. The human body is much more sensitive to refresh rate in VR than it is on a display like a TV screen or a monitor. In particular, research suggests low refresh rates are a key trigger of motion sickness and immersion breaking, so a high refresh rate is essential for the "feels like you are really there and not about to be sick" experience.
- Relative Cost - The cheapest mobile VR solution is Google Cardboard, which costs a few pounds/dollars. That's assuming you already have the right mobile phone of course, but most people have something that will work (Samsung or iPhone). There's no escaping that tethered VR costs a lot, always several hundred even for the cheapest solutions like PSVR, and that doesn't even include the PC or console itself.
- Quality of Experience - This is very subjective of course, but personally I think that mobile VR is quite limited an experience. The 360 videos are okay but you can only have so much fun with that. The interactive VR experiences are okay but again, I got bored of them quickly. Probably the most mileage I got was turning my phone into a 3D cinema, but the drawback with that is the movies are quite low resolution once you cram them into the right format. Tethered VR is much better across the board, in particular the head tracking is way way better on tethered VR for better immersion and the technology allows for much deeper experiences as well then stupid rollercoaster or just plodding around underwater. See the Everest VR experience, for example.
- Feeling of Immersion - In my opinion, it's just not there on mobile, not on anything I tested anyway and I've tried both iPhone and Samsung based tech. It's fun, and you might like it if it is all you've tried, but tethered VR competely craps on mobile VR for immersion. When you try tethered VR it will be the first time you really feel you are there, to walk around objects, look at them and feel like you are completely there in the virtual world, to be able to judge distance, speed of objects, depth all the same as in the real world.
Why drop several hundred on a full-on VR system when you can get much cheaper VR solutions?
Because, quite frankly, mobile VR is rubbish today. I tried it for a few months before I bought the HTC Vive and I have not used it since buying the Vive. You might argue that mobile VR has progressed a lot in the last several months or last year, I'm sorry, but I don't believe it has caught up. What's more, over the next year, maybe mobile VR will progress a lot more still, but tethered VR will have moved ahead.
Mobile VR is great if you just want to spend a few pounds or dollars on something fun, view a few 3D movies, try the rollercoaster or underwater apps. But the whole tech is limited by the fact that you are doing all this on a phone - limited battery, limited processing power, limited experience.
Tethered VR is not perfect, but the limitations there are real bleeding edge technology limitations. You're not hampered by processing power, your limited with how many pixels you can cram onto a really small display. You're not hampered by battery, you're hampered by a physical cable you have to drag around with you. You're not hampered by the technology having to trade off processing power vs battery life, you're hampered by the fact that the technology that drives the unit (i.e. your PC) costs a lot on top of the VR headset (unless you are lucky like me an just happened to have a VR capable PC).
With mobile VR, you're limited by problems inherent with it being mobile-tech based on mobile phones. With tethered VR, you are limited by the forefront of the technology.
If you are serious about VR, you'll buy a tethered unit. The different is night and day!
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