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Playstation VR GDC Presentation: March 15th

Tech wise it's just a more refined DK2, with the benefit of better manufacturing process to reduce cost.
'Tech-wise' all the gen 1 VR hmd's are a 'refined DK2' (with maybe HTC's Lighthouse system and pass-through-camera being the exception) as far as key components go.

But remember: The DK2 had a 75hz, pentile oled screen.
PSVR has 120hz RGB oled w/global refresh, Oculus Rift/Vive have 90hz pentile oled w/global refresh & higher resolution.
And way better optics (very important), ergonomics, lower latency...
It's refinements but they are pretty significant.

Eye-tracking (capable of tracking saccadic eye movements) is the next step up but that's ~2018 material.
 
Definitely would be nice to put the price arguments to bed.

I don't see anything in build of materials that is costly EXCEPT for the custom screen they're putting in the thing, and the little box that helps process audio and de-warping the image to send to the TV. But that box is NOT some special second GPU, it's probably more akin to their TV tuner add on for PS3, something along those lines of complexity and expense (i.e. like £50). The rest of the device is not expensive. The on board motion gyros are high end compared to what's in phones and then.. there's nothing else to add much expense on. Positional tracking basically comes for free as the camera was designed in advance, all the headset needs is the few LED's positioned around. You need the materials to build the headset, which is mostly plastic and some fabric. The lenses are probably the only thing left really, and I can't see two pieces of glass mass produced by a company with experience of making cameras costing the earth to them either.

Yeah £250 to £300 I expect here in the UK. Have camera and Moves already and would much rather a standalone headset for me that bumps £50 off the price versus a full starter kit SKU for those without those.
 
The most important thing is the quality and the number of games/media that there will available at launch for the PS VR. Not the price.
 
I can't wait for the price reveal, GAF meltdown is imminent.

Price will be $499 IMO.
If you mean headset alone, considering all that is included with the Rift at $599, that would make the PSVR more expensive at a lower spec level.
Not happening.
 
Do you think they've had the price nailed down for a while, or do you think they might be making adjustments after the announcements of both the Rift and Vive prices?
Why would they make any adjustments if they are in different market segments? You can't use the Rift or the Vive without a rather expensive PC with GTX 970 as the baseline GPU while the PSVR only works with the PS4.
 
The most important thing is the quality and the number of games/media that there will available for the PS VR. Not the price.

At launch? That's anyone's guess, depending on when launch actually is, but for PSVR likely to be 10-30 based on the announcements to date. The only official quote I've seen is from Kaz who said that there are currently over 200 developers working on over 100 games. There's a list of over 60 here and 80 on other sites. As for quality? Well that's obviously going to vary.
 
But that box is NOT some special second GPU, it's probably more akin to their TV tuner add on for PS3, something along those lines of complexity and expense
It has actually been described as having a good kick performance-wise. It needs active cooling.
 
'Tech-wise' all the gen 1 VR solutions are a 'refined DK2' (with maybe HTC's Lighthouse system and pass-through-camera being the exception) as far as key components go.

But remember: The DK2 had 75hz, pentile oled.
PSVR has 120hz RGB oled w/global refresh, Oculus Rift/Vive have 90hz pentile oled w/global refresh & higher resolution.
And way better optics (very important), ergonomics, lower latency...
It's refinements but they are pretty significant.

Fundamental difference between Vive/CV1 and DK2 is the dual screen display, which correspondingly requires a mechanical jig so you get adjustable IPD and more internal electronics.

I'm not saying the PSVR isn't much better than the DK2, by all accounts it should be much MUCH better. But fundamentally there is no significant departure design wise from the DK2. Again none of this is a bad thing, it's just DK2 but with every component improved. Keeps costs down and provides a good experience.

As for the other points you mentioned. Yup the screen is the biggest difference, single 1080p both, but pentile vs RGB and 75Hz vs 120Hz. I can't find a single source which cites global refresh though so can you link me?

Better optics. Umm you can't really define that. With the screens being so drastically different I'm not sure how we can say PSVR has much better optics when there's effectively no objective details known about it.

Ergonomics absolutely better. But that's expected from a consumer product when compared to a devkit.

Lower latency, in what stage? Just generally lower motion-to-photon latency? Again I don't know of a source which says this, especially considering with new runtimes the DK2 motion-to-photon latency was reportedly sub 20ms which is already very good.
 
THAT'S WHAT I WAITED FOR

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It has actually been described as having a good kick performance-wise. It needs active cooling.

Yep. Let's not forget the PU does also power the headset itself. Think of it as a power brick with processors inside (which need power as well).
 
It has actually been described as having a good kick performance-wise. It needs active cooling.

It powers the headset. I can 100% guarantee you the cooling is there to dissipate the heat generated by the regulator used to convert the 12V into 3.3V and not because there's any processing chips in there which require active cooling.
 
A presser dedicated entirely to PSVR means that they won't spend as much time plugging it at E3. This can only be a good thing.
Well, a presser at a developer event only means Sony has information relevant to developers - be they large scale, or independent. E3 is a media event focused on consumer products, so I suspect Sony will take time to plug their brand new, several hundred dollar, cutting edge peripheral.
 
Fundamental difference between Vive/CV1 and DK2 is the dual screen display, which correspondingly requires a mechanical jig so you get adjustable IPD and more internal electronics.

I'm not saying the PSVR isn't much better than the DK2, by all accounts it should be much MUCH better. But fundamentally there is no significant departure design wise from the DK2. Again none of this is a bad thing, it's just DK2 but with every component improved. Keeps costs down and provides a good experience.

As for the other points you mentioned. Yup the screen is the biggest difference, single 1080p both, but pentile vs RGB and 75Hz vs 120Hz. I can't find a single source which cites global refresh though so can you link me?

Better optics. Umm you can't really define that. With the screens being so drastically different I'm not sure how we can say PSVR has much better optics when there's effectively no objective details known about it.

Ergonomics absolutely better. But that's expected from a consumer product when compared to a devkit.

Lower latency, in what stage? Just generally lower motion-to-photon latency? Again I don't know of a source which says this, especially considering with new runtimes the DK2 motion-to-photon latency was reportedly sub 20ms which is already very good.


-mechanical jig for IPD is probably a relatively small cost. Sony had one in their HMZ headsets and they aren't that complex (I disassembled mine for modding as did lots of people)

- better optics because it is a similar resolution as DK2 but impressions report larger sweet spot clarity and less screen door (the latter partly down to the screen used though)

Two small screens for the OR/Vive probably aren't much more expensive than the PSVR - smaller screens are cheaper which is countered by there being two of them.

Also add in a decent head mount solution which also supports adjusting the distance from the face to screen for glasses wearers and allows you to flip up the screen to eg check surroundings. That is a lot more complex than the DK2 strap

Overall I'm sure it is cheaper and simpler than Vive or OR, but I thin it's closer to them than it is to the Dk2
 
People adding camera as separate. I'm confused, is the camera not integral to the system?

If not, then what does the camera do anyways?
 
People adding camera as separate. I'm confused, is the camera not integral to the system?

If not, then what does the camera do anyways?
It's required, some people who already bought a camera are just hoping against hope that Sony will release a cheaper package without the camera so that they can save a few bucks and not end up with an extra camera gathering dust. It's not much hope to go on, though, because only like 1 out of 36 PS4 owners have a camera, which isn't a large enough crowd to make it worth the money and confusion from selling multiple packages.
 
People actually think it will be $299?

Wow.
I think the idea it that costing as much as or more than the actual console hardware would be incredibly awkward. Akin to buying a graphics card for your new PC that cost more than the rest of the rig combined. Yeah, it happens, but it's not something the average consumer is going to jump on. The retail optics would be terrible.

Starting at $350 for headset only would be the absolute most conservative thing I can picture. $400 camera bundle, Move controllers are back separately. Source being Tales From My Ass of course, but Sony has mostly been logic-minded when it comes to prices this gen so I have some faith they won't screw this up.
 
It's required, some people who already bought a camera are just hoping against hope that Sony will release a cheaper package without the camera so that they can save a few bucks and not end up with an extra camera gathering dust. It's not much hope to go on, though, because only like 1 out of 36 PS4 owners have a camera, which isn't a large enough crowd to make it worth the money and confusion from selling multiple packages.

Citation?

As of March 2014 it was roughly 1 in 6 that owned the camera. Has the camera really sold that poorly since then?
 
It's required, some people who already bought a camera are just hoping against hope that Sony will release a cheaper package without the camera so that they can save a few bucks and not end up with an extra camera gathering dust. It's not much hope to go on, though, because only like 1 out of 36 PS4 owners have a camera, which isn't a large enough crowd to make it worth the money and confusion from selling multiple packages.

Last I read Sony Camera is like a 15 % adoption rate initially, so I would guess more like 5-10 % currently. I bet there are 3-4 million camera owners.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/ps4-camera-sales-near-1m-with-a-15-adoption-rate

If PSVR sold 4 million in year 1 Sony would be OK with that if price was high, for £ 300 they would be expecting 10 million imo
 
every psvr thread turns into a price prediction thread.

it doesn't matter, whatever the price will be it will be. i just can't wait to get a date and confirmation.
 
It's required, some people who already bought a camera are just hoping against hope that Sony will release a cheaper package without the camera so that they can save a few bucks and not end up with an extra camera gathering dust. It's not much hope to go on, though, because only like 1 out of 36 PS4 owners have a camera, which isn't a large enough crowd to make it worth the money and confusion from selling multiple packages.

I hope they have a customize-your-own-package kind of thing online similar to how you can customize PCs/laptops/phones. So, for those of us already with a lot of the accessories, allow us the option to buy a VR headset separately. It would be as if we were purchasing a replacement part.
 
-mechanical jig for IPD is probably a relatively small cost. Sony had one in their HMZ headsets and they aren't that complex (I disassembled mine for modding as did lots of people)

- better optics because it is a similar resolution as DK2 but impressions report larger sweet spot clarity and less screen door (the latter partly down to the screen used though)

Two small screens for the OR/Vive probably aren't much more expensive than the PSVR - smaller screens are cheaper which is countered by there being two of them.

Also add in a decent head mount solution which also supports adjusting the distance from the face to screen for glasses wearers and allows you to flip up the screen to eg check surroundings. That is a lot more complex than the DK2 strap

Overall I'm sure it is cheaper and simpler than Vive or OR, but I thin it's closer to them than it is to the Dk2

It's not always about pure cost of the part, things like the mechanical jig for IPD adjustment add a not insignificant amount of time in the assembly process which feeds into the COGS of the unit more than I think a lot of GAF-fers realise. Two screens are definitely a fairly significant extra cost, 25% extra pure pixel cost, splitting into two costs more than a single display with equivalent dimensions/res, reduces yields in manufacturing.

I think the PSVR headset in terms of pure cost would be smack bang in the middle of CV1 and DK2. But larger scale production and more mature manufacturing processes lets Sony cut the costs down.
 
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