The present reality of Virtual Reality

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/technology/mark-zuckerberg-oculus-trial-virtual-reality-facebook.html

 

Oculus (Facebook) has been sued for patent infringement.

 

And the market for VR still has the same old issues like high cost, etc.:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/08/business/sticker-shock-and-maybe-nausea-hamper-sales-of-virtual-reality-gear.html

[Paraffin 2,197]

Well, it's still early days. I wouldn't bet against wider adoption eventually. Imagine the consumer market if the resolution was twice as high, the headsets go wireless, and the cost is reduced by half. That will probably happen before long.There are enough non-gaming professional applications in manufacturing, design, etc. to keep the hardware companies afloat and continuing to improve the tech.

 

Personally, I'm waiting for the 2nd generation with at least a little boost in resolution before jumping in. I know the 3D immersion overrides noticing the screen door effect for many users, but I need it to be a little closer to what I see on a monitor before I'll spend the money.

 

I'll also need enough games and sims that I care about, that can take advantage of it. The way I fly civilian flight sims isn't an ideal application for VR, with 1-2 hour long flights in FSEconomy. I can't imagine having the box on my head continuously for a 2 hour flight. It would probably just be for takeoff and landing, the way I use TrackIR now. Even then, I'm not sure how well it works to be jumping back and forth between the immersive 3D world and the flat monitor during cruise. TrackIR isn't such a drastic shift in perspective.

 

That said, I'm sure it's a blast to use it for something like a short 30 minute helicopter flight. So I'll buy in eventually when the tech is good enough.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

I think another 6 months to a year will see a vast improvement in both headsets and software.  The headsets will all be wireless, smaller and cost less. They will have higher resolution. They may have some internal  "smarts" to make up for deficiencies in the video system of the connected computer. As  Sunny Dhillon was quoted in the second article, VR is only experiencing a temporary “trough of disillusionment". For any new consumer technology there's a big jump between proof of concept and a viable market.