What it's like to spend 40-50 hours in VR every week • Hacker News Board

Re: What it's like to spend 40-50 hours in VR every week

#31

Post by caslon » Tue, Sep 28, 2021, 1:49 AM UTC

Ancapistani wrote: post #19

caslon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's... complicated. It works, but there's a near-certain chance you'll eventually burn the display through the lenses if you do it wrong. It's the same reason you shouldn't leave any VR headset laying beside a window without a cover. The tracking is fine, but you'll probably end up re-buying a headset on a monthly basis if doing it.

FWIW, I fly FPV and am aware of this issue but haven’t had a problem with it. I probably average about 4-6 hours per week outdoors in sunlight with my Skyzone 04X. It has dual OLED screens and a very similar (if smaller) form factor to my Quest 2. I’d say it’s more a “be aware of this and be careful” problem than a “you’re going to break it once a month” problem.

To be fair, FPV equipment has always been made largely for outdoor use, hasn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if they found some way to mitigate it.

The Q2 without a non-OEM facial interface isn't exactly tuned as well for outdoor conditions (then again, Facebook just put out a new one) as most FPV hardware is.

By the way, do you know the vendor of the panels in Skyzone hardware? I've been wanting to try some out from a certain vendor for ages, but I can never tell what they're in, just that they're occasionally used in FPV gear that's always discontinued by the time I find out about it. Microdisplays are such a worse market than standard displays (like what's in the Quest 2); it's a real headache.

Re: What it's like to spend 40-50 hours in VR every week

#32

Post by drumttocs8 » Tue, Sep 28, 2021, 1:49 AM UTC

"...experience less eye strain than I ever did with a bunch of desk-bound LCDs."

Is this really true? As someone who has never used VR, I assumed that an issue would be higher eye strain.

Re: What it's like to spend 40-50 hours in VR every week

#33

Post by caslon » Tue, Sep 28, 2021, 1:51 AM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #30

caslon wrote: post #7

The most critical thing in this piece: Get a better head-strap! He mentions it in passing in the article, but 90% of the strain from wearing the Quest 2 for extended periods of time can be traced to the garbage default head-strap. You want something that properly balances the headset. If you want, you can even get one that gives you a bit of extra charge, too. There are plenty of options. Something critical that does…

> The Quest 2 is really cheap But it requires a FB account right? Or is there a way to use it without one?

It requires an Oculus account. There are ways to get a new one even now that don't require you to make a Facebook account. If you check the subreddit you'll probably be able to figure it out in about ten minutes. I make a habit of not mentioning exactly how to do it here because I don't trust employees of companies on HN to avoid fixing any user-beneficial problem involving their work.

Re: What it's like to spend 40-50 hours in VR every week

#34

Post by caslon » Tue, Sep 28, 2021, 1:52 AM UTC

leovander wrote: post #22

caslon wrote: post #7

The most critical thing in this piece: Get a better head-strap! He mentions it in passing in the article, but 90% of the strain from wearing the Quest 2 for extended periods of time can be traced to the garbage default head-strap. You want something that properly balances the headset. If you want, you can even get one that gives you a bit of extra charge, too. There are plenty of options. Something critical that does…

Not sure why he got rid of the picture of it, but he actually put a computer inside his HHKB. I was waiting for him to do a write up. https://palmerluckey.com/oculus-goblack-how-to-make-your-ocu... You can see that on wayback machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20190325121641/http://palmerluck...

Yeah! I double-checked that post while writing my comment and noticed the picture was gone, myself. I'm guessing it's because he was using the Facebook CDN.

Re: What it's like to spend 40-50 hours in VR every week

#35

Post by Groxx » Tue, Sep 28, 2021, 1:54 AM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #29

jjcm wrote: post #26

This is a great breakdown of the early state of VR productivity. There are still a few key items that are barriers for me personally: 1. Eye and face tracking. The author mentions lip syncing and hand tracking. That goes a long way, but it doesn't recreate the video experience to me. There are a few vtubers out there that are doing some seriously impressive tracking, but it requires tons of special equipment at the m…

> change over to VR for productivity within ten years Curious, but why not AR for productivity rather than VR? Both could work, and AR is less invasive.

AR has a lot further to go on a fundamental technology level to reach "usable without uncomfortably dim surroundings". VR already works.

E.g. the very best AR stuff you can buy right now is still moderately-bright glowing pixels on top of whatever you're currently looking towards. So if you have too much contrast in the background, or actual light sources, they show right through and ruin much of the visual clarity.

As much as I like AR as a concept, it's much further from "ready". It has all the complexities of VR, plus real-world tracking, plus visual overlay - it'll necessarily trail VR until those latter two are "good enough", and they certainly are not at the moment.

Re: What it's like to spend 40-50 hours in VR every week

#36

Post by stronglikedan » Tue, Sep 28, 2021, 1:55 AM UTC

caslon wrote: post #33

ekianjo wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Quest 2 is really cheap But it requires a FB account right? Or is there a way to use it without one?

It requires an Oculus account. There are ways to get a new one even now that don't require you to make a Facebook account. If you check the subreddit you'll probably be able to figure it out in about ten minutes. I make a habit of not mentioning exactly how to do it here because I don't trust employees of companies on HN to avoid fixing any user-beneficial problem involving their work.

They say they will eventually force everyone to Facebook. At least, that's what they said when I got mine back in January.

Re: What it's like to spend 40-50 hours in VR every week

#37

Post by foxes » Tue, Sep 28, 2021, 1:56 AM UTC

There is a part of me that is disturbed. I like working at my big wooden table overlooking the city, nice natural light filtering in, the ability to detach from the screen and pace around to take a break. VR for work seems like a trap, you'll be consumed, ensnared by something that demands all your attention. You won't know freedom. Maybe this is the current state of headsets, clunky, like a chain with cables, bad tracking and screens. Maybe if it was seamless and I could slip it on as needed, like a pair of sunglasses.

The other part of me is that having a giant whiteboard and endless space seems cool. Imagine if the entire virtual space had powerful programming environments, some more powerful version of Mathematica, I could gesture and run a some powerful. Maybe that would be worth it, but it doesn't seem there yet.

Re: What it's like to spend 40-50 hours in VR every week

#38

Post by sp332 » Tue, Sep 28, 2021, 1:59 AM UTC

caslon wrote: post #17

azinman2 wrote: post #8

Having a screen blast your eyes 2” away is only ok for so long. Perhaps some can handle this but I cannot possibly imagine this is good for most people at scale. There’s already concern about eye problems due to cell phones in youth, and that’s at least 6-10” away from one’s eyes and with other light coming in. The resolution isn’t there yet compared to my 4-5k monitors for text, but clearly will get there in the fut…

> Personally it makes me feel a bit nauseous, particularly if there’s any movement (I get motion sick easily in VR but not normally in real life). My understanding is that about 20% of the population is like this and nothing is known to prevent it. This is almost always one of two things: * A low or unsteady framerate or tracking * Lack of spending twenty minutes in it to teach your body to cope with the aforemention…

VR gear has improved dramatically, but there are some things you can do to make yourself more comfortable. https://web.archive.org/web/20190813004505/http://elevr.com:... I think the most important piece of advice is to take a break right away when you're feeling bad instead of trying to push through.

Re: What it's like to spend 40-50 hours in VR every week

#39

Post by Impossible » Tue, Sep 28, 2021, 1:59 AM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #29

jjcm wrote: post #26

This is a great breakdown of the early state of VR productivity. There are still a few key items that are barriers for me personally: 1. Eye and face tracking. The author mentions lip syncing and hand tracking. That goes a long way, but it doesn't recreate the video experience to me. There are a few vtubers out there that are doing some seriously impressive tracking, but it requires tons of special equipment at the m…

> change over to VR for productivity within ten years Curious, but why not AR for productivity rather than VR? Both could work, and AR is less invasive.

VR with pass-through might still win this because it's more practical for work scenarios. Arguably this is still AR, but subtly different than HMDs with transparent displays.

Re: What it's like to spend 40-50 hours in VR every week

#40

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Sep 28, 2021, 2:00 AM UTC

caslon wrote: post #33

ekianjo wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Quest 2 is really cheap But it requires a FB account right? Or is there a way to use it without one?

It requires an Oculus account. There are ways to get a new one even now that don't require you to make a Facebook account. If you check the subreddit you'll probably be able to figure it out in about ten minutes. I make a habit of not mentioning exactly how to do it here because I don't trust employees of companies on HN to avoid fixing any user-beneficial problem involving their work.

[deleted]