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

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

#341

Post by illwrks »

ako wrote: post #260
illwrks wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would feel the same. I'm not ophthalmologist but I do wear glasses for myopia. My concern would be emitted light, distance and emitted heat... Screens are emitted light. Having a screen strapped to your head emitting light into your eyes is very different to having a monitor in a room (adjusted to ambient light) emitting light and in an environment with a lot of natural reflected light. Distance, yes there are lens…

Isn't everything picked up by your eyes emitted light?

No.

Think of it like a cinema projection vs TV screen.

In a cinema a projector sends light onto a screen that bounces off and towards your eyes, this is a reflected light.

If you were to watch a TV of the same size it would be emitting light from LED's shining light directly to you.

There are some comments on an older thread with some good info: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17993615

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

#342

Post by soylentcola »

paul7986 wrote: post #143
superasn wrote: post #134

I don't know but for some reason this article feels like one of those things - which is what will be see in a show 20 years from now about where/how it all started. Like the guys from 1980s talking about video games in the recent Netflix documentary 'high score', where some people started spending 8+ hours a day playing games with really primitive graphics because it was just enough to be enjoyable. VR now seems like…

Yes VR a technology that's been around since the 90s is finally going to take off ... maybe ...can anyone name another technology that started decades before and later became a product that changed the world like the iPhone? Why would I want to wear a headset strapped to my face for hours to interact with memojis of my co-workers? I've definitely tried out VR games in the past few years ... cool, but novel fun and th…

The example you gave (iPhone) is itself the result of decades of advances in microprocessors, cellular communication, display tech, and input devices. Apple was successful because they put in the resources to develop a device with mass consumer appeal once the underlying tech and engineering allowed for it.

You could've asked someone 20 years earlier "why would you want to walk around with a suitcase attached to a phone so you could make calls from your car?" Or you could ask someone 10 years earlier why they would want to carry a small brick in their pocket so they could scribble notes with a tiny stylus. Or 5 years earlier why they would want a phone that ran "apps" when you had to buy them at the store on SD cards and interact via a small resistive touch screen.

Few-to-none of these things spring fully formed from the minds of a lone genius. They're the result of identifying new and potentially useful things that can be done with tools that are just becoming good enough to be adequate.

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

#344

Post by dougmwne »

globular-toast wrote: post #294

> even with my higher-capacity headset and accessories, my entire outlay is easily competitive with a conventional multi-monitor configuration. I highly doubt it. My dual monitor setup cost me about £300 including a nice desk stand. No fancy GPU or anything required. If that VR setup really cost that much it would be an impulse buy for me.

The Oculus Quest 2 really is $299 and it's the only necessary piece of equipment. It's a standalone computing platform running a flagship mobile processor. It's a completely amazing device along several different use cases, VR office is just one of them. Gaming, art, media consumption, social, education, work and more are eventually going to get revolutionized by this tech. For any tech geek, I would recommend an immediate purchase.

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

#346

Post by btbuildem »

q_andrew wrote: post #319
lodovic wrote: post #184

I'd be very afraid to fry my eyes. I can't imagine strapping a bright display at 10cm from your eyes, for hours on end, won't lead to eye issues later on in life. I already feel strained after using a headset for an hour.

People keep bringing up vision problems, but I think my biggest concern would be circadian rhythm. How does my brain know when to release sleepy chemicals when I shut off the daylight for 10 hours at a time? All that artificial light would really mess up my sleep patterns. Although, with the winters we have here, it wouldn't make a difference during the twilight months.

I imagine that's something that could be compensated for within the virtual environment -- similarly to the way apps like f.lux change the average colour temperature of a screen depending on time of day.

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

#347

Post by ikurei »

I've been wanting to test this for a long time, but every time I research this I find that the Occulus seems like the best option, but I can't stand the FB account requirement, and I wouldn't feel comfortable with that.

What alternative would you guys recommend? Would the experience be significantly worse if I tried to do this with an Index, for instance?

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

#348

Post by goodpoint »

lodovic wrote: post #184

I'd be very afraid to fry my eyes. I can't imagine strapping a bright display at 10cm from your eyes, for hours on end, won't lead to eye issues later on in life. I already feel strained after using a headset for an hour.

As many people pointed out, the focal point is at a much higher distance than the typical screen.

If anything, this could be much healthier.

If only the head mounted displays were designed with health in mind rather than making a quick profit...

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

#349

Post by vlunkr »

thih9 wrote: post #261

As someone who works with a single screen, I don’t get it. I spend most of my time in the terminal, occasionally switching to a browser. The fact that I see a single window at a time is a “feature” to me. Then again, if there was no difference in comfort, size, weight, etc, I’d happily increase the size of my screen, if only to increase the font size. I guess I’ll be a late adopter.

I had the same thought, most of the argument here seems to be about screen space. I think at some point we're all attracted to the idea of having a bunch of monitors so you can feel like some kind of multi-tasking movie hacker, but the reality is that if you learn to use your window manager efficiently, one monitor is almost always all you need.

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

#350

Post by goodpoint »

illwrks wrote: post #341
ako wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't everything picked up by your eyes emitted light?

No. Think of it like a cinema projection vs TV screen. In a cinema a projector sends light onto a screen that bounces off and towards your eyes, this is a reflected light. If you were to watch a TV of the same size it would be emitting light from LED's shining light directly to you. There are some comments on an older thread with some good info: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17993615

Direct or reflected light is just light. Same stuff.

What matters is the content and quality of the light spectrum.

LED lights or even LCD screens can be designed with a more or less healthy spectrum depending on the priorities of the manufacturer. But this is an economical problem that can be regulated.

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