The Sony PlayStation VR, a virtual-reality gaming head-mounted display was launched on Oct 13, this year. This new release offers a striking competition to the existing HTC Vive that was released earlier last year.
A comparative study of the features and specifications of the two products by New Atlas uncovers the positives and negatives of each product, enabling the users to make a better choice.
The build of both VR is of plastic making them look almost similar. However, the Vive and Rift supposedly provide a higher-end user experience in lieu of their higher-specifications enabled headsets and powerful motherships.
An $800 or more gaming PC would be required to power the Vive which operates on Windows. On the other hand, the PS4 rings up for just $299 making it significantly more economical.
The field view of Vive is wider with an 110-degree as compared to the 100-degree view of PSVR. In addition, Vive provides a much higher resolution and powerful graphics as compared to Sony's PSVR, transporting the user to sharper and more life-like virtual worlds. The display of both the products is the standard OLED panels.
Also, both the products offer the benefit of positional tracking i.e. the headsets will track the position of the user in space. Mobile virtual reality like Gear VR would only track the head's rotation.
In addition, the tracking type comes across as a big advantage for the HTC Vive. Instead of using a camera-based sensor, like PSVR, HTC Vive uses a two Lighthouse base station to emit invisible lasers that the headset's photo sensors use to determine its own position in space.
The motion controls for Vive also take the lead over PSVR with their high-end accuracy and ergonomics that remain unmatchable by Sony. The Vive also has a built in camera on the front of the headset which the user can quickly toggle to get a live view of his/her environment. This feature is missing in Sony's PSVR.
While Vive would remain a favorite for high-end users who are willing to pay for the exceptional features, Sony's PSVR remains good enough for people looking out for a lower range investment.
