Bottom Line
The Oculus Rift DK2
delivers believable virtual reality, and is an across-the-board upgrade
from the original Rift, but it's still not ready for consumers (and
doesn't claim to be).
Oculus VR has been trying to bring virtual reality
to the masses for a few years, but that crucial part where the
technology reaches the masses still hasn't happened. The
Oculus Rift Development Kit we
looked at last year impressed us with its affordability and
functionality, but it wasn't ready or intended for consumers. The $350
Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 (DK2) tweaks the original's design and
drastically upgrades its display and motion tracking with higher
resolution, lower latency, and a separate camera that follows the
headset, all for just $50 more than the previous version. It's an
impressive upgrade that shows a lot of potential, but we're still at
least one generation away from seeing an Oculus Rift that we'd recommend
you buy.
Design
The DK2 looks sleeker and
more streamlined than the original Oculus Rift, with a slightly curved
profile that lacks the blocky protrusions of the previous headset that
screamed "This is a phablet inside a Tupperware." It's about an inch
wider and deeper than the first Rift, at 7.2 by 3.8 by 5 inches (HWD),
and weighs a slightly chunkier 14.7 ounces. The DK2 lacks the separate,
wired control box of the original Rift, however, so both displays
actually weigh the same 1 pound, 2 ounces with all cables and controls
included.
Two wires run up from the
forehead panel of the DK2 and meet in a single, cloth-covered,
tangle-free cable looped through the elastic straps that secure the
display to your head. The cable is a solid six feet long and changes at a
small in-line box near the end back into a pair of foot-long USB and
HDMI cables, which both power the headset and connect it to the
computer. The box also has a 3.5mm port for syncing with the included
camera, as well as a power adapter port. The power adapter isn't needed
for the headset itself, which gets enough electricity from the USB
connection. Instead, it powers a USB port hidden (along with another
3.5mm port) behind a rubber door on the headset. It lets the DK2 power
accessories, instead of using even more of the connected computer's USB
ports.
That design is simpler than the multiple connections to
the control box of the previous Rift, with the headset's physical
controls shaved down to a single Power button and a single power light
to the right of where the cables connect to the display. All you need to
do is plug the USB and HDMI connectors in (after installing the
required software), and the DK2 is powered and ready to go with its
internal motion sensors handling head-tracking. The motion-tracking
camera requires an additional USB connection to the computer, and a
3.5mm connection to the in-line connector on the headset cable.
The DK2 comes in a sturdy cardboard carrying case that's a step down
from the plastic case included with the original Rift. The case is built
well enough to reliably hold the DK2's parts in foam cut-outs. The
entire package includes the headset, the motion-tracking camera, a power
adapter with several international wall socket heads, a second set of
lenses for nearsighted users, an HDMI-to-DVI adapter, and mini USB and
3.5mm cables.
Display and Fit
The motion-tracking
camera makes things a little more complicated than the first Oculus
Rift, but it's still fairly straightforward. The camera looks just like a
normal clip-on webcam, with a stand that can attach to monitors and
laptops or screw into a tripod mount. The camera features mini USB and
3.5mm ports that respectively connect the camera to your computer and
the headset with the included cables. The USB cable lets the Oculus Rift
software on your computer recognize the visual head tracking, and the
3.5mm cable syncs the camera to the headset itself.
Besides the motion-tracking camera, the most
notable addition to the DK2 is the 1080p OLED screen. Like the original
Rift, the DK2 uses a single display to create a picture, splitting it up
with lenses into halves for each eye. The DK2 moves up to 1080p
compared with the first Rift's 720p, offering 960 by 1,080 pixels for
each eye. This results in a much sharper picture. The new screen boasts
lower persistence than the first Rift's LCD, which reduces motion blur
and judder and hopefully will keep users from getting disoriented or
sick. The headset also has a built-in latency testing system to reduce
display lag to improve the experience even more.
The DK2 fit fairly comfortably on my head, though since
the display can't be worn with glasses, I had to use the alternate "B"
lenses for nearsightedness. Fortunately, it worked fairly well once I
focused the lenses properly through the individual dioper adjustments
for each eye, and the 1080p picture in front of me looked crisp.
Because the cable runs over the
back of the head, it can drop down over the neck or shoulders and feel
slightly awkward. This was particularly notable when sitting in a
high-backed chair that pushed the cable against me if I didn't loop it
over my shoulder. It's fairly easy to adjust, but this design aspect
makes it seem as if the DK2 was meant to be used facing away from the
connected computer rather than towards it.
Demos and Content
Because
the DK2 is new hardware and relies on the most recent Oculus Rift SDK,
demo software was hard to find during testing. Well-established demos
used with the original Oculus Rift simply won't work with the DK2 until
the developers recompile each demo with the newest SDK to support the
headset. There are a few hacks and tweaks to get older demos to work
with the DK2, but they're awkward and kludgy solutions.
Fortunately, a handful of DK2-compatible demos are
available, with new ones being released regularly as more and more
developers get the new hardware and SDK. I tried the DK2 with a few very
simple proof-of-concept demos.
At the time of this writing, the most functional DK2 demos come from
Rift Away,
which has put together four free (donations accepted) rides and
mini-games in Unity. Cyber Space and Hell Waltzer are virtual carnival
rides, Chilling Space is a spacewalking experience, and Mining Mike is a
virtual endless runner.
Cyber Space straps you into a large, vertically spinning
ride that rotates your seat up and down as it moves, giving you a full
view of the plaza under you as you swing closer to and further from it.
Hell Waltzer is a whirling teacups ride positioned around a large
rotating skull and surrounded by demonic imagery. In both demos, I could
look in any direction and move my head in three-dimensional space,
though I had to sit back farther than usual when playing Cyber Space,
because the head tracking would otherwise place my vision behind my
virtual skull and leave me looking down at a bizarre neck-stump. Cyber
Space also has an exhilarating ejection feature that flings the rider
into the air at the push of a button.
Chilling Space is a very serene walk in space, driving
around debris in Earth's orbit. It also tracked my head movements
flawlessly, and let me behold the 3D majesty of (admittedly low-detail,
Unity engine-based, virtual) space. The demo lets you shoot asteroids,
but it's not really a game in any sense. The closest demo to a full game
is Mining Mike, an endless running exercise that uses the keyboard to
jump between three tracks on a mine cart and avoid obstacles. It's
functional, simple, and fairly entertaining, but the ability to look
around in your mine cart is more likely to trip you up compared with
looking forward to avoid rocks and other carts. Still, it's a nice
enough proof of concept.
Head tracking seems more accurate
with the DK2 in my tests, thanks to the addition of the camera following
the movement of the headset and augmenting the internal sensors. The
demos followed my movements in six axes (pitch, yaw, and roll; and
vertical, horizontal, and depth positioning). It's difficult to
determine how much precision the camera adds compared with just the
internal sensors, but it appears to be an improvement.
Still Working on VR
The Oculus Rift
DK2 improves on the original Oculus Rift in several ways, and at $350 is
still one of the most affordable and accessible devices available for
experimenting with virtual reality. However, it's still a development
kit, and while you don't have to be a developer to use it, there aren't
many things you can do with it that go beyond interesting novelty or
tech demo. Because of this, we can't give the Oculus Rift DK2 a formal
score. However, it's a nicely streamlined and well-made step forward
from the original Oculus Rift that could someday help bring VR to the
masses.
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