The 5 best VR headsets you can buy in 2019

Welcome to Ars 2019 Game Week! From August 19th to 23rd, as a team of players and gaming enthusiasts, we will offer you additional reviews, guides, interviews and other stories about the game. As part of the Week of the game, we wanted to redo our definitive guide. in the state of VR in 2019, which was released earlier this year in June 2019.

Virtual reality as a mainstream technology will not go anywhere if the PC game titans of Valve Corporation have something to say about it.

Today, the company is launching its own virtual reality system, the Valve Index, and is without a doubt the biggest launch of material ever made by the company. Valve has already sold $ 50 worth of controllers and decoders, and has partnered with other hardware manufacturers to launch products such as computers. But the Valve Index is a whole new level: its complete kit is priced at $ 999. It is built from top to bottom at Valve Headquarters, in the Seattle area.

Plus, her allocation for launch day was exhausted even before I wrote my long article of practical impressions last month. Not bad for a category of gadgets that often remains relegated to the status of "niche".

It is clear that companies continue to be interested in virtual reality and take the launch of new helmets and interesting games seriously enough in 2019. We are three years away from the first wave of headsets and these initial offers ( like Oculus Rift or PlayStation VR) have yet to be left in compatibility dust. Right now, everything is added to lot choice of virtual reality headsets, whether you are a brand new buyer or an upgrade enthusiast of your existing installation.

So, instead of focusing exclusively on the valve index for its launch day (especially since, again, it is exhausted at press time), I use this opportunity to try to resolve the state of the VR union. Ars has tested just about every major VR headset available to customers in 2019 and, using this experience and knowledge, I will try to answer the two questions I most often ask myself in my work: "What VR headset is the best?" and "Should I buy RVs at the moment?"

Note: Ars Technica can earn compensation for sales from links on this post via affiliate programs.

Contents

Remind me why I should be concerned about virtual reality

Modern virtual reality, for the uninitiated, is sometimes as simple as attaching a monitor to your face with an attached motion detection system. Move your head when sitting on a chair and the screen images will transform to reproduce the fact of being elsewhere. ("You are on a beach, look to the left and you will see the ocean, look to the right and you will see the complex.")

Go further and you can expect a more complete "six degrees of freedom" (6DOF) system. This means that you can put on a headset, then get up from your chair and move around (as long as you set a "safe space" beforehand, supported by most virtual reality systems). These systems also typically include portable controllers, and their combinations of buttons and triggers can turn your hand into a firearm, brush, or whatever. Hold the controller in front of your eyes and you will see it float convincingly in your VR view.

Why have so many problems while a TV screen or phone can do the business? The best virtual reality software answers this question by translating the movements of your head, your hand, and your body in a way that might otherwise be summarized by a controller or mouse. Think of the first time you waved a Wii Remote to throw a ball or play tennis – much more immersive than pressing a button – then imagine that feeling brought to 11 with a truly natural movement. Some of my favorite RV software from the last few years have allowed me to: wiggle a lightsaber to the beat of uptempo music; control a Mario style hero while using my head to solve puzzles; mold 3D artwork without spending a penny on supplies; play incredible laser tag games in my modest parlor; to be drawn into a transcendental experience of Tetris; and many, many, many more.

By the way, all these games and applications require a 6DOF configuration, unlike the "3DOF" limits that you will find on systems such as Google Cardboard and Samsung GearVR, which turn the display of your smartphone into a simple system. virtual reality. This guide focuses exclusively on 6DOF VR options. If you're interested in a simpler and cheaper virtual reality experience, I recommend Oculus Go for $ 200 (or at least reading my long review of this platform in May 2018). There is a whole world of "virtual reality cinema" that also works with 3DOF headsets, which we have discussed at length in the past.

Valve Index: The VR system of the future, at least in terms of screens

As today is the day of Valve Index launch, this part of the guide is the longest. I will start with a TL; DR: All I like about the Valve Index ($ 999 for the full system, $ 499 for the headset only) looks like the future of virtual reality. All that is disappointing about the Valve Index is like a remnant of the industry's past.

Valve spoke directly about this duality when introducing the Index system in late April. Company spokespeople have made it clear that they want the VR material world to provide three great quality "mounds". The company then stressed the importance given by Valve Index to one of these mast: "high performance". The result is a system that looks like virtual reality designed by engineers for engineers. The index offers huge improvements in screen, audio and controller quality, but is compromised by compromises in usability.

Valve index

(Buying from this link may support Ars, learn more.)

It all starts with the system's pair of LCD panels, which offers a combined resolution of 2880 × 1600 pixels. We saw this exact number on the HTC Vive Pro and the Samsung Odyssey + (more on these later), but Valve Index did not stop at the resolution. His technical team has effectively turned this number of pixels into something much more complete than the competition with some tips. First of all, OLED panels have moved to a new "fast switching" LCD panel process, which includes a much denser "subpixel resolution": Index screens do not need to be changed. have no tiny visible spaces (better known to veterans of the RV) as "screen door effect"). Whether it is to read a virtual poster or a sheet of virtual paper, users can expect more readable details than those that we would see in OLED panels alike. specification. Play a "VR MMO" as Orbus This means that you have to struggle with a lot of text and Valve Index facilitates its analysis compared to other helmets in its weight class.

In addition, the field of view in Index is about 20 degrees wider than any other helmet in this list … without require additional horizontal pixels. It's a nifty engineering trick on the part of Valve. Index custom designed panels and lenses do not seem to use particularly unique pieces compared to other helmets; frankly, the pictures inside the helmet look like other helmets. However, not only does Index offer a wider horizontal scope allowing users to perceive more peripheral content, but it also does a remarkable job of providing a wider "ideal point" of clear pixels. On other helmets, you risk going straight to the finer details because the edges of the lenses are blurred. It's a natural problem with "Fresnel" curved lenses, and Index has some blur on the edges of his goals but frankly he is half what you will find in the competition.

Again, this happens without your gaming PC getting more pixels to fill that larger perspective. The effect is subtle if you have not used the headphones of your competitors for a while, but toggling between the index and any other listener makes the difference very obvious (in favor of the index ).