Oculus Rift — When computer says No!
VR is incredible, but I must say it somehow reminds me of my beginnings with Linux. You got most of the things quickly but you needed to read a lot of forum posts to make the last bit work, and in the end, there is always something missing.
The installation of Oculus Rift took me several days, and it was not straight forward experience.
I started by downloading hardware checking application from Oculus web page. I was delighted when the computer said Yes!
Now I know, I should not be happy in advance.
To be honest, I’m not sure if this app is doing anything. For example, it didn’t warn us that our video card has different output socket than the one expected by Rift. No big problem, the adapter works, but why I needed to wait an extra day? And it is not the only fault.
The first message I got during software installation was:
Looks like we can’t reach the Oculus server.
What does it mean? Is my Wifi not working? Is it a firewall problem? Do I need to edit host file as some users suggest?
No. I had not enough space on my hard-drive…
After the software installs, the configuration wizard starts and now… I’m just a few hours before my first VR experience.
The calibration of controllers took ages. What do they want me to do? I’m not sure. There was some video but without sound.
I skipped it in the end — I think. Definitely, Oculus was not happy with my performance and wanted me to rehearsal setup few more times.
The testing tool knew we were still running Windows 7 and had no problem with it. The Rift itself says our computer does not fulfil minimum requirements without any explanation.
Half of the apps require Windows 10, so I updated the system. I also got more RAM. The graphic card is the one listed by them. Is it processor? I don’t know, and I’m tired of guessing.
The fact that according to Oculus our PC was perfectly compatible with Rift before buying it and now is not, make me angry. I felt cheated and disappointed they choose this short time strategy to boost the sales.
After installing, I wanted to see some example videos and experiences. I was thinking Hanry, the animated story made by Oculus Story Studio will be a good start, but not. Oculus video is not compatible with Oculus controllers, called Touch, so there is no way to start it.
Well after googling the problem I learned we are supposed to ignore in headset instructions, take it out and press space on the keyboard. How easy and intuitive it is after you know.
Anyway, I got this headset to be able to watch videos made by my new 360° camera. It should be easy. There is dedicated free app for watching videos made by Oculus, but not.
By default, the app does not let you watch anything. Not a single movie from your computer available. Few internet searches and you will learn where to put your video files on a filesystem. Some more and they even may play in 360.
I read that people doing VR projects need to learn so many new things about User Experience as it is so different to anything. I’m not convinced. When did PC video player required users to put all the files into a single directory, and also rename them to play correctly?
Not requiring users to do this kind of things is basic UX.
How about watching something from the Internet?
Here comes the biggest shock of them all. There is no web browser, at least not the free one!
I spent £8 on the app called VRToolbox which brings whole PC desktop into virtual reality. It works OK, I’m able to browse YouTube, but I could not believe this is not part of Oculus “operating system”!
Did it all put me off from VR?
Not, but maybe because I’m the old Linux user and I see the potential.
Is VR consumer ready?
Unfortunately not. Oculus Rift is a great beta for this technology, but there is still so much to be done before I could recommend it to anyone.
