Samsung And Microsoft’s Odyssey Headset Has Me Excited For VR In 2018

In early 2017, I wrote about what I thought could be the most important virtual reality technology of the year: tracking cameras that would work from the inside, not outside, with VR headsets. And the results were not great. Almost all of the inside-out tracking systems I tried were uncomfortable, most of them barely worked, and none seemed as good as the more traditional high-end headphones. It seemed that VR would have to back one step before it could move forward. At the end of 2017, there are still no inside-out headphones as polished as Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR or HTC Vive, which use external tracking systems. But Microsoft and Samsung have convinced me that one could be on the way.

The Samsung HMD Odyssey is one of five headsets based on Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality platform and, unlike the first wave of platform development kits, comes along with Microsoft's motion controllers. It works on computers running the Windows 10 Fall Creators update, as long as they meet the requirements that are published here. The list price is $ 499, which is slightly lower than the Live of $ 599 and more than the Rift of $ 399, which makes Odyssey the most expensive earpiece for Microsoft partners.

 Like all Windows mixed reality headsets, the Odyssey tracks the head and movement of the controller with two cameras mounted in the front. Connect the USB and HDMI cables from Odyssey and then launch a "Mixed reality portal" integrated in the Creator Update. To draw a limit, simply drag the headphones around your available space. It detects the visual characteristics that can be used as reference points, then calculates their movement based on them. The process is easy compared to Rift or Live, since there is no additional hardware to configure; it does not need plugs to track towers, platforms for cameras, additional USB ports or any of the other accessories of a traditional virtual reality room. .

("Windows mixed reality" refers to Microsoft HoloLens, which adds virtual objects to the real world, and headphones like the Odyssey, which almost every other company would call "virtual reality." This is stupid and confusing, so here, the term alone refers to the Microsoft VR headset platform, not to its entire "mixed reality" product range.

My experience with previous Windows Mixed Reality demos has been positive, and so far, Odyssey meets my expectations. The headset requires a moderately lit room and a certain level of visual detail around the tracking area, that is, furniture. I can not say exactly how much detail is required, due to the lack of giant empty spaces in the Verge offices, but it is easier to find a room with furniture than one with the right furniture design for the placement of external tracking devices. Controllers feel as accurate and responsive as Rift or Live, and they generally reflect well the movement of my hand, using LED crescent strips as tracking marks.

The biggest problems I found were ones that plague externally tracked headsets as well. The controllers’ movement stalls if you put them directly behind your head or body, but that’s still far better than a two-camera Rift setup, which won’t let you turn around at all. Having people moving around you seems to throw off the tracking, but that also happens with the Rift and Vive — although I haven’t tried the headset in a densely populated area, so I can’t judge its worth for developers at crowded public demo events.

 Microsoft is not the only company with a solid inside-out track; This year I got good results from the Oculus and Google prototype headphones, although Google has not shown the tracking drivers. But Windows Mixed Reality is the only system that I have used without supervision for hours. The handset is not completely wireless, unlike the Oculus and Google designs, but that also means that it fits perfectly into the existing world of high-end virtual reality, rather than requiring specially optimized experiences for the smaller integrated computers. power.

Unfortunately, I do not like the main interface of Windows Mixed Reality, which consists of an elegant house on a cliff with screens attached to the walls. (There is also a more conventional pop-up menu). It's nice to see your applications in different "rooms", but it quickly becomes annoying. And I do not think that the integrated VR access to Windows desktop applications is a great advantage at the moment, although it is a good option. Specific tasks such as 3D modeling benefit from visual immersion, but otherwise, working in virtual reality is an exercise in useless misery. It can extend many windows, but they are grainy and heavy, even with the resolution of 1440 x 1600 per Odyssey's eye, which is significantly higher than that of Rift or Live. You have a weight that distracts you in the forehead. You can not see your mouse or keyboard. The designers are working to solve all these problems, but the technology simply is not there yet.

And the overall design of the Odyssey is pretty mediocre. It is better than, for example, Acer's Windows Mixed Reality hearing aid, with a weak feeling. But the bright front picks up the fingerprints, and the black plastic of the drivers looks and feels cheap. The full headset weighs 645 grams, compared to around 470 grams for the Rift or Live, and 610 grams for PlayStation VR. Its adjustable head ring looks a lot like the PlayStation VR, but it does not feel so comfortable or well balanced.

The Windows Mixed Reality controller design, meanwhile, feels paradoxically inadequate and overcomplicated. It takes some good cues from Oculus Touch, with two controllers that are molded for each hand, powered by removable batteries, and feature a front trigger and a secondary grip button. But besides a start and menu button, the only controls are a thumb stick and a trackpad, which sit right beside each other on each controller. You’re supposed to be able to click each corner of the trackpad, but it’s too small and mushy to do this consistently, so it’s only effective as a redundant analog stick.

Despite all this, the central virtual reality experience is about as good as Rift or Live, and that's really saying something. I used it to play Fallout 4 VR, and the experience was what I expected from any other high-end headset, with much less headache. I had to redraw the boundaries several times, because the furniture in my test room was significantly reorganized between sessions, but that only took a minute or two. And although Windows Mixed Reality does not have much exclusive and exciting content, it has something much better: support for SteamVR, which could make it a reasonable substitute for Live for occasional users. (Sadly, he still does not play Rift games).

If you are holding the headphones tied because they seem uncomfortable or do not have enough content, the Odyssey will not be a great improvement. It is supposed to work with more low-cost computers than other headsets, but individual virtual reality experiences still have different requirements: if your PC can not run a graphically demanding game on a flat screen, the same will happen in virtual reality. And if you have already invested in a platform, Windows Mixed Reality may not add much. But Odyssey suggests that you can cut some of the most irritating and burdensome parts of using VR headsets, without losing quality of experience in the process. It is not announcing the next generation of VR headsets, but it makes the generation feel much closer, just in time for 2018.