Some Questions about PC VR Headsets

[Arenero14]

Hello.

 

I have  PSVR and I love it, however, even if you don't take into account the technical shortcuts (resolution, FOV, etc.) the experience is very limited since you can't mod things and in my case have to pay a premium for the games.

 

For example, I can't be a cute anime girl with two sausages instead of sabers in Beat Saber PSVR, but in PC I can (also, thanks to regional pricing in Colombia  Beat Saber in steam is $9 dollars vs $35 in PS Store.  Buying physical games is cheaper than buying digital from Sony itself)

 

So, I want a PC headset.

 

The market for PC Headsets looks very confusing, but what I can grasp is that there are mainly 5 types of  HMD's:

 

1. Tethered Headsets with Outside Tracking: Like the Oculus Rift, HTC VIVE, and the upcoming Valve Index.
2. Tethered Headsets with In-Headset Cameras: Like the Windows Mixed Reality Headsets, The Oculus Rift S
3. Headsets for VR on the Go: Like the Oculus Quest, and this does not require a PC.
4. Cardboard stuff and Smartphone VR:  I guess this includes Google Lenses and other headsets for Smartphones. 
5. Console VR: The good old PlayStation VR and the Nintendo Labo VR Kit.

 

I'm in the market for Number 1 and Number Two, but I can't decide between the two.

 

Here are the questions:

 

1. Will HTC/Facebook/Valve or any other Headset manufacturer force me to buy games on their store? Can I buy games in steam/other platforms? Are PC headsets closed gardens?
2. Are Windows Mixed Reality headsets a good experience? Which one is ""the best""? WMR vs Rift S, which one is better?
3. What is exactly Full Body Tracking? Is it true that I need one of those black suits with ping pong balls on them?
4. Can I do Full Body Tracking with In-Headset Tracking or do I need external tracking?
5. What do I need for Finger Tracking?

 

Also, I can go as far as $600

 

Thanks for reading. 

 

[Sakkura]

37 minutes ago, Arenero14 said:

Here are the questions:

 

1. Will HTC/Facebook/Valve or any other Headset manufacturer force me to buy games on their store? Can I buy games in steam/other platforms? Are PC headsets closed gardens?
2. Are Windows Mixed Reality headsets a good experience? Which one is ""the best""? WMR vs Rift S, which one is better?
3. What is exactly Full Body Tracking? Is it true that I need one of those black suits with ping pong balls on them?
4. Can I do Full Body Tracking with In-Headset Tracking or do I need external tracking?
5. What do I need for Finger Tracking?

 

Also, I can go as far as $600

 

1. No. There are some inconveniences to buying from the "other" stores, but it generally works.
2. Depends which WMR headset. The ones around $250 are obviously the worst, while the Samsung Odyssey+ is an interesting competitor vs. the Rift S. There are various tradeoffs between them (including price).
3. Having the ability to track other parts of your body, ideally everything. You can get some of it with eg. the Vive tracking "pucks" - just one on each leg would help a lot with figuring out your whole body's position. But the thing is, most people don't have any of this hardware, so there's very limited software support.
4. External tracking's the only way at the moment.
5. Oculus controllers have partial finger tracking, the upcoming Valve knuckles controllers have more complete finger tracking (the Valve controllers are compatible with Vive and Vive Pro).