“Field of View” refers to how much of your vision a VR headset's display system covers. A wide field of view immerses you in a virtual environment, whereas narrow field of view can feel more like using binoculars.
The field of view is 115º, compared to 110º on the Rift CV1. The headset features software-only inter pupillary distance (IPD) adjustment, because it uses a single screen instead of dual displays.
Humans have a slightly over 210-degree forward-facing horizontal arc of their visual field (i.e. without eye movements), (with eye movements included it is slightly larger, as you can try for yourself by wiggling a finger on the side), while some birds have a complete or nearly complete 360-degree visual field.
Eye relief is the distance between the lens of the head-mounted display and the user's cornea that allows the user to obtain a full viewing angle. If the user's cornea is outside of the distance, a reduced view is observed. In DK1 and DK2, users can adjust eye relief on the side of the headset with a coin.
Many of today's VR headsets offer a meager 35 degree field of view, but increasing it to 60 degrees may help the user feel more immersed. In either case, headsets should mimic the way human vision works, and increasing the field of view will result in a more comfortable 3D as well as 2D content.
For truly immersive Virtual Reality, 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) or higher is required. According to Plamer Luckey, found of Oculus Rift, pixelation will not go away completely until at least 8K resolution (7680 x 4320) per eye is achieved. As of 2015, non of the VR HMDs have 4k or greater resolution.
The best VR headsets you can buy today
- Oculus Quest 2. Best VR headset overall. Prime. $299.
- Oculus Rift S. Best VR headset for PC. $399. View at Oculus.
- Playstation VR. The best VR headset for consoles. $199.99.
- HTC Vive. Best VR headset for immersive experiences. Prime.
- Valve Index. The best controls and tracking in VR. Prime.
Ultra-wide FOV Headset StarVR One Priced at $3,200, Selling to Enterprise Only – Road to VR.
Whether looking at a flat screen 360 video or through VR headset, you are looking at a portion of a spherical image, and the size of that portion is indicated in degrees. The wider the FOV angle, the more you are able to see of the footage, and the smaller objects will appear.
VR headsets do not support variable refresh rate - not because they're not capable of it, it's because variable refresh rate in VR causes motion sickness because of the inconsistent frame timing. 30 fps looks the same regardless of whether it's on a 60hz or 144hz monitor, unless I have a monitor with VRR.
Tethered VR
| Name | Release Date (Y-M-D) | Refresh rate |
|---|
| Oculus Rift | 2016-03-28 | 90 Hz |
| HTC Vive | 2016-04-05 | 90 Hz |
| Razer OSVR HDK 2 | 2016-07-20 (pre-orders) | 90 Hz |
| StarBreeze StarVR | 2016-08-01 (IMAX) | 90 Hz |
Field of view or FOV is the extent of observable world at any given moment. Field of view is usually measured in degrees. Humans have 180 degrees FOV when looking directly in front and 270 degrees with eye rotation. The higher an HMD's FOV is, the further the virtual world will extend to your edge of vision.
The HTC Vive and Oculus Rift both have 90hz displays, while the Playstation VR has a 60hz display. It is a rule of thumb that you want your frames per second to match your monitor's refresh rate, so it is recommended that the Vive and Rift both maintain 90 FPS while the PSVR maintains 60 FPS.
Our Verdict. Light, reasonably comfortable and sporting a wide FOV, the Pimax Vision 8K Plus is a good enthusiast headset but not for the average consumer.
