Product Comparison: HTC VIVE vs Sony PlayStation VR

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HTC VIVE Virtual Reality System

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Sony PlayStation VR Virtual Headset

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General Specifications

Brand

HTC

Sony

Model

VIVE

PlayStation VR

Origin

China

About the Product

Create an immersive experience with this HTC Vive virtual reality system. The VR headset with 110-degree field of view and front-facing camera provides an enhanced visual experience through a mix of virtual and actual surroundings. This HTC Vive virtual reality system includes two base stations and two wireless controllers for a complete game-ready setup.

Designed with gamers in mind, PlayStation VR delivers an entirely new world of gaming with a level of immersion unseen on home consoles on some of the most highly anticipated titles of 2016, including Star Wars Battlefront and other games like PlayStation VR World, Golem and RIGS Mechanized Combat League. The LEDs around the PlayStation VR headset, on the DUALSHOCK 4 wireless controller and the PlayStation Move motion controller are tracked by the PlayStation Camera, providing an incredibly precise capture of your natural movement in virtual space. See the digital world through the beautiful 5.7-inch OLED 1080p headset screen at up to 120fps.

Key Specs

Movement Tracking

Yes

Control Type

360-degree controllers and headset tracking

PlayStation Move, DualShock 4

Sensors

SteamVR Tracking, G-sensor, Gyroscope, Proximity

Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer)

Wireless

Movement Tracking
Wireless

What customers say about "Key Specs"

HTC VIVE Virtual Reality System

The tracking is excellent for the HMD and the wands.
The tracking speed of the controllers is also quite good. I did have a few instances where the wands would disappear unexpectedly. However, again, this is no different than my experience with the Oculus Touch controllers
Easy to use; The controls are intuitive, the user interface is intuitive, so the HTC Vive is very accessible.
Graphics; Surprisingly good graphics. With supersampling, you can increase the quality of the graphics as well.
I have had my Vive for a month or so and it has been quite the experience. When it works it is great, when you lose tracking of the headset and/or controllers, not so much.
Tracking: I am sure they spent a ton of money on getting this right. And it does work 70% of the time. But when the sensors can't find you, it turns your vision off. You have to stand still and wait while you die in the game, until the sensors pick your position up again.

Sony PlayStation VR Virtual Headset

Using AMOLED screens means nice inky black levels with that fantastic contrast ratio.
Tracks position easily when moving around a reasonably large area.
Boots up as quickly; extremely fluid, immersive, 3-axis motion tracking. No motion artifacts seen whatsoever.
Loses track of you if your camera isn't positioned well.
The playstation move controllers make games feel more interactive, but there are mixed results with tracking in certain games (80-90% of the time it works all the time.)
The worst feature is the Move controllers in terms of tracking. I had a couple of issues with them but nothing too drastic.

Size & Weight

Color

Black

Black/White

Height

7.5 in.

18.1 in.

Width

5 in.

8.4 in.

Depth

5 in.

10.5 in.

Weight

19.5 oz.

21.2 oz.

What customers say about "Size & Weight"

HTC VIVE Virtual Reality System

The headset wasn't heavy at all for me.
The Deluxe Audio Strap is a wonderful addition and adds comfort and integrated headphones to the Vive.
It's not heavy and It's comfortable for relatively long sessions.
The headset is very comfortable and smooth in play. I play for hours and don't have any comfort issues. My wife and son also play and there are no issues switching from user to user
Weight-the headmounted piece could be lighter and smaller, while keeping the same features, that would be really nice.
A bit bulky and cumbersome with all the cables

Sony PlayStation VR Virtual Headset

I will have to agree with others when they say the headset is real light feeling and you forget it is there. So much so when I went to scratch my nose, I forgot it was on.
Relatively easy to set up. Size is a little clunky but you get comfortable with it pretty quick.
I have an enormous skull, but the PSVR truly is one size fits all. My kids and wife all wear glasses, but they had no problems wearing the headset.
The unit does have some weight to so overtime it became uncomfortable to ware. I played a few demos but after an hour I was getting a headache either from the weight or the focus and resolution or both.

Display

Display Type

Dual AMOLED

OLED

Field Of View

110 °

100 °

Focus Adjustment Wheel

Interpupillary Distance Adjustment

Yes

Features

Buttons

Grip buttons, Dual-stage trigger, System button, Menu button

Extras

Wireless controllers, Compatible OS, Works with a USB 2.0 or newer port, Free Trial to VIVEPORT Subscription, Powered by SteamVR, Chaperone play area boundaries and front-facing camera, Micro-USB charging port

Compatible with Sony PlayStation 4, 3D audio technology, Advanced VR display

Adjustable Headband

Yes

Integrated Speaker(s)

Integrated Microphone

Power Source

Playstation

Integrated Speaker(s)
Integrated Microphone

What customers say about "Features"

HTC VIVE Virtual Reality System

The display is just about perfect. Some people complain about the resolution, but I don't think there is anything wrong with it. I am sure you could make it more detailed, but for me it is already amazing.
The immersion is complete with room scale VR. Nothing can describe how awesome sauce it is to interact with the world around you.
Lots of games out for how new the tech is. Granted most of them are "early release" there are some absolutely incredible games to be played.
Doesn't take a super beefcake CPU. I have an old i7 3770K and it runs fine with no apparent bottlenecks to the GPU
Charger for each controller (I'd think most companies would try to get away with just one for two controllers so way to go HTC)
Sweat; After a length of time, and lots of movement, you can start to sweat on the VR device. Make sure to wash with alcohol in-between use.
The headphones that come with the HTC Vive fall out a lot. I bought myself my own pair of over-the-ear headphones to use with my HTC Vive.
Internal controller batteries (once they're dead, check warranty, go to ifixit or toss them)
Play space has a minimum size but its not listed in the box

Sony PlayStation VR Virtual Headset

Comes with a lot of different types of VR demos, games, videos, experiences to try out of the box.
Lets you play regular games and watch movies on a big virtual theater screen (up to about IMAX size).
Games will only continue to improve and take advantage of PS4 Pro, but even for 1st gen ones you can see some benefit
The games are fantastic. Watching TV on it is such a joy. The Hulu VR app is so freaking cool.
Wires suck and really limit how far you can move around. An unfortunate compromise to hit the lower pricepoint and reduce the latency.
Visuals not as sharp as competitors, and frankly plenty of visible aliasing/jaggies in certain games/applications.
Games which needs depth perception like driveclub are very pixelised. hope gtvr will be better

Warranty / Certifications

Manufacturer Warranty

1 year(s)

Certifications

Other Information

Manufacturer

Link

Manual

Download