I've had a chance to play with some settings and watch a movie using LiveViewRift, so I'll post some updated impressions.
I just watched Star Wars episode IV. The original version, not the George Lucas suck-my-d!ck version with added cgi every five seconds. I felt like it would be a good test, and it was handy since I had an avi file that was anamorphic (and user enhanced).
I'm managed to watch the whole movie. Here are my thoughts.
Note that I still have not gotten head tracking to work, so this review was done looking straight at the screen. I adjusted the size of the screen to nearly touch the sides of the viewable area with a little space on the sides. I am using the B lenses, and I am not wearing my glasses that correct astigmatism after they ruined my A lenses. The image seems sharp without them, though it may be better with them. I am just afraid to test it.
Anyway, let's talk about the experience.
The black levels are terrific. I love an image with dark, inky blacks. It just adds to the overall punch. The colors are vibrant as well. Together, these make the picture look very clear, vivid, and lifelike. This makes a movie like Star wars really shine with dark space scenes and vibrant laser blasts.
Resolution is still a problem. The screen door effect hampers what would otherwise be a fantastic picture. Details are lost and text is hard to read. I had a heck of a time reading the intro text to Star Wars for example. Same trouble with subtitles.
Field of view sharpness is still a problem. It's not as bad as it was when I previously mentioned it, but I do feel like the image could be sharper as it extends from the center, and especially in my peripheral vision. Head tracking may alleviate this a bit if I ever get it working, but we'll see.
Motion handling was a bit jittery, but good enough to still enjoy the movie. I'm spoiled by my plasma.
CA is a major problem. There is blue or red color fringing on any area of high contrast. This was especially noticeable on Star Wars due to the overall abundance of black, white, and grey color schemes. I'm not sure if this is because of the way my Rift is set up or if that's as good as it will get. I did notice when playing with it, that CA seems to vary depending on how close you are to the screen, so there may be a sweet spot, but I still think it will always be present unless I'm missing something. This needs to be improved.
There is a slight bit of glare in some scenes caused by reflections on the lenses, but it's not too bad.
The overall experience is very immersive and theatrical. During the last scene on the death star when they are flying down the trench, you feel as if you are moving with them, and there is a great sense of action. I do not have a projection screen set up to compare, and I haven't been to a theater in years, but it did seem to give a large screen type of vibe.
As far as comfort goes, there is some good and some bad. I didn't feel any major discomfort, and this was a fairly long movie. There were a few things that bothered me though. I kept feeling like my nose was being squished, so breathing out of my nose was a little hard. There is no way to scratch your face or wipe your eyes without removing the device at least partially.
My eyes tended to want to go out of focus and see double. I don't know if this is because a setting is off or if that's just the way it is. Given how much trouble I've had getting it just to this point, I wouldn't be surprised if it can get better. I was still able to focus during the movie, so it wasn't THAT bad, but it was still an area of concern. I would have liked to be a bit more relaxed.
Eating and drinking is very tricky with this thing on. Simple snacks are okay, but anything big or messy would be a pain. Drinking out of a regular glass is hard, so I recommend using a bottle. Otherwise, the back edge of your glass will hit the rift, so you have to sip it.
After effects. I felt a little off afterwards, but not too bad I guess. My eyes felt a bit messed up. I had a bit of trouble focusing on small text for a few minutes. This does worry me about long term use, but it may have been that a setting needs adjusted. I did not use my glasses, so it may have been my eyes readjusting to putting them back on after a couple hours of not using them as well, but I do admit that focusing seemed to be off. Sort of like someone knocked my sight out of alignment or something.
Final thoughts. I'd say that this current dev kit is good enough to use for a while, but I would very much like to have the final version instead. If I can get my version improved by tweaking, I think it will be good enough to enjoy and tide me over.
Here are the things I want to see improved before I buy the final consumer version.
1. Resolution. I want 4k screens. 1080p is still lacking in detail. I want to get rid of that screen door effect.
2. Field of view. The image is not sharp all the way across. I would like this improved.
3. Comfort adjustments. If they can tweak the way it rests on your face, it would be helpful.
4. Motion handling. I'd like to see it handle fast motion a little better.
5. Lenses. I want lenses that won't scratch so easily. See my pictures earlier in this thread.
6. CA. I want all false color in areas of high contrast removed. It'll make the image more pleasing.
So, overall my impressions now are better than my first impressions. Dealing with the constant software crashing and completely wrong settings really made my initial review negative. Now that some of that has been sorted, I can enjoy it a bit more. That being said, I still have tiring back and forth bouts with the Rift software not wanting to run, and some stuff still isn't working.
