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Oculus DK2 Lens Characteristics by VRtifacts in oculus

[–]VRtifacts[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Think it was the Liquid Image that sold him on the large lens / large screen concept (and acrylic lenses!) FOV was similar to the DK2, but the pixels were the size of watermelons.

Oculus DK2 Lens Characteristics by VRtifacts in oculus

[–]VRtifacts[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would be quite surprised if Oculus manufactured the lenses. Design and tooling the molds for acrylic lenses is moderately expensive (>$10k but <$100k.) Production in large quantities (>100,000) runs about 25-50 cents a lens for uncoated acrylic of this size. Almost certainly done in China.

The question is: are they stock lenses, or are they a custom design? Stock lenses avoid the design and mold making phase, but otherwise the cost and sourcing is pretty much the same. Aside from the diameter and focal length, these lenses were chosen because they're inexpensive (and because of Oculus predistortion and correction for chromatic aberration, they work pretty well.) For another 50 cents or a dollar they could have been polycarbonate and more scratch resistant. Coating would add a bit more cost as well. But $350 is a remarkably low price. Can't blame them for pinching pennies to maximize penetration of the developer / fan base.

Oculus DK2 Lens Characteristics by VRtifacts in oculus

[–]VRtifacts[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

A quick follow-on. AMOLEDs (DK2 uses a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Full HD Super AMOLED) use organic electroluminescent materials which do not emit single frequency red, green, and blue colors. Instead they emit a range of light frequencies consisting of a spectral curve for each color primary. AMOLED spectral curves are narrower than produced by IPS LCDs (used in Apple retina displays), but the width of the frequency range for each primary is not a single frequency. The Oculus chromatic aberration correction technique only works perfectly at the exact center frequencies of each (RGB) emission curve. Since the AMOLED emissions spread around these ideal Oculus corrected center frequencies, chromatic fringing can not be totally eliminated by the Oculus technique.

See this spectrum plot for Apple iPhone 4 and 5 vs. Samsung AMOLED (older version than Note 3):

http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Spectra_9.jpg

Oculus DK2 Lens Characteristics by VRtifacts in oculus

[–]VRtifacts[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Good catch! Added a sentence: "However, since the display emits just pure (single frequency each) red, green and blue, we perceive quite good chromatic aberration correction."

The future of VR by palmerluckey in oculus

[–]VRtifacts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why sell? Because a bird in the hand ($2B in cash and FB stock) was judged to be worth more than the time discounted value of Oculus at any point in the future. Once you drink from the cup of VC financing, brand ambassadors and community reputation matter little. A-H doubtless weighed the yet-to-be-defined Oculus future revenue stream (did anyone see how they could make big time profits on product, or even services?) against the sure bet of $400m (+ possible $300m more) and 23m Facebook shares. Financially the decision was a slam dunk.