Teardown: Oculus Rift CV1
When VR was in its infancy – hell, it’s still in its infancy, but when it was in its most infanty infancy – Oculus Rift was synonymous with commercial VR, and avid fans and developers watched its growth with high anticipation. Now the market has become significantly more diverse with players like the HTC Vive and even Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard getting into the action. Nevertheless, the Oculus Rift remains one of the frontrunners in the commercial VR field, and today we’re getting a look inside its guts thanks to iFixit’s delightfully comprehensive teardown.
In their vivisection of the Rift, disassemblers noted the device’s use of many infrared dots that the Rift uses to track head movement. A new addition from earlier models is the array of IR LEDs strapped to the back of the head, which increase tracking substantially.
They also noted that the newest model of the Rift uses significantly more plastic clips rather than screws, which cuts down on the weight substantially. Other modifications had been made to reduce weight as well, the most interesting being in the lenses themselves, which have eschewed symmetrical lenses for a pair of thinner Fresnel lenses.
These lenses aren’t removeable as they were in their forerunners. They are, however, strapped tightly to two independent screens. That’s right, two. While earlier versions of the Rift had a single screen that operated in much the same way as Google Cardboard, the modern Rift has two smaller screens permanently affixed to each lens. That way when you’re adjusting the width of the space between the lens, the quality of immersion isn’t affected in any way.
To get all the nitty gritty details of the Oculus Rift, including a rundown of all the specific components that make up this bad boy, head on over to iFixit for the full teardown. In the meantime, let us know what you think of the Rift in the comments below. A technological marvel worth its pricetag, or are you fine sticking with Cardboard for now? Let us know in the comments!
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