PlayStation VR 2 is just around the corner, and by this point Sony detailed all of the headsets core specs and features. Comparing PSVR vs. PSVR 2 specs side-by-side shows us how much has changed since Sony's first consumer headset released in 2016. Update (February 6th, 2023): With PSVR 2 launch day just around the corner, we've updated this spec sheet and commentary with the latest info, now including PSVR 2's weight and cable length. Among the major players in the VR space, Sony has bided its time on a follow-up to the original headset. By the time PSVR 2 releases on February 22nd, 2023, it will have been six years and four months since the original PSVR released back in 2016. The original PSVR was released about six months after the first major consumer VR headsets—HTC Vive and Oculus Rift—hit the market back in 2016. However HTC, Oculus, and others have released many new headsets in the interim. To its credit, PSVR managed to feel competitive for many years after its release, but eventually began to feel dated as the rest of the pack charged ahead into VR's 'gen-2' epoch. Now here we are in 2023 with PSVR 2 on PS5 set to bring new life to Sony's VR ambitions. Let's take a look at how PSVR and PSVR 2 specs compare: PSVR vs. PSVR 2 Specs PSVR 2 PSVR Resolution 2,000 x 2,040 (4.1MP) per-eye, OLED, HDR 960 x 1,080 (1.0MP) per-eye, RGB OLED Refresh Rate 90Hz, 120Hz 90Hz, 120Hz Lenses Fresnel Single element non-Fresnel Field-of-view (claimed) 110° (diagonal presumed) 100° (diagonal presumed) Optical Adjustments IPD, eye-relief Eye-relief Connectors USB-C (no breakout box) USB, HDMI (breakout box) Cable Length 4.5m 4.4m Tracking Inside-out (no external beacons) Outside-in (external camera) On-board cameras 4x IR (external), 2x IR (internal) None Pass-through View Yes No Input PSVR 2 Sense controllers (rechargable), DualShock 5 (rechargable) eye-tracking DualShock 4 (rechargeable), PS Move (rechargeable), PS Aim (rechargeable), voice Audio 3.5mm aux output 3.5mm aux output Microphone Yes Yes Haptics Controllers, headset Controllers Weight 560g 600g Release Date February 22nd, 2023 October 13th, 2016 Console Compatibility PS5 PS4, PS4 Pro, PS5 (with adapter, only PS4 compatible VR games) PSVR 2 Specs & Features – Beyond the Numbers It's easy to get lost in the numbers so let's really break down the major changes between the headsets. Resolution, Field-of-view, & HDR For one, PSVR 2 has about four times the pixel count of PSVR. All things being equal, that means images inside the headset would look about four times sharper, which is a substantial improvement. However, we know that all things won't be equal. Sony quotes the field-of-view of PSVR 2 at 110° compared to 100° for PSVR 1. That means that while PSVR 2 has many more pixels, they'll be stretched over a slightly wider area. Overall the sharpness of the headset should still be substantially better, but not quite as much as the sheer increase in pixels would suggest. As for the field-of-view itself, 100° to 110° isn't a huge leap, but you'd surely notice it if you compared the headsets side-by-side. Unless a surprise headset beats it to the punch, PSVR 2 will be the first commercially available VR headset to launch with an HDR (high-dynamic range) display. That means it's capable of a much wider range of brightness than a typical headset. Functionally this means the headset will be able to produce scenes with more life-like brightness which in theory could improve immersion considerably. Granted, in our PSVR 2 preview we didn't clearly notice the headset's HDR capabilities, though it isn't clear if the games on display had been optimized for the feature yet. Another possibility is that the HDR mode simply may have the kind of peak brightness you'd see from an HDR TV. So at this point it's unclear if HDR will be a 'nice to have' feature, or something that defines the headset compared to its contemporaries. Lenses & IPD [caption id="attachment_55384" align="aligncenter" width="640"] PSVR 1 lens | Photo courtesy iFixit (BY-NC-SA)[/caption] The original PSVR was for a long time the only major headset on the market that didn't use Fresnel lenses, which are known to cause glare (in exchange for other benefits). PSVR 2, on the other hand, will be following the rest of the industry which has long moved to Fresnel lenses as the industry standard. The lenses in the original PSVR had a large enough eye-box that Sony didn't feel the need to include an IPD adjustment (which adjusts the lenses to match the distance between your eyes). However, PSVR 2 does have an IPD adjustment which is a good idea for many reasons, so we're glad to see this addition. Meanwhile, PSVR 2 retains the eye-relief feature found on the original PSVR, which is useful for dialing in the most comfortable view and to make room for those with glasses. Ease-of-use & Tracking Even though this reads minimally on a spec sheet, this is a huge deal for PSVR 2—no more breakout box and no more external camera. [caption id="attachment_69029" align="alignright" width="325"] PSVR 1 setup diagram | image courtesy Sony[/caption] PSVR 1 ships with a large breakout box that accepts two plugs from the headset that run along a thick cable. The breakout box has to be connected to the host console by a USB cable and an HDMI cable (and also has to be plugged into the TV). And don't forget that it needs its own power supply. That's six... yes, six, individual plugs running into and out of the box. Needless to say, the breakout box was a bit of a pain. Not only did it complicate the user's A/V set up, in some cases it even created resolution and HDR issues for certain TVs; this was partly fixed with a later revision to the PSVR hardware, but even so the breakout box was a hindrance to the overall experience. Oh and don't forget about the camera. PSVR 1 required the PS4 camera for tracking, which meant having another peripheral plugged into your console. Not only that, but the camera was never made for VR in the first place and it suffered from poor tracking accuracy and limited coverage. [caption id="attachment_62726" align="aligncenter" width="640"] PS4 Camera | Image courtesy Sony[/caption] Sony has identified and eliminated these issues for PSVR 2. The breakout box is completely gone; the headset will plug into the PS5 with a single USB-C cable through the USB-C port conveniently placed right on the front of the PS5. That's great news but we surely hope that little connector can hold the cable in tightly enough to not get yanked out if the cord gets tugged during intense VR sessions! [caption id="attachment_111193" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy Sony[/caption] And the PS4 camera is gone too. Instead of using 'outside-in' tracking with a camera that sits on your TV, PSVR 2 has on-board cameras for 'inside-out' tracking. That means the cameras on the headset itself are used to track the player's head movements. This eliminates another extra peripheral compared to PSVR 1. But there's a risk in Sony's move to inside-out tracking. The quality of inside-out tracking varies greatly between headset makers. While the inside-out tracking on Quest 2, for instance, is very good, the inside-out tracking on Windows VR headsets leaves much to be desired. Only a handful of companies in the world have shown that they can deliver top-tier inside-out tracking for VR. [irp] Granted, the bar is pretty low in this case. Tracking on PSVR 1 was arguably the worst among major headsets on the market, but it still sold very well regardless. Even if PSVR 2 has just 'ok' inside-out tracking, it could still be an improvement over the poor tracking of the original. All that said, Sony tends to be pretty serious about VR, and I expect they'll have a decent solution for inside-out tracking, if not a very good one. Continue on Page 2: Eye-tracking, Controllers, Audio, & Headset Haptics » Eye-tracking [caption id="attachment_78744" align="aligncenter" width="640"] A typical eye-tracking visualization | Image courtesy 7invensun[/caption] Eye-tracking has been touted in the VR industry for years, but the tech has only ever been built into high-end headsets. Sony may be the first to deliver a consumer VR headset with eye-tracking. It might not be immediately obvious why you'd want to be able to track the user's eyes in a VR headset (especially if you're already tracking the motion of their head), but it turns out that eye-tracking can be a game-changer for VR in many ways. One of the big ones of course is 'foveated rendering'. Since our eyes only see sharply in a fairly small central region (the fovea), rendering scenes in high detail in your peripheral vision is a waste of computing power. If you can track exactly where the user is looking, you can render the center part of each frame in high detail while reducing detail in the periphery where it won't be noticed. This means games can look more detailed without using more computing power. But eye-tracking goes far beyond just foveated rendering. Sony has explicitly mentioned foveated rendering so far, but the tech could also be used for automatic IPD measurement, automatic user sign-ins, realistic eye movements for multiplayer avatars, intent tracking, and even eye-based input. Having eye-tracking in PSVR 2 essentially opens up a whole new door of possibilities for VR developers. Controllers [caption id="attachment_106836" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy Sony[/caption] One of the biggest improvements to PSVR 2 will the new 'Sense' controllers. PSVR 1 relied on outdated PS Move controllers that weren't very precise and also lacked thumbsticks which made them awkward to use for some games. Like other headsets with inside-out tracking, the PSVR 2 Sense controllers will be tracked from the cameras on the headset itself. This is stands to vastly increase the controller tracking coverage because users can now turn around without blocking the PS Camera from seeing their PS Move controllers. And because the Sense controllers are made from the ground up for VR (unlike the PS Move controllers), we expect the quality of the tracking will be improved too. Crucially, the Sense controllers are also jumping in line with all other modern VR controllers in terms of inputs. They'll have thumbsticks and two face buttons, which has become the defacto standard with the likes of Oculus Rift, Quest, Valve Index, Reverb G2, Vive Focus 3, and more. Having the same button-and-stick layout across all these controllers makes it easier for developers to port their games from one headset to another. [caption id="attachment_111195" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy Sony[/caption] And then there's the enhanced haptics of the PSVR 2 Sense controllers. Sony says they will include advanced haptics similar to what's in the impressive PS5 controller. That means adaptive triggers that can change how each pull feels, and highly-detailed haptics that go far beyond the basic rumble motors in the PS Move controllers. Audio & Headset Haptics [caption id="attachment_111194" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy Sony[/caption] Amidst a very impressive list of capabilities listed above, audio might be the Achilles' heel of PSVR 2. It's here where we'd love to say 'Sony is following every other major headset maker by including on-board audio on PSVR 2'. Alas, this isn't quite the case. Sony has revealed that PSVR 2 will have a 3.5mm headphone jack, just like the original headset. That means players can use their own headphones, or the included earbuds (which at least have a custom cable length are stowable in the headstrap to be a little more convenient). While it doesn't seem like a big deal to stick earbuds in your ears after putting on the headset, the VR headset market has clearly shown the demand for on-board audio that doesn't require any additional fiddling. [irp] Sony has also confirmed that PSVR 2 will include head-mounted haptics (another first among commercially available headsets). That means that, like the controllers, the headset itself will be able to shake in response to things happening in the virtual world. Pass-through View and Playspace Boundary on PSVR 2 The original PSVR has no on-board cameras, which means it lacks any kind of pass-through view—a convenient feature which lets the user look 'through' the headset with the cameras without taking it off. Sony has confirmed that PSVR 2 will indeed have a pass-through view which is great. And like Quest 2, it looks like the PSVR 2 pass-through view will also be how users configure the headset's playspace boundary. The original PSVR's tracking range was so small that it hardly made sense to have a virtual boundary, but with PSVR 2's inside-out tracking players can essentially walk anywhere within range of their cable and look in in any direction. That necessitates a virtual boundary to keep players from smacking their TV or walking into furniture. https://gfycat.com/watchfulfakeanglerfish Sony says PSVR 2 will have the ability to 'scan' the shape of your room to automatically create a suitable playspace boundary, and players will further have the ability to customize it by tracing a line on the ground using the headset's pass-through view. - - — - - All things considered, PlayStation 2 is shaping up to be a significant upgrade over Sony's first headset. Beyond that, it looks like PSVR 2 may launch with several first-to-market features among consumer headsets, like HDR, eye-tracking, and head-mounted haptics. If you can't wait until the launch later this month, check out our detailed hands-on preview of PSVR 2 to learn more about what it's like to use the headset.