Is VR dead?

[gamma123152]

Small Pimax Crystal update:

The base station tracking didn't get solved by the third base station; but by switching cables. The optical cables solved the tracking loss. It works great now(with two base stations) and it feels more precise than with the camera tracking.

Is anyone here using SRS motion compensation with the Pimax Crystal?

You should ask that on the official Pimax Discord or on the unofficial Pimax Reddit, then you have a higher chance to get an answer to that question.

It would be impressive if they could pull that off.

The reason I say that is that a modular design is more expensive to produce than a uniform design with every unit being produced identically. They will likely run batches with different configurations.

They don't have a Snapdragon chip in the headset, or some of the other complexities that was built into the Crystal, but the assembly going on in the Czech Republic vs China is going in increase costs. Also the software development costs for the pass through software etc will be higher.

The Pimax Crystal is also modular. It got currenty switchable lenses, switchable faceplates(lighthouse/camera), switchable hand tracking modules. The final assembly doesn't have to be much work if the parts come already premanufactured from China to Czech, it's just matter of final quality control and installing all the screws. That shouldn't add much to the final costs of the device. Nevertheless I expect that the final price of the VR1 is going to be around 1000 euro above the Crystal(with the same features, so with eye tracking), this simply because of the way that he's marketing the product. He's marketing it as a premium device which is made in the EU so that he could sell it for a higher price. If the price is going to be equal to the Crystal and the lenses have zero extra trade offs to the Crystal then I might switch to the VR1(only because of the FoV). But I expect many trade of's because of 1. poly lenses instead of glass 2. Two lenses instead of one(complex design) 3. Zero experience with software, I expect even more (barrel distortion type of) issues than with Pimax since it's their first device and the team of Somnium is very small. But we will see.

 

[blekenbleu]

Zero experience with software

Actually, they redeployed some of their small programming team from Somnium Space.
Based on the fiasco that was their VR1 reservation system launch and delayed Somnium Space 3.0 launch, I would replace "Zero" with "Problematic".

 

[wajdi]

 

[drvrn]

I am new to VR (so far with triple monitors) and I need your help to understand what I need to purchase/ install beside the VR headset (Varjo Aero or Bigscreen Beyond) for using it on a motion rig (SRS software) with bass shakers and my headset w/ mic?

- Vive tracker
- OpenXR Motion Control
- 2 lighthouse (which one are best?)
- Displayport connection to the PC
??

 

[mechsicko]

It does look good, and while I can't see myself moving towards bulky hmd I do look forward to the days where we can have high fidelity rigs with greenscreen instruments, mfd's, windshields/windows and canopies and such

 

[RCHeliguy]

I am new to VR (so far with triple monitors) and I need your help to understand what I need to purchase/ install beside the VR headset (Varjo Aero or Bigscreen Beyond) for using it on a motion rig (SRS software) with bass shakers and my headset w/ mic?

- Vive tracker
- OpenXR Motion Control
- 2 lighthouse (which one are best?)
- Displayport connection to the PC
??

Get base stations here.

Valve Index® Base Station on Steam

Room-scale precision, with lasers.The highest-quality tracking has gotten even better with Base Station 2.0, featuring improved range, wider field of view, and support for up to four Base Stations in a single setup, creating a larger play area while reducing occlusion.Compatible with Valve Index...

store.steampowered.com

For SRS it appears that the inexpensive Witmotion works well according to a couple people I've talked with.

I'd make sure to have a 3090 - 4090 GPU

 

[drvrn]

Get base stations here.

Valve Index® Base Station on Steam

Room-scale precision, with lasers.The highest-quality tracking has gotten even better with Base Station 2.0, featuring improved range, wider field of view, and support for up to four Base Stations in a single setup, creating a larger play area while reducing occlusion.Compatible with Valve Index...

store.steampowered.com

For SRS it appears that the inexpensive Witmotion works well according to a couple people I've talked with.

I'd make sure to have a 3090 - 4090 GPU

Are they doing sim racing or flight sim? The Witmotion doesn't work with heave and that is a problem with flight sim I think, especially with helis. But I might be wrong and there is no real need for having the heave also included.

Do you use a motion compensation with your motion rig and transducers?

 

[RCHeliguy]

Are they doing sim racing or flight sim? The Witmotion doesn't work with heave and that is a problem with flight sim I think, especially with helis. But I might be wrong and there is no real need for having the heave also included.

Do you use a motion compensation with your motion rig and transducers?

I have a D-Box system and it doesn't have a motion compensation tie in like SRS does.

I do have a Vive Tracker on my rig, but I've never gotten it to work well enough to use. It doesn't like the sharp bumps etc.. To be fair, I really haven't spent much time working with it.

With the 1.5" travel the D-Box has, I'm not sure it will ever make a huge difference for me. To date I haven't used VR motion compensation with my previous NLR-V3 or with the D-Box. So far it hasn't been an issue.

With the NLRv3 I found my head sort of worked like a gimbal and moved opposite the seat motion and with the D-Box the motion isn't extreme. However, I did turn down the brake dive on the D-Box because of the dash shifting on me. So that was the main place that I wanted it for.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Probably the last significant review of the Bigscreen Beyond.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Pandemic is back, what is it this time, DUMB-23?

 

[RCHeliguy]

Just to keep things in perspective.

Aero, Crystal, Somnium VR1 are miniLED.
BSB, Apple Vision are microOLED.

microLED is something currently very expensive and coming in the future.

Display Maker Boasts Record-Breaking One Million Nits Red MicroLEDs

Touted to take AR Glasses and projectors to new heights.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[metalnwood]

Yes, I would not be ruling out led panels too early. All i hear is that the future is oled of some type for VR and while today it may give the best theatrical picture quality it may have issues because of its organic nature.
LED is getting better and may long term still be the best thing all compromises considered.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Yes, I would not be ruling out led panels too early. All i hear is that the future is oled of some type for VR and while today it may give the best theatrical picture quality it may have issues because of its organic nature.
LED is getting better and may long term still be the best thing all compromises considered.

MiniLED - is now but it's end is drawing near.
MicroOLED - it's time has begun and will be all we see over the next few years.
MicroLED - it will be the new hotness in maybe 3 years?

Love the FUD about OLED when one guy has already put 4,000 hours on one already.

 

[HoiHman]

The almost ancient Valve Index is still my daily VR headset.

After trying the HP Reverb G2, the Varjo Aero and a (i believe) a Vive Pro 2, which were all send back within a couple of days, you can understand i'm hesitant to buy a BSB.

So decided to give the Quest 3 a try. It will be interesting to see if this headset is good enough to tie me over until we hear something from Valve. If not, i have 30 days to send it back to Amazon.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I completely get it. I went back to the Index after trying the G2 and I got my Aero after getting a 4090 and had DFR for DCS and iRacing and a Red shift tool pretty soon afterwards as well. So I'm pretty sure my experience with the Aero has been better than yours even though I do not consider it perfect by a stretch.

I remember back when you seemed to try out most new headsets when they arrived. After so many that you returned, I'm guessing you just got burnt out on that process. I still have concerns about the Bigscreen Beyond as well, but I'm going to see for myself. It is radically different from everything else out there, so fingers crossed and another month of waiting to go...

I've had a number of people ask me if they should by a Bigscreen Beyond and I've said that while I'm enthusiastic about it, until I get my own copy and can see what I think about it, I can only say I'm hopeful based on the comments of others. I remain hopeful, but I just can't know for a fact I'll be happy with it until I have one in my hands.

 

[ltnordb]

Debatable if it's an upgrade for Reverb G2 owners, that's dissapointing

 

[RCHeliguy]

My take aways were that the Q3 still has SDE, Moire', and that the stock interface is uncomfortable. The interface can be replaced, but he put the Q3 on a very different tier than the Aero, Crystal, and Bigscreen Beyond.

It will still sell millions of copies and likely get many new people into VR, but not the best sim headset to use.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Meanwhile Artur in side by side tests measured his VR1 on his face at 124H x 100V FOV and the Crystal as 100H x 94V FOV. Obviously he is saying that his headset looks very good compared to the Crystal. He would be a bad CEO if he didn't

Pimax moved back the release of their wider FOV lenses to the end of the year for alpha testing about the time that Somnium moved their release date back to February earliest. I would "guess" that Pimax wants to match what the Somnium is releasing.

The issue I see is that the VR1 went to a two lens system like the Index used to widen the FOV while maintaining sharpness across a wider range. The Crystal isn't designed to accept a two lens system, so they will have the harder task of creating an aspheric lens that can extend that wide while staying sharp. Keeping in mind that they are both using the exact same display panel, this will likely show how far an aspheric lens distortion profile can be stretched.

 

[HoiHman]

Like always a VR-headset is a very personal experience.

I'm not expecting the Quest 3 to be perfect, far from it. But i do think it's the better headset compared to the Reverb G2 because it should have better edge to edge clarity. But if the comfort sucks, it's going back unless i can improve it myself. If i like the Q3, i will be ordering a deluxe headstrap for sure.

The problem is that the Crystal, Aero and BSB are all still compromises on one front or an other, but the prices are sky high. I don't mind spending a couple thousand on a new VR-headset, but it should be one with a decent (Index) FoV and good edge to edge clarity.

Maybe the Somnium VR1 next year. I'm kind of giving up hope Valve will ever announce an Index 2.

I'm trying to postpone buying a high-end VR headset until something actually comes along that will satisfy me for a longer period.

VR-racing is expensive, but cheap compared to real stuf. So i have to make some though decisions.

A Quest 3 costs less than one track day. The Aero is about the price of 4 good semi slicks and i spend an Aero on new shocks and a BSB on the roll cage.

 

[RCHeliguy]

As always, it's all relative. According to some the VR headset companies are all ripping us off and they should all be $200-300 by now. Except VR didn't remotely catch on like some had hoped it would and the economies of scale never happened. Then again current model year cell phones are up over $1000.

The BSB is radically different from anything else out there, so I think it's definitely worth trying. They currently do all have serious compromises. Of course once you get something you are comfortable with, the compromises fade until something one day shows up that casts the compromises aside. We will all also disagree on what serious compromises are, so there is never agreement on anything