Is VR dead?

[RCHeliguy]

VR headsets definitely fall in the category of very subjective and personal.

Some people are very sensitive to:
Moire', CA, glare, persistence, refresh rates, weight, tracking, etc..

I've heard people complain that various headsets won't reach their IPD value either large or small.

Then there is the matter of facial interfaces and how well they fit various people's faces, whether you need a supporting strap to make it fit your head comfortably, etc.. etc..

Then there is the whole matter of cost.

Meta has large economy of scale and vast resources. They will continue to release headsets that improve what is available for a relatively affordable price and with stand alone capabilities allow people without extreme gaming machines to enjoy VR.

Most other headsets have lower volumes and have moved upscale to "enthusiast" territory catering to various markets.

There are plenty of people out there who love and hate every VR headset on the market so we can each pull out many examples of people venting about their headsets. Then we can immediately dismiss anything negative said about the headset(s) that we prefer.

They are all mixed bags, every last one of them.

It would be nice if Pimax wasn't so heavy, didn't use a large legacy enclosure, had better QC, had FOV more in keeping with what they promised, and didn't require a battery.
It would be nice if the Beyond had great edge to edge clarity, had full bandwidth at 90Hz, and didn't require face scans and measurements before ordering, and had their audio strap ready at release.
It would be nice if the Aero didn't have motion blur when panning your head, CA, Moire' issues, better vertical FOV and implemented promised local dimming.
It would be nice if the Q3 didn't require a upgraded headband and had a displayport connection.
It would be nice if the VR1 was released so we could compare it with the others, but we can start with wishing it would be less expensive.

I'm sure many of you can come up with lots of additional complaints about the headsets that you chose not to buy.

We can pick them all apart, or we can pick what works best for us and be happy with that.

 

[gamma123152]

How does one go about getting Almalence? Looking at their website, it says they're now only allowing companies/individuals that are doing studies on image quality or something to that effect. Would love to give it a shot on my Crystal.

It's sadly enough discontinued so you cannot try it anymore, the visual difference that it made on the Crystal was huge. It varied from title to title, in Automobilista 2 the difference is massive(game changer I would say), in iRacing its smaller. And you need to run it at or close to native resolution otherwise it doesn't work properly and many titles weren't supported. The trail has been discontinued on 15 March. They(Almalence) want Pimax to pay a license, but they couldn't come to an agreement about the financial fees, they probably charged to much in the eyes of Pimax. Really a big disappointment because it costed maybe 2% performance, almost nothing; but the visual difference was huge in the titles that I play the most. I have no idea what Almalence charged so I couldn't judge if it was fair or not. Almalence couldn't sell the software alone because they need an license of the eye tracking implementation and that costs to much according to Almalence, maybe one day they'll find a way.

 

[Leynad777]

The BSB with prescription lenses and audio-strap would cost me north of 1.6k €, plus Valve controllers and basestations over 2.2k, and certainly you don't want to run it with a GPU lower 4080...
For that price it really should be hovering far above the Quest 3, but seems it's just different, all things considered.

And one thing could also be a good argument for the Quest 3: I couldn't get any headset to work with OpenVR in AC Content Manager, not even the Quest 3. With the 8KX and Pico 4 I had to launch vanilla AC to get into VR reliably and the Quest 3 had the same issue with OpenVR renderer, but there is another alternative for it that works reliably: Oculus Rift. Others might not have this problem, but I even have it after a fresh Windows 11 and fresh AC install and couldn't find any solution. It just works once, that's it and with the few sim-racing titles left with proper VR-support these days, not getting Content Manager to work in VR is pretty bad.

 

[RCHeliguy]

The Quest 3 is a great headset.

And yet I know a bunch of people who got a Quest 3 to hold them until their Beyond arrived and now they use the Beyond.

The Beyond is in a category of its own right now. If what it does right is important to you, it is a no brainer. If none of it's strengths are important to you, than there are other options.

Obviously you don't see any of the things that it does really well as mattering, so it sounds like the Quest 3 is a better fit for you.

 

[Leynad777]

The Quest 3 is a great headset.

And yet I know a bunch of people who got a Quest 3 to hold them until their Beyond arrived and now they use the Beyond.

The Beyond is in a category of its own right now. If what it does right is important to you, it is a no brainer. If none of it's strengths are important to you, than there are other options.

Obviously you don't see any of the things that it does really well as mattering, so it sounds like the Quest 3 is a better fit for you.

Would be strange if people prefer the headset that costs a third or fourth of the price while they can't return the BSB without huge loss, but to quote a BSB-owner: "Currently considering buying a quest 3 just to see if I can tolerate the lower res to get less glare", so there is a tradeoff that doesn't fit with the price, especially the ones they are asking in the EU. You've paid 999$, which isn't that far off a Quest 3, while I would pay 1478$ plus the stuff necessary to run it, which is included with a Quest 3. And the compression-argument might be only valid if running default Link-mode instead of 700+ MBit with cable, which looks close enough to native for my eyes.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I can find a pile of people who didn't like the Quest 3 for any number of reasons as well.

There is no point to a discussion like this.

You can find people who absolutely love and hate the same headset. If they love it, it's worth more to them and if it doesn't agree with them, it's a pile of festering turds.

Your particular situation is your particular situation. The only thing that is strange is that you assume everyone has the same priorities as you do. I'm sure many do, but I'm equally sure many don't. That's why it's great to have choices.

I already had base stations mounted years ago that I used with my Valve Index for about 4.5 years and then a Varjo Aero which I still own and now the Beyond. I used Index Controllers for all 3 of them.

When I got my Index, you can quote me if you look back far enough. I said that I was investing in a system that would allow me to just buy headsets and keep the stuff I like, for example the best tracking system available and the best hand controllers available.

That said, the fact that Bigscreen has had to continue to ramp up production only proves that they have plenty of people who consider the Beyond a desirable headset and worth the money. They will easily sell more headsets than any of the other enthusiast headsets available today and likely only sell less than the Quest 3 which is priced to sell many more copies.

 

[Slapped]

It's official at last.

PlayStation VR2 players can access games on PC with adapter starting on August 7

With the PlayStation VR2 PC adapter, players can expand their game library with thousands of SteamVR titles.

blog.playstation.com

I guess Sony has to flog that glut of unsold PSVR2 HMDs somewhere.

 

[blekenbleu]

AI + eye tracking = pwned
AI predicts decisions from eye movements
AI heatmaps customer's sub-conscious attention within 2 seconds

 

[blekenbleu]

Samsung Display reportedly wins microOLED contract for Microsoft's next-gen MR headset
Having sucker-punched WMR customers after snagging exorbitant defense dollars with HoloLens spinoff,
M$ now wants a bite of Apple's visual computing, using Samsung Display tech.

FWIW, Samsung's smartphone business unit rejected Samsung Display tech
in favor of Sony's for its XR collaboration with Google.

 

[Mr Latte]

It's official at last.

PlayStation VR2 players can access games on PC with adapter starting on August 7

With the PlayStation VR2 PC adapter, players can expand their game library with thousands of SteamVR titles.

blog.playstation.com

I guess Sony has to flog that glut of unsold PSVR2 HMDs somewhere.

I think having VR for a console is a good thing, and for many the main purpose was to play GT7.
Consider how much it costs for a decent PC and VR setup.

What it did with that was make VR simple, and let lots of people get into VR with some popular titles/franchises. In some cases, it may have and still will with the new support help some to move onto PC platform too.

VR still seems to suffer in new/must have quality titles, even taking into account PC games.
It will be interesting to see what is coming for the future and if Sony have a 2nd wave of titles planned.

 

[Mr Latte]

While a lot of guys are comparing to other headsets in various PC titles.
It certainly appears this is able to work rather well and maybe better than some thought might be the case.

 

[gamma123152]

While a lot of guys are comparing to other headsets in various PC titles.
It certainly appears this is able to work rather well and maybe better than some thought might be the case.

The dealbreakers for me are the resolution and the mura. But for the rest it's an excellent hmd and probably for the most people even a better choice than the Quest 3.

 

[RCHeliguy]

VR headsets are a personal preferences minefield, but it is always good to have more less expensive options out there to help with VR adoption and get VR into the hands of more people.

 

[RCHeliguy]

BTW for those watching....

Bigscreen Beyond should be shipping Audio straps ( past the first 100 delivered a while back ) in August.
Somnium VR is saying shipments of the VR1 "could" hit the US as early as the 2nd week of September but the manufacturing process is going slowly with a low yield rate for some components.
Varjo increased the price of the XR-4 out of the reach of many high end enthusiast gamers, and technically still hasn't released it to consumers. You can still only buy through a corporation.
Pimax has said they will "try" to get the QLED Super out by the end of the year, which suggests to me a more likely Spring release. OLED Super likely won't happen in 2025, and they've pushed off the 18KX until after DP 2.1 GPU's are released. So I can't imagine that happening until the 5090's have been out for a while, or there will be no potential users for it and it would make no sense to produce it.
Meta is rumored to be dropping their Quest Pro 2 in early 2025. When they announce something the ship date will be eminent.
It appears that the AVP now has a way to run steam games.
There is a minor Pico 4 upgrade coming.

2024 is really not much for the books. The XR-4 is even hard to recommend if you have the money at least at this point. The VR-1 looks very good, but still is at the high end of price envelope. I guess the HP Reverb losing support and the Crystal light coming in as a reasonable replacement is something of note in the lower end of the enthusiast market.

Realistically the Quest 3 is the best bang for the buck out there by a margin. Whether a PSVR headset makes sense will depend on the individual.

It will be very interesting to see what the Meta Pro 2 looks like. It "could" shake things up, or be a hit and a miss like the first Pro was. My bet is they learn from that mistake. Time will tell.

 

[gamma123152]

Pimax has said they will "try" to get the QLED Super out by the end of the year, which suggests to me a more likely Spring release.

There is a big chance that the Super also delays to Q1 25. I'm more concerned about the resolution/PPD issue. If it has the same limition as the XR-4 (only 50PPD in DCS+3 games and the rest limited to 33-37PPD or something) then it's probably not worth the upgrade over the normal Crystal and then the VR1 still gets the advantage probably.

Somnium VR is saying shipments of the VR1 "could" hit the US as early as the 2nd week of September but the manufacturing process is going slowly with a low yield rate for some components.

But it's launched without local dimming. Local dimming will come in oct/november in beta. Nobody knows why. Everything in VR always delays.. Local dimming is really mandatory, I wouldn't want one without it.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Yup, VR is a constant state of wait!

I'm very fortunate to have had my audio strap for so a long while most people wait, and I'm fortunate that while I find all of this interesting, there is nothing out there coming or announced that is of interest to me. I still think there is a reasonable chance I'll be good until the 6090 gets here.

 

[blekenbleu]

Also, the perhaps not mythical Immersed Visor's scheduled 19 Sept hands-on demo
.. as with AVP, liable to be repurposed for SteamVR.

Samsung Electronics' anticipated year-end answer to AVP using Sony OLED microdisplays

Then, whatever Microsoft has in mind for Samsung Display's OLED microdisplays
reportedly in 2026

 

[RCHeliguy]

That Samsung storyline is interesting. You have to wonder what happened internally for them to use Sony displays over their own. Maybe their cost was still too high and MS could absorb it, ir they didn't think they could produce the volume needed?

The bottom line is uOLED displays are still low volume and expensive.

 

[wajdi]

I’m very happy with my Q3/rf2 combo and now I’m able to run it at 130% SS and 120fps. Adding the Bobo S3 headstrap and globular cluster F3 interface improved a lot the comfort and the FOV.
I won’t spend 3K for a vr headset and I have the money for it. I have done this mistake 2 years ago with the Pimax Crystal and it was a big big disappointment. I see the even the very expensive XR-4 is having a lot of issues and it isn’t perfect .
For now the Q3 is the perfect choice .

 

[gamma123152]

Great experience with the Crystal here.

I wouldn't go back to compression artifacts and half of the Crystal resolution. The Q3 is far from perfect for now, but the Crystal isn't perfect either. There is no "perfect headset" on the market.

But for Quest 3 budget the PSVR2 is probably a better choice than the Q3 currently, if I must believe all the reviews about it.

I would gladly spend 3K for a perfect headset with 45+PPD and a bigger FoV but it isn't available.

To each their own.