Skerret wrote:

Given I spend most of my VR time in a Vive Pro wireless or a Pimax I don't expect to be blown away by the techy bits BUT am hoping for a smooth UX

Full review plox. Ta.

Sounds promising, I don’t really find the PSVR uncomfortable weight-wise, more the heat/steaming  up especially in Summer. The other thing I don’t like is not being able to see ‘through’ the PSVR whenever I want, especially with the GF doing her hilarious sneaking up from time to time. Can you switch to that B&W view whenever, or is it easy to force it to it just by triggering the barrier?

Pimax fov is nice, but found some weird warping at peripheries. Dunno if its the lenses.

How close is the tech for the headset know where you’re looking so that actual area has a stunning resolution and everything else isn’t as good? Think I’d read something about it but not sure.

Yossarian wrote:

My workmate is bringing his Quest into the office on Wednesday. I guess I’ll be trying one then.

Was thinking I might do this to spread the joy but realised, other people's face on my new tech, eewww

Kernowgaz wrote:

How close is the tech for the headset know where you’re looking so that actual area has a stunning resolution and everything else isn’t as good? Think I’d read something about it but not sure.

The Varjo has a secondary high res screen overlaid, but it doesn't move. There *is* eye-tracking in the headset but the high res portion of the screen doesn't move to follow it. Also, it's silly money for the headset plus a yearly sub, which is also expensive (tho not sure if required or a "maintenance" style contract). Also, found that has to be fed very carefully as fovea screen runs at 60fps and backing at 75 fps IIRC, so tearing in the centre portion becomes very noticeable against a non-torn BG. There's a faint outline around fovea screen as well, not sure if you'd notice if not looking for it though. Reading text (e.g. spines of books in scanned scene) and control panels etc. is super-good on the high res screen though. Probably very useful for high-end CAD work, definitely not a consumer HMD.

Turing tier Nvidia cards have Variable Rate Shading, which allows for higher res/rate shading across the screen, which has an obvious immediate use case in foveated rendering, but requires that the whole panel is high res (and HMD with eye-tracking, natch).
e.g. Vive Pro Eye demos already have this:
https://zerolight.com/news/tech/foveated-rendering-on-the-vive-pro-eye
https://devblogs.nvidia.com/zerolight-improves-automotive-product-visualisation-quality-and-performance-with-vrs/

BTW, eye/gaze tracking allows some really cool scenic interactions and data gathering of exactly what the users are looking at.

Can confirm eye tracking is great, have a few Foves lying about so older tech but very natural and ought to be in every hmd.

Pimax is noticeably crisper with reduced SDE vs Vive Pro BUT godrays and light leakage are worse. FOV is potent and I could see the fabled real 8k Pimax being a neat desktop and cinema HMD. HP Reverb has by far the highest res per screen but its Windows MR so otherwise pants. Pimax ergonomics are meh and it feels pretty plasticky. Lenses are freaking huge.

Right, the Quest. Ergonomics are good, not great, and we'll probably have a go at putting the Vive Pro strap onto the Quest as it's just a bit unbalanced to me. Nothing fatal, just when you are used to the cushy Pro straps anything else feels pokey.

Visually I was impressed; yes there's a noticeable gap between a PC tethered Vive Pro and the Quest but then of course there is. Tracking seems very solid, the odd wrinkle but barely noticeable. We have a 6m x 6m square play area mapped out so there was plenty of knees bent running about behaviour and it never got shaky.

Foveated rendering seemed to be pretty effective, but again highlights why eye tracking should/will be a feature of all next gen headsets. Seems to be divided into 4 regions, outermost being pretty rough but you'd really have to stop and look for it to be noticeable. Minimal godrays and light bleed.

Controllers are a step back from Rift if only due to the ring being above the hand rather than below, so balance feels a touch out. Capacitative buttons are nice as ever but I yearn for the Index ones now. Tracking is excellent, never lost touch with the controllers.

Performance wise, Robo Recall takes an obvious graphical hit but otherwise seems to retain the full weight of the original version. Main plan seemed to be to bake everything but if its necessary, friggin do it eh.

Did a direct comparison of Superhot on Quest then Vive Pro and stylised games will fare best I think, as bar the obvious crispness the difference is pretty minor.

Overall, reservations about the ergonomics but that aside, it's a remarkable piece of kit. Setup is painless; a few customisation options for the chaperone boundary would be welcome but its nothing awful. Huge potential for MP shenanigans and I hope we get some time to build something for it soon. Unity has support as does UE4 I think.

It's a rung below Vive Pro of course; if you've got the budget, a PC with a 2080ti in it and a wireless module for the Pro is hard to beat, but it's markedly better than PSVR which is pretty dated tech by now. I think I'll partake.

Have you pre-ordered many Indexes?

@skerret

JMW wrote:

About the only thing putting me off right now is the front-heavy weightiness some reviews are reporting - what’s it actually like for those that have tried it? I’m not thinking I’d want it on for more than an hour in any case.

On the plus side, neck like Mike Tyson

Vader Immortal
£7.99


There’s a sequence in a cavernous location which has to be one of my favourite gaming moments this, or any gen.



This is authentic Star Wars, clunky signposting and limitations of the system aside, Vader Immortal has such an engaging story so full of tactile flourishes, humour and gobsmaking environments it’s astonishing. The Dark Lord knows what a kid would make of it - and having to wait until the next two instalments!

The Empire strikes again.
9/10

Are there any 'experience' apps?
Like visit the pyramids type of thing?

SpaceGazelle wrote:

Have you pre-ordered many Indexes?

@skerret

Not yet but we'll put a gear order together later this yea so perhaps then.

I’m picking mine up this morning and am definitely interested in the non-game content. From what I’ve read & seen that seems better integrated than PSVR; a UI with Netflix, a browser, YouTube VR etc from the off. Obviously can’t confirm until later though.

pantyfire wrote:

Scout wrote:

pantyfire wrote:

Are there any 'experience' apps? Like visit the pyramids type of thing?

I mentioned in the thread earlier the Nat Geo thing which would probably go down as an experience app. Ocean Rift maybe? That's just floating around in the sea with sea creatures (or in a shark cage).  Glad to hear you liked Vader, hair. Loved it.

Just had a look at that. The polar expedition type of thing? I'm basically asking because I really want one of these but the wife would only be interested if there are experience type of things and not games.

 
Yeah that's the one. It's pretty short and sweet. Starts with you kayaking towards base camp. Then you have to climb an ice wall then you spend a bit of time at your camp. There's also an app called Nature Walks VR which is just standing around in idyllic little patches of nature, like a sunny beach, autumnal forest etc. I wasn't massively impressed but it's certainly a good one for introducing VR to a newcomer.


I'd say Wander is one of the best non-gaming apps. It's just Google Street View but probably the closest thing at the moment to Google Earth VR.

@scout
Gah. Thanks. 
I don't think she'll be convinced by any of the current crop then. 
So for now, I'll bide my time and pounce when she's not expecting it. 

A while back we had a weekend away and in a museum she had a go on some early medieval town experience on what I think was an early version of Rift. Tbh if was pretty basic visually but for someone who doesn't game, flying over church rooves and sweeping about in 3D left an impression.