New valve vr hmd

[Vega]

Not hearing a lot of love for this thing so far... I pretty sure the 144hz mode is a game changer that no other HMD can boast. Waiting for reviews as always before pre-ordering.

VR headsets already "Strobe" the back-light (LCD) or OLED typically at 90 Hz, so the motion quality is already very high. 144 Hz will give small gains. Resolution though is where large gains are always realized and unfortunately the Index falls short in that area.

 

[aoaaron]

Resolution, Wireless, Colours and FOV were my priorities.

This valve headset really doesn't nail any of those. It sort of addresses 2 of them, and ignores the other two. And at £1k its therefore then hard to swallow.

The Rift S is an ergonomic no-go sadly due to the audio solution, ergonomics, reducing quality of tracking.

Man if Pimax had got their stuff together, they could have hit a home run.

 

[hyperseven]

VR headsets already "Strobe" the back-light (LCD) or OLED typically at 90 Hz, so the motion quality is already very high. 144 Hz will give small gains. Resolution though is where large gains are always realized and unfortunately the Index falls short in that area.

Norm said @120/144Hz movement and tracking was at another level, like being jacked up on Caffeine. I would call that a huge difference.

 

[silvagti]

I can see that this might be tempting as an upgrade for those that already own a Vive and the necessary high-end PC to power it but for everyone else it's a tough sell. Especially when this feels like a very incremental upgrade. I'm also annoyed that, given the price tag, they haven't included some sort of wireless module so we can finally get rid of the tethering cable.

I actually feel that losing the cable and going wireless would be a bigger step forward than any minor increase in visual fidelity. Also, whilst base stations are great from a tracking point of view they're a real barrier for those of us who aren't willing to commit an entire room and floor space to a VR setup!

 

[Vega]

Norm said @120/144Hz movement and tracking was at another level, like being jacked up on Caffeine. I would call that a huge difference.

Those people always embellish. Just like how amazingly "clear" the 1440x1600 panels are. Which is a crock. Resolution that low will never have good clarity.

I remember them all gushing how "clear" the Pimax 5K+ was. Until I got it and was like "this isn't clear AT ALL".

 

[hyperseven]

Those people always embellish. Just like how amazingly "clear" the 1440x1600 panels are. Which is a crock. Resolution that low will never have good clarity.

I remember them all gushing how "clear" the Pimax 5K+ was. Until I got it and was like "this isn't clear AT ALL".

Considering those two guys on Tested are well-respected journalists and get to try every upcoming and current VR tech going I am more likely to believe their point of view than most.

Maybe its just you

 

[ale bro]

Those people always embellish. Just like how amazingly "clear" the 1440x1600 panels are. Which is a crock. Resolution that low will never have good clarity.

I remember them all gushing how "clear" the Pimax 5K+ was. Until I got it and was like "this isn't clear AT ALL".

Clarity was the first thing I noticed when I put on the Pimax 5K+

 

[aoaaron]

I wish they offered base station 1s at like £60. Would have definitely bitten as i dont think the 2.0 is needed for a lot of us.

 

[Zeeflyboy]

Thing is clarity is both subjective, and relative... Coming out of an OG rift or vive, I'm sure the clarity is definitely an improvement.

The Pimax 5k+ is higher but it does stretch that out over an enormous FoV and also wastes some area so angular resolution is apparently only around 14ppd. The original rift is around 12ppd, but of course you do also have the advantage of the RGB stripe LCD display vs the pentile oled.... Even so it's not a truly enormous increase in angular resolution. I haven't tried it personally but most people seem to consider it a considerable improvement in clarity despite the modest numbers.

It's hard to say for sure until the hardware arrives, but given the specs the Index may well actually have a similar or higher PPD than the 5k+ given the smaller FoV and canted displays improving screen utilisation... and of course it shares the same advantage of the RGB stripe display over the Vive/Rift/Vive Pro.

So "clear" may well be a fair description, especially when talking relative to previous headsets. Will have to wait and see!

 

[Vega]

I expect the HP Reverb with dual 2160x2160 panels to be a great leap forward in clarity but still not enough for me. And that has over double the pixels of the Index.

 

[OldComputerGuy7]

Saw this cool video using the new Index controllers looks pretty good moving around like that, so excited about all these new things coming out, was watching an old episode of futurama where they were wearing the netsuits kinda funny how we can nearly do all that now .

 

[Legend]

There are rumours that the upcoming Vive Cosmos will be using the same panels as the Reverb (2160x 2160)... if it can deliver on all other counts, then it would potentially make the Index somewhat underwhelming, although I believe the Cosmos may only be capable of 90Hz if it is using those same Reverb panels, and a slightly lower FOV also (unless they can push that with their lens solution). 120Hz on the Index will be very impressive I'm sure, providing you have the GPU power to manage it.

Until these headsets are in the hands of reviewers/consumers though, we really won't know anything. I don't put any stock in these paper specs, we need to actually see how they perform in the games we each want to play.

 

[aoaaron]

I’m just not buying into this refresh rate hype.

No one asked for a higher refresh rate prior to the index release.

We all wanted pimax fov reverb resolution wireless and black levels with awesome audio.

There are rumours that the upcoming Vive Cosmos will be using the same panels as the Reverb (2160x 2160)... if it can deliver on all other counts, then it would potentially make the Index somewhat underwhelming, although I believe the Cosmos may only be capable of 90Hz if it is using those same Reverb panels, and a slightly lower FOV also (unless they can push that with their lens solution). 120Hz on the Index will be very impressive I'm sure, providing you have the GPU power to manage it.

Until these headsets are in the hands of reviewers/consumers though, we really won't know anything. I don't put any stock in these paper specs, we need to actually see how they perform in the games we each want to play.

m ju

 

[Legend]

I’m just not buying into this refresh rate hype.

No one asked for a higher refresh rate prior to the index release.

We all wanted pimax fov reverb resolution wireless and black levels with awesome audio.

Those who've experienced the Index and its refresh rate would indicate otherwise. I don't know that it can be so easily dismissed. We shall see. It's obvious on a monitor that refresh rate improves the experience... (90FPS to 120FPS is very obvious to most)... and VR will only magnify this.

Bottom line, there's no perfect headset, and won't be for some time. VR is the pure definition of a nascent technolgy. We do have to be patient.

 

[aoaaron]

Those who've experienced the Index and its refresh rate would indicate otherwise. I don't know that it can be so easily dismissed. We shall see. It's obvious on a monitor that refresh rate improves the experience... (90FPS to 120FPS is very obvious to most)... and VR will only magnify this.

Bottom line, there's no perfect headset, and won't be for some time. VR is the pure definition of a nascent technolgy. We do have to be patient.

I've heard the "its like VR on Caffiene" but then the same person says the Quest at 72hz feels awesome.. so... just not sure if it hits the £900+ price tag for that.

 

[Legend]

I've heard the "its like VR on Caffiene" but then the same person says the Quest at 72hz feels awesome.. so... just not sure if it hits the £900+ price tag for that.

Perhaps not. But at the end of the day, if we want VR to evolve, there needs to be that niche who believe a £900+ tag IS worth it... or VR isn't going anywhere.

 

[Ravenger]

Perhaps not. But at the end of the day, if we want VR to evolve, there needs to be that niche who believe a £900+ tag IS worth it... or VR isn't going anywhere.

I think the problem is that if it your PC can do 120hz in the Index then potentially it could drive higher resolution and FOV at 90hz.

 

[Legend]

I think the problem is that if it your PC can do 120hz in the Index then potentially it could drive higher resolution and FOV at 90hz.

Yes, which is where the Cosmos may step in. I'm intrigued to see what they'll deliver with that. Should be interesting.

 

[Grim5]

I would take high resolution at 90hz over 120hz.

That’s just be I’m very sensitive to the resolution and don’t care much between 90 and 120hz

 

[melmac]

I might have jumped on board this if it had been priced at £750 but it's too expensive for me at £919.