Oculus Quest (Santa Cruz)

[MaDMaX**]

I initially sent a webnote thing over the bank holiday weekend, but after getting twitchy and not hearing anything I then sent another webnote 2 days later (Monday), after which I heard back almost immediately to confirm cancellation. No idea if they actioned the first or last, but it's showing as cancelled now. Have to wait 5 working days to get the money back which is slightly annoying.

The order on Oculus store is still showing as processing at the min, so looking unlikely I'm going to see this before next week, am back to work on Monday after having this week off. Not like I'm going anywhere though, working from home for the forseeable so a lot more time on my hands anyway

i called this morning Twice !! But it’s cancelled, good thing as shortly after got an email saying I’m order is ready for despatching , it says on 20th so will see,
Have already ordered a 3m cable and 5 meter extension, and someone on another forum posted about some protective covers for the hand gizmos

was checking my steam collection today already have elite dangerous - assetto Corsa and Project cars to be trying out, getting excited now

 

[krooton]

Mine arrives tomorrow, tres excited!

I have Beat Saber, as well as the offer that is going for Box VR and Racket Nx, plus Virtual Desktop to see if pc streaming works for me.

 

[varkanoid]

New Virtual Desktop 1.13.x beta was released yesterday with few improvements and fixes. I guess with being at home the Dev is working on it as we've had regular updates lately.

 

[krooton]

Oh thanks Yodel, turns out it is being delivered today

 

[Ravenger]

Oh thanks Yodel, turns out it is being delivered today

Have fun! If you don't find it comfortable be sure to look at the various fitting guides. The easiest way to make it more comfortable is to add a counterweight to the lower back headstrap using cable ties, velcro ties, or similar.

 

[2004typer]

What's interesting is, people have reported Alyx via Virtual Desktop actually looks slightly superior to than via the Link. Better contrast. And they play basically the same...

As well as the wireless capability, the Quest is also OLED. Have harped on about this a few times, but the capability to show proper blacks to me really outweighs a small increase in sharpness. Had a Rift S but returned it - my first headset was a CV1, and yes, whilst there was an appreciable increase in clarity, the greyness in dark scenes just ruined it for me.

So Quest all the way for me........but I would like to try an Index though (aware these are LCD - for anybody with an Index, are the black levels good in these compared to a Rift S?).

The hand torch scenes in Alyx with the Quest are just sublime - it's absolutely pitch black.

 

[Ravenger]

So Quest all the way for me........but I would like to try an Index though (aware these are LCD - for anybody with an Index, are the black levels good in these compared to a Rift S?)

I have an Index, a Quest, a Go (which has the same panel as the Rift S) and a CV1, so I'm qualified to talk about black levels.

The Rift CV1 out of the box has reasonable black levels, but really bad mura in my case. With the appropriate registry tweak you can remove the mura and get pure blacks, but it tends to have issues with games that are colour graded for the default CV1 black level, and causes posterisation of dark colours in some circumstances. Still worth doing though! The panels aren't very sharp, and the lenses have terrible god-rays.

The Go's black levels are poor. Very grey - presumably the Rift S is the same, but the panel is pretty sharp and the lenses excellent with no god rays.

The Index's black levels are better than the Go's, but nowhere near as good as the Rift CV1. You can turn the brightness up or down on the Index to tweak it. However lens glare on the Index is awful - the worst I've seen, though you do get used to it. It makes up for it in terms of FOV and sharpness though - SDE is only really noticable if you're looking for it.

The Quest has probably the best black levels out of the box, with barely noticable mura. The colours are the best of any of the headsets I've tried, but due to the pentile subpixels you do notice SDE and fringing around objects, especially faces in movies. Conseqently it's not as sharp as the Go/Rift S or the Index. Also due to apps (including Link) not rendering at the Quest's native resolution the image can be pixellated or soft.

 

[2004typer]

Thanks for that - as I'd imagined.

Have you got Half Life Alyx? - how's that compare between the Index and the Quest? Aware the PC spec will make a big difference (I'm only on a 1070 so couldn't run an Index properly). Assume Alyx is massively smoother, but how is the overall difference in image quality?

If you have got Alyx - try it on VD as well - works great.

(OP - sorry for derailing the thread!).

 

[krooton]

Have fun! If you don't find it comfortable be sure to look at the various fitting guides. The easiest way to make it more comfortable is to add a counterweight to the lower back headstrap using cable ties, velcro ties, or similar.

Cheers, saw the earlier guide, and did a full loosening of the top strap, to get the back below my head curve, then tightening the side straps, much more comfy.

Also have a Kiwi Design insert which is more comfortable than the base foam.

Have a phone belt clip arriving next week for holding a powerbank as a counterweight, so should be good on all fronts.

I am seriously impressed by this, as the only VR I previously experienced was on the Derren Brown Ghost Train ride in Thorpe Park, which was crap on (I believe) old Vives.

So far we have tried Beat Saber and Super Hot, and then I spent far too much time getting VD and SteamVR working, trying Vacation Simulator and The Curios Case Of The Missing Pets through that.

Question for the PC streamers:

I have got VD/SteamVR working from my 1060 laptop, but ideally I want to use my Unraid server/desktop instead as it is rocking a 5700.
Currently, that is a dual-boot set up, but I think an always-on approach would be easier, which would mean running a Win10 VM within Unraid rather than dual-booting.

Given the overheads that streaming already causes, would this even be playable? I understand I would use ReLive due to being an AMD card, but would ReLive through a VM cause even more latency?

I don't want to go through all the hassle of setting up a VM (never done it before) if games will be unplayable.

Thanks

 

[Ravenger]

Have you got Half Life Alyx? - how's that compare between the Index and the Quest? Aware the PC spec will make a big difference (I'm only on a 1070 so couldn't run an Index properly). Assume Alyx is massively smoother, but how is the overall difference in image quality? If you have got Alyx - try it on VD as well - works great..

I've played Alyx on the Quest via VD, and it's very playable. The colours and black levels are way better than the Index, but the resolution, SDE, FOV, and above all refresh rate and smoothness are not as good. I keep meaning to try it using a link cable, as I think that'll be smoother and more reliable than my Wi-Fi, but I don't have a long cable yet.

It is the smoothness (even at 90hz) that makes it more pleasurable to play on the Index - the same would be true of any wired PC VR headset I think. The 72hz of the Quest does mean it's compromised compared to native PC headsets, and it's very noticable in fast paced games like Eleven Table Tennis. However I can't unplug my Index or Rift CV1 and take the headset to bigger playing space or outside, so the Quest is definitely a firm favourite of mine (despite Oculus locking down the social aspects behind a Facebook account).

 

[varkanoid]

Question for the PC streamers:
I have got VD/SteamVR working from my 1060 laptop, but ideally I want to use my Unraid server/desktop instead as it is rocking a 5700.
Currently, that is a dual-boot set up, but I think an always-on approach would be easier, which would mean running a Win10 VM within Unraid rather than dual-booting.
Given the overheads that streaming already causes, would this even be playable? I understand I would use ReLive due to being an AMD card, but would ReLive through a VM cause even more latency?
I don't want to go through all the hassle of setting up a VM (never done it before) if games will be unplayable.
Thanks

I think Virtual Desktop via a VM would be unplayable. You would need a really fast server to get over the extra latency.

I've played Alyx on the Quest via VD, and it's very playable. The colours and black levels are way better than the Index, but the resolution, SDE, FOV, and above all refresh rate and smoothness are not as good. I keep meaning to try it using a link cable, as I think that'll be smoother and more reliable than my Wi-Fi, but I don't have a long cable yet.

It is the smoothness (even at 90hz) that makes it more pleasurable to play on the Index - the same would be true of any wired PC VR headset I think. The 72hz of the Quest does mean it's compromised compared to native PC headsets, and it's very noticable in fast paced games like Eleven Table Tennis. However I can't unplug my Index or Rift CV1 and take the headset to bigger playing space or outside, so the Quest is definitely a firm favourite of mine (despite Oculus locking down the social aspects behind a Facebook account).

I think it is subjective though and depends entirely on your setup. My monitor is 75hz and I game at that fine and it is very smooth for me. So with the Quest I also find it smooth whether native or over Virtual Desktop plus I am getting over 500Mbps connection via WIFI. With the new VD software my latency is also down under 20ms.

 

[MaDMaX**]

MY quest is being delivered today, have some cables coming from the forest monday, i ve done as much research as i can, but just have a couple of questions, so i know im heading in the right direction
as far as playing games goes with the cable connected to my pc, think i understand what needs doing,

its the wireless side im a little confused with possibly, so theres 2 ways to connect wireless ? VD and ALVR, VD is paid for, and ALVR is free ??
with VD this needs to be installed on my desktop and headset ? do i have to pay for both versions? once installed either way thats it ? other than having steam/steamvr installed on my pc, i should be able to connect to it on the head set,

not sure how to use alvr yet.

sidequest, i presumed this was just to install games direct onto the Quest, but i have read a few threads where i might need this for some of the above as well ??

 

[krooton]

MY quest is being delivered today, have some cables coming from the forest monday, i ve done as much research as i can, but just have a couple of questions, so i know im heading in the right direction
as far as playing games goes with the cable connected to my pc, think i understand what needs doing,

its the wireless side im a little confused with possibly, so theres 2 ways to connect wireless ? VD and ALVR, VD is paid for, and ALVR is free ??
with VD this needs to be installed on my desktop and headset ? do i have to pay for both versions? once installed either way thats it ? other than having steam/steamvr installed on my pc, i should be able to connect to it on the head set,

not sure how to use alvr yet.

sidequest, i presumed this was just to install games direct onto the Quest, but i have read a few threads where i might need this for some of the above as well ??

Here is what I did:

Buy Virtual Desktop for my Quest and install on my Quest
Download streamer app and install on PC https://www.vrdesktop.net/
Install Sidequest on my laptop https://sidequestvr.com/#/download
Connect Quest to laptop and link to Sidequest PC client
Install the Virtual Desktop add-on in Sidequest
Install SteamVR on PC
Install Oculus software on PC

From there, I run the Streamer App on my PC, then VD from within my Quest to connect to the PC in question.
In the VD interface, you should see a button above the exit button in the bottom left that says 'run/start SteamVR'

Good luck, it took me a few hours yesterday getting everything working.

 

[MaDMaX**]

Here is what I did:

Buy Virtual Desktop for my Quest and install on my Quest
Download streamer app and install on PC https://www.vrdesktop.net/
Install Sidequest on my laptop https://sidequestvr.com/#/download
Connect Quest to laptop and link to Sidequest PC client
Install the Virtual Desktop add-on in Sidequest
Install SteamVR on PC
Install Oculus software on PC

From there, I run the Streamer App on my PC, then VD from within my Quest to connect to the PC in question.
In the VD interface, you should see a button above the exit button in the bottom left that says 'run/start SteamVR'

Good luck, it took me a few hours yesterday getting everything working.

THanks very much, thats the kind of pointer i needed, working all weekend, so wont really be able to start playing until Monday, but on lates, the nights the week after, then off for a week, so technically apart from a bit of sleep lots of VR time

 

[danoliver1]

Think of getting a quest when their back in stock but I have a question. My pc is in a bedroom but I want to use vr in the lounge which has more room(directly below bedroom). Will streaming from a 5g hotspot from the pc to the quest be ok?

 

[Ravenger]

Think of getting a quest when their back in stock but I have a question. My pc is in a bedroom but I want to use vr in the lounge which has more room(directly below bedroom). Will streaming from a 5g hotspot from the pc to the quest be ok?

Really depends on how good your Router is, and if there is anything blocking the signal.

My router is in my Attic, and though I get a pretty good 5GHz signal down in the lounge it's almost unusable for Virtual Desktop - fine one minute, a stuttery mess the next. Works great next to the router though, which is annoying as I have a full PC VR setup there anyway, so not much point!

 

[varkanoid]

Here is what I did:

Buy Virtual Desktop for my Quest and install on my Quest
Download streamer app and install on PC https://www.vrdesktop.net/
Install Sidequest on my laptop https://sidequestvr.com/#/download
Connect Quest to laptop and link to Sidequest PC client
Install the Virtual Desktop app in Sidequest (this is the full version with SteamVR function put back in)
Install SteamVR on PC
Install Oculus software on PC

Run a test with say Trials on Tattooine on Steam (its free) and adjust VD streaming settings to improve smoothness to get the best performance/quality.
Install and download your Steam and Oculus games. Some are free on Steam.

From there, I run the Streamer App on my PC, then VD from within my Quest to connect to the PC in question.
In the VD interface, you should see a button above the exit button in the bottom left that says 'run/start SteamVR'

Then look at the GAMES section in VD and you will see all your games. Click on the one you want to play. (SteamVR and Oculus software will auto start)

Good luck, it took me a few hours yesterday getting everything working.

Thats not quite correct. Updated the above if you do not mind. Read the Sidequest instructions here https://sidequestvr.com/#/setup-howto as its not quite as simple as above.

Think of getting a quest when their back in stock but I have a question. My pc is in a bedroom but I want to use vr in the lounge which has more room(directly below bedroom). Will streaming from a 5g hotspot from the pc to the quest be ok?

Like was said depends on where your router is. If you can hard wire the 5g hotspot that would be better.

 

[JDR82]

Finally got around to trying the Virtual Desktop setup, to be honest I wasn't overly bothered about trying it since using the cable is no big deal with my desktop being in my living room with a large space nearby.

However, simply losing the weight (even though its light) and physical reminder of a cable dangling and curling around you makes a huge difference, I just played just shy of 2 hours of Alyx with no problems at all. It is my first run on VD I put all the settings to their highest on here and am running Alyx on Ultra and it felt just as smooth as the cable, I would say the image quality was better than the link, especially the dark areas.

 

[2004typer]

Finally got around to trying the Virtual Desktop setup, to be honest I wasn't overly bothered about trying it since using the cable is no big deal with my desktop being in my living room with a large space nearby.

However, simply losing the weight (even though its light) and physical reminder of a cable dangling and curling around you makes a huge difference, I just played just shy of 2 hours of Alyx with no problems at all. It is my first run on VD I put all the settings to their highest on here and am running Alyx on Ultra and it felt just as smooth as the cable, I would say the image quality was better than the link, especially the dark areas.

Agree - it's ace!

VD is a masterpiece, I've pretty much stopped using the cable now - the only time I might do is for Beat Saber where millisecond timing is required.

Apart from that - being cable free is a massive benefit.

All I need now for perfection is a wire free Index with an OLED screen (and a beefy PC to back it up).

If this setup was available I'd happily shell out the money to get it up and running.

But at the mo, can't beat the Quest for value and versatility.

 

[krooton]

Wife and I have spent all weekend playing Beat Saber, trying the majority of non-Weeb custom maps.

So much fun, but my arms are knackered.

I even mapped my own first track