What is the Best VR now, Valve index, Vive Cosmos?

[zig11727]

Report back

HelixVision doesn't work with any WMR devices The mixed reality portal doesn't run when 3D Vision is enabled.

WMR doesn't work when 3D Vision is enabled.

[bo3bber]

So I ran a few tests:
Good news is it doesn't crash no more the nvidia driver.

But as soon I launched Helixvision, Steam VR says that Helixvision doesn't support VR, so I press "Ok", then Helixvision launchs and then WMR portail reboot instantly, Steam Vr exits, so I relaunch Steam VR and it says SteamVR fail "a key component for steamVR isn't working properly error 301" (conflicting software)… In the meantime when I launch the game (Vampyr or Eastshade) in Helixvision, the games is launching ok both on my TV and the Katanga windows but no in my headset (only have the Wmr portail in my headset) because Steam VR refuse to launch (error 301)

I edited the error display message

OK, thanks very much for testing.

That error has to do with SteamVR failing to find it's service. Might be worth trying to uninstall, then reinstall SteamVR from scratch.

I need more details on your system. What OS version and driver are you running?

I'll test this again, but last I ran this, WMR was working on 1903+425.31. (non-beta Steam, non-beta SteamVR)

Report back

HelixVision doesn't work with any WMR devices The mixed reality portal doesn't run when 3D Vision is enabled.

WMR doesn't work when 3D Vision is enabled.

Thanks for testing this. I'll test this again, it sounds like maybe they changed the mixed reality portal and it's currently incompatible. IIRC we had to mark the portal itself with that profile flag.

This is the same error we saw originally, which was that as soon as you'd launch the portal, it would go into a crash loop of crashing desktop windows manager 7 times, then closing the normal nvidia driver.

[bo3bber]

OK, I'm not sure what's happening in your scenarios. But would love to find out if you have the time to help me debug this.


For my setup, I'm not having any problem with WMR, HelixVision, or the games. All working correctly.

I did get a single crash of the Portal itself at first launch, but after that it has been working smoothly. (I think we know about this crash, it's because the profile can't be installed live, it requires a quit and restart to be fully enabled. Not ideal, but no way around since Microsoft refuses to fix their bug.)

I can also launch straight out of HelixVision, and it properly fires up 3D Vision, WMR Portal, as well as SteamVR, then the game.

My setup is Win 10 1903, Driver 425.31, HelixVision 0.8.27, SteamVR 1.8.21, Steam package 1576031979, latest WMR 2000.19101.1211.0


Maybe start by running HelixVision, then launch a game. That will setup the profiles properly.

Then shut everything down, and startup one piece at a time.
1) 3D Vision enabled, Discover mode is more reliable.
2) WMR Portal.
3) SteamVR
4) HelixVision
5) Launch game with Play In VR.

[Chtiblue]

Thanks Bo3b,
it's solved I was on steam VR beta, going back to steamVR 1.8.21 and Helixvision works fine

I was on steam VR beta because I had performance issue with SteamVR non beta, I have to check it now

[Chtiblue]

It seems that some folks succeed with Valve index or vive controllers working with WMR headset, thanks to openVR- space calibrator.

We really need to check that as it would be awesome combinaison (Index controllers) with HP Reverb and will solve its major flaw, the horrendous bad controllers tracking from WMR

with index knuckles controllers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiPqxOId8Jw


with vive controllers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbDHuEkvqZc

As I still have the vive controllers, I will test with them.

[bo3bber]

Thanks Bo3b,
it's solved I was on steam VR beta, going back to steamVR 1.8.21 and Helixvision works fine

I was on steam VR beta because I had performance issue with SteamVR non beta, I have to check it now

Awesome! Thanks for trying that out.

I'll take a look at the VR Beta and see if I can understand what is going wrong there, since I'm sure it will blow us up sooner than later. :->

Edit: Running SteamVR Beta 1.9.10 is also working for me. One game that normally works for me is Little Nightmares, which did not work here. But Turing Test (also UE4) was working fine.

I think most likely you saw the WMR Portal crash that first time and assumed it didn't work? If so, I'll need to figure out some way to smooth that out. Could also be specific games that don't work well here.

[Chtiblue]

I think most likely you saw the WMR Portal crash that first time and assumed it didn't work? .

the main issue was steamrvr crashing every time with3D on, with missing component error

[bo3bber]

I think most likely you saw the WMR Portal crash that first time and assumed it didn't work? .

the main issue was steamrvr crashing every time with3D on, with missing component error

Ah, right. That suggests that the real problem there was the SteamVR installation, so you can switch back to Beta for the performance improvement and it will work. Doing the switch from Release to Beta refreshes all the files, which fixed the problem.

[Chtiblue]

Ok thanks Bo3b, I'll test that tonight.

[Chtiblue]

I think most likely you saw the WMR Portal crash that first time and assumed it didn't work? .

the main issue was steamrvr crashing every time with3D on, with missing component error

Ah, right. That suggests that the real problem there was the SteamVR installation, so you can switch back to Beta for the performance improvement and it will work. Doing the switch from Release to Beta refreshes all the files, which fixed the problem.

Hi Bo3b,
It crashed steam VR like before with SteamVR 1.8.21 and last Mixed Reality for Steam VR Beta

[Chtiblue]

If you like Zombie Apocalypse with realistic and hardcore challenge, go for Surv1v3!!! You'll die soon and often, it's the most realistic I had play. Always have weapons loaded.
You're in Walking Dead now…

Very hardcore and challenging in solo, It should awesome in coop, tomorrow I'll try it in coop

https://store.steampowered.com/app/722180/SURV1V3/

[bo3bber]

Hi Bo3b,
It crashed steam VR like before with SteamVR 1.8.21 and last Mixed Reality for Steam VR Beta

Huh. I can't explain this one.

I think maybe the only component different between our setups would be the WMR steam as beta. I'll see if I can try that combo.

Edit: I've tried this combo with both WMR beta and Steam beta, and can't reproduce the problem. I got a crash at first launch, which is common because of the missing profile flags, but after that initial problem it's working smoothly. Dunno.


If you can collect a log file for me, that would help narrow it down. SteamVR itself has a log. If you go to the SteamVR window, and choose its menu, you'll see Create System Report. This can give you a log of the crash. If you save and post a copy of that log I can take a look.

[Chtiblue]

Go and get ASAP Walking dead Saints and Sinners, this is the Zombir VR game you are looking for 8)

[whyme466]

Unfortunately, Saints and Sinners currently does not work with mixed hardware setups like Vive Pro HMD/Index Controllers. Dev is aware of this issue and is working on a fix...

[Chtiblue]

I feel your pain

Hopefully, it should be solved very soon

[kakashisensei]

Thank you so much for this ! Sounds good ! Ok the Vive Pro .... Ähm but the Resolution is near the same like in the Rift S istn it? Noticable difference? Rift S Res. is sooo disturbing! I have tried to Play Metro 2033 Redux with Helixvision but the Resolution is an absolutely no go.

Vive Pro is arrund 900 € ???? WTF .... I only Need VR Headset to Play games with HelixVision, im currently not really interested in real VR applications. I do not have the space in my room Just want to have a comfortable 3D Screen directly at my eyes thats all. But for this, the Rift S is a no go because of the Resolution. I think i dont Need fast tracking currently. Is HP Reverb working with HelixVision?

Yeah, the Vive Pro is a total ripoff. No question. But for me, I do get best results with it, including wireless ability. I have not heard of anyone using HP Reverb with HelixVision yet, but I would expect this to work.


Resolution-wise, Rift-S is 2560x1440, slightly less than WMR at 2800x1440, but below the 2800x1600 of the Vive Pro. Might look comparable however because of the difference in OLED pentile vs. LCD linear pixel layouts. Splitting hairs though.

Headset resolutions sorted by vertical resolution. Horizontal resolution is mostly irrelevant unless you care about FOV, vertical is important for ScreenDoorEffect: (filling out Zig's table) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compariso ... y_headsets

• Reverb 4320 x 2160 90 HZ LCD
• Pimax-4K 3840 x 2160 60 Hz LCD
• Cosmos 2880 x 1700 90 HZ LCD
• Index 2880 x 1600 (80, 90, 120, 144) HZ LCD
• WMR Odyssey+ 2880 x 1600 90 Hz AMOLED
• Vive Pro 2880 x 1600 90 Hz OLED
• Pimax-5K+ 5120 x 1440 90 Hz LCD
• WMR 2880 x 1440 90 Hz LCD
• Rift-S 2560 x 1440 80 Hz LCD
• Rift-CV1 2560 x 1200 90 Hz OLED
• Vive 2560 x 1200 90 Hz OLED

Everyone is different, but in my opinion the original Vive and CV1 are not good enough for HelixVision use, too low res. Rift-S is also not a good choice. But at 1600 vertical, I think HelixVision is just barely acceptable, so Vive Pro, Index, Odyssey+, Pimax4K would be OK. It's roughly comparable to a 1080p monitor resolution, even though visually larger.


You reversed your comment from above. If you only care about playing HelixVision, then wireless is irrelevant, because it will be a seated experience. If wireless is not required, and you find the Rift-S 2560x1440 to be too marginal, then Vive Pro is probably not the right call. Especially if you don't care about the tracking quality.

Just to be clear: There is no one-best VR headset today. None are clear winners in every category, not even Index, so it depends upon what is important to each person.


For strictly HelixVision use, as a replacement projector/3D Vision monitor, I'd go with the WMR Odyssey+. You can get this on sale right now for about $250, which is unquestionably the best VR deal. The '+' version includes a screen filter to soften the image, which really helps remove the SDE. I tested one, but sent it back because the headband was too uncomfortable, but the screens are very good.

Next up price wise would be Pimax4K at $375. Have not tested this, but should be a pretty good headset for HelixVision. Probably that price does not include the base stations though.

HP Reverb will definitely be terrific for seated, non-tracking related, experiences. But at $600 it's quite a lot more expensive.

For non-tracking specific gaming like HelixVision, HTC Cosmos is worth consideration, because that 1700 vertical is a bit better than anyone except Reverb.


If you can get a WMR Odyssey+ on sale, you should do that, and experiment with it. Cheap. And you can then determine if that 1600 vertical is good enough, or whether you'd need HP Reverb.

Band is very uncomfortable depending upon person/head. Tracking is usual WMR and pretty weak. Blacks are very good with AMOLED screen.

I have both the pimax4k and odyssey+ and cannot recommend the 4k. Mine is purchased from late 2017, so I don't know if they had revisions since then. It is definitely a sharper image than the odyssey+ with a rgb lcd, but the colors look terribly washed out and the 60hz is not fluid enough. Their software development has seemingly abandoned the older models to only focus on the newer 8k models, a common thing for a China based company to do. Newer software would have more features, but introduce issues like more motion blur and response lag. I have been through pimax forums thoroughly looking for hacks, older software, etc... and its a mess. I would probably avoid any pimax product until they have proven otherwise to deliver a less painful experience. Haven't used the 4k in a year so not sure if its improved alot since then, but I doubt it.

Recent steamVR for WMR improvements seemed to have make it much sharper than ever. I have set WMR settings to very high image quality. SteamVR also has manual render resolution settings, but I haven't seen a noticeable difference past 150%.

I'd love to try a vive index for full rgb without washedout colors, but its too expensive to justify for me. No VR title really appeals to me, most seem to be short novelty games or tech demos. I don't get the appeal of Beat Saber, looks like a form of DDR. So tracking isn't really important for me. I prefer sit down experiences.

Also Bo3b, I wanted to ask if you plan to have manual game support in HelixVision or vastly up the supported game list. Last I used it, I think only GTAV and Arkham Knight were the only games on the supported list coinciding with my current games. I currently use Virtual Desktop with 3d vision/fix manager most of the time. I like Virtual Desktops ease to set screen settings (3d options, FOV, curve, distance) without having to use motion tracking controllers. The main issues with Virtual Desktop is that in some titles, its frame capture performance seems to be subpar at higher resolutions and there are huge dips in frame capture, when I'm getting a constant 60fps in game. I've tried VRtoolbox, but I can't get as good as a 3D feel from the virtual screen. Also the frame capture performance doesn't seem to be any better than Virtual Desktop. A nice thing about VRtoolbox is it has color filters to change saturation / balance and sharpness filtering.

[Skawen]

Go and get ASAP Walking dead Saints and Sinners, this is the Zombir VR game you are looking for 8)

Agree And I think this is the most polished VR game to date.

Edit: Forgot to mention that mixed controls was repaired in 2nd day of release. I have Vive + Index controllers & all weekend was playing without any issue.

[whyme466]

I still cannot play Saints and Sinners using wireless Vive Pro with Index Controllers - game/SteamVR updates have NOT eliminated this problem for my setup. Every time I launch game, a Steam controller binding screen appears, asking for my customization. I cannot find appropriate settings to make game work. When I start the game, the controller pointing works fine, but I cannot select anything - so I cannot start game or change any options. I finally posted problem report yesterday (with another person describing same problem)…

Update - my local game files were corrupted. Fresh file download finally fixed my problem.

[Chtiblue]

Great! You can enjoy it now 8)

[Chtiblue]

I have to say that since I've discovered VR with my HP Reverb, I didn't play any games in 3Dvision...
Ok there wasn't great AAA games out in 3D nowadays but...

For now I'm enjoying MOSS, Toyification in those games like that is excellent in VR.
The world in 3D is beautyfull, the little mouse is so cute.
Immersion and interaction with the 3Dworld is so huge.
edit: I just saw that there is a VR mod for ghost of a tale, awesome!

RTS are not my type of game at all but in VR I could like those, I tried Final Approach and Final Assault, it's really amazing with this VR toyfication!

I can't wait for the next Vr headsets with less SDE...

edit: here is a mod to turn unity games into VR... I have to test it!
https://github.com/Eusth/VRGIN.Template/releases/

[Skawen]

edit: here is a mod to turn unity games into VR... I have to test it!
https://github.com/Eusth/VRGIN.Template/releases/

Please report back how was Your experience with this mod.

[Chtiblue]

edit: here is a mod to turn unity games into VR... I have to test it!
https://github.com/Eusth/VRGIN.Template/releases/

Please report back how was Your experience with this mod.

Sadly, it doesn't work with last Unity version...

Eusth the creator of this mod didn't update it to current version of Unity...

I hope some wizard will continue those awesome mod for VR.

Eusth wrote:" it does not use the latest VR optimizations of Unity for the sake of backward compatibility, but it does use the SteamVR libs for Unity, does true VR and tells Unity to render stereoscopically."

It should possible with unreal Engine EU4 too...

[whyme466]

Note that HP Reverb G2 can now be pre-ordered. See https://www8.hp.com/us/en/vr/reverb-g2-vr-headset.html. Pricing looks very reasonable/competitive.

[helifax]

Helifax also has lens-modified Vive Pro with Index Controllers, after he abandoned his Surround setup

Sorry for off topic, but I'm just curious. Why did Helifax abandon his Surround setup? I thought that he is one of the most hardcore surround users.

Sorry to be late to the party!

I can still install and run 3D Surround fine. I still have all my monitors around. The problem with the fiddly-ness comes from the actual physical connections. All my monitors use DL-DVI, but my RTX 2080Ti has only DisplayPorts. So, I had to buy 3 Active DL-DVI to DP adapters. They work great in 2D Surround. In 3D Surround however, it takes up to 1 minute for the monitors to turn the 3D Mode.
Also once I enable 3D Vision in NVPanel the PC becomes unresponsive for around 30 seconds until I can start clicking on icons again.
It works but is a bit frustrating especially if you alt+tab and start/stop 3D a lot.

As for the best HeadSet, I would recommend the Vive Pro + GearVR lens mod if you want the best colours, best contrast and huge sweetspot + Index Controllers (The Vive wands are terrible for playing games).
However, if you want a bigger FOV (130 vs 110 on the Pro) the Index or one of the Pimax Headsets + Index Controllers.

Having tested the Index vs Vive Pro, I wish I could take the lenses & OLEDs from the Pro and put them in the Index ^_^. Then I would be very very happy

[russellk]

Helifax also has lens-modified Vive Pro with Index Controllers, after he abandoned his Surround setup

Sorry for off topic, but I'm just curious. Why did Helifax abandon his Surround setup? I thought that he is one of the most hardcore surround users.

Sorry to be late to the party!

I can still install and run 3D Surround fine. I still have all my monitors around. The problem with the fiddly-ness comes from the actual physical connections. All my monitors use DL-DVI, but my RTX 2080Ti has only DisplayPorts. So, I had to buy 3 Active DL-DVI to DP adapters. They work great in 2D Surround. In 3D Surround however, it takes up to 1 minute for the monitors to turn the 3D Mode.
Also once I enable 3D Vision in NVPanel the PC becomes unresponsive for around 30 seconds until I can start clicking on icons again.
It works but is a bit frustrating especially if you alt+tab and start/stop 3D a lot.

As for the best HeadSet, I would recommend the Vive Pro + GearVR lens mod if you want the best colours, best contrast and huge sweetspot + Index Controllers (The Vive wands are terrible for playing games).
However, if you want a bigger FOV (130 vs 110 on the Pro) the Index or one of the Pimax Headsets + Index Controllers.

Having tested the Index vs Vive Pro, I wish I could take the lenses & OLEDs from the Pro and put them in the Index ^_^. Then I would be very very happy

Sorry to hijack the thread but good to hear from you! I was lucky in that all my screens are display port, so I can now run off a single 2080TI then use the HDMI for VR or for my OLED/projector.
It's always a pain with switching (audio/refresh rates etc) but ironically, with W10 right now (post Nvidia support) it seems easier than it's ever done.

[RAGEdemon]

New monitors are also looking very cool as a direct replacement for 3 monitor setups.

Here's Samsung's 49" curved 240Hz gaming contender:





I wonder if these can be hacked to work with 3D vision...

[helifax]

Yeah, I changed my 3D Surround setup for a the Samsung CRG49 (The precursor of the G9 from above).
It works at 120Hz, but sadly I couldn't hack it to work with 3D Vision

[russellk]

Yeah, I changed my 3D Surround setup for a the Samsung CRG49 (The precursor of the G9 from above).
It works at 120Hz, but sadly I couldn't hack it to work with 3D Vision

I assume either you couldn't get it working at all, or (most likely) the crosstalk/ghosting was unbearable?
That's the only thing holding me back from upgrading my 3x surround setup. I'd love to get rid of the bezels and upgrade my colours from TN, but I don't want to lose 3d...

Sorry for continuing to derail the thread OP!

I used to assume that any 120hz display could do active 3d, then I started to venture down the rabbit hole.
For what it's worth, for me, rtings is the holy grail of monitor reviews and ideally what you need is a good pixel response time + BFI ideally.
For monitors with fast lcd pixel response times, TN<IPS<VA, so TN best, VA worst. OLED and projectors are another story..

If you look at the measurements for response times:
VA - https://i.rtings.com/images/reviews/mon ... -large.jpg
IPS - https://i.rtings.com/images/reviews/mon ... -large.jpg
TN - https://i.rtings.com/images/reviews/mon ... -large.jpg

I don't think there are any decent curved TN panels at 32" or so with the right resolution for me, so that reduces me to IPS. I probably need to bite the bullet and try some

[helifax]

The Panel response time of the CRG49 is fine and "should" work with 3D Vision glasses in theory.
Problem is I couldn't get it to be detected as a 3D Vision Ready Display. At some point I completely broke Windows and I was stuck with a 800x600 resolution stretched
I gave up afterwards. Sorry but Edid overriding and monitor timings is not my forte.

Then again, this monitor Blows the old Surround system out of the water:
- VA Panel - check (best of both TN fast response and IPS colour reproduction)
- 120 Hz - check
- HDR 1000 nits (with zones) - check
- G-Sync compatible and working - check

Only 2D The reason I am still using an older Asus 3D Vision Display and frequently more and more HelixVision in VR

[russellk]

Interesting.. I've spent so long reading monitor reviews now that I think I've gone cross-eyed!
How do you arrange the monitors? Do you physically switch between them for 3d?

I'm starting to think maybe I can lose 3d surround, as long as I have at least 1 good normal 3d monitor, then get the benefits of a modern ultrawide for everything else (games, productivity, browing etc).

[Pure Mana Supreme]

I posted this over in VorpX forum, basically I picked up a Valve Index and am curious as to whether or not running games via VorpX (assuming in SBS) induces the 3 Core cpu bottleneck that 3D Vision does?

https://www.vorpx.com/forums/topic/does ... sion-does/

"Long time 3D Vision user here, just got into VR (Valve Index), with 3D Vision there is a problem where the effect seems to take an entire core / thread onto itself and leaves only 3 remaining cores to handle the game, this is known as the "3 Core Bug", my question is, does VorpX also suffer from this problem?

Also, is there any reason DX12 titles do not work with VorpX?

Someone over in 3D Vision (TimFX7) actually managed to get Shadow of the Tomb Raider working in 3D Vision in DX12. Theoretically 3D Vision can work with DX12, it's just a tremendous amount of work and none of it is being done by Nvidia seeing as how they discontinued 3D Vision support as of driver 425.31.

viewtopic.php?f=181&t=23410

I am completely new to VorpX (haven't purchased yet, whether or not 3 core bug is present will heavily influence my purchasing decision) and somewhat understand that 3D is accomplished via SBS and not 3D Vision so I am assuming that there is no "3 Core bug" present?

Thanks for any help with this. "

[bo3bber]

I assume either you couldn't get it working at all, or (most likely) the crosstalk/ghosting was unbearable?
That's the only thing holding me back from upgrading my 3x surround setup. I'd love to get rid of the bezels and upgrade my colours from TN, but I don't want to lose 3d...

It's not a direct substitute for 3D Vision Surround, but it's worth noting that HelixVision supports arbitrary screen sizes, so you can make a Surround type virtual display with an ultra-wide screen in the virtual space. Whatever you can get the game to do, HelixVision will copy into VR screen, so ultra-wide gaming should work.

Naturally this will be punishing from a performance perspective, just like any ultra-wide gaming, it's a lot of pixels. But no bezels, and zero crosstalk is nice. Low resolution in the headsets is the biggest drawback, which is why it's not a direct substitute, but might be worth playing around with.

You could for instance run a game on one of these ultra-wide monitors in Discover mode, but actually play it in HelixVision.

[skyrimer]

Recently roadtovr did a hands on of hp Reverb g2, it looks really promising :

"Reverb G2 is the king of clarity, and I feel confident that this will be the headset’s defining factor.

When I fired up Half-Life: Alyx, coming from Index, the G2 nearly felt like looking at the game with new eyes. I was drawn to details that never caught my attention before, like scratches in the shotgun’s metal, letters printed on the side of the pistol, and innocuous stickers covering a gutter pipe. I also quickly noticed that many of the game’s textures don’t quite hold up to G2’s resolution (too soon!).

When I pulled up Bigscreen to see what it was like to use my PC desktop through the headset, it was the first time I didn’t quickly feel bothered by the resolution. The remaining bottleneck for doing typical PC productivity work in VR without compromise is now more in the realm of, field of view, sweet spot, and comfort."


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.roadto ... eview/amp/

This sure looks like maybe the first VR HMD that you could play 3d games with HelixVision without feeling that you're losing way too much detail compared to a monitor.

[3DNovice]

...

[Pure Mana Supreme]

Recently roadtovr did a hands on of hp Reverb g2, it looks really promising :

"Reverb G2 is the king of clarity, and I feel confident that this will be the headset’s defining factor.

When I fired up Half-Life: Alyx, coming from Index, the G2 nearly felt like looking at the game with new eyes. I was drawn to details that never caught my attention before, like scratches in the shotgun’s metal, letters printed on the side of the pistol, and innocuous stickers covering a gutter pipe. I also quickly noticed that many of the game’s textures don’t quite hold up to G2’s resolution (too soon!).

When I pulled up Bigscreen to see what it was like to use my PC desktop through the headset, it was the first time I didn’t quickly feel bothered by the resolution. The remaining bottleneck for doing typical PC productivity work in VR without compromise is now more in the realm of, field of view, sweet spot, and comfort."


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.roadto ... eview/amp/

This sure looks like maybe the first VR HMD that you could play 3d games with HelixVision without feeling that you're losing way too much detail compared to a monitor.

I'm kind of excited for it but have a few questions and concerns:

Is Reverb G2 headset compatible with Index controllers? (assuming yes)

How is inside out tracking compared to actual base station tracking in reality? (I hear it isnt as good)

How does the reduced field of view feel compared to Index (113 vs 130 degrees)?

What about the lack of quality of HP's predecessor to the G2? The reverb had high failure rate and poor quality control, are we to trust them again this time around? Have things suddenly changed in this regard? (I'm skeptical).

Waiting for proper Valve Index 2.0. Even with 2080 Ti @ 2070 MHz under full water block this isn't enough to push that kind of resolution. Half Life: Alyx feels really good at 144 Hz at the highest fidelity level and 100% SteamVR resolution. I imagine I would struggle to attain 80 FPS running this game in Reverb G2. Sure, it will look sharper, but I'm not sure the hit in FOV and nearly halving the performance may be worth it.

By the time I upgrade to 3080 Ti next year Valve may be announcing Index 2.0 with the same resolution but at 130 FOV and base-station tracking and other improvements.

2080 Ti can't push this much pixels in VR sadly.

[tombotton]

I understand that your great information in playing to discuss with every one of the pieces was extremely helpful.
best large monitor for reading documents

[Losti]

I have resend my Reverb G2, if this is the best what i can get as resolution and so on, VR is nothing for me

[skyrimer]

Well, talking about VR headsets I have to share my thoughts on Quest 2. I bought Quest 2 basically as a tool to do some exercise, but hardly hoping it would make for a substitute of my current Pimax 8k. But holy hell, this thing is good. At this point I have my Pimax 8k on sale plus all steamvr stuff.  I was interested in Quest 2 after I saw that clarity is reasonably close to Reverb G2 and better than Index according to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny_OPsxHQmU&t=419s , but also that Quest 2 was substantially better in clarity compared to my current Pimax 8K and close to 8KX which supposedly has amazing clarity quite close to G2 ( https://community.openmr.ai/t/8kx-overv ... ry/32914/2 ). Here are my thoughts:

Screen:

 This is such a huge leap over 8k, clarity is astounding in comparison, fov is a lot smaller but acceptable, but can actually be improved using this ( https:/www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001794942898.html ) sweet spot is okish, it's reasonably easy to find, and about 50-60% of the screen stays focused. Screen door is 99% gone, you simply can't notice except in very specific situations. This thing looks really sharp in terms of VR. 

 Compared to a monitor, it's something between 720p and 1080p. Its sharp enough for movie watching, and if you find a video with 8k resolution it's mindblowing how great it looks. 

Comfort

 Could be better, it's heavy on the front after some time, so basically a halo strap that takes some weight on the back of the head is really recommended. Other than that it's OK. 

Tracking

Fantastic, way better than what I expected. It's just perfect 99% of the time, it's very hard to break the tracking, it's 1:1 nearly all of the time, and I've always used SteamVR which is the best out there, but this is almost as good, if not better since my room doesn't let me position the lighthouses and optimal positions so I tend to get some blind spots. Even better, this thing tracks almost in complete darkness. For watching movies, even on a dark room with a lamp is enough for it to keep tracking just fine. Also it's extremely easy to change between full roomscale, seated or just turning it off.

Battery 

 It's good for portable VR, for PC VR it uses a lot of battery and you get about two hours of use, so better have a external battery pack ready. It charges fast though. 

Sound

 Included open headphones are serviceable, really useful for exercise and showing VR to friends, but for immersion you'll want to use your own headphones. 

PC VR

 This thing and virtual desktop blows my mind. Using a Tp link re650 wifi extender with my ax1200 5ghz wifi card, I can get wireless PC VR on steam with barely any noticiable latency and 99% indistinguishable from native PC VR. It's freaking amazing how well it works. Just make sure nothing else is connected to the wifi extender but your computer and the Quest 2.

3d gaming
- 3d vision
Tested briefly, but not good. Tested Little Nightmares in HelixVision, it defaults to 1080p, so looks very low res. Trying to use higher res made it buggy, were the screen showed only on a small resized screen and couldn't fix it. Batman AK didn't boot, it just stayed there with the "launching ... " message, and that's weird because I know for a fact that this game worked on 8k and HV. The Observer worked, and it was great to have such a huge screen in 3d, but resolution was bad, changing to a higher resolution didn't help. Overall it was very shimmery or aliased. I know HV can work well since it was pretty good on the 8K, so maybe I'm doing something wrong in terms of config or Virtual Desktop doesn't like it. I'll have to try again with some heavy supersampling to see how well it improves.

- Vorpx
Tested briefly with Black Mesa, it worked and looks better than HV but performance wasn't good, at least with that specific game, haven't tested more.


Accessibility 

 One of the most amazing features of Oculus Quest 2. It takes 5 seconds to get in VR, another 10 seconds to boot in PC VR. Room bounds can be reconfigured in 10 seconds. And of course, no cables. Steam VR headsets are really annoying having to turn on lighthouses, sync them, boot into steamvr and then get the headset to work, at least with 8k. This is just pure instant VR. 

Price

 Of course this is the big highlight. You can find it used for 300 euro or less for the 64gb version here in Spain easily (for a device that's 5 months old, so you still get a year and a half of warranty in the worst case scenario) , the bang for the buck here is amazing, since basically you get high quality portable VR, amazing PC VR, fantastic private cinema with huge screen, and a great fitness tool. 

Facebook stuff 

 Yeah its there, you need a Facebook account for this to work. I hate Facebook and their policies as much as the next guy, but this is too much of a great deal to pass. 


TLDR: Fantastic HMD at a ridiculous price, it won't make for a substitute of your monitor though and not recommended for 3d gaming on my early testing, still for VR gaming, exercise and portable media it's highly recommended.

EDIT: Just tested HelixVision on 200% supersampling, which is ridiculous just to see how much it improved, and now we're talking. With supersampling it looks waaay sharper and close to gaming monitor experience, still not there but I would consider it usable as a 3d screen. Tested with the Observer, and it looks really good, I would play like that just fine if I didn't have a PG278QR monitor, and sure the 100'' screen helps with the immersion. The problem is that with that level of supersampling overall performance isn't good, and Virtual Desktop can't keep up and starts to pixelate, so it's a matter of finding a super sampling sweet spot, or directly using an Oculus Link cable, which surely is the best option so you don't need wireless if you're seated on a chair playing in 3d and it has huge bandwith, so it should be crystal clear.

[russellk]

EDIT: Just tested HelixVision on 200% supersampling, which is ridiculous just to see how much it improved, and now we're talking. With supersampling it looks waaay sharper and close to gaming monitor experience, still not there but I would consider it usable as a 3d screen. Tested with the Observer, and it looks really good, I would play like that just fine if I didn't have a PG278QR monitor, and sure the 100'' screen helps with the immersion. The problem is that with that level of supersampling overall performance isn't good, and Virtual Desktop can't keep up and starts to pixelate, so it's a matter of finding a super sampling sweet spot, or directly using an Oculus Link cable, which surely is the best option so you don't need wireless if you're seated on a chair playing in 3d and it has huge bandwith, so it should be crystal clear.

Thanks for the awesome post, it's great that you've compared so many different factors as well.

I notice that we have the same GPU, but I'm using an Odyssey and I think the Quest 2 has 50% extra pixels.
I'll have to try and play around again with the SteamVR settings, as I found the alisaing to be very noticeable too.

[skyrimer]

I was surprised how well it worked, like night and day, I think bo3b should add a supersampling option (maybe it's there, but I didn't see it). It's still not a monitor substitute, but goes from a shimmery, low res mess to "hmmm... not bad at all".