2973

So wait… You can get a Quest, and stream Steam VR to it? And it works well? Is this viable? That seems like the best of both worlds right there.

2974

I’m wondering the same thing. Can we play Steam VR games with the Quest? Or is it limited to watching VR videos streamed from the PC?

2975

Yes, you can play Steam VR (OpenVR) games on Quest using streaming. Can also play Rift games from Oculus Store, for which you need to run Revive. :)

I’ve not tried it yet but apparently the latest Virtual Desktop update works really well, the dev reduced latency quite a bit. There’s also ALVR which is free/open source.

Note that you do need to run in dev mode and sideload stuff to get it going, it’s not ‘out-of-the-box’. Though Carmack vaguely hinted that something more native might be in the works…

People also reporting that the Shadow streaming service works well too, so you don’t even need a PC. :)

2976

There’s a new update in the Oculus public test channel that has pretty much fixed the Rift S tracking when the controllers are very close to the HMD. Magic!

Hoping they bring these improvements to the Quest as well.

2977

Wow I wonder how they fixed that. More reliance on the accelerometer maybe?

2978

For those here with Quests, check out Sairento VR: Untethered. Its like Superhot but with jumping, wall-running, and futuristic ninjas! Even there’s much less content than the PCVR version, its only $15, which is a steal! That said, if you get motion sick easily, then it might not be the best game for you (though I haven’t had any problems). Its really cool, and one of the best games I’ve played on the system.

2979

This thing is out now? Off to read…

2980

It is, my friend got his yesterday. Thumbs up for the Knuckles controller and has nothing but good things to say about the headset. He really noticed the increase in FOV and resolution, and was running at 120hz.

He did mention that getting the lenses adjusted correctly took a little more time that it had for him with the Rift, but he’s loving it. He got rid of the four Rift cameras he had (all with extra-long USB cables running to the PC) with two Lighthouse sensors, which apparently don’t require a USB cable, just power?

Anyway, he only had one evening to play around with it but as a VR enthusiast he’s really happy with his purchase.

2981

Sounds good. That PC Gamer says it’s nice, but too expensive for the size of the upgrades.

2982

Were they talking about the whole package or the headset? For me, $500 for the headset seems very reasonable. The Vive Pro is $800 and if I’m not mistaken the Index is superior to it, although marginally.

2983

The whole deal I think, whatever the $999 covers.

2984

That makes sense. I’ll be having to change ecosystems, so that means I need the other $500 for the sensors and Knuckles. For the sensors, finding out I don’t have to run USB cables everywhere sounds really nice, and the Knuckles controllers look interesting, so I’ll bite.

The amusing (read: infuriating) thing is these days, that whole package has a lower MRSP than a 2080 video card. Sigh.

2985

Inflation. Not subdued in all sectors :)

2986

Full face tracking is not that far off, maybe 4 or 5 years before consumer versions? Obviously targeted at ‘social VR’. Pretty neat:

2987

Got my Index today. Snuck away from work for a bit to try it out. Initial reaction, honestly, was “eh, looks pretty good, I guess.” I wandered around Home for a bit, played a couple of light games. The first thing I noticed was the absence of the screen door effect from my OG Vive, but the screen door is something I typically can look past after a few minutes of play. At that point, I’m not really noticing a difference in FOV. It’s not like I’ve suddenly immersed myself in a world of wonder. Certainly things look sharper, but is that enough?

So, I’m thinking that maybe this isn’t enough of an upgrade from my Vive to justify the expense, and perhaps I should return it and wait for a true 2nd gen.

I put the Vive on to compare apples-to-apples. For both headsets, I used a Home room that has various tests for FOV, clarify, etc. That’s when I start to see the light. The difference with resolution and clarity is significant. As soon as I put on the Vive, I was like “oh, yeah, I don’t know if I can put up with this anymore.” I’ve also got a slight improvement in FOV (maybe 10 degrees horizontal, and 20 vertical). It’s mild for me, because I can’t put the eye relief all the way in, but it’s there. I also feel like there is better clarity edge-to-edge. I find myself able to move my eyes instead of my entire head to focus on the peripheral.

There’s been a lot of complaints about the black-levels and brightness over on Reddit, but it looked pretty good to me. I am sure Elite Dangerous will suffer a bit for the reduced black-levels.

Comfort wise, it’s a bit more comfortable than my Vive and the deluxe audio strap. It’s certainly not the fluffy clouds that some reviewers have made it out to be, but everyone has different shaped heads. I can’t dial in the eye relief all the way without it pressing awkwardly on my forehead, but my glasses preclude bringing the displays that close to my head anyway. I’ve got a dorky-shaped noggin’, so things just tend to fit me poorly. I’d say it goes from a C in comfort to a B.

I haven’t tried the higher refresh rates yet, since it was stuck on 90hz pending a firmware update. That’s one of the main features of the Index, but not sure if it’ll be useful to me across my more demanding games.

Couple of issues:

Changing refresh requires a SteamVR reset, and can’t be customized to specific apps. This will be a bit of a pain to drop back to 90hz for more demanding games.

There’s a larger nose-gap than on my Vive. Lots of light down there. Distracting at first, but not an issue once you get going. The good news (I guess) is that I can check my phone without taking the headset off.

So, at this point I am fairly confident I’m keeping it, but the true test will be higher fidelity games such as Skyrim and Elite Dangerous. Hopefully I get some time today and tomorrow to give it a proper tryout.

2988

Confirmed

2989

I just got an email saying my Index reservation is ready and I have 7 days to purchase it or not. That is… not ideal, since I had planned around the original estimated date of August 31 so that they could fix any launch issues, I could see impressions from people who had used it for an extended time, and I would actually have a computer capable of driving it, the building of which was waiting on the Ryzen 3000 and RTX Super launches.

Not sure whether I’ll get it now or just wait and see and hope that availability opens up later.

2990

Any differences in readability? That’s the main reason why I’m considering swapping my Rift for a Rift S. I can’t read flight instruments on the Rift without leaning way forward in the cockpit, and I’ve heard the Rift S is much better. (Or was that not an issue with the original Vive)

2991

Haven’t tried cockpit sims yet, but difference in readability in the FOV/Resolution test room was significant. The distant text looked like text, instead of a muddy jumble. I think that’s a combination of the resolution plus the reduced screen door effect.

2992

The original Vive was just as bad for cockpit instruments as the Rift CV1.

I’m pleased enough the Rift S clarify in P3D and DCS that it’s going to take a really “oh WOW” jump to get me to consider anything else.