Is VR dead?

[RCHeliguy]

VR headsets definitely fall in the category of very subjective and personal.

Some people are very sensitive to:
Moire', CA, glare, persistence, refresh rates, weight, tracking, etc..

I've heard people complain that various headsets won't reach their IPD value either large or small.

Then there is the matter of facial interfaces and how well they fit various people's faces, whether you need a supporting strap to make it fit your head comfortably, etc.. etc..

Then there is the whole matter of cost.

Meta has large economy of scale and vast resources. They will continue to release headsets that improve what is available for a relatively affordable price and with stand alone capabilities allow people without extreme gaming machines to enjoy VR.

Most other headsets have lower volumes and have moved upscale to "enthusiast" territory catering to various markets.

There are plenty of people out there who love and hate every VR headset on the market so we can each pull out many examples of people venting about their headsets. Then we can immediately dismiss anything negative said about the headset(s) that we prefer.

They are all mixed bags, every last one of them.

It would be nice if Pimax wasn't so heavy, didn't use a large legacy enclosure, had better QC, had FOV more in keeping with what they promised, and didn't require a battery.
It would be nice if the Beyond had great edge to edge clarity, had full bandwidth at 90Hz, and didn't require face scans and measurements before ordering, and had their audio strap ready at release.
It would be nice if the Aero didn't have motion blur when panning your head, CA, Moire' issues, better vertical FOV and implemented promised local dimming.
It would be nice if the Q3 didn't require a upgraded headband and had a displayport connection.
It would be nice if the VR1 was released so we could compare it with the others, but we can start with wishing it would be less expensive.

I'm sure many of you can come up with lots of additional complaints about the headsets that you chose not to buy.

We can pick them all apart, or we can pick what works best for us and be happy with that.

 

[gamma123152]

How does one go about getting Almalence? Looking at their website, it says they're now only allowing companies/individuals that are doing studies on image quality or something to that effect. Would love to give it a shot on my Crystal.

It's sadly enough discontinued so you cannot try it anymore, the visual difference that it made on the Crystal was huge. It varied from title to title, in Automobilista 2 the difference is massive(game changer I would say), in iRacing its smaller. And you need to run it at or close to native resolution otherwise it doesn't work properly and many titles weren't supported. The trail has been discontinued on 15 March. They(Almalence) want Pimax to pay a license, but they couldn't come to an agreement about the financial fees, they probably charged to much in the eyes of Pimax. Really a big disappointment because it costed maybe 2% performance, almost nothing; but the visual difference was huge in the titles that I play the most. I have no idea what Almalence charged so I couldn't judge if it was fair or not. Almalence couldn't sell the software alone because they need an license of the eye tracking implementation and that costs to much according to Almalence, maybe one day they'll find a way.

 

[Leynad777]

The BSB with prescription lenses and audio-strap would cost me north of 1.6k €, plus Valve controllers and basestations over 2.2k, and certainly you don't want to run it with a GPU lower 4080...
For that price it really should be hovering far above the Quest 3, but seems it's just different, all things considered.

And one thing could also be a good argument for the Quest 3: I couldn't get any headset to work with OpenVR in AC Content Manager, not even the Quest 3. With the 8KX and Pico 4 I had to launch vanilla AC to get into VR reliably and the Quest 3 had the same issue with OpenVR renderer, but there is another alternative for it that works reliably: Oculus Rift. Others might not have this problem, but I even have it after a fresh Windows 11 and fresh AC install and couldn't find any solution. It just works once, that's it and with the few sim-racing titles left with proper VR-support these days, not getting Content Manager to work in VR is pretty bad.

 

[RCHeliguy]

The Quest 3 is a great headset.

And yet I know a bunch of people who got a Quest 3 to hold them until their Beyond arrived and now they use the Beyond.

The Beyond is in a category of its own right now. If what it does right is important to you, it is a no brainer. If none of it's strengths are important to you, than there are other options.

Obviously you don't see any of the things that it does really well as mattering, so it sounds like the Quest 3 is a better fit for you.

 

[Leynad777]

The Quest 3 is a great headset.

And yet I know a bunch of people who got a Quest 3 to hold them until their Beyond arrived and now they use the Beyond.

The Beyond is in a category of its own right now. If what it does right is important to you, it is a no brainer. If none of it's strengths are important to you, than there are other options.

Obviously you don't see any of the things that it does really well as mattering, so it sounds like the Quest 3 is a better fit for you.

Would be strange if people prefer the headset that costs a third or fourth of the price while they can't return the BSB without huge loss, but to quote a BSB-owner: "Currently considering buying a quest 3 just to see if I can tolerate the lower res to get less glare", so there is a tradeoff that doesn't fit with the price, especially the ones they are asking in the EU. You've paid 999$, which isn't that far off a Quest 3, while I would pay 1478$ plus the stuff necessary to run it, which is included with a Quest 3. And the compression-argument might be only valid if running default Link-mode instead of 700+ MBit with cable, which looks close enough to native for my eyes.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I can find a pile of people who didn't like the Quest 3 for any number of reasons as well.

There is no point to a discussion like this.

You can find people who absolutely love and hate the same headset. If they love it, it's worth more to them and if it doesn't agree with them, it's a pile of festering turds.

Your particular situation is your particular situation. The only thing that is strange is that you assume everyone has the same priorities as you do. I'm sure many do, but I'm equally sure many don't. That's why it's great to have choices.

I already had base stations mounted years ago that I used with my Valve Index for about 4.5 years and then a Varjo Aero which I still own and now the Beyond. I used Index Controllers for all 3 of them.

When I got my Index, you can quote me if you look back far enough. I said that I was investing in a system that would allow me to just buy headsets and keep the stuff I like, for example the best tracking system available and the best hand controllers available.

That said, the fact that Bigscreen has had to continue to ramp up production only proves that they have plenty of people who consider the Beyond a desirable headset and worth the money. They will easily sell more headsets than any of the other enthusiast headsets available today and likely only sell less than the Quest 3 which is priced to sell many more copies.