I finally spent some "quality time" (running missions) with the Samsung Odyssey/Windows MR for SteamVR/SteamVR/ED last night. I had spent some time prior experimenting with various image setting to try and optimize the display quality but did not have a chance to actually run any missions or do any fighting. (BTW - Setting "HMD Quality" to 1.5X still seems to be the only modification required for the best image). Here is what I've also observed.
First the easy part. Like most guys, I like a little head. Unfortunately, I have a big head. A REALLY big head. ...and its horribly misshapen. My head is kind of oblong like an American football. Think "Stewie" on Family guy but rotated 90 degrees. Otherwise, if you could find a hat which fits the creature from "Aliens", I could probably wear it quite comfortably... Seriously, I wear a size 7-3/4 hat if its flexible and a size 8 in a motorsports helmet. So If I tell you the Samsung HMD doesn't fit my head as well as the Rift, it probably won't matter much to folks with a "normal" noggin. That being said, I have to wear the Samsung with the headband fully extended and even then its a little snug on me. This also requires me to have the earphones fully extended downward. I'm hoping as the cushions on the unit break in a bit this all settles in pretty comfortably. In any case, this probably won't matter to 99% of folks.
The OLED image on the Samsung is brighter and much more colorful and crisp then the Rift. So much so that you will notice and shortcomings in the rendering much more quickly. As stated earlier, the "jaggies" are pretty apparent right off the bat. Increasing the HMD Quality to 1.5X seems to solve most (but not all) of this. Increasing it further, or increasing the supersampling does not seem to add any value (but will slow down the rendering substantially). The star field is so much sharper and colorful than with the Rift. You will notice the color differences in the stars right away.
The SDE (Screen Door Effect) is all but gone and you really have to look for it in the right image lighting. You can notice it if you look for it in very neutral, even colored, flat textures or backgrounds. Much better than the Rift though and if you are not looking for it you likely won't notice it.
Resolution is significantly higher and your will find that on screen cockpit text is much easier to read. Ships also resolve better at higher distances.
Tracking is spot on. Nothing more needs to be said here.
God Rays from bright spots in the image are also reduce greatly vs the Rift. However, there is something else going on. There appear to be other "reflections" primarily at the outer edges of the lenses which do not appear to be related to anything on screen. I did detect some of this as ambient light coming in from the back through gaps in the sides of the HMD (oblong head, remember?) but this doesn't explain all of it. I don't think its any light leakage from within the HMD as the OLED panels should be self illuminating. However, these "reflections" don't seem to be related to the image being displayed or the angle of my head, etc. I need to continue testing tonight in a fully darkened room to see if I can nail it down further. These "reflections" don't appear to be "God Rays" but might be similarly distracting for some people.
Graphics performance and quality during flight and engagement did not suffer. I could see opponent ships clearer and make out their details from further away. No loss of video performance was noticed during a brief one-on-one encounter. However, I did not get a chance to fly into a CZ or other highly populated fight zone.
However, frame rates with the Samsung HMD are not as high and buttery smooth as with the Rift. I'm not sure if this difference is due to the relative immaturity of the "Windows MR for SteamVR" component, hard-coded optimizations for lower resolution HMD's in ED, or just a general increase in video processing requirements. My gut feeling is that this will likely become a non-issue as the various software components mature for use with a greater variety of HMD resolutions and requirements. I don't think the relatively small difference in frame rates or smoothness is related to any shortcoming or inability of the underlying hardware. (I'm running a very fast i7, on an X99 MB, with 64GB of RAM, off a Samsung Pro 960 SSD, and a GTX-1080ti). My system is running the native Windows MR stuff, at the higher Samsung resolutions, without breaking a sweat and should be able to handle pretty much anything thrown at it as long as all the software components are working efficiently.
The biggest issue right now with the Samsung is 3rd party software related (I think). There appears to be some sort of a rendering issue which is particularly noticeable when working on-screen menus in ED. I think it has something to do with the mouse being present and active. It is very noticeable and is mainly an issue when your running the mission boards in the station. The image will blink and shift to the point that I've even seen the "Windows MR for SteamVR" environment flicker through in the process. Because of that, I'm thinking it has something to do with that specific software component which is still in Beta/Preview release). I'm going to post this info over on the "Windows MR for SteamVR" developer forums to make sure the developers know about it. It is very noticeable and distracting but it really only appears to be an issue if you are operating in an image which supports Mouse interaction (Station Menus, Galmap, Sysmap). ED has always been pretty funky in the way in which it works withe the mouse in VR, I expect it may just be exacerbating this shortcoming. Of course, the good news is that the "Windows MR for SteamVR" is still in Beta/Preview release so those developers are probably pretty motivated to address anything that needs fixing.
Similarly, I'ld like to see FDEV put down their Holo-Me crayons for a bit and spend some more time examining their VR HMD support code. It used to be that "all" the HMD's out there ran a single common resolution (1280x1024). This is no longer the case. If the VR/HMD code in ED was built to optimize for this old resolution, it really needs to be revisited. Pushing my "HMD Quality" to 1.5X really helped the image quality but I don't think this should be necessary. Most HMDs now run 1440x1440, the Samsung runs 1440x1600, and we also have the Pimax8K coming which upscales from 2Kx2K native images. (Pimax also has a "native" 8K unit coming in April which does 4K per eye without any upscaling). In any case, now would be a very good time for FDEV to sit down and ensure the code base is ready for these enhanced resolutions and not just optimized for a 2 year old standard.
Pros:
Higher Resolution
Brighter Colors
Better Contrast
Perfect Tracking
No external Tracking equipment required
SDE greatly reduced
Reduction of "God Rays" effect
Can wear glasses
Cons:
Image "Disruption" in specific environments (Short-term "Windows MR for SteamVR" maturity issue I think/Hope)
Some sort of Image/Lens reflection artifacts (Still Researching)
Higher Demands on Video Subsystem
Less comfortable if you have a mutant head
