HP Reverb - my conclusion

Kyokushin · Oct 11, 2019

Dear Ladies and Gentlemans,

I would like to share my humble opinion about HP Reverb PRO.
At first, i would like to say - i am 'in' VR world since 2014, smartphone gogles, tracking solutions, i played in most of existing headsets (Oculus, vive pro, etc), and in last year i head Acer VR and Samsung Odyssey+.

Hp Reverb is not comparable to any of above, or to any of other headsets like cosmos or index. Why? The matter is resolution, 2160x2160 pe eye. Its simply MINDBLOWING.

Its Near Screen Quality, by saying that i mean even small text is readable, the quality may be compared to 24-27" with 1080p resolution - something around that, of course its very subjective, but will give you how good it need to be.

The best headset before the Reverb in my opinion was Odyssey+, let me write quick list of things what i like in comparison

mindblowing resolution 2160x2160 with LCD panel (3subpixels not 2)
very comfortable
low mass
good FOV, horizontally in my opinion a bit higher than Odyssey+ and vertically similar or a bit lower. A this point please note my IPD is 63, i can call myself 'born to VR', because native resolution of HP reverb is also 63, and unfortunately its adjustable only by the software way.
very good sweetspot, i can turn my eyebals and everything is sharp as razor
better performance. On reverb i am rendering to 2316x2264 per eye what is the 110% of Steam settings (its not square, its weird, because 2160x2160 is native of Reverb). Its just working better and you do not need to bump up resolution higher, because at 110 everything is crystal
controllers are WMR standard, ones loving them, ones hates, for me they're simply do the job and working well, they're fine in single word
reverb is 'small'

Only alternative what i see on the horizon can only be the Pimax 8kX at now, also because of the resolution. Any other headset than Reverb at now is a waste of money in my opinion. Sorry if someone just lost smile because bought vive pro or something else - yes - its also good headset, but will not be even comparable to the quality, the resolution, which reverb will offer you. Its like looking to other, but also real, world.
I can say by the first time: Get ready, Player One is just around the corner CMDR.

Reverb costs around 580 eur/600usd, in my opinion its not much for the experience what you may get. If you love the space, you love the Elite, you love to wanderlust the stars, you just simply need the Reverb.

Video:

Three 'through the lens' images done by a phone:

wstephenson · Oct 11, 2019

Awww, I feel sorry for the poor little RiftCats in your signature now.

Kyokushin · Oct 11, 2019

Yepp, that is the past.

Wildcat67 · Oct 11, 2019

Sounds very encouraging! Will be unboxing mine tomorrow. My IPD is 67, so we shall see, but I am managing expectations. Will leave a quick review too.

Kyokushin · Oct 11, 2019

Good, i am very curious your opinion - because your IPD is much higher than mine, it will be very helpful for other people to read about perception of FOV or sweetspot from people with different IPD.

Wasp0 · Oct 11, 2019

Like you i have the 'Verb', and have had Rift CV1, Vive Pro, with the Lens Mod. So i can compare.

The verb is lovely, sharp and stunning graphics, however having been spoilt by the beautiful colours deep blacks of the Pro, this is the only thing that lets the Verb down. Blacks are Grey at best, colours are washed out, but bloody hell i can forgive that for Near monitor Graphics, stunning. The sweet spot is not as big as the pro with Lens Mod, hell the pro never had a sweet SPOT, it had a sweet AREA!!

The sound on the verb is very good, but not as good as the CV1, but lets not even mention the sound on the pro as it was (Shall we keep this polite) BIOWASTE!!

I have got used to the colours on the verb and the greyie blacks, as long as no one shows me a Pro, But to be able to read all the writing on the placks and plates in the ship cockpit, to be able to spot what ship is flying in the distance and not just a few blocky pixels is a wonder to behold.

The tracking suffers a bit when moving the head fast, but inside out will never be as good as outside tracking, it does flicker a few times but so occasionally i don't notice it much like the colours.

Could i recommend yet, damn right i can! You have to see the sharp graphics to believe this is the best VR headset (Currently) All of course IMHO and i have not tried them all!!

aXeL · Oct 12, 2019

I love my 'Verb, far less stressful on my eyes than my O+, however I disagree about the sweet spot. I found it far easier to get it right on my O+. On the HP I'm regularly tweaking the headset position because it's too easy to slip just enough to fall out of the sweet spot. I never had that problem with any of my previous headsets.

Also, depending on the settings, it can artefact like a b*** compared with my O+, Vive, Vive Pro etc. I've been playing with settings for a few days and I can tune out the artefacting but I'm not sure yet which settings it was ( too many wholesale changes ).

aXeL · Oct 12, 2019

Kyokushin said:
Its Near Screen Quality, by saying that i mean even small text is readable, the quality may be compared to 24-27" with 1080p resolution - something around that, of course its very subjective, but will give you how good it need to be.

I disagree. I'm typing right now on a 5 year old 27" 1080p screen and my Reverb is not close to this unless I press my nose up to the screen which is not generally how I use my monitor. I feel it pertinent only because, otherwise, people may think that using their monitor 'normally', is comparable to using the Reverb whereas for me, personally, it isn't close.

Glad it's working so well for you. It is a top class piece of kit, quirks notwithstanding.

Sweet&Dandy · Oct 12, 2019

Went with the index in the end as my ipd is 70

Wildcat67 · Oct 12, 2019

Have been trying out the Reverb for most of the day (mainly with ED, and also some others like Bigscreen and Skyrim VR). Very happy with the results (comparing to my old Rift CV1). As mentioned above, there is a very clear area in the centre, which (for me, IPD 67) becomes much more blurry towards the edge of the FOV (with some chromatric aberration). However, text can still generally be read right at the edge, so you can either glance or move your head to look at it directly. Other pluses are comfort (seems very good), and the FOV seems comparable to the Rift (so not exactly great, but not terrible either). Glare/god-rays seem good (way better than the CV1), and the sound is fine too.

Negatives are the WMR tracking (would sometimes lose headset tracking completely, but seems okay after setting it up again). I could see the panel edges at times, but only via peripheral vision, and not in ED. There is also a slightly distorted area near the center of the view (mentioned also in several online reviews). However, it's relatively minor, and not obvious at all in ED. Colours are possibly a bit muted compared to the CV1 (I guess down to the LCD panels), but the black levels were fine for me.

All in all, very impressive - however, I can see the need for some hardware upgrades. My overclocked 1080 TI seems okay, but the CPU load seems higher now, so probably time for a nice 3900x. Will possibly pair it with a Quest, depending on how the Oculus link looks next month.

Kyokushin · Oct 12, 2019

It seems a perception of FOV and sweetspot highly depend of IPD for a headsets with fixed panels.
I had also Acer VR in past, it also had fixed panels (software IPD) and for me everything was OK - a sweetsport, a FOV, higher than Oculus, but the colleagues with higher IPD reported they can see some blurs and lower fov than me.

If you have 63, as me, its perfect, because the panels and lenses are physically designed for 63, more deviation from 63, then experiense will be more different than expected by headset designers, still acceptable, but not such good as for 63.

For the quality what i see in the Reverb, in my opinion its just waste of money to buy 1st gen headsets like vive, oculus, index or cosmos.
The image quality between 2160p and 1440p is the light years.

So to conclude - if you have IPD higher than 67 or around - better wait for Pimax 8KX or the new WMR Acer (it will be same as reverb but with hardware IPD adjustments), than buy 1st gen.

[VR] Mad Mike · Oct 15, 2019

Glad you are enjoying it but it is not for me. I am saddened at the thought of giving up on outside in tracking to go for a 5 sensor inside out tracking device like riftS.,... But a Windows MR device?

I could not do it. Decent device for pure cockpit gamers who use a hotas or wheel (so I get why people like it for ED) but I also like games like sports bar VR and bow and arrow games etc.

I would also miss oled but alas I have accepted that ship has likely sailed .
(Also my IPD is 69)

My next device whilst I would love it to be super high resolution is going to have to have minimum index level of FOV, adjustable ipd or at least far bigger tolerances than now and at least as good tracking as rift s if not better.

CMDR M Kozak · Oct 15, 2019

Mad Mike said:
Glad you are enjoying it but it is not for me. I am saddened at the thought of giving up on outside in tracking to go for a 5 sensor inside out tracking device like riftS.,... But a Windows MR device?

I could not do it. Decent device for pure cockpit gamers who use a hotas or wheel (so I get why people like it for ED) but I also like games like sports bar VR and bow and arrow games etc.

I would also miss oled but alas I have accepted that ship has likely sailed .
(Also my IPD is 69)

My next device whilst I would love it to be super high resolution is going to have to have minimum index level of FOV, adjustable ipd or at least far bigger tolerances than now and at least as good tracking as rift s if not better.

I think that both inside/out tracking and LCD displays are here to stay for a while in consumer VR.

SimonNQ · Oct 15, 2019

I sent my reverb back

, I simply couldn't stop moving my eyes around instead of my head, so the sharpness in the sweet spot seemed quite small to me... I tend to wear the headset at a slight angle for comfort, but this doesn't bode well for a headset with a small'ish sweet spot.. I am using the Index for now, because it has a little better uniformity accross the screen so seems a little clearer to me, horrible fresnel god rays but

. I also have the Vive pro ( lens mod ) and wish it was just a little bit higher res.... But my god the colours are simply stunning...

Kyokushin · Nov 9, 2019

I added a three 'through the lens' images to the first post.

The Gael · Nov 9, 2019

Think I'll send mine back. I'm coming from CV1.

First off, the display is INSANE. Everything is so crystal clear. Yes, I can just about see pixels when looking for them. But you quickly forget them when you're just having fun.
But the sweet spot for me is tiny. The chromatic abberation is the biggest detractor for me. Mostly only notice this in ED though.
Fallout 4vr, SkyrimVR, Project Cars2 and a few others don't have this issue anywhere as bad as ED.

My IPD is 59, and the software setting changes nothing, which has been reported by a few people now.

Then on top of that, the comfort is horrible. The cable at the back adds so much percieved weight to the headset, because it's constantly tugging.
Also for some reason the tracking in ED is nasty. Other games work great.
The controllers are fine as others have said. Nothing amazing, but serviceable.

Then to add on top of all of that, the price I paid here in Australia is $899.

Very disappointing.

EDIT: Oh I forgot, the black levels are really bad as well.

SimonNQ · Nov 9, 2019

The Gael said:
Think I'll send mine back. I'm coming from CV1.

First off, the display is INSANE. Everything is so crystal clear. Yes, I can just about see pixels when looking for them. But you quickly forget them when you're just having fun.
But the sweet spot for me is tiny. The chromatic abberation is the biggest detractor for me. Mostly only notice this in ED though.
Fallout 4vr, SkyrimVR, Project Cars2 and a few others don't have this issue anywhere as bad as ED.

My IPD is 59, and the software setting changes nothing, which has been reported by a few people now.

Then on top of that, the comfort is horrible. The cable at the back adds so much percieved weight to the headset, because it's constantly tugging.
Also for some reason the tracking in ED is nasty. Other games work great.
The controllers are fine as others have said. Nothing amazing, but serviceable.

Then to add on top of all of that, the price I paid here in Australia is $899.

Very disappointing.

EDIT: Oh I forgot, the black levels are really bad as well.

I returned for almost the same issues

.

Simon

The Gael · Nov 9, 2019

SimonNQ said:
I returned for almost the same issues .

Simon

I can only imagine HP are working on these issues with their next headset(assuming there is one). They have the opputunity to learn alot here. And could come back with a killer vr headset.
If they sort this out it'll be a day one buy for me.

SimonNQ · Nov 9, 2019

I honestly hope they do... There were a lot of things I liked about the reverb, but some glaringly obvious flaws unfortunately... Personally, if they simply dropped the fresnel lens in favour of a clear lens ( aspheric ) , provided a bit more FOV, say 125 - 135 deg and included a manual IPD adjustment, then they would have a best seller... Tracking is the next issue, but I understand why they chose inside out...

aXeL · Nov 9, 2019

This sounds so strange, I just don't see the problems people are talking about with the Reverb. I know my vision isn't great but it's not that bad. I can't see chromatic aberration at all ( unless it's outside the sweet spot, where I'm not looking? ). For ED and SkyrimVR ( all I play ) my head tracking feels the same as my Vive and Vive Pro. I've heard that inside out tracking isn't as good as outside in but swinging my head about all over the place with either shows no difference to me. Controllers I can't speak to, I never use them. The fit is much more snug than my O+ or the Vive's and less weight. All my headsets have cables on the back of my head but, if I don't ensure a comfortable fit, then the cable will feel awkward. The 'verb doesn't feel any better, or worse, than my others.

I think some people are still receiving dodgy headsets even in the new batch. Raising tickets and doing returns gets the awareness up and we can see that HP jumped on the last set of problems within a few months. Imagine if it was Apple. For their earlier phones, they wouldn't have acknowledged there was a problem. Considering this is bleeding edge tech ( we see MS overhauled WMR completely in 1903 ) I think the WMR vendors are pretty hot on their updates.

If I had the experiences being reported, I would be seriously narked because, for me, it leaves no other option but the Pimax 8K X ( not out ) or the XTAL. None of which are WMR native which I want to stick with. Except for SteamVR ( which, hopefully, WMR will eventually supplant like Direct3D superceded 3Dfx ), no additional 3rd party APIs should be needed.

Hmm... Upon reflection, I think the gist of my rambling is that we're only about ~4 years into VR so it's still pretty bleeding edge. From proprietary 3Dfx to Unified Shaders was what, 11 years?