Is black smearing software or hardware?

[jevens]

On my second rift now, sold the first one, after a couple of months I missed EDVR, so bought another one!

Reason I'm saying this is that up until a few days ago I was blissfully ignorant to this black smear issue,
don't recall ever noticing it on my first rift, and it definitely wasn't visible on this new one for the first week or so,

buuuuut...the other day I was adjusting it, taking it off, tweaking a few settings, adjusting the straps etc.. just trying to get the best fit/graphics settings for ED, so the sensor was making the display turn on and off, as it does, and it kinda crashed in a black smear-o-rama...the colours went weird too..
I had to re-boot the whole system, ever since then it's very noticeable.

The only way I can stop it is to put the in game gamma on max, if I set it on the dark side, (around 30% where I always had it) it's like out of control, horrible, like a leaky pen in my shirt pocket, did I break it somehow?

Has anyone experienced this and successfully got rid?

: (

 

[[HJ]-RedRaven]

If ED or any other VR app is working properly, the black smearing is caused by hardware.

The pixels in any display don't react instantaneously. The tiny pause between each pixel receiving new colour information for each frame causes the smearing. Its especially noticeable when there's a big difference in the brightness from one frame to the next (like black to bright white etc).

I don't think you will have done any damage to the Rift... very unlikely. Sounds like some odd behaviour between ED and the GPU driver or monitor settings on the port the Rift is plugged into.

Try to reset all settings to defaults and go from there. Perhaps a clean driver re-install using the Guru3D driver cleaner will help. Test a monitor in the Rift HDMI port if you can to see how the colours look in a 2D game.

 

[jevens]

If ED or any other VR app is working properly, the black smearing is caused by hardware.

The pixels in any display don't react instantaneously. The tiny pause between each pixel receiving new colour information for each frame causes the smearing. Its especially noticeable when there's a big difference in the brightness from one frame to the next (like black to bright white etc).

I don't think you will have done any damage to the Rift... very unlikely. Sounds like some odd behaviour between ED and the GPU driver or monitor settings on the port the Rift is plugged into.

Try to reset all settings to defaults and go from there. Perhaps a clean driver re-install using the Guru3D driver cleaner will help. Test a monitor in the Rift HDMI port if you can to see how the colours look in a 2D game.

Thanks mate, I tried the Guru3D uninstaller, what a great app! seemed to do a good job cleaning up, and then I re-installed the latest Nvidia drivers. Unfortunately it didn't resolve the issue, I read on the Oculus support forum that there was a runtime update that addressed the red tint some people get and that in turn made the black smear worse, so I wonder still if it's something that can be resolved via software, or maybe I got a particularly bad rift this time.. in which case I might well try to return it.

 

[CylonSurfer]

Thanks mate, I tried the Guru3D uninstaller, what a great app! seemed to do a good job cleaning up, and then I re-installed the latest Nvidia drivers. Unfortunately it didn't resolve the issue, I read on the Oculus support forum that there was a runtime update that addressed the red tint some people get and that in turn made the black smear worse, so I wonder still if it's something that can be resolved via software, or maybe I got a particularly bad rift this time.. in which case I might well try to return it.

Yup, that update introduced a tiny amount of black smear to my unit. Nowhere near as bad as the DK2 had and really not that noticeable unless I look for it. Still the very same update resolved an issue where the bottom of my left screen was a little lighter than the rest of the screen - like a bar about 3mm high, not noticeable in colour scenes, but in the blackness of space (or any other dark game) it was very distracting. So I'm glad that was resolved and can live with a little black smear.

 

[jevens]

Yup, that update introduced a tiny amount of black smear to my unit. Nowhere near as bad as the DK2 had and really not that noticeable unless I look for it. Still the very same update resolved an issue where the bottom of my left screen was a little lighter than the rest of the screen - like a bar about 3mm high, not noticeable in colour scenes, but in the blackness of space (or any other dark game) it was very distracting. So I'm glad that was resolved and can live with a little black smear.

Cylonsurfer! thanks for your response, This might be a silly question, but do you recall when that was, which version change it was?
I'd really like to revert back if possible and see if there's a difference.

more and more convinced I've got a dodgy unit here though, the horizon line in oculus home is slightly wonky, as in it's tilted noticeably lower on the left.

 

[CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE]

I'm fairly positive it's not possible to revert back the Oculus software (unless someone's done a hack, you never know).

I also have the left tilt (which is a known issue BTW), but no other issues, although I only notice the tilt in ED - I've just tried it and Oculus Home seems fine, which is odd. But I hardly notice it in ED now anyway. It seems "off-center" as well, despite going through the tracking setup several times. Decided not to do anything about it in case I received a unit that was worse, after hearing a few horror stories.

 

[Full_Ninja]

The Vive does not have black smearing. I did have it with my DK2 so it sounds like hardware if that helps.

 

[vic]

I have DK2 and it absolutely has godawful black smearing

 

[jevens]

I'm fairly positive it's not possible to revert back the Oculus software (unless someone's done a hack, you never know).

I also have the left tilt (which is a known issue BTW), but no other issues, although I only notice the tilt in ED - I've just tried it and Oculus Home seems fine, which is odd. But I hardly notice it in ED now anyway. It seems "off-center" as well, despite going through the tracking setup several times. Decided not to do anything about it in case I received a unit that was worse, after hearing a few horror stories.

Hey mate, when you say "No other issues" do you get the black smear? I've read at least one post here where some lucky guy has a smear free rift!

 

[CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE]

Hey mate, when you say "No other issues" do you get the black smear? I've read at least one post here where some lucky guy has a smear free rift!

I don't think so, based on what others have described, pictures etc. If I've understood correctly, it appears when there is movement. I seem to have been lucky with my unit (touches wood). No SDE or red tint since 0.8. The only thing that's a bit of an issue for me is the hard cut-off between black and grey areas of space* but that's mainly caused by the use of the OLEDs. Described here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...again!-Fix-for-the-Rift-CV1-bad-low-end-gamma

*which, incidentally got worse with 0.8 when they removed the ability to enable/disable spud.

BTW, on the left tilt thing, did some research (again) and apparently it's related to the temperature of the HMD and can sometimes be fixed by a re-calibration. Found this: https://forums.oculus.com/community...ifts-view-tilted-slanted-heres-how-you-fix-it. I just tried my Rift in ED and either the lilt has gone now (it was hardly noticeable) or it's a temperate thing (some people say they get the tilt once the HMD has become warm). Either way I'm not going to use that tool just in case Something Bad happens (unlikely but it's just not worth the risk).

Can you believe it, some idiot on the Oculus forums put his HMD in the freezer!!

 

[jevens]

I don't think so, based on what others have described, pictures etc. If I've understood correctly, it appears when there is movement. I seem to have been lucky with my unit (touches wood). No SDE or red tint since 0.8. The only thing that's a bit of an issue for me is the hard cut-off between black and grey areas of space* but that's mainly caused by the use of the OLEDs. Described here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...again!-Fix-for-the-Rift-CV1-bad-low-end-gamma

*which, incidentally got worse with 0.8 when they removed the ability to enable/disable spud.

BTW, on the left tilt thing, did some research (again) and apparently it's related to the temperature of the HMD and can sometimes be fixed by a re-calibration. Found this: https://forums.oculus.com/community...ifts-view-tilted-slanted-heres-how-you-fix-it. I just tried my Rift in ED and either the lilt has gone now (it was hardly noticeable) or it's a temperate thing (some people say they get the tilt once the HMD has become warm). Either way I'm not going to use that tool just in case Something Bad happens (unlikely but it's just not worth the risk).

Can you believe it, some idiot on the Oculus forums put his HMD in the freezer!!

Oh dear! well all this faffing about is enough to drive anyone a bit mad!

Funny you should mention that calibration tool, I discovered and ran it last night and it seems to have sorted it out, I think it's ever so slightly off, but so so slight that I might be imagining it, lets see if it sticks!

As for black smear.. no such luck, I tried a friends brand new rift on my PC and to my horror it actually seemed worse than mine..
I've tried all the options possible in the Nvidia control panel, I've tried HDMI-DVI adapter, HDMI-DP adapter, 2 different graphics cards, (GTX980 and GTX 1070) latest drivers.

Any tips? which graphic card/driver are you using?

 

[Dread Lord]

I have no black smearing whatsoever on my CV1.. gtx 1080 and an i7 6700

 

[jevens]

I have no black smearing whatsoever on my CV1.. gtx 1080 and an i7 6700

Hey mate, well that's brilliant! let me know if you want to sell it!

I've tried 2 Rifts, both bought this January, one from Curry's and a mate's from John Lewis, both had very obvious and distracting black smear on my PC, it's an i7 4790k 4GHz / Palit Jetstream gtx 1070 / running win 10 and Elite directly through Oculus Home.

which brand 1080 / OS do you have out of interest?

 

[Ultra]

I have a Palit Gamerock GTX 1080 and have very minimal black smear, not noticeable if not trying to see it and in no way distracting.
If I try to create it by looking at a bright defined edge against darkness and moving my head rapidly side to side I can see it a little though.

 

[[HJ]-RedRaven]

*3 pints of scrumpy talking*

Black smearing has nothing to do with ED, the cpu, graphics card, or even the driver. Nothing. If the image is ready to display, its ready. There is no 'smearing' in the graphics card memory - the frame buffer.
It is only a display issue. it is an artifact of the voltage the Oculus driver hardware applies to the pixels, and how fast that voltage is ramped up/down when the colour changes in a given pixel. I would be surprised if this is changeable for the Rift (different firmware may change it, but it may be fixed in hardware too). The Rift pixels are all different in each unit, and are calibrated so they're as close to each other's performance as possible, and this might result in overall lower or better performance per unit.

Slow LCD panels have smearing. Plasma displays have it. And even OLED displays have it.
Plus, not every Rift will be created equal, in the same way you can buy two big 60-inch+ TVs and they won't be the same if you put them side by side.

I'm not saying black smearing isn't an issue - for some it is. My Rift only shows a tiny bit of smearing, and I don't notice it in-game unless I'm specifically looking for it. Maybe I got a good one? perhaps. maybe others got 'bad ones'? Perhaps. maybe some are being sensitive? Perhaps.

Personally I don't beleive for one second that the Vive doesn't suffer from the same issue (to some extent). I've tried one, it was brighter and more vibrant, but to my eyes it still showed a bit of smearing, same as every other LCD/OLED/whatever planel I've ever used. The technology cannot go from 0-256 brightness and back again in two refreshes... and there are lots of bright/dark/bright (and reverse) scenes in ED.

/scrumpy

 

[jevens]

*3 pints of scrumpy talking*

Black smearing has nothing to do with ED, the cpu, graphics card, or even the driver. Nothing. If the image is ready to display, its ready. There is no 'smearing' in the graphics card memory - the frame buffer.
It is only a display issue. it is an artifact of the voltage the Oculus driver hardware applies to the pixels, and how fast that voltage is ramped up/down when the colour changes in a given pixel. I would be surprised if this is changeable for the Rift (different firmware may change it, but it may be fixed in hardware too). The Rift pixels are all different in each unit, and are calibrated so they're as close to each other's performance as possible, and this might result in overall lower or better performance per unit.

Slow LCD panels have smearing. Plasma displays have it. And even OLED displays have it.
Plus, not every Rift will be created equal, in the same way you can buy two big 60-inch+ TVs and they won't be the same if you put them side by side.

I'm not saying black smearing isn't an issue - for some it is. My Rift only shows a tiny bit of smearing, and I don't notice it in-game unless I'm specifically looking for it. Maybe I got a good one? perhaps. maybe others got 'bad ones'? Perhaps. maybe some are being sensitive? Perhaps.

Personally I don't beleive for one second that the Vive doesn't suffer from the same issue (to some extent). I've tried one, it was brighter and more vibrant, but to my eyes it still showed a bit of smearing, same as every other LCD/OLED/whatever planel I've ever used. The technology cannot go from 0-256 brightness and back again in two refreshes... and there are lots of bright/dark/bright (and reverse) scenes in ED.

/scrumpy

Thanks mate, thanks for being so clear, and whilst I do understand and totally agree with what you are saying, something still doesn't quite add up.
My reason for asking about all this is because the black smearing in my rift is awful, it's like any true black (which I assume is pixels = off) feels like it's on a different layer to the rest of the game, perspective wise, it's disconnected from my virtual world, and breaks immersion because it looks like the Langoliers are coming to get me!
As I said I tried another rift and it was worse. But It wasn't this bad in my DK2, I remember it was just noticeable then, this is worse! and never saw anything like that in my original pre-order rift from last summer, hence my question, was this brought about during a software change during the few months I was Rift-free?, it appears that might be the case.
Either way, I'll try not to let it spoil my fun! but I will be on the lookout for an alternative Smear/Godray free HMD!!!!
Thanks for all your feedback, I do appreciate it!

 

[vic]

Thanks mate, thanks for being so clear, and whilst I do understand and totally agree with what you are saying, something still doesn't quite add up.
My reason for asking about all this is because the black smearing in my rift is awful, it's like any true black (which I assume is pixels = off) feels like it's on a different layer to the rest of the game, perspective wise, it's disconnected from my virtual world, and breaks immersion because it looks like the Langoliers are coming to get me!
As I said I tried another rift and it was worse. But It wasn't this bad in my DK2, I remember it was just noticeable then, this is worse! and never saw anything like that in my original pre-order rift from last summer, hence my question, was this brought about during a software change during the few months I was Rift-free?, it appears that might be the case.
Either way, I'll try not to let it spoil my fun! but I will be on the lookout for an alternative Smear/Godray free HMD!!!!
Thanks for all your feedback, I do appreciate it!

I am still using a DK2 for ED and can attest that black smearing(most obvious when I move my head around dark areas of space) is definitely and very obviously still there today! I would say it was better with the pre-release oculus drivers with extended mode, but that was probably due to the fact we had direct control of brightness/sharpness/contrast thru nvidia panel, along with reshade. Unfortumatley those no longer work now ever since the hmd was made to operates in "direct" mode by the official consumer drivers. Only way today to get rid of the smearing is to set the in-game gamma to max, but space ends up looking like ...well...not like space!

 

[jevens]

I am still using a DK2 for ED and can attest that black smearing(most obvious when I move my head around dark areas of space) is definitely and very obviously still there today! I would say it was better with the pre-release oculus drivers with extended mode, but that was probably due to the fact we had direct control of brightness/sharpness/contrast thru nvidia panel, along with reshade. Unfortumatley those no longer work now ever since the hmd was made to operates in "direct" mode by the official consumer drivers. Only way today to get rid of the smearing is to set the in-game gamma to max, but space ends up looking like ...well...not like space!

[video=youtube;07So_lJQyqw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07So_lJQyqw[/video]

 

[[HJ]-RedRaven]

... the black smearing in my rift is awful, it's like any true black (which I assume is pixels = off) feels like it's on a different layer to the rest of the game, perspective wise, it's disconnected from my virtual world, and breaks immersion because it looks like the Langoliers are coming to get me!

Understood - there certainly could be something actually wrong with your Rift unit. Everything has to work pretty much perfectly to give a good VR experience.

Its hard to tell what range of 'not working perfectly' Oculus considers under their warranty. If everything is installed fine, meets the Oculus spec as far as GPU, recent driver etc then Oculus Support is the next best step.
Particularly if you've seen another Rift headset that didn't show the smearing.

I'm thinking there is enough variation in the actual hardware, as well as different levels of perception by the user.

 

[rennarda]

Black smear never used to be a problem when we could run ED in Extended Mode; but when we were forced to use Direct mode it started happening. This is definitely something that can be resolved, it's not a inherent problem with the display. Just what that fix is, and if or when we might see it... that's the real question.