My experience playing ED across 5 different VR headsets

I'm waiting for something line the Pimax 5K with inside out tracking. Setting up external base stations is a no go for me, as I don't have a dedicated game space where that would be feasible.
 
I have had a few VR sets, namely OC1, Vive Pro and now the excellent offering from HP The Reverb. I loved the OC1 as it was my jaw dropping intro into the completely different word of playing ED in a VR environment, the image was good (At the time), the sound excellent the setup was easy for a VRnoob, and the tracking was good.

I was tempted into the Vive Pro, and went striaght in for the Lens Change before putting on the pro, and was BLOWN AWAY with the image. Clear Crisp and sweet spot was not a spot but an area. The sound was a disgrace for a headset costing over a grand, i was forced into find a solution using the USB C socket and external headphones. The lens change i would say is a MUST and VERY VERY easy to do, remove the old ones drop in the new ones and bye bye Fresnel lenses.
So why did i get rid of the Pro and move onto the Reverb if i was in VR Nirvana?

One Word 'TRACKING'. i had immense problems with tracking, even sent the whole set back to Vive for them to test, they sent it back with 2 new improved trackers (Changed the lenses back before sending ;) ). For the next few weeks it was back to normal again, before the same thing started to happen again, loss of tracking. Tried everything, read everything tried everything again. They had to go.

Onto the HP Reverb. Waited and waited for them to come back into stock after a recall for the main cable issue, finally got it and was Blown away again, image better than the Pro, 100% readable text in game, sharp and almost early monitor standard, YES that good. No tracking issue as it is a WMR headset, sound was good (Not as good as OC1) but at least i could ditch the external headphone setup.

TL:DR: OC was a good entry point. Vive Pro, great improvement, but woeful tracking and unacceptable sound. Reverb.....Highly pleased with this setup. I only play ED so for me sitting down with the inside tracking was perfectly acceptable. This headset is literally plug in and play. NICE!!
 
@Ganogati im totally confused with pimax lineup. as far as i can see, all theirs hmds have fresnel lenses? what about godrays? cuz this is so prominent in elite
 
Getting that sweet spot around stations is a pain, I have valve index which looks great but I need to prevent reprojection and smoothing kicking in. When things move fast smoothing looks rubbish.

So I have to set everything to stay at a level which stops these kicking in. Stations are the place which kills ms
 
@Ganogati im totally confused with pimax lineup. as far as i can see, all theirs hmds have fresnel lenses? what about godrays? cuz this is so prominent in elite

You know... to be completely honest with you, it’s been so long since I noticed god rays that I forgot they existed. Lol

Let me play around with the headset today and see if I get them. It could be I’ve just learned to ignore them, but at the moment I haven’t considered them a problem at all.
 
I'm waiting for something line the Pimax 5K with inside out tracking. Setting up external base stations is a no go for me, as I don't have a dedicated game space where that would be feasible.

My 5k tracks without the lighthouses. I frequently use it this way. The downside is you cannot walk around in your cockpit. You are stuck in the chair, but you can turn your head, lean and look around. It really isn't any different than how you'd use it with the lighthouses. If I really need to stand up and walk around the cockpit, I can use camera suite.
 
My 5k tracks without the lighthouses. I frequently use it this way. The downside is you cannot walk around in your cockpit. You are stuck in the chair, but you can turn your head, lean and look around. It really isn't any different than how you'd use it with the lighthouses. If I really need to stand up and walk around the cockpit, I can use camera suite.
Good to know, that's all I need from it.
 
@Ganogati im totally confused with pimax lineup. as far as i can see, all theirs hmds have fresnel lenses? what about godrays? cuz this is so prominent in elite
All VR headsets, AFAIK, are fresnel with exception of the XTAL. It's the only way to get the size of the headset down. Aspheric lenses are big and bulky
 
All VR headsets, AFAIK, are fresnel with exception of the XTAL. It's the only way to get the size of the headset down. Aspheric lenses are big and bulky
Probably youre right, cus i saw aspheric exactly in xtal specs. But xtal is not so big, or thats some czech magic (cuz they claim that lenses to be their special homemade sauce)
 
Probably youre right, cus i saw aspheric exactly in xtal specs. But xtal is not so big, or thats some czech magic (cuz they claim that lenses to be their special homemade sauce)
I did some very rough maths on the XTAL and then realised that all the headset needed was a regular lens cropped to refract the light from the entirety of the panel and nothing beyond the edges. The only fiddly bit is the lens thickness lends itself to chromatic distortion ( larger panels to reduce angles of incidence? Multiple lenses? ). Not sure how they get around that but, considering how close the fresnel lens is to my eyes in the Reverb ( I can almost brush it with with my long girly eye lashes ), I would probably mash my eyes with aspheric lenses.

The obvious thought is get one of the VR prescription lens makers to do an aspheric lens replacement for any of our headsets but, even if they did, it wouldn't work because the image compensation is programmed to offset lens distortion and this would need to be re-written.
 
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