Pimax has been innovating in VR for over 10 years, and our Robin Weng has literally been at the start of it all. We know many of you may have questions for our founder, Robin—and here’s your chance to ask them.
Submit your questions below, and he’ll answer them in due time. Whether it’s about how Pimax was founded, his daily routine, or the future of Pimax, feel free to ask anything!
Is Pimax planning to release VR glasses that implement mixed reality? It seems like the next natural step to be able to see the HOTAS controls or buttons once you’re inside the cockpit of a car or plane. It would greatly enhance immersion. Sincerely. Darío
Where’s our specific shipping dates for the Dream Air? Not a vague statement or translucent bars on a chart. Pimax took $3k from me and nothing to show so far.
Why do you keep using SMAS headphones on your headsets? Nobody wants those and it makes you look like you are doing it on purpose. Just put the DMAS headphones on them - they will not be that much extra in cost and you will not get the negative feedback from not doing it.
Why does every headset need to be pre-ordered and then a massively long wait to have the product arrive? Shouldn’t they be ready for sale first and then sold (like 99.9% of the consumer business world does)?
Why can you not produce batches of headsets first and then sell those immediately - without the need to pre-order? You have been in business long enough to have the financial clout to be able to do this.
Why do you sell a top-of-the-line headset and then immediately offer a better product a week or two later?
When does Pimax expect to launch a true microLED headset - actual microLED, not microOLED?
Companies like JBD, PlayNitride and others have been showing microLED XR panels for years, with millions of nits and no burn-in. What is the real timeline?
When will proper native SteamVR support be available for Dream Air and future Pimax headsets?
SBoys3’s driver side is reportedly largely ready and waiting on Pimax’s DRM/activation path. Will Pimax enable a real, unlocked path that developers like SBoys3 can support cleanly, or only a restricted first-party solution?
Will fully paid Pimax headsets ever get a permanent unlock path that is not dependent on ongoing DRM or Pimax Play authentication?
Once a headset is fully paid for, will owners be able to run the hardware they own with the driver/runtime of their choice?
As Pimax grows, will it stay open to community-driven innovation, or become more closed and protectionist?
Many enthusiasts backed Pimax precisely because it felt more open than most VR companies. Will that openness continue?
Thank you.
Seconding RAGEdemon’s query about the SBoys3 driver. The DreamAir will be massively more attractive to users/buyers if this choice is available to them (and you’ll get fewer returns too)
First Robin, thank you for your incredible dedication and ongoing contributions to the PCVR enthusiast market, your products bring joy to many and myself
I and many others would love to see integrated monitoring for FPS and other data integrated into Pimax Play, similar to FPSvr but able to be utilised easily into Pimax OpenXR, I do know a simple overlay was recently implemented, but a more concise and easy to access via a Keyboard hotkey or option within Pimax Play to open and log data
This would be helpful to both content creators and users to identify areas of improved performance
Thank you
Well, some people brought up what I had in mind so how bout…
#1: As the CEO who started Pimax off kickstarter way back, which product launch in the company’s history are you the most proud of and why?
#2: Which product launch, having been in the business for so long now, was the most important learning experience for the company?
#3: 12k… 12k… The eternal unicorn announced around 4 and a half years ago… The VR landscape has shifted tremendously since then, as has Pimax itself and their priorities. Some industry bottlenecks have been cited before(I.e no DP2.1 chips widely available for VR headsets), but are these bottlenecks still the main holdup on the 12k or is it going to be redesigned with the current landscape and Pimax’s priorities in mind, meaning it’s likely quite far out? Are those same industry bottlenecks still even a problem? I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m holding Pimax to the same standard as that’s unfair, but Meta’s shown off fully functional and ultra wide FoV prototypes at public shows which get field of view in the ballpark of the 12k’s advertising, in quite a small form factor too, all things considered.
Hi, my question is: do Pimax engineers and engineering managers read subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Pimax/? (I do not mean social media managers)
If not, this is a major omission. The Discourse-powered forum at OpenMR.com has the UI that seems less inconvenient. I think most users prefer to read and post in https://reddit.com/r/pimax and currently do so. And if users predominantly communicate in one place while engineers are unaware and only check the other place, the feedback loop may be severely broken.
Would you be able to invite more Pimax team members to check the subreddit from time to time? Or is it too difficult and requires extra steps such as launching a VPN?
If Pimax team members are struggling with the internet restrictions, maybe we users should make the effort and use OpenMR.com more despite its UI shortcomings…
Hi,
Valve is discontinuing production of Lighthouse hardware and their Valve Index controllers. Does Pimax plan to manufacture them in the future?
Hi
I mostly use VR for flight sims and racing. Recently my OG Crystal stopped working and I ordered a Crystal Super Ultrawide to replace it. While waiting for my new headset to ship, I have been using my wife’s Quest 3.
I have now become very reliant on the relatively high quality passthrough. I had thought the way I was going to use it would be to draw a mask around my physical cockpit to see my real controls, buttons and switches. Jaap posted a video showing this on the Pimax Youtube channel called “The Science Behind SLAM Tracking in VR headsets” at time 0:51. However, it turns out I find it much better to use the Quest 3 hand tracking combined with Virtual Desktop Streamer, which allows you to project a circle of passthrough over each hand. This way, wherever your hands go, the passthrough goes too, and you can immediately reach the switch you want in the real world with the minimum of immersion breaking. This is also great when your switches don’t exactly match their position in the virtual cockpit.
Pimax has a hand tracking module, although the Accessories page in the Pimax store doesn’t say which headset this is compatible with, and it is currently out of stock.
Jaap shows an example of hand tracking in the same video I referenced above at time 4:20, which doesn’t appear to require the hand tracking module at all.
The MR Faceplate has been “in the works” for quite some time. Do you have an update on when we might expect this for the Crystal Super Ultrawide?
Would it be possible to have similar options in Pimax play to combine all these technologies so that you could choose to either outline your cockpit with a mask or use hand tracking to move smaller passthrough circles wherever you hands go so you can move switches, type on the keyboard, or check your phone as can be done now with Virtual Desktop Streamer and the Quest 3?
Thanks for listening
Sorry don’t wish to disagree, but in any situation I take caution with statements like this. I advise against making assumptions about how other users get their info. I don’t ever use reddit or have an account, save for occasional Google results. Personally I check Pimax info here and on Youtube, and I check the Discord for some categories. I expect those to be catered for just as much as Reddit. Thanks.
