Quest 3 is the new benchmark for lenses. Main thing holding back the quest 3 is not having displayport over usb-c which would eliminate the encoding the headset has to do which creates compression artefacts and limits distance clarity.
The underlying hardware for the visual is the new benchmark though.
If you are talking about an AR device, sure, they will be trying to compete with the AVP. But VR at Pico is reportedly dead, so no new headset to be expected.
Well, b/c just as Pimax they wanted to utilize them as cheap marketing tools, utilize their multiplicator value as influencers right before commercially releasing the product.
It backfired, as it happened to Pimax. Because they didnât let experienced, savvy outsiders try their prototypes during the development to get feedback on issues they turned a blind eye on - which doesnât need to be due to lack of professionalism or good will, but simply due to either not being prone to certain e.g. visual deficiencies - or accommodating to such over time so you donât notice them anymore while if you had never used the same headset ever before, youâd be screaming in horror.
I thought the Somnium VR-1 would be final by now and heading into production soon. They still seem months off even without these YTer reactions. With parts still not ordered for mass production.
I think I already predicted a late Q2 release. Thatâs when Iâm expecting Valve to release their headset.
Ouch.
No, not at all. We know for example that Meta has been working on unproved tech like varifocal lenses for years now. The outcome is very unsure and it might even lead to nothing useful. However the difference with smaller companies is that they have such deep pockets that they donât NEED to release the tech at some point. Pimax really doesnât have a choice. Remember all those discussion at the time of the 8k release, âis the device ready for releaseâ, several people on the closed forum adviced against it, since it was simply not a good device at that point in time. Personally I t still think they shouldnt have released the 8k. They promised the tech that was in the 8k-X, the 8k was a pretty bad device and nowhere as good as the 8kX. Still, Pimax went ahead and released it. They just NEEDED the cash flow at some point.
So itâs not about âtaking risksâ, they all do that. Itâs about the luxury position not HAVING to release something half baked because you have the cash to sit it out some more.
Like Somnium, Iâm pretty sure theyâre in a Pimax-like position. Theyâll polish everything a bit more, tweak their distortion algo, but I donât they think they will go back to the drawing board and design a whole new lens. They just donât have the cash position to do so.
Indeed, they are very nice and to have such lenses in a consumer level device with a very reasonable price is awesome too. Also the from me personally observed 3d effect is the best I have ever seen on any HMD to this day. Also the scale in PCVR is just 100% Perfect matching the real world.
The only thing I do not like is the glare on high contrast scenes but beside that, the quest 3 lenses are just perfect for nomal FOV HMDs
For Wide FOV HMDs though, I find the current XTAL lenses are the best for this job (let´s see what the 12K lenses will offer). Nearly no chromatic aberration, no distorsions, no Glare or God Rays, great sweetspot and awesome Edge to Edge Clarity. I will consider to upgrade my XTAL 5K to the 8K Version, if the PImax 12K will not be showcased on CES 2024 by Pimax or we do not get any real new update to the current state of the 12K.
I can agree with you on that point, I also do not think they will be 100% ready in just 3 months for a final release. I guess they were too optimistic with their timeplane for the VR1, as it seems from the videos and all that they are very stressed right now and do not want/can to accept this.
I think it is very hard to accept something like this for yourself, if you are working on such an project and the corresponding timeplans along side.
Very Important news :
VR1
recomended resolution for vr1 to eliminate distortions
Rendered FOV h130° 6485 x 5375
h120° 5634 x 4581
(Date : 30.12.23 / not final values yet)
Donât forget Half Dome that went from 140 wide to 120. Big companies do also like keeping things stagnant by controlling what can be done by 
ng ideas behind patents @XRC said he used to Dev hardware until he had all kinds of issues with companies IP claims.
Agreed though with the smaller companies struggle. Especially when they are limited in their revenue streams. We have seen many companies either collapse or fade from view. FoveVR, AntVR, 3glasses (First Windows endorsed hmd Burbur S1).
Sonium was likely hoping that Vrgineers partnering was going to advance the VR1. Iirc we were waiting for our ks hmds when it first announced.
Not sure if I shared this particular link for a real Opensource VR hmd project.
So itâs February and still nothing from Somnium.
The longer the delays the shorter the VR-1 lifespanâŚ
All I can think of is dump the VR-1 and just get to the Hypervision HMDs people actually want. Why spend all that time on Aspherics when you already know youâre making the switch to Pancake?
The Hypervision lenses are still far away to be implemented in a VR Headset, probably 2-3 years. The VR-1 is still one of the most interesting Headsets this year with a 120+ hFOV, most probably with a release this year. I guess that the huge number of preorders and the lens problems are affecting the release point currently, as Somnium is utilizing the same manufacturer as VRgineers and they are not optimized for fast massproduction (At least my guess for now). It will come out, as always time will tell.
Before the 12k then.
Huge number of pre-orders⌠really? Or do you count the subscribers who just reserved a spot on the list w/o any further commitment? That would not be a pre-order in my books, just a token of interest (I even registered for it to get the information and just in case - but it is pretty unlikely that I will order one).
Yes, I do count the subscriber into that, as this is not that much different to a complete pre-order. With a preorder in most cases you either paid the full amount or a part of The full amount and you reserved your spot on the list. Is this much different to the subscription model of Somnium beside the missing payment? For me not really. I am also subscribed and the process for that felt for me like a normal pre-order, just the missing payment as the main difference. As I understand, Somnium will use the total amount of subscriber as a basis line for they expected delivery time to the costumerâs, this also is the same use case for pre-orders in General.
I can not really understand why everything around the Somnium VR-1 just suddenly now got so bad? Only because of the YouTube video from SadlyitsBradley about his first impressions of a Prototype VR-1. Common, this is not really justifiing the now more or less negative wipe over the VR-1.
I have the feeling now that every product will be just hiped over as soon as it is announced and after the first impressions and reviews are flying in everbody is starting to dislike and talking bad about the product before even trying out for themselves.
So I would just wish that everybody have more patience and are talking about the product once and only at first if they really are holding the product physically in their own hands.
It was sudden because Somnium held back the price for so long and then when it dropped it made the Crystal which comes with built in eye tracking and audio a whole lot more valuable. Somiums justification for higher prices is because itâs built in the EU. Well good look finding people who donât mind paying for that option but not me.
Then rather than have one headset Somnium have opted for addon at additional cost. This is where Quest and Pico are winners. I want one headset with eye tracking and pass through.
When you add on the extras the price escalates and Iâm sitting with my ÂŁ350 Pico4 asking do I really want to pay ÂŁ2k or more?
To be successful at VR itâs not hard to write a list of pros and cons but you see companies over and over again fail to understand the route to success.
The VR-1 needs to be 1.4k tops or needs to be the only VR headset selling at 2k+ which theyâre not.
The VR-1 price v specs is out of whack unless thereâs some killer feature like FOV which could be amazing but judging by recent events doesnât look that great atm.
I would never have considered to subscribe if they had even asked only for a down payment of 10$. To me it was a âreserve a spot in the line in case you want to pre-order at the time when we actually tell you what the deal isâ story here. And I am afraid, there will be a couple of others having thought the same.
Donât get me wrong, I wish them the best, but it is very hard to compete in this market, with high development and material costs (due to expensive, low volumes components) and the price youâd need to pick to be successful in the market doesnât match the price you need to be profitable. But at the end I cannot afford to dish out a couple of thousands of Euros on sympathy considerations which I will likely replace at latest in 2 years by a (much cheaper and) more capable headset. And in addition a company in such a situation may not be very long lasting, meaning longterm support etc. for the headset may be a bit uncertain. It may seem unkind but these are real issues when you are asked to spend that kind of money.
Yeah to me this is just another disappointing product. All this blah blah about their focus on lens tech, on how this thing supposedly would become the best headset thatâs possible with current tech etc. And then they show it to youtubers and they hate the lenses? WTF really!! And it just doesât feel very likely that they can turn that around. Iâm sure they can optimize their distortion algo a bit but that will probably be about it. Hopefully Iâm wrong but I kind have lost all hope for this thing already.
Had some interaction with these people about 2 years ago, possible controller design for VR1. Itâs a shame to see such bad feedback on their optics, this late in the day. Using the same display panels as Crystal but coming this late to the partyâŚ
These guys are coming across more like Pimax. Everything is âTrust me broâ