Two things about the Pimax Dream Air that really disappoint me

Pimax Hardware Pimax Discussion
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I’m considering buying the Pimax Dream Air, but there are 2 things about the Pimax Dream Air that really disappoint me. I find these engineering and technical decisions quite strange.

  1. The SLAM version cannot be used with Lighthouse tracking at all. Why?

Overall, the headset is extremely modular. Even both stems (left and right) connect to the headset via USB-C and are detachable. There is also a third USB-C connector on the top of the headset. However, there is currently no Lighthouse faceplate for the Dream Air that could connect via this USB-C port, and as far as I understand, none is planned. Or is one actually planned?

I started my VR journey with the HP Reverb G2, which already had inside-out tracking, and then moved on to the Meta Quest 2. So in that sense, Lighthouse tracking feels like a step backward. However, it’s praised for its unmatched precision. SLAM tracking is quite sensitive to lighting conditions and similar factors. I’d be interested in trying Lighthouse tracking, but if I buy the Lighthouse version of the Dream Air, I would obviously lose hand tracking. It would be great to have both options available.

  1. The Dream Air uses monochrome cameras instead of color ones. Why?

Goodbye, MR! And we’re talking about a headset that costs $2,300!

Is this really about cost? The price difference between color and monochrome cameras is practically negligible, and their cost is absolutely insignificant compared to the total price of the headset.

Moreover, if I understand this correctly, color cameras are actually better for SLAM tracking, because a color image contains more information than a monochrome one.

I understand that this is not a standalone headset and that players are limited in freedom by the length of the cable to the PC, which makes it not good for MR games.

I’m not even sure whether MR PCVR games exist on Steam at all, or whether mixed reality is supported in SteamVR and in the OpenXR runtime from Pimax (even if only in monochrome mode, like on the Meta Quest 2)?

What’s also disappointing is that Valve’s upcoming Steam Frame, despite being a standalone headset, will also use monochrome cameras. However, it’s important to note that Steam Frame is simpler than Dream Air in almost every respect: LCD instead of OLED, 2.5K per eye instead of 4K per eye, and so on. And it’s cheaper. So the Dream Air should really be compared to the Samsung Galaxy XR, which uses the same OLED 4K-per-eye displays but comes with color cameras.

Is a revision of the Dream Air with color cameras planned?

There are already precedents in the VR industry where an improved revision was released after the initial device launch. E.g., Bigscreen Beyond 2 and Bigscreen Beyond 2e, or MeganeX 8K and MeganeX 8K Mark II, and so on.

If not, what are the concrete technical or strategic reasons for ruling this out?

@PimaxQuorra @SweViver @jaapgrolleman cc

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I remember mentioning that same downside, regarding monochrome PT for the Steam Frame on some forum, somebody then told me that with the Steam Frame you can add-on color PT cams. Not sure if that’s even correct though, but I wonder if that’s possible with the Pimax AIR?

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Regards to 1. SLAM model.

  • There is the upper Usb-C port that you could say possibly use a SteamVR Tracker like Thundra (small & Light). But you could likely just do Hybrid Tracking like other non SteamVR headsets. Using Watchman Dongles for Controllers. Crystal Headsets prior to the SteamVR Face Pl; ppl were using hybrid tracking with Open space.
  • Someone would need to test but you might be also able to use the Arpara 5k SteamVR tracker. I have seen it is $100 less than Crystal SteamVR Fp. Another option if you could find one for cheap iirc HTC also had a headset with a SteamVR FP option.

As for 2? Yes the mini pass through is maybe disappointing for MR and such. However he Top Usb-C might be able to solve that with an add on. Maybe 3rdparty with using a usb-c Y split cord to support more than one device or a mini has bub of sorts.

However I can appreciate to keep costs down the current cameras makes sense and keeps their focus on improving SLAM on all models easier. It is also why the MR FP for Crystal Series is still Mia to not divide top much focus.

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The fact that Dream Air and Steam Frame launched with monochrome cameras effectively kills the PCVR MR market at the root.

No one is going to buy a separate color camera module as an add-on. That simply won’t happen at scale. And without a meaningful installed base of devices with color passthrough, no developers will build PCVR MR games or apps, because there’s nothing to run them on.

Developers don’t invest time and money for a handful of enthusiasts. There is no ecosystem where users wait for content, content waits for hardware, and hardware is locked behind optional accessories. That loop just collapses.

As a result, PCVR MR ends up in a deadlock: users won’t buy extra hardware without software, developers won’t make software without users, and platform holders get no traction at all.

Launching with monochrome cameras sends a clear signal: MR is not a first-class feature. And once that signal is sent, the market never even gets a chance to form.

Color cameras are not just about MR games and applications, they’re about interacting with physical objects (smartphones, monitors, keyboards, food, etc.).

Text, icons, indicators, and LED signals are read faster in color and with lower cognitive load.

More realism means less motion sickness and perceptual dissonance.

Fewer false positives under challenging lighting conditions.

Better object tracking and scene understanding. Many objects are distinguished primarily by color rather than shape.

And also: recording stereo POV videos!

By the way, what is the resolution of each camera module in Dream Air?

And what is the final passthrough video resolution?

It would be great to see video recordings captured with the cameras of Dream Air to evaluate passthrough quality. @SweViver @jaapgrolleman :wink:

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Is there such a market for that type of thing? I think PCVR is stuggling enough as it is. I think MR glasses are the way forward as oppose to MR PCVR.

I really think Meta has given up on PCVR in favour of MR glasses and I can see Apple and Samsung follow suit. I think the future of PCVR will be with Steam Frame and those companies that jump on the Steam Frame bandwagon. Tethered PCVR will be phased out as eye tracking becomes the norm along with all the benefits that come with it.

I said from the very start of the VR revolution unit PCVR has parity with 2D game in terms of Compute then VR will never become mainstream. I think Steamframe is the next step in that revolution. Wirelessness and compute parity.

I like the colour passthrough on my Pico4. As soon as I step out of the boundry I’m in the real world. Such a great feature. And yes it looks better in colour over BandW.

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The main reason I’m interested in Pimax products at all is that Pimax is one of the few remaining manufacturers of wired VR headsets.

No foveated streaming, even though it improves quality, can compare for me to an uncompressed, lossless HDR DisplayPort signal with near-zero latency.

No matter how high the streaming bitrate is, it still introduces artifacts, which are especially noticeable in dark scenes. This prevents microOLED displays from reaching their full potential.

On top of that, it creates additional load on the PC for encoding video into H.264 / H.265 / AV1 codecs.

I also believe in a bright future for wireless standalone, or rather hybrid 2-in-1, headsets that can be connected to a PC. I own a Meta Quest headset myself.

I like the idea behind the PICO Neo 3 Link and PICO Neo 3 Pro headsets, which support DisplayPort Alt Mode over a thin USB cable. See: Pico Neo 3 Pro with DisplayPort cable review: an amazing PCVR experience - The Ghost Howls.

I hope the PICO 5 (Project Swan), which is supposedly being announced tomorrow, will support USB DisplayPort Alt Mode as well. :folded_hands:

I have nothing against cables as long as they are long enough, thin, and flexible, e.g., hybrid cables (fiber optic for data and copper for power) made from high-quality materials.

It’s a pity that we don’t hear much about the development of technologies like 60G Airlink, which would allow transmitting a DisplayPort signal wirelessly.

For now, we are heavily limited by technological progress. Fully standalone PCVR headsets capable of running PCVR games without a PC, with good graphics and high FPS, remain just a dream.

From what I’ve heard, Steam Frame can run Half-Life: Alyx fully standalone without a PC only at low graphics settings at around 40–50 FPS, which is rather low. Battery life in this mode is limited. And a cable to a power outlet is still a cable! Moreover, Steam Frame’s display resolution is only 2160×2160 per eye, not 4K per eye, and Half-Life: Alyx is considered a very well-optimized game.

The entire industry is steadily moving toward making VR headsets as lightweight as glasses, leaving only the displays in the headset and moving everything else into a separate compute unit that can be attached to a belt (:waving_hand: Meta Project Phoenix).

I hope all these headsets/glasses will use cables with USB-C instead of proprietary connectors, so they can be connected not only to their native compute units but also to a PC, and even to compute units from other manufacturers, and vice versa. :crossed_fingers:

BTW, no news about Pimax Cobb… :frowning:

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PXL_20260226_062731614.PORTRAIT.ORIGINAL
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Having a blast with my wired hmd, got that lovely super skinny 6.5 metre fibre optic tether here :face_blowing_a_kiss:

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More wired goodness, this time with a ‘super’ flavour

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And the classic from 2016

IMG_20170215_215107_907
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I believe Jaap has already explained why the Dream Air can’t be the same as the other Crystal variants, where users can switch between Lighthouse and SLAM tracking by swapping the faceplate.

With the Lighthouse version, you won’t be able to use the default hand tracking, since that relies on SLAM. If you want hand tracking, you’d need the dedicated hand-tracking module, which connects via the USB port on the headset.

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Dream air lighthouse edition hand tracking?
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Unfortunately, I haven’t seen that explanation. Could you please share a link to it?

Is it already available for purchase? If so, could you please share a link as well?

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@PimaxQuorra Could you please get back to the last two questions?

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Which 2 questions? The tracking camera res and VST video res?

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@PimaxQuorra

You wrote that Jaap has already explained why the Dream Air can’t be the same as the other Crystal variants, where users can switch between Lighthouse and SLAM tracking by swapping the faceplate.

  1. Could you please share a link to this explanation? I haven’t seen it.

You mentioned a hand-tracking module, which connects via the USB port on the headset (designed specifically for the Lighthouse version?).

  1. Is it already available for purchase? Could you please share a link as well?

  2. What is the resolution of each camera module in Dream Air?

  3. What is the final passthrough video resolution?

  4. Could you please upload sample video recordings (e.g. to YouTube) captured with the cameras of Dream Air to evaluate passthrough quality?

  5. Is a revision of the Dream Air with color cameras planned (in the near future, e.g. within a year)?

  6. Why Dream Air uses monochrome cameras instead of color ones? Cost? Technical reasons? Strategic reasons? Which ones exactly?

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Maybe im wrong,.but I.dont.think that the dream air has face plates. You need the crystal.super for that.

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Dream Air not designed to have swappable face plates. So if you buy the lighthouse version there is no pass through unless you use an accessory on the usb-c port to add it

Currently I don’t think there are any current options. Though there was a pass through universal 3rdparty years ago.

as for Hand tracking? With the Little ghthouse version you would need a 3rdparty add on like Ultraleap.

Now you could wait and get the SLAM version and then use VR space Calibrator to add mixed tracking to use Index controllers like us done in non steam tracked headsets like Meta

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For the initial design of the Dream Air, we do not offer a swappable faceplate. This decision was based on several factors, including the housing design and internal components.

For the hand-tracking module, you can refer to the UltraLeap one.

As for the camera resolution and the final VST resolution, I don’t have that information yet, and I’m not sure if we’ll be able to share those details at this stage.

No.

There are several factors involved during the product evaluation phase. Unfortunately, I can’t share why this decision was made.

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Hi everyone .

I have the same question :

Why doesn’t the DREAM air unfortunately have a color camera for a headset costing €2600 in Europe including taxes and shipping?:winking_face_with_tongue:

I’ve read the comments on this thread, and some are saying that a color camera is useless for a VR headset and that the future lies in multireferencing glasses?:flushed_face:

-So why did Meta install a color camera in their Quest 3 in 2020?:face_with_monocle:

I have friends who use the Quest 3 for simulations on MFS 2024 and mods that, thanks to this color camera, allow them to:

  • See their flight/racing simulator equipment as an overlay, so they’re in the simulator and simultaneously in the real world with a color image, not monochrome. And Meta probably didn’t spend a fortune to incorporate this color camera in 2020 into their Quest 3.

So, I’m also disappointed that this color camera isn’t included in the Dream Air. :cry::cry:

And I have the same question:

- Will Pimax ever incorporate a camera into their Dream Air or its successor?

I tested the Quest 3 with this mod which allows you to incorporate the Quest 3 color camera overlay into MFS 2024, and I can tell you it’s amazing.

You can see all your simulation equipment while in the game and see the external landscapes, and it’s

FANTASTIC.:heart_eyes:

Bye :waving_hand:

Laurent :france:

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“Why doesn’t the DREAM air unfortunately have a color camera for a headset costing €2600“

I cant recall where I saw/ heard this but my understanding is they don’t use/ want to use color cameras because of the SLAM tracking. They would have to develop and manage a separate code branch for SLAM to work using the different cameras. It makes the most sense to keep everything the same and consistent across headsets.

EDIT: Obviously i cant remember where i head this, perhaps I’m imagining things, but it seems pretty plausible.

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Hi every one .

It would be great if Jaap Groleman or Calvin could clearly explain why there are no color cameras in DREAM air?

Bye

Laurent :france: