Upload-vr CES controversy

Pimax Hardware P2: 8kX
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Or, much simpler, no longer read their “articles” and by that refuse to grant them the clicks.

Let them become 100% funded by Facebook instead of 90%.

If they had critized Pimax for valid reasons while still presenting pro’s and con’s in a balanced way, fine. But trying to belittle them reveals both an agenda and fear.

I am really pretty disappointed in them, that they really made a complete yard sale of all of their standards. They - next to RtVR - were a go-to site for me for everything VR and it is appaling to see their ethics disintegrate so swiftly and fundamentally.

At the same time, Sweviver made a mistake. He still is the Youtuber at heart, and possibly they should relabel his position within Pimax to that of an affiliated Youtuber rather than a Marketing Director, because it’s not in his nature to handle the communication in such “professional” manner - he is more the emotionally engaged guy who will produce this kind of outbursts every now and then when jumping in defence of Pimax or himself, and sometimes in life one has to decide to either change the own chaarcter or the job you are doing. Usually it is better to change the job (or mere job description, in this case).

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The fix is actually pretty simple if this continues any further. Everyone is human and mistakes are made in the heat of the moment. All it would take to fix things from the Pimax side would be for Sweviver to make a post admitting that his earlier response was an emotional one based on how much he believes in their product and that although he believes their headset has been presented in an unfair light he will be more than happy to let the product speak for itself in future demos.

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Honestly, I don’t believe that. I can not talk about what is done in RoadToVR or Upload VR, but I do participate in Real o Virtual and I see what is spoken in their private forum. There isn’t “one guy to be paid”. There are a lot of individuals with their own strong opinions and, if they don’t believe in the product, its because of the Pimax headsets problems, for which only Pimax is responsible: distortions, poor quality, poor technical service, poor presentations (even in all the CES!), stations and controllers that never arrive after years, a infinity of broken promises… and the consequent lack of trust.
I really think that is the same with RoadToVR or UploadVR. In fact, they have always been open to being shown things, including the people of Tested, who treated Pimax quite kindly. Isn’t the fault of Sony or Facebook, I don’t think they really care about Pimax, at least, at this time; and then they will “attack” with their software franchises, taking advantage that Pimax has none.
Pimax has to take responsibility for their own mistakes and correct them once and for all.

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No product is perfect, Rift S doesn’t allow IPD adjustment, has a terrible audio, confined to 80Hz and Oculus has repeatedly made mistakes in software releases. Valve Index is very expensive, suffer of glare problems, and Valve can’t manufacture enough headsets to meet the demand, which is no different from having delays on an announced product.

But we VR enthusiasts are buying these products for what they’re good for, so we would also like to know what they have good, and not only the defects. UploadVR always leaves out the good things, it’s not a mystery

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How about we post and list the good reviews and points - that rather questionable article is really not worth this much attention Imho…

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What I can say is that I was (until 2 days ago) following Ian Hamilton’s Twitter account. Even before this article appeared, his comments on Twitter were simply insulting and ridiculing Pimax, when-ever he was referring to them since his coverage of CES2020 started.

If you read his comments all of us should be vomiting day in day out, while our eyes pop out due to the vast distortion everywhere.

If the users would find the total package as ridiculous as this Hamilton guy is making it appear, why are all of us still using the Pimax device and checking out this forum ?

That’s not what I expect to read from a journalist. Sorry if I am holding him to higher standards than what he wrote lately.

The hiring of David Heaney was already a very weird move, which alarmed me quite a bit, I have to say - somebody with such a stained reputation should never have been hired. This is the one piece which makes me believe it is rather Facebook than another industry player who is financing them. Who else would have even considered to pick Heaney of all possible candidates ?

These chain of recent events is what is alarming me here.

And as @mmorselli just points out above, there are lots of negatives to throw at other headsets too, if one wishes, and still you expect and get a fair review from the journalists, and that’s how it should be.

But he only ridicules Pimax at this stage. Looking at his behaviour I would even have considered the possibility that Pimax denied him some sort of favour he demanded, but we would have heard in Sweviver’s rant if that had been the case. So that’s not the background. But here is something fishy going on, this is anything but regular coverage.

At the end I don’t care what the reason for his grudge is but I do no longer consider Upload a good source of unbiased reviews for my own use, be it about Piamx or other subjects. Too many coincidences…

Unfortunately, because we have so few good websites that it really hurts a lot to lose one of them.

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I think the solution is to start a website covering VR news objectively called PiVR.

On a more serious note, Pimax should really really get on the same page whenever they make press statements.

I’ll be honest I usually don’t take Pimax’s statements too serious but other people might not be like me.

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109

Agreed why Bump a negative review as it simply makes it more likely to come up in google searches. When we have enough good and impartial reviews that really deserve the attention and support. :beers::sunglasses::fist_right::fist_left::+1::sparkles:

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They talk about de resolution and FOV.

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That will be called “Marketing”. I think we’ve had enough of that.

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Pico uses magneticly tracked controllers in their new standalone hmd pico 2.

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113

I don’t know, but considering the cost and resources the Pimax are asking for, it doesn’t make much sense to attack someone who isn’t really your competitor.
Facebook is looking to extend its social network with low-priced, self-sufficient products.
Sony is going for cheap consoles and headsets.
They’re both getting a foothold in their franchises.
Pimax is a niche within the VR niche.
How many people will spend the money for such a headset and a computer suitable for it?

Only a handfull of freaks like us.

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Until a magazine acts like a competitor.

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Then you stop paying them notice. Otherwise it is no different than feeding trolls.

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They wouldn‘t fear the competition the way you put it but it is ruining the appeal of their own offering to potential new customers: if those inquire about what‘s to be expected from VR and learn that you can get a decent entry level experience with tunnel vision, modest resolution and SDE (and poor audio and no IPD adjustment in the Rift S case), and then see that higher end VR gives you 170 FoV, no SDE and sharp as a knife visuals, but is very costly and a pain to operate with some computer skills expected, they may just turn around and say aI don‘t want the effort & cost Pimax ask but in comparison I can see that the Rift S sucks performance-wise“. So they decide to wait until they get a Pimax performance at the cost & ease of Oculus. Which means they don’t enter VR in the coming 2-3 years. That could be the issue they are afarid of - Pimax spoiling the customers for them w/o gaining them either.

By the way, the affiliation of UploadVR with Palmer Luckey of Oculus is more obvious than I recalled:

Some few weeks afterwards they were miraculously rescued, and I don‘t recall the kind donor was being disclosed this time… Palmer had been too open about it? :wink:

And just google David Heaney and Fanboy if you wish. You stumble accross him attacking Palmer (!) for being a Pimax cultist (because Palmer dared to pledge for the Piamx KS campaign). So he has quite a history of actively disliking Pimax.

To you it may all be unrelated coincidences, I for my part see a clear pattern emerging.

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117

Pimax is in no way dependent of news articles from a media website that constantly pushes us down in any possible way. Everyone has an opinion and I fully respect if any other website or reviewer doesnt like Pimax. I wont argue and I understand a Pimax headset is not for everyone. There are no emotional feelings involved here.

But the articles from Upload has got to the point where they actively keep running a hate-campaign to suppress our brand and our hardware to insane levels. Which is not a fair game to play. Therefore, there is no point keeping the relationship alive or feeding them with any press releases or samples which they will keep bashing on anyway.

My Twitter may not look professional, but I hold on to every word Im saying and there is no way I would ever apologize for that. The reason for my attack was not even their opinions or hate on a daily basis, but the fact they have now come to a level where false claims are getting written as headlines. They dont even bother confirming if the news are true or not. It seems to me they are desperate, and act therafter, most likely after seeing all positive news from the VR communities about our successful CES show.

We could have just instantly made an official statement yesterday and deminish the false claim and kill that article, which we also will do. But my goal to make the post in public was to show we wont accept this behaviour. And the team agrees.

We may be far from perfect when it comes to deliver the hardware on time, and we have indeed broken many promises in the past. But at least we are trying, we are working hard every day despite minimal resources and we keep pushing the limits of VR, which nobody else seem to be able to. Or want to. I want to see progress in the VR industry. This is why I work for this company.

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Well said. It is not always easy to realize one’s own stumble. And can be hard to step back and organize a careful response that nails the issues with out being inflammatory.

Yes I think UploadVR made the Article to bait a negative reaction. And yes imho they are often a troll publication. Since the big scandal that caused their parent company to close they have fallen even further and originally affiliated sites have distanced themselves as a result.

The kink room reveal really damaged them beyond repair imho.

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119

Yepp, looks like the Upload people have an agenda - even though I honestly don’t think I get the full picture, things don’t really make sense… Come on guys, why…

Thanks for your good videos and dedicated work for Pimax, think you are an important enrichment to the team! I really enjoyed the reports from CES and am looking forward to my 8k X with great anticipation now!

Just please don’t feed the trolls. Imho the reaction was the best they could hope for, don’t do them this favor.
Keep on the good work!

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120

There’s no dobut upload is working overtime to suppress any progress your making there. What we need now is counter review from the opposing news sites. Did anyone from Road to VR try the 8K-X? I’ve been waiting for that hands on but it doesent seem they tried it at CES? Apart from upload I see nothing but positive reviews about the headset. Hell Rendered Reality couldn’t stop talking about it in their latest podcast

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R2VR did, no article up yet though: “We had a chance to visit Pimax’s booth at CES, so we should have our hands-on impressions with their latest tech out soon.” Fingers crossed.

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