Is D-Link's VR AirBridge More Than a Simple Solution?

[@JHowInVR]

Is the Meta Quest Pro for you? kzbin.info/www/bejne/kF66gX2cndabd7M

[@APRBaller]

From what I gathered, this seems like a perfect solution to those already looking for a dedicated router. Setting one up can be a pain in the ass, and if you're looking for a plug-and-play solution, this seems to be it. My asus router does the job perfectly, but if this thing was already on the market when I was looking for one less than a year ago, I would've just gone with the Bridge instead.

[@JHowInVR]

Best summary right here. Thank you for sharing your insight.

[@grrinc]

Agreed

[@jpawhees]

I'm pretty sure the ability to chain the wifi internet to your computer then through air bridge will be availible in an update later on.

[@Venoxium]

This seems good if you CANNOT use a router whether that's because it's in a different room or because you can't change it like in certain apartments. But for $99 you could buy a TP-Link AC1200 ($40) or a WAX202 (Typically on sale for $60 and below) and have the exact same experience as this. Otherwise for the price this seems really difficult to recommend.

[@JHowInVR]

Agreed. If this could pump more for better quality it would be much more highly recommended. Sadly, it’s just a unique use-case scenario.

[@MekaniQ]

I am using a laptop, that doesn't have an Ethernet port, so this might seem much better for me, even tho that's 100$

[@grrinc]

For ease of setting up, its definitely a good buy. I’m sick to death of constant tweaking and faffing around.

[@Evilkingus]

God dammit, this argument pisses me off, when there is absolutely no thinking process in regards to other people's usecases. Perhaps someone would like to be able to take the thing with him/her? Perhaps he/she does not want to faff around? God knows what could be the reasons.

[@zeroa69]

@@MekaniQ they make cheap conversion hubs for that issue.

[@IncessantWake]

I'm sticking to wired for now. I live in an apartment with thin walls and the wire is long enough that I can kinda strap it to my waist, doing so makes it feel wireless, and the wire was like 20 bucks off amazon.

[@TheLakotariver]

I ordered mine yesterday. Now I am camped out next to my mailbox waiting for it to arrive 🤪 Thank you for your review 👋

[@JHowInVR]

Hope this is the solution you've been looking for!

[@TheLakotariver]

@@JHowInVR I think it will. My Airlink keeps dropping its connection from time to time and I cannot figure out why. I have around 250 VR games between Steam and Viveport and it sure would be nice to play them all with the Quest. I do own a Vive pro 2 but that is connected to the computer and I use that one for the really high resolution ones. Oh well, still camping out next to the mailbox, LOL

[@contrabardus]

I have an Asus AX5700 router. This thing gets pretty much the exact same performance according to what I've seen. Within 5-10 ms in most cases. Usually slightly below what I see, but that can be attributed to other hardware differences just as much as the Air Bridge. However, I had to do a bit of tweaking to get that. I had to go into my router's settings, tweak several settings, select my channel, make sure I'm on the right band, enable OFDMA, and disable 2.4mhz bands, among a few other small tweaks. This is fine for me, but a lot of people would just get lost in the UI for my router and have no idea what they should enable or tweak. That's a problem for a casual user. This thing is pretty much just plug and play, and for less than I paid for my router. You do still need to adjust settings in your GPU, the Quest Device menu on the Meta app, and tweak things in Steam VR to get the most out of it, but those UIs are mostly a lot easier to navigate. You should turn off any sort of V-sync or frame limiting. V-sync makes frames wait to be displayed until your monitor is ready to display them, which can introduce lag, and frame limiting for background programs can impact your VR client (Steam/Meta's apps). This is a great option for casual users and I can't knock it. If they can tweak the software to provide a performance boost, I might be interested in it myself, but currently have no reason to bother. My setup works just as well, but I'm also using a pretty pricy high end AX router. If you're looking for a simple wireless solution, this is it. It's not for me in its current state, as it would just be paying for the same performance I'm currently getting at best, but I can't deny this thing the props it deserves either. It's solid hardware that does the job as well as an expensive router according to the numbers I've seen from various reviews and benchmarking. If they can squeeze more out of it, it could well get my attention in the future. I'll be keeping an eye on it for sure, just not yet though.

[@JHowInVR]

Appreciate the in depth insight

[@FNH8iT]

BRO... Pro looking video then i scroll down to see 53 subs 👀Underrated! You deserve more subs.

[@JHowInVR]

Super appreciate the comment and recognition. We all gotta start somewhere :)

[@nosknut]

On windows you can select yur pc's existing network card and the d-link and create a bridge between the networks by right clicking. This allows you internet acces through your pc.

[@charliewaters5289]

You can do this with your own PC wifi if you are plugged in ethernet for your internet. You turn your onboard WiFi in to a hotspot, and connect to that.

[@brandonmiller4426]

You are right. You can, people don't think; they impulse buy.

[@flintbackwoods1416]

I tried that and it still doesn't perform like the D-link

[@charliewaters5289]

@@flintbackwoods1416 Did you stop the window polling? There is a step you have to do, I made a macro for it, to stop windows from constantly looking for new network connections.

[@Decibel_DJing]

​@@brandonmiller4426some people have sucky onboard wifi or non-onboard wifi

[@lulufolds]

Cant connect to wifi vr air bridge , worked the first time, tryed later in the day and i couldnt connect to thevr bridge dongle, uninstalled the oculus app and reinstalled, worked, now it doesnt work again. in the headset where you click on the vr air bridge wifi, it says connnecting and than stops, does nothing, im so lost , someone please help, about to send this crap back

[@mnm_9742]

did you ever fix this?

[@raheenb]

Incredibly concise and to the point, well done!

[@Vasquez2701]

I bought it thinking it was a Plug and Play solution, but my PC never shows up when I open the AirLink option on my Quest, even after following every step of the setup.

[@markdavenportjr5129]

Great review! I am totally gonna grab the airbridge next month. :)

[@Notenoughego]

bro great video setup keep it up when vr explodes your channel will go *boom*

[@doublek87]

Thanks for the review, but what about the visual quality ? Is the Air-Bridge better than Air-Link with any WiFi 6 or 6E ? Is it same, close or far from USB Link visual quality ? Thanks :)

[@kengvids]

Thanks for the excellent video! Question: they say that 3.2 USB Gen 1 is a requirement, but would one be able to get away with using a 3.1 USB connection only?

[@JHowInVR]

Yes, but it's complicated and I can only speak to what I tested. 3.1 actually has a few generations, so speeds on 3.1 can actually vary. I also tested it on a 3.1 Gen 2 and it worked fine. I cannot speak to a 3.1 Gen 1 since I do not have any 3.1 ports that old. Perhaps someone on Reddit has tested this, but I know a 3.1 Gen 2 can handle it.

[@Its_A_Gundam]

Oh god, the mess that is understanding the USB naming conventions.

[@davido3403]

3.2 Gen 1 is the same as 3.1 Gen 1 or is there such a thing LOL. Gen 1 is Gen 1 they are both 5gbps! Only Gen 2 is faster 10gbps oh If they quit messing with the naming! But it's limited to Gen 1 speeds 5gbps anyway so Gen 2 would make no difference. All USB 3 ports are at least Gen 1 5gbps so you have the fastest possible usb3 port it can use.

[@SaccoBelmonte]

Probably more than 200 puts stress on the inbuilt decoder.

[@JHowInVR]

As soon as it goes beyond 200 it’s noticeable. 210 I have no noticeable changes, but network usage rarely gets there anyways.

[@KB-wl4ip]

I prefer this over the quest link, but just a note...after i connect to my air bridge, I can go straight to steam vr with it, which I do.

[@AlligatorVR]

do u need to pay monthly WI-FI for it to work, or do u need to connect it to Wi-Fi you already have or no?? I don't understand please help me out here

[@AD-zc2ug]

Can we keep it ON 15 hours a day, it won't disconnect or get hot ?

[@mikenelson1614]

I've been using it for about a week now with some long gaming sessions, it has not disconnected, works really great, but it does get hot.

[@sammm_cc]

Answered all the questions I was curious about. Subbed🤝🙂

[@AlienFan25]

I'm currently running into an issue. Google didn't help because even after following the simple reset, unplug, information. I'm now having a problem. This hasn't happened before and I'm not sure what else to do.

[@SIMpossible423]

Mine worked plug-in-play, but then just stopped working. Can't figure out how to fix it.

[@Jackson-ms2qq]

Mine too, did you find a solution?

[@mainsource8030]

same here, i bought a new one and it did the same thing

[@dasfreakster]

Just got the D-Link. Is the blue light supposed to stay on all the time or just flash once in a while?

[@DrGibs347]

Hold up, its Not usb type C???? Doesn't the quest require the type c speeds to work properly...

[@Sengial]

No. Only Usb 3.0

[@DrGibs347]

@@Sengial hmmmm....

[@trendzgamingg]

Can I use it with my 3.0 USB port?

[@jordansmith4714]

Couple questions. 1. I live in a location where many network possibilities are available. Would the air bridge still work? 2. The bridge disconnects network from headset does it then mean it uses the pc network for online vr games.

[@JHowInVR]

1. Yeah, it will work fine. 2. No, it does not allow online connection to PCVR games since it's only direct communication between PC and Headset. There are, however, solutions to get around that. You can look those up or post on Reddit for a detailed solution to get it to work. Requires a workaround, but up to you if that's worth it.

[@zeroa69]

@@JHowInVR and thats why I think a dedicated router in AP mode is the better solution at this price. You can run an ethernet cable from your primary router/lan switch to your AP and now you have both a direct connection to the pc and internet for a lot less the the dlink.

[@mirshia5248]

cant use wifi same time? so like there wont be internet inside the quest 2?

[@fontain6674]

Just found a answer on Reddit. You can but you will have to share your Internet connection with the device. Via control panel in windows

[@mirshia5248]

@@fontain6674 and will that have any drawbacks? like weaker connection or weaker internet ?

[@fontain6674]

@@mirshia5248 the user that posted it says he didn’t see any differences.

[@JHowInVR]

Thank you for sharing this.

[@GSOG2]

So the bitrate limit (I think) is actually limited by the GPU, because the oculus server is using the GPU for the encoding, if you look at GPU VRAM usage you'll see that oculus server uses a chunk of the GPU VRAM to do the encoding and stream to the headset. I imagine we will be able to push the bitrate over time as GPUs get better adn more and more VRAM

[@AD-zc2ug]

How to auto run Quest app and SteamVR on windows boot and making sure it streams without human intervention for the process or it must be done in order ? What stages we can make it auto as possible?

[@benji7275]

This seems like a perfect solution for me, i have wifi in my room but it sucks so i use an Ethernet cable to get gigabit speeds that runs through the house from my router, i could get a wifi extendo thingy (forgot what its called) but i'd rather it take my ethernet speeds from my PC instead of unplugging it

[@meejmuas8686]

I get more stutters with my ASUS RT55, $130, even when the only thing connected to the 5ghz bandwidth is the Quest 2. I still get 300+ ms stutters using the D Airlink playing Stormlands and Vader Immortal. But it's substantially less than mu router. I dont know if it's my 1080ti or i7-7700k doing the bottleneck or the dlink. Still need to test out which part is causing the stutters

[@FranktheBlindArtist]

I would love to see a test at different distances from the computer

[@Greggg57]

Well for a very beginning quest 2 user, I understood quite a bit of what you said, but not all. I have had my quest 2 headset for about 2 weeks and have yet to figure out how to get into steam to play my favorite game. The whole thing bums me out. The damned set up does not come with an owners manual or even any kind of how to manual. Three hundred shekels more spent to try to get maybe an easily playable system is scary. I am an old guy and need to find someone who could talk me through the whole setup step, by step.

[@sakbalam]

My dlink won't connect watching a how to air bridge toot they say your PC must be wired in to your router/network. I'm wifi only on the road & airbridge doesn't want to connect this way, seems like a pretty major tech prob to me!

[@deadboy1255]

I'm tempted by this but my PC uses wifi and I'm worried about losing my ability to play multiplayer as a result. I'm suffering from dumb shadow lines and other visual glitches that show up using my link cable so I'm so I'm desperate

[@prodabyss]

The d-link acts as a router that the quest 3 can connect to. You only lose the connection on the quest 3 side because you have to connect the wifi to use the airline. But once you log into the airline you can use your computer with no issues

[@huseyinyurdakul7192]

it works! thanks!

[@str8poisintv131]

I'm confused I have pretty crappy wifi and I seem to be able to use the air link to play pcvr games on my quest while my router is down in the basement studio and I'm on the 3rd floor with a floor between the PC and the quest2, and it works fine till my quest heats up. Is this product really a big difference or necessary?

[@JHowInVR]

It's only necessary if you can't get AirLink to work properly through your wifi, so it sounds like you're good?

[@dankwedd_yt8197]

So I talk to my friends on discord a lot so if I have the air bridge plugged in can I still talk to my friends on discord at the same time?

[@steffendetrick]

That’s not true mine will not hook up the air Bridge says I’m connected, but the app says I’m not and I have the latest oculus updates

[@gasmonkeyyy4749]

I think this is a product for someone like me who has a router in the basement and their setup is all the way on the top floor. Is that an accurate assumption?

[@JHowInVR]

Yeah, if you don’t have a wifi system capable of properly running airlink reliably this would be for you. Otherwise, save the money or invest in a newer router with better capabilities.

[@mikenelson1614]

That is similar to my issue, my router was upstairs and my gaming setup is downstairs, I have been using VR Airbridge for a week now and I'll say it is well worth the money, it was supper easy to set up and I have had no issues, my only concern is the Airbridge does heat up with lots of usage, so we'll see how long it will last.

[@charcoalasada2918]

I keep getting initialization error, the headset is on and it keeps saying that it can’t detect it I don’t get it

[@nicholasreynolds6609]

Was the antenna oriented properly?

[@robertmunafo5039]

I guess maybe I'm confused, I have always used airlink to access steam VR. Did not know steam VR itself could access my oculus quest 2 headset alone without using airlink. Or am I misunderstanding what was said? This also leaves me to my 2nd question, if I had a non oculus headset like for example the new pico 4, could I still use this adapter to connect directly to my laptop wirelessly?

[@zeroa69]

To answer the pico question atm no. Perhaps it can be modded to work with virtual desktop over steam eventually.

[@consiechen2461]

Is the d-link VR Air Bridge also applied for Meta Quest Pro？

[@JHowInVR]

It should, yeah.

[@stixsstixs5850]

I can't connect to this thing..is it supposed to be connected in the wifi list??, It has a red "X" beside the network adapter for the airbridge, not sure is that is right, I even turned my pc wifi off and on the oculus app shows connected but the quest 2 will not pair to the airbridge, tried in mcfee to turn off firewall, I need and I am pretty sure others do as well need lamens instructions for trouble shooting

[@mainsource8030]

you're not the only one, its garbage

[@AD-zc2ug]

It has one frequency or multiple, because we want to make 8 PCVR online gaming so 8 devices will be next to each other

[@jpawhees]

It should be able to that. Each headset uses its own code. Like wireless game controllers.

[@AD-zc2ug]

how about room setup of steamVR is it going to stay saved after reboot ?

[@kodegunz9223]

The Little bit of issues i've ever had with airlink i've seemed to be able to brave through, most of the time it used to be just flat out it not being capable/fast enough to be playable, but after a few updates and honestly recently it's been near perfectly smooth on my already abysmal internet, i don't know if it may have anything to do with the 5g network my quest-pc link is on

[@cia4gent128]

Just set the 5ghz to 64CH and that's it...will be better than Air Bridge

[@juryfilanti]

@@cia4gent128 why 64 if I can ask?

[@cia4gent128]

@@juryfilanti Bcuz it's the best and closer to DFS channels .

[@tomc1380]

@@cia4gent128 I use CH36 (lowest 5Ghz freq) because it has better range (stronger signal) and I don't have anything close by on this. Main thing is to manually select a channel and avoid auto select or band steering.

[@cia4gent128]

@@tomc1380 I tried CH36 and every channel! The best one for me is CH64 and I get 250mb bitrate stable all time! No stutter issues at all.

[@joseandresjulienbarriere8786]

Can anybody tell me why I am getting jittery image when using link (CABLE), specially noticiable when I move my hands. It’s not drops on frames and I am using the original cable. I just don’t get it…… the whole pcvr experience has been really really frustrating for me and quest games graphics sucks… 😢

[@yoheurtel]

Thank you for your testimony, I'm not feeling alone anymore 😁 I tried everything I could, REALLY. And I can conclude this is definitely an underrated wide spread issue ! These hiccups every few seconds are ruining immersion for me. Cable, or wi-fi, same thing.

[@JHowInVR]

What is your current PC setup?

[@yoheurtel]

@@JHowInVR in my case, I've tested a 9900k and 3080, and an other PC in a workspace with a 1660ti. 3 different routers. 2 different official cables, and 2 quest 2...

[@JHowInVR]

Oh wow... Yeah, that's not something that sounds fun to try and figure out. Hope you find a solution because PCVR does have some good titles that are worth it.

[@joseandresjulienbarriere8786]

@@yoheurtel I don’t know how wide it is but it is definitely an underrated issue. And we had similar procedures. I first bought a third party cable, bought the oculus link cable, same issue. I went to Best Buy, complaint 😂 and changed my oculus quest 2… and finally I just upgraded my graphics card… guess what!? Same issue 🙆🏼‍♂️. Man reading your comment I think this is something every quest 2 has, maybe not everyone notice it, what do you think? Also, let me ask you. Have you tried a pcvr headset? Like the index. They should not have the same issue right?

[@mastergaming12500]

I cannot use a router due to problems with my area and such, and using the wired link cable is an absolute nightmare. (Constant pc disconnects would not recommend to anyone) So this maybe my save and grace to finally be able to play pcvr again..

[@JHowInVR]

Will get the job done for sure.

[@redgeciccone8218]

some complain that you can't access to internet with your headset with that.

[@redgeciccone8218]

If the PC base is not wireless than you can't have internet on the headset at the same time. if your PC is connected directly it may be possible to share internet acces.

[@nicholasreynolds6609]

DualShot Pro-type tech should still work with Ethernet.

[@blizado3675]

The MBit Limit comes from the XR2 Chipset inside the Quest 2, not from WiFi. The XR2 can't decode more MBit.

[@cia4gent128]

It’s from wifi…because using the cable link you can get 500Mb rate. And the XR2 can easily decode at 850Mb rate.

[@blizado3675]

@@cia4gent128 I heard from different Sources the XR2 can generally only decode up to 200MBit, not only WiFi.

[@Metalblaze124]

I have google wifi, my pc is hard wired to it, oculus 2 connected to wifi. It does not detect my pc (tried every troubleshooting thing I could find). Is there a known issue or known fix? I've been pulling hairs out and the net just pulls up out of date info, usually just "go turn it on in the experimental settings". Any help before needing to spend doll hairs would be greatly appreciated

[@JHowInVR]

Did you set it up through the desktop app? You have to start there and enable it on the PC before it functions in the headset.

[@Metalblaze124]

@@JHowInVR Yes, that's where the problem is. It doesn't see the headset. I can't find any solution to it. Add headset, select quest 2, select air link, enable air link on headset. Nothing. Not sure why it doesn't see it

[@TheNewBloodDan]

They might update it for higher bitrate on air bridge. Technically it is in beta for this product.

[@JHowInVR]

It would make this go from a niche item to a must have for a lot more people if they do manage to increase it.

[@TheNewBloodDan]

@@JHowInVR I have a gut feeling that's what's going to happen when the product is available in more countries. I'm probably going to buy it!

[@hereweare9011]

100$ for a product in fucking beta?

[@TheNewBloodDan]

@@hereweare9011 its a beta in that they're seeing how it will sell.

[@firstjayjay]

could you not just use the d-link ax1800 wifi for quest2? its cheaper... :D

[@hakimjones9995]

Does this work on the quesg 1?

[@weedless9531]

im currently going through all your viewers comments to find the best solution for a good airlink connection. i know you are probably a very busy man and have no time to answer this but I'm gonna throw it out there anyway. My router Lan port is 1gbs and my ethernet cable is cat5e ( to my understanding 1gbs ) my motherboard only has 1gb lan ethernet and my router is downstairs..... if i get a wifi6 router and use it in the same room as my PCVR ( AP ) will i have a good enough connection for airlink because im thinking ......because im using a 1gbs connection to my pc all that data going through 1 cable to my pc will cause internet lag ?? and i want to play online pcvr games The reason im worried is from what ive found on the net is that the data rate between oculus and pc would be around 800mbs+ and using the oculus link cable you get upto 2.5gbs

[@eliparrish9145]

Does VPN interfere with this process?

[@AD-zc2ug]

how to access the internet on the headset ?

[@GSOG2]

what does he mean by steam vr? you mean virtual desktop?

[@awesomecatgaming7060]

Do You Need A Good Pc?

[@JHowInVR]

Your PC will need to be able to handle the games, yes.

[@YuJay]

£80 seems a bit extortionate for a WiFi 6 dongle..

[@SikSlayer]

Will this work with Virtual Desktop?

[@philthemustardtiger]

No. Virtual Desktop is its competitor.

[@Gerenmalaga-ku1qs]

Ha! amazing watching Ronda on google earth vr. I live at 1 hr drive from it.

[@Sqirldashadoo]

Works like crap….. meaning, works occasionally and arbitrarily with no rime or reason.

[@jennmcwoz]

So I can’t play multiplayer

[@Chris-tu3xx]

they did a fucked up job explaining this. right off the bat, NO INTERNET! SO I have an acer 3800 wifi to my 6g home network which is exotic. my laptop is connected to the wifi. my dlink is usb connected to laptop. it all works nice and dandy with igpu disabled. but i have no internet. so i need to build a bridge between my laptop to my dlink vr which they don't explain or any body has explained this. totally stupid. flawless once working. I hear it auto switches when you are in your home network. So far, it hasnt.

[@iTzKingReaperZ]

Can someone in the US buy me one and send it to me xD ? I pay you 150 !!!

[@JHowInVR]

🤣

[@iTzKingReaperZ]

@@JHowInVR Ayo i need it haha pleaase

[@talking2388]

I wish you were up front and honest on your review of the D-LINK VR Air Bridge. It's Trash and you know it. Its clear they paid you to give your fanboy option .

[@JHowInVR]

I had 38 subs when I made this video. Who is paying me? lol Also, I literally say in the summary that the ONLY people that need this are the ones that have no other solution. I'm going to assume you didn't watch the video through and I hope you have a nice day :)

[@weedless9531]

@@JHowInVR hahahaha theres always that 1 guy that will post a comment like that..... it must be tough being a youtuber.

[@mainsource8030]

i doubt hes paid off, but the thing is utter garbage. i bought a second one and same deal, its garbage. it works for a day than nothing, even after uninstalling device drivers