THIS is "Human Eye Resolution" VR

Varjo has always tried to push the limits of VR visuals with their products. And now, they just released their newest and most radical product to attempt it. Here is my demo impressions!
Support me on Patreon: bradsmells.com/patreon
Learn more about Varjo XR-4: varjo.com/products/xr-4/
0:00 Hi I'm Brad
0:58 My experience with Varjo's XR-3
2:47 I got to try Varjo's XR-4
3:43 Comfort/Design
6:16 Built in Audio (finally)
7:02 Visuals
10:55 Field Of View
12:14 "Ease of Use"
13:03 Tracking/Controllers
14:39 AR Passthrough
17:54 Conclusion about XR-4
#Varjo #VR #AR

[@boyracer3000]

It would be cool if the passthrough gave you "bionic eyes" allowing you to zoom in and out.

[@ishaan863]

Ghost In The Shell vibe

[@ironheavenz]

Virtual zoom would look like shit, I wonder if optical zoom would even be doable, if it is doable, definitely would be an awesome contraption!

[@xpnuggetbear]

I want thermo and night vision.

[@paulct91]

Why?

[@xpnuggetbear]

@paulct91 I suppose it blasts you into an exponential leap in evolutionary advantage, making you an apex predator. I mean, no reason. 🫢

[@ecstaticbrick]

I don't get the need for all the electronics to be in the headset! Just give us a breakout box or a internal pcie card. Even non wired headset, I would happily accept a waist mounted box with a wire going to the headset.

[@TheDragonfriday]

Eh having 2 items attachments is inconvenient... I rather have everything in one device not separate that tie on my arm or belt etc

[@float32]

@@TheDragonfridayyou must have short sessions in vr then.

[@willuigi64]

@@TheDragonfridayPutting weight on your head when it could be elsewhere is silly.

[@PSYCHOV3N0M]

​@@TheDragonfridayHaving all the weight on your head is stupid when you can mount a small box on your waist.

[@meh6513]

​​@@TheDragonfriday10 hours with heavy gear on your head is neck straining and neck pain every military soldier who had to wear a heavy helmet all day will make complaints... Waist bag or a sling bag so you can lay down by moving the computer on your back or lay of your back by shifting the computer pack on your stomach is inconvenient sure but if your avatar has a sling bag then you can just imagine you need to move your virtual bag for "immersion and good for HOURS on end without straining your neck or any specific muscles...

[@jPup_]

“It’s not trash, but is outdated if you ask the company who made it: Mario” is what I heard and I’m sticking to it

[@chlorobyte_projects]

Wario

[@nistarok123]

1:47 Aaand now I will never unsee this.

[@SadlyItsBradley]

doomed

[@ClayMann]

I feel a little better now that this isn't something so astounding that I'll never be able to afford. I'm obviously too ignorant about VR to really know about what I don't know. I've only ever worn Meta's headsets but with Quest 3 all I'm yearning for are deep blacks and better cameras. But with Quest 2 all I thought I wanted was more GPU and better contrast. When I first saw the optics in Quest 3 I realised this is what I didn't even know I wanted. So I highly value people like Brad that are willing to experiment at the cutting edge of VR and report back what's cooking in the near future for us down here trying to just get the best VR bang for the buck.

[@deddrz2549]

For me I pretty much just want better fov, wearing the quest 2 felt claustrophobic at times, and while the q3 is an improvement I'm just hoping for the eventual 180* micro displays that we've seen in prototypes. That and maybe more native wireless connection, like if they could have a peripheral that plugged directly into the computer for something more responsive or higher bitrate than wifi or bluetooth

[@Dex2R7]

In a few years "retina" resolution and passthough will be trivial. OLED will be ubiquitous. And it will be affordable for the average person.

[@skscotch]

I've been in VR since Rift CV1 and I've loved Quest 2 and 3 but seriously miss the OLED from the original Rift for the deep blacks and I also miss the tracking too as I've not been able to play Archery games since Rift CV1. So I'm hoping Quest 4 will be OLED + better tracking. And things extra I'd love are: Wider FOV + eye tracking. Once you see what eye tracking can do like in PSVR you'll want eye tracking in all your games. It's amazing!!

[@eplanti]

@@skscotch srsly... everyone pushed LCD's for no reason when oleds were clearly always better

[@andimom2010]

Claymann ty for your response. I felt similarly 😂

[@jameskirk4692]

Thank you for this and other videos like this! You make them very detailed, interesting, and yes, entertaining and educational. I enjoy your videos a lot and I appreciate it. Keep up the awesome work you do!

[@Zimtok5]

Wonderful coverage and editing job, Brad.

[@madhaha]

I love the Brad Maid avatar. Bless whoever made that.

[@zerocool6452]

He 3D scanned himself.

[@eeeeyuke]

Your channel is so informative and forward looking. I love it.

[@richardirvine2220]

Brad with some fascinating information to share with the community. Thanks Brad!

[@SadlyItsBradley]

any time ^^7

[@SadlyItsBradley]

@@Drksyder you have to remember the Aero has a much smaller FoV. So it’s much easier to get a higher average PPD. I prefer the visuals of this way more than the Aero

[@Drksyder]

you think it will be good for shooters and sim racing

[@ronyx69]

14:27 "I feel like you would want a little more curves on something that you put your hands in..." 😳

[@SadlyItsBradley]

ok i have regrets

[@KPS3ngineer]

Great video as always Brad, thanks for the valuable information!!

[@SadlyItsBradley]

glad you enjoyed :D

[@mortenmaa3578]

Hey Bradley. The autofocus system use the same lens that SHARP showcased in their HMD prototype, Tlens(tunablelens)from Polight. This hardware is capable to make focusing seamless, so it's probably up to the software to make the difference. I'm excited to see how Apple tackles this. Cheers from Norway.

[@eobet]

So this is a solution to the vergence accomodation conflict?

[@CypressConroy]

No it is not it increases pass through quality

[@float32]

I bet there’s a picture of Brad on the wall at each of these booths, labeled “don’t allow access to vr chat”.

[@SadlyItsBradley]

I NEEED

[@iglobrothers645]

​@@SadlyItsBradleya true God... I can't socialize in VR chat nor irl •~•

[@johnambers]

Great review.

[@ThePrimaFacie]

Thanks for the videos. I don't mean to assume your physical ability but all I wish to say is that better posture and working out a little bit will help you in the future. An oz of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Getting old sucks its just how much is up to you. Thanks again

[@dwdrum1]

Nice job Brad

[@KriegerBR29]

I get goosebumps when top tech like this gets released in VR, because I think it's advancing extremely fast regarding resolution and passthrough capabilities. It's amazing how they can cram so many pixels in that little space and generate such a good mesh between real and virtual worlds. I'm everyday more convinced this tech will have an absurd impact on mankind.

[@Pyriel_NZ]

Human eye FOV for me, is where VR will be awesome... I wonder how many years we'll have to wait for that to be mainstream.

[@boebsiebyarada9964]

I think just like PC we will have to wait at least 10 years or more still. It's just to expensive, not only the headset but also the hardware to run PCVR. But I am enjoying it already, in fact I can't play pancake games anymore. I am kind of lucky because I mostly like racesims which have in general VR support.

[@OceanGateEngineer4Hire]

​​@@boebsiebyarada996410+ years is nonsense. It will be more like 2-3.

[@andimom2010]

NGL I LIKE ! Great energy belies moniker😊

[@VaalkinTheOnly]

Them having this available as a one time purchase is actually nuts, I genuinely want to buy it.

[@djp1234]

For that kind of money, I was expecting this to be a mind blowing headset. Doesn't seem like you were blown away by it.

[@jokka6388]

It's that kind of money because they can get that kind of money from the DoD

[@sushiroles]

Well, for the average person, this WILL be mind blowing. Brad already had the XR-3 and used that, and visually, compared to that this is an incremental upgrade.

[@dtz1000]

No one can be blown away by an LCD headset. Only micro OLED can do that.

[@mikeb3172]

"Spare no expense" combined with low effort

[@SoggyMicrowaveNugget]

Ya, I've often found that these enterprise headsets do ONE thing incredibly impressively for the use case they expected it to be used in. And Brad has had a LOT of experience in trying things from all end of the spectrum... so I suppose I can imagine comparing one of these to things that are built as all arounders can result in not being too impressed regardless of the good parts being really good.😅

[@zenobikraweznick]

Incredible!

[@CupOfNoodlesMusic]

Interesting to see razer working on the vr controllers. Back in the day people would pair the razer hydra with the oculus dev kits with HL2's VR mode to experience tracked controllers when there were none ^^ **iirc

[@technikchegger7228]

There is already a CA Patch Bradley for the Varjo Aero. This almost eliminates CA. The community wrote and made this possible. Get smart and install it. Your image will be greatly improved with the Varjo Aero.

[@farmertrueVR]

you'd think somebody that the majority of the VR community follows every word, would know something that drastically improves the chromatic aberration was available. Or at least mention this for folks to know.

[@deluge6479]

​@@farmertrueVRhes probably an og hardware, non tinkering type of person. I have a friend like that who doesn't even install windows software unless its from the store 😂

[@farmertrueVR]

I can understand that@@deluge6479 . But tinkerer or not, if you are informing people of a VR headset, it's important to include a significant aspect of the headset. Part of being one of the largest faces in VR content, it's a responsibility to at least inform others that there is an easy option to negate that issue. People look up to this guy and what he says as 100% facts and there is no other option or way around it. This guy is all about some deep cuts & info that 99% of the population couldn't care less about, but he still goes the extra mile. Would seem that just mentioning that there is a solution, which is easy, quick & makes a HUGE difference, would be worth taking the 5 seconds to add into the video.

[@Tenkin42]

Really nice that you could test the headset, i'm using a varjo xr3 at work and would like to know some things about the xr4 (if focal edition upgrades are worth it mostly): - is the autofocus feature really usefull or is this just a gimmick ? do you see this tech being used in every headset in the future ? (supposing that latency is low enough) - is the passthrough resolution noticeably higher than on the xr3 ? (and thus base xr4 because it will be the same) - did the lack of inner screen bother you ? advertised ppd is lower in the center (70 on xr3 vs 51 on xr4), is this noticeable ?

[@SadlyItsBradley]

It’s a neat feature. But definitely not something I think adds THAT much cost. I’ve seen it in other HMD prototypes as well. Such as Sharp from CES this year. Over time I think it will be more common It’s hard for me to compare apples to apples with the XR3 unless I’m in the same environment. I’m sorry I can’t be of much help. I think the passthrough is improved by the fact that device’s FOV is larger though Personally I think it’s hard to notice a huge difference. Obviously 70ppd is bigger, but the benefits here outweigh the losses

[@dustinyoung3069]

the nits matter- when we're talking about immersion, being 'outside' you need to (safely) be made to squint at the Sun.

[@SadlyItsBradley]

I do think they matter. All I am trying to say, the 200 nits number isn't exactly hugely a game changer compared to most other HMDs I've tried. But of course, I have seen demoes with 10,000 nits to my eye balls.. so I might be ruined lol

[@CaveyMoth]

The mesh forehead pad reminds me of a mesh office chair, lol. Actually, office chairs are designed to be ergonomic when used for long periods of time. I guess they are onto something.

[@robs6404]

I actually believe there is a human resolution. My "visual snow" makes real life look just like Quest 3's passthrough with its erratic pixels except I seem to have about double the resolution.

[@juancarlosgonzalez8950]

Thanks for the video! I was really hoping to finally hear if, in a headset with this resolution, it was really finally completely impossible to see the pixels!

[@paulct91]

When a headset hits or exceeds "Retina Resolution" then that will be the case.

[@juancarlosgonzalez8950]

@@paulct91 Hi! But do we know, in practice, what is the actual "retina resolution" for each type of panel pixel layout and lens type combination, or are we just guessing based on our experience with monitors?

[@revisionfour]

11:28 bro is pitching a tent when helping Brad put on that headset

[@jacobdavidcunningham1440]

0:42 whoa this is a surreal look damn

[@pklpklpkl]

Hey Bradley! I got to try that exact headset you had on as well, and I agree that it was pretty basic, but fantastic for clarity and comfort. One thing you may have missed is the other exhibits using the XR-4. One exhibit to the left down the walkway behind you had a CGI company with a blue screen and a rifle simulating an optic in place of a tundra tracker and a virtual shooting range. It was quite seamless, and I had a full conversation with one of the guys using the pass-through, pointing at a wall like my mind tricked me into treating it like a window.

[@Drksyder]

you where about to try the xr4 ? how was it compared to say a crystal ? did the tracking seem good for shooters ? i m on the fence.

[@GYGOtv]

AWESOME video Brad! Thanks for your honest insights as always. I personally prefer the Aspheric Lenses to Pancake because I HATE Glare and pancakes inherently have that as an issue. Hoping they eventually decide to make a consumer VR version with these optics, but we will see. Now if we can just get someone to put OLED behind Aspheric that would be my dream headset!

[@damiengvideos4337]

I watched the full Q&A and Varjo was asked and flat out said they have absolutely NO plans on an Aero 2 but that you can continue to buy the Aero. Weather this is a marketing thing to sell the current stock or it's true we don't know but that is what they said which signals no Aero 2 for quite some time even if they do make oue unfortunately.

[@GYGOtv]

@@damiengvideos4337Ya, I watched the whole thing too... I know what they said... Let's wait and see what they do. I think you are going to see in a year or so Varjo comes back and says, wow due to customer demand we are going to build an Aero 2. I mean, if they were leaving the consumer space, why did they remove the Subscription? That certainly isn't a deal-breaker for industry. Plus all the development for the Aero 2 is basically done. You take out the MR/XR stuff from the XR-4 and slap a $2000 price tag on it and you have the Aero 2. Think about it, you certainly wouldn't tell all these prosumer enthusiasts that... O' just wait a little longer, we are building an Aero 2 so no need to buy the XR-4. No, you say we have no plans so that some of this high end consumer market goes... well hell, they are not building an Aero 2 so I guess I better buy the XR-4. Now I could be completely wrong, but my gut instinct feels I'm right. Time will tell I guess.

[@TonyDrecaps]

Agreed!

[@Sazuko]

ITSEC is always an amazing and fun/interesting conference, the XR-4 was really good on all levels, having the Option of inside-out OR base-station headset is really cool and the right path. The ONLY thing that was note worthy of ‘needs improvement’ was the auto-focus feature because they were still using Beta software and demo headset, (we literally demoed the same day the headset was even announced)

[@marcosblando5876]

thx god brad exist in 2023....

[@Beno951]

Now I want this headstrap design for Quest 3 😅

[@SoggyMicrowaveNugget]

Not gonna lie, I had this playing in the background and thought you were saying Mario and Not Varjo... so when you said stuff like I got this Headset from Mario you can imagine my confusion 😂.... nice insights and video Brad ty for your huge contribution and coverage in this Community

[@simracingjunky9679]

I know this far in the future but I can't wait to get these specs in a wireless headset the size of a beyond.

[@SadlyItsBradley]

one dayyyyy

[@JimBob1937]

To some extent I don’t believe that’ll ever happen. There are physics limitations to the engineering trade offs and you’re not likely to be able to get all of the best features. Weight in particular will be difficult/impossible to get to that of the beyond while maintaining the same quality. However, as others have mentioned in the comments, I think the weight can be shifted off the head for some components that don’t need close proximity for low signal latency.

[@simracingjunky9679]

@@JimBob1937 I don't care if the compute power is not onboard I just want it to wirelessly stream from something else.

[@oczhaal]

I used to have the Xfiles poster in my room too! (30 years ago lol)

[@RaulCalderon-mr9qf]

great video! Does the Varjo XR4 device work without the need to be connected by cable to the PC?

[@gaurlglmistrz]

Hi! Thanks so much for the video :). If you were to guess, do you think Varjo will keep the same price for individual customers? I'm kinda torn between ordering the Aero and waiting for the XR-4.. But I'm not convinced I want to spend THAT much.

[@Alice8000]

Sorry, I missed the part at the beginning. Who are you?

[@Mavitros]

What you said about the counter-weight and your experience with the XR-3/Aero really caught my attention. I’ve been considering selling my Aero to get the Beyond just for comfort and QoL and OLED. Thats taking into account the drop in resolution. Now that you mentioned the counterweight thing I actually might try strapping some weight on the back of my Aero to see if it improves my experience. I really don’t like the prolonged fit of the Aero to my Index and its tough to get more than an hour out of it before I start feeling a headache coming on.

[@Snack.Dragon]

Why don't you cut its weight, mine about 570 grams in total with strap

[@Mavitros]

The weight is inside the headset though. What do you mean?@@Snack.Dragon

[@Snack.Dragon]

@@Mavitros I mean main body about 500 grams, DIY fixed light strap without face cover for low weight

[@Mavitros]

@@Snack.Dragon I would need a picture or something to follow what you mean

[@BOLL7708]

Incidentally the Index also has counter-weights, it's a good compromise. Some crazy resolution, how can they fit that over one DP cable while the BigScreen needs to compress for less? Hmm.

[@mikeb3172]

DisplayPort Compression. May be limited to 60hz, then realtime perspective correction boosts up to 90hz

[@Yipper64]

13:18 AAAAND now its my dream headset. This is exactly what ive been waiting for. Im fine with my quest 3 for now, its great its good, but this is now my... well I guess my graduation present in like a year and a half. I mean eye tracking, inside out controller tracking, PC only headset. This is a done deal I just need the cash.

[@seapancakegaming]

Oh yeah just trying out VRChat, which looks insane seeing it in a room at this quality pass-through...suddenly Brad's face on a maid avatar hahaha

[@keberoplays3556]

Bro this is the first ever video I've seen from you and no homo and all but you are gorgeous

[@SaffronTheBat]

I saw DeliciousSalad in that passthrough bit, I know that guy! Small world

[@casey6259]

Nice Prusa in the background

[@Pyrocumulous]

I want Third Echelon's Multi-Vision Goggles.

[@alkeryn1700]

so i'd buy the xr 4 but it seems really uncomfortable, what's your thought on prolongued use ? at that point i just want a beyond pro / 2 that has >= 4k per eye and higher fov.

[@PjotrSve]

I noticed these distortions you are talking about on their previous headsets too when trying then out at exhibitions, they where really distracting. This was one of the showstoppers for me to recommend the headset to my team. Are the distortions as bad as in their previous headsets or are there improvements to the distortions?

[@bricaaron3978]

What is it that you are talking about? Is this something that's related to warping?

[@tomlee7073]

Did you notice if they have fixed the motion blur issue they have with their previous headsets? it's when you move your head in a "no" shake movement slow or fast. The screen doesnt seem to update quickly enough and makes it look blured. They have blamed the screens but they are the same as the pimax crystals ones which doesnt have the issue. Thie issue doesn't happen if you keep your head still and something moves across the screen, its only when you move your head. People think it's a software issue and/or tracking base station issue, so would be good to know if the problem happens with the new inside out tracking

[@julianhall2008]

Would you be able to still use the index controllers and light house trackers.

[@jsivonenVR]

That shirt alone qualifies you as a discount Palmer 😅👌🏻

[@pauljones9150]

Is 4k per eye good enough to program using it?

[@phishphunker3645]

I hope you see this and are able to answer my question. If you had to pick between the Bigscreen Beyond and the Varjo Aero which hmd would you choose. your answer will decide which is my next hmd. Im currently using an Index that now has quite a few dead pixels and Im ready for an upgrade. Also wanted to say I really enjoy your content and respect your opinions in the industry. thanks for all you do.

[@KohiVR]

The weight is the #1 reason I went back to my Index from my Aero for personal use. For development purposes (eye tracking related), the hardware is prohibitively too expensive for our target demographic and efforts have been moved to EyeTrackVR due to it's affordability and open source nature.

[@paulct91]

Is that still the case after Varjo Aero's $1000 price drop to around $1000? Or EVEN after that those problems exist?

[@KohiVR]

@@paulct91 it depends on your needs, I tend to suggest Bigscreen for most people that are shopping in that price point. Comfort is the main reason. For sim racing/flying, it's hard to beat the Aero at that price. If you do any kind of moving around though, e.g. Beat Saber or dancing in VRChat, the Bigscreen Beyond is the better choice due to its lower weight and better CG. Also consider contrast levels of LCD vs uOLED, Aero backlight can wash out dark scenes which is again not as much of an issue for sims but can take away from some experiences in other games.

[@KohiVR]

To add onto that, the key difference that may set these apart for some people is the eye tracking. I have had mixed experiences with it... gaze direction is extremely accurate, unparalleled by anyone else in the industry, however for social VR applications it lacks some of the parameters that help with expression. The final results of our presentation with the Varjo team directly were somewhat disappointing, even on their prosumer product they do not seem to see the value of expression for social VR and research purposes.

[@NeonLabsss]

a comfortable light compact version of the valve index but with more resolution and affordable would be amazing

[@Drksyder]

where you able to try the tracking ? also how much better did it look the. aero

[@drew_echo]

Did they say when they plan to offer it to consumers without a subscription like mentioned in the video? Their website says preorders open for enterprise only

[@thatstokedgamer]

Speaking of front heavy headsets. I got my Beyond face scan email today. Let's go!!! Can't wait to ditch my bricks.

[@LCTesla]

yasss this is what I bought my 2 4090s and built customized hardware SLI configuration for - 2 people on earth, probably

[@tomdchi12]

Brad go brrrrrrrt!

[@simongentry]

at some point VR/XR manufacturers will use the cinema camera design with the ability to have the bulk of the ‘box’ separated from the headset. Sony uses this option for gimbal use cases and steadicam use cases. to be immersed in anything you need to ‘feel’ as little as possible.

[@ChrisD__]

PCVR is technically this. All the compute happens in a 20 pound steel box.

[@psiga]

8:49 "You can just tell that the colors, and the contrast especially, is not really as amazing as my Big Screen Beyond, for example." Also, the Beyond has that unquestionably amazing microphone.

[@071w9]

I need my thumbs up from Brad cope

[@GahMehGrrrr]

Great review, I thank thee, Sadly.

[@PixelisedPaul]

Why do passthru cameras not move when you change your IPD? Surely if passthru is a key feature it makes sense to see the world in the right scale?

[@jtfernandez5594]

Just wanted to note, razer actually worked on the osvr headsets as well. Been a while and they kinda sucked but i was one of those weirdos with an osvr Hdk2.

[@Snack.Dragon]

Love Varjo XR4 with Aspheric lenses in full by dome and more than 1000 grams to train the neck muscle. Quest 3 , Pico 4 in Pancake lenses with mura effects as permanent dirty layer in bright environment. XR4 with Aspheric lenses maybe less mura or same mura as Quest 3.

[@Blue-bf8lv]

i cant wait to see more high res in the consumer space, it makes me so exited even tho i might have to sell a kidney

[@lolom5188]

Xr4, To heavy for me, 1,1 kg…. I wait the valve index deckard to decide, and after i buy another headset (i have the varjo aero and the Q2) for the moment the bigscreen seems very interesting…. Always happy to use it Bradley ?

[@leoschulte9242]

I do have to say I have the Vario arrow and I thought that the mic would be a dealbreaker for me but I got it anyways because it was cheaper than what it originally cost and I can say that $20 Apple earbuds are pretty funny because they work really well And I can successfully say I’ve been using them for three months now and they still work quality perfect maybe

[@Dindonmasker]

The thing that blew me away the most about this headset was the auto focus based on eye tracking. It sounds so futuristic to me.

[@Drksyder]

do you think for games this will looks a lot better then the crystal ?

[@CognosSquare]

How can they get 2x4k @90Hz on DP1.4? There has to be some compression.

[@Glerox]

what about the fact that DP 1.4 does not support the native resolution of the headset? they have to use DSC?

[@Spedley_2142]

What does 4k by 4k mean? Is it 4000x4000 or each eye a 4k display (8 megapixel ish)?

[@Anakin-dl6eb]

4x4k per eye (3840x3744 per eye!), 1.7x more pixels than the Pimax Crystal and 3.15x pixels than the Quest3.

[@foxriver9156]

Curious why they went with the design that they did.. It looks like a cheep chromed quest 3.

[@Serial_Enthusiast]

I scrolled way to far to find this comment! That was my first question, why the heck does this have the same three "pill" design on the front?!

[@borg2dog]

Also inside out it's got to be the standard for more versatile you don't need to be in the same room with the Base station. You can take your headset any

[@borg2dog]

Anywhere I believe they stations will be obsolete.

[@IamPhishizzle2]

"Hi, i'm Brad" is a chapter now

[@alkeryn1700]

even xr4 is not eye resolution yet, as it is logarithmic it is getting close but i feel like we'd need at least 5 to 8k per eye to get near human eye resolution.

[@MW_1535]

I was at iitsec and got to try the headset, but didn’t get to try passthrough. 😢

[@shinoju]

Hi Brad

[@gaweyn]

are audio and video desynced or is it only on my end?

[@sherlockowiec1693]

I really love the VR world, new tech and all that, but I really can't give a single duck about anything high-end anymore. There's a lot of these super expensive vr shit that's supposed to be revolutionary and be the next generation or whatever, but the truth is until it hits the market and is accessible to an average consumer, it doesn't matter at all if that tech is impressive.

[@dtz1000]

It's not even that impressive as it's crappy LCD. I can't believe there's now a headset that is worse value than Apple's expensive offering, but here it is.

[@alexcym]

Huge headset is VR future

[@jonludwig1632]

Interesting headset. Huge shame Varjo can't better remedy that geometric barrel distortion at the periphery of your view though. It seems to be consistent across their headsets and It's the single reason I switched back to my Valve Index as a daily driver after five minutes of testing my Varjo Aero.

[@flix6904]

I'm daily driving an Aero, and while the barrel distortion was very visible for the first few days, your brain blends it out, just like the black borders around your vision VR gives you. At least that's how it worked for me, I don't notice the distortion anymore.

[@ViktorJaneba]

​@@flix6904Exactly. I am a prescription glasses wearer with astigmatism, and everytime my prescription changed my brain had to "learn" the new image. Distortions, everything felt shorter... a couple of days and I cannot notice anymore. The same thing happened wirh Varjo (also moved from Index).

[@ChrisD__]

Not sure how bad it is, but my cheapo seeing glasses have a decent amount of pupil swim, you really do get used to it.

[@boebsiebyarada9964]

I agree I couldn't get used to the distortion. It's the reason I send my Varjo back and returned to my G2. Maybe we got specific headshapes or eye to eye width 😂. Because some people didn't want to believe me how bad the distortion for me was. It almost felt like 2.5d instead of 3d.

[@Skrenja]

You bought an Aero and only used it for 5 minutes? 😂

[@Gvarados]

we need: more lenses

[@David-gu8hv]

The only reason I bought the battery pack for my Quest 3 was for a counter weight. When I got the Quest, it was front heavy and hurt my forehead. It was Much more comfortable after adding the battery pack. I added weight to make it more comfortable. Reducing weight should NOT be the primary goal.

[@Wasmachineman]

1:32 FEMBEDO (and greenonetrailmix using that EXTRA cursed 3D-scanned Brad in a maid outfit avatar)

[@g_glop]

Brad, do you have any info on raytracing in VR? I think all the new optics tech is stretching what forward rendering can do, especially when you can't bake all the lighting offline. Also, if we're talking eye tracking then variable rate shading is a huge hack compared to what raytracing could do, ie: smoothly lower the ray density towards the periphery. My biggest fear is about "shader composability" which works really well in a forward setup (each screen pixel is 'owned' by the last shader drawn over it) and is nonexistent in deferred rendering (you're juggling a dozen framebuffers with an ubershader somewhere in there). Eg: Poiyomi shaders have an option for clamping the minimum light a surface can receive, thus it won't be totally black even if it's not receiving any light. But with physically based raytracing the light (created out of nowhere) would be carried onto the surrounding surfaces, making you into a dim light stick.

[@paulct91]

Not Brad... but, I believe VR Raytracing or maybe even Path Tracing is mostly possible in VR, for example DanceXR a MMD/XnaLara Model and Animation player claims it can do that, though not on the Android app because of Performance(?).

[@bricaaron3978]

*"Eg: Poiyomi shaders have an option for clamping the minimum light a surface can receive, thus it won't be totally black even if it's not receiving any light"* I don't understand --- Why would that be desirable?

[@g_glop]

@@bricaaron3978 in the docs it's mentioned that some people don't like being fully invisible in the dark and some worlds have poor lighting

[@bricaaron3978]

@@g_glop Oh, boy..... At any rate, I share your antipathy for deferred rendering. The only thing that is needed (on PC) for highly realistic visuals at perfect angular resolution and perfect framerates is Forward Rendering combined with Foveated Rendering. If the Foveated Rendering is not just GPU-level but integrated with all aspects of an engine, the framerate at a given Apparent/Foveal Resolution could be increased 10x or more.

[@g_glop]

​@@bricaaron3978 I agree that forward + foveated is a good combo for most apps but i just can't stop thinking that with rays you could also get distortion compensation and render masks completely for free. Is depth of field easier with rays than raster? Eye tracing would give you the gaze convergence point and you could blur out everything else to make the focused object pop.

[@HaroldSchmarold]

this is off topic but. on displays today with 500hz, people are claiming "it's like looking through a window" and that's something to think about. do we really need 8k resolution or will games look insane with, say, quest 3 resolution but higher refresh rate? for games with simple graphics, think half life one, we should be there in terms of processing power now shouldn't we? on a quest 3 sized headset

[@willuigi64]

Those displays suffer from persistence blur though. VR has had high refreshrates with little persistence blur for a while, which make them a lot more clear than standard displays. Higher resolutions in VR is important. So is lightweight, the beyondVR headset is well regarded for it's minimal size.

[@float32]

We shouldn’t be there in terms of headset power. We’re not even close. We’re at least an order of magnitude from that being possible. You can’t even do that with the top end GPUs, where the system pulls over a kilowatt!! (Assuming you want graphics better than ps3)

[@TheSparkynuts]

We just have to get to the point where we can't see pixels at 120fps, where most people can't notice the difference of higher fps, 120 or 144 is where most people can't tell a difference to fluidity

[@MrDavibu]

Resfresh rate won't fix spatial aliasing effects. So high resolution is definitely necessary. But high refresh rate is also necessary, as is high contrast and good colors, low input latency, no noticeable artifacts(e.g. ghosting) as well as a small size and low weight. So we still have a lot of dimensions of improvement, before we get something that is "good enough"

[@meh6513]

​@@willuigi64no? Optimum tech reviewed a 524 Hz monitor with much more clarity in moving objects than other monitors

[@deluge6479]

Mario headsets are my favorite 😂

[@Gvarados]

we need: vr interact the world

[@Hunt4boost]

.....brad...in the french maid dress....wtf.... i have to have that on VR chat now... hahah

[@mikegc3816]

It looks like the Quest 4 might look!

[@shoobidyboop8634]

Passthru is the killer feature for me. Isn't pimax trying to add this to crystal somehow?

[@metalmanexetreme]

Isn’t the crystals pass through black and white?