So I tried the 8K & 5K+ non-stop for 3 straight hours.
Overall impression: GAME CHANGER.
NO motion sickness at all thanks to the INCREDIBLY NICE FOV. I think this is a crucial factor regarding the sickness.
Edge distortion: Virtually non existent for me. Some backers claimed to see it, but once I correctly adjusted the IPD and got (really) close to the lenses, there was NO DISTORTION. No distraction when looking around as well. I was prepared for the worst, but was utterly surprised.
VISUAL FIDELITY: I think in the end it all comes down to software settings. Some experiences appeared a little dull and washed out and my first impression was kind of like ‘ah, there we go, that’s the trade-off apparently’ (even on the 5K+).
BUT other experiences managed high contrast, deep blacks, lucid colors, no godrays and looked simply beautiful.
Some games lacked anti aliasing and it looked instantly bad, but other games were rendered smooth and crisp. So no fault on Pimax’ technical side. But people who maybe only saw this one bad thing jumped too early to conclusions I guess.
SDE: This topic was the only thing that didn’t quite meet my expectations, since a lot of people said you can’t see the pixels on the 8K. You definitely can see them, always. Sure they are beautiful, tiny pixels, but pixels nonetheless. Combined with the non-native-resolution-input you can’t help but get a feeling of the huge potential in the future, if each pixel was addressed individually. So @VRGIMP27 's suggestion to drop the framerate to increase resolution would be my #1 priority atm.
Still the image is VERY nice if the experience is adjusted right. I’m only saying the display seems to be capable of an even larger WOW factor than it actually conveys due to the upscaling.
I maybe tried 12 different games and for example fruit Ninja (yeah I know) was very vivid and crisp and showed clearly a non-washed-out image.
SDE on 5K+ would be not acceptable for me personally since it’s unbelievably close to the oculus Go, no kidding. But then again, spreading the 5K’s pixel count over 200 degrees gets you closer to the current HMDs than some people like to admit.
FRAMERATE: I’m sure that what people recently perceived to be stuttering due to the 8K’s 80hz, is actually just the computer not being able to deliver 80hz and dropping sometimes to more like 40hz in demanding situations. Good graphics cards in the future will solve that issue with ease.
Some games ran PERFECTLY SMOOTH on the 8K with no lag whatsoever.
TRACKING: it was a sometimes messy setup with people walking in front of the base stations, but in a clear situation it was a non issue.
BRAINWARP: I directly asked the Pimax developer about it, and he said it’s working partially and they’re still working on it. This seems like the Chinese way of saying ‘we haven’t gotten around doing it’.
BIG FOV is so incredibly more immersive than anything I ever experienced before apart from real reality (yeah boring I know). I took my oculus Go with me for direct comparison… You can NEVER come back to this I’m afraid.
PIMAX TEAM: now I finally understand why things often got out of hand in the forum. I say this with my utmost respect for those friendly, tech savvy people, but they’re STILL a small team of nerds not really understanding the backers’ needs for information and clarity. They really should have hired just ONE non-Asian person just to bridge the language and cultural barrier, preventing escalation and confusion. Also they NEED A PR PERSON!
The meetup was devoid of any Pimax related images, banners, promo material, flyers. Nothing. Just a hijacked space of another VR company with THEIR branding. This must change immediately in order to seem professional. One of the main team members came in his sweatpants and chillout sweater. While down to earth, this is simply too much to create the proper atmosphere for this GREAT DEVICE.
Cool: the CEO Robin Weng was present the whole time and super sweet to us backers.
THE MUSKETEERS: I only met Martin (@SweViver) and Seb (@mixedrealityTV) which are the best people. Now I’M SURE that without those guys’ insane amount of work the past 3 months the headset would still suck big time, and half of the backers would’ve already jumped the ship. Be glad that most of you didn’t, it was worth the wait and fear, for it truly is the next generation of VR.
All in all I’m a HAPPY BÄCKER!
P.S.: tested some VR porn with an attending porn producer … Very promising.
And he is Swedish!
