Big comparison image quality: Lenovo Explorer VS Pimax 8K [A lot of photos]

Century · April 21, 2019, 10:12pm

I like to spend time with my new 8K.
I will say even more: I have been extremely immersed in the past 2 weeks in the big FOV, I have been dragged in there, it gives me joy and pleasure.

But it is time to make a final comparison. (And now there will be no discussion of FOV. C FOV everything great for me in Pimax and everything else I like about it. But now it’s about resolution)

Before 8K, I had: Pimax 4K, Rift CV1, Samsung Odyssey, Lenovo Explorer.
Lenovo explorer has become for me the last six months the best headset, because it provides the best picture in terms of resolution, pixel density, and so on. In it, I was able to more or less normally get to auto-simulators, watch videos, and so on. (I have already made a comparison of Lenovo with Odyssey https://community.openmr.ai/t/nov-2-2018-5k-8k/9832/85?u=century)

Nevertheless, 1440x1440 RGB in one eye does not eliminate the visibility of SDE. It is still present, it is noticeable, all the same lack of higher definition and resolution. (although this is better than other headsets)

What am I leading to?

When we took part in Kickstarter Pimax 8K, we hoped that he would have the quality of the resolution at the level of Pimax4K, thanks to the built-in 4K panels for each eye.
As a result, the quality of the Pimax 8K resolution is clearly not consistent with the Pimax 4K, it is worse than the P4K, SDE is still there. (Although, in fairness, it should be noted that the quality of the resolution of the panels is definitely not worse than other headsets. It is one of the best, definitely).

In order to finally determine and understand for myself, I compared the 8K to Lenovo Explorer in terms of image quality (excluding FOV) very long and hard.

I compared them face to face in the same applications and games, taking pictures through the lens. I want to share my result.

Comparison. SteamVR

SteamVR

Comparison. Games

Assetto Corsa

BallisticNG

Bloody Zombies

Hellblade. Senua

Neon Arena

Obduction

Race The Sun

SkyrimVR

VR Chat

Tinertia

Simple VR Video Player. Interface

Comparison 3D-Video.

LG Demo

Rose Girl

Spider-Man

Top Girl

Comparison 2D-Video.

Into the Badlands

Or download all the photos in one archive:

[ Yes, I want to immediately say that all the pictures were taken on the camera of my mobile phone. I understand this non-professional method. Nevertheless, it gives me the opportunity to determine the difference in image quality, at least for myself ]

I definitely can’t pick a winner here.
My opinion is that the Pimax 8K (3840x2160) in image quality (clarity, SDE) is approximately equal to Lenovo Explorer (1440x1440). (plus / minus 1-2%, as well as a different pixel pattern. Yes, it is worth noting that SDE is still less noticeable in 8K than in Lenovo)

Why is it, I have 2 versions.

Using 4K panels with a PenTile pattern with 2 subpixels. From here and correspondence to 2,5k screens on density.
That’s not a 4K panel, but something like 3440x1440 (so it’s better a little bit than 5K +)

And I would really like to clarify with Pimax. Will we be able to somehow switch to 8K-X when it is born? Is it possible to replace our 8K with a new 8K-X?
Will real 4K RGB panels in 8K-X, and not such as the 8K?

It interests me very much, because by and large I like the Pimax 8K. The only thing that does not suit me is only the resolution, and this is a very, very big and important point. So I would like to know if I can count on the Pimax in the future? Still, we got not quite what we expected in terms of resolution. In all other respects, I like everything, the Pimax did a good job.

(Well, why, why it was impossible to put normal 4K panels in 8K, and not those that look like penTile? It will be very interesting to find out the labeling of the panels. I hope someday someone will disassemble 8K and take a picture.)

If we take into account the FOV and all the other advantages of 8K, then it is definitely the winner among all existing headsets today.
But It comes to me the realization that, in spite of all the advantages, it’s nevertheless that clarity, resolution, and then FOV and everything else comes first to me.

So I need to know, will we ever get 8K-X? What is the timeline? Will there be any benefits / exchange / upgrade 8K for 8K-X for us?

At the moment I really want a higher resolution. I think the new WMR 2160x2160 headset will be a breakthrough ss in terms of clarity and resolution, SDE. They will definitely give a new level, if everything there really corresponds to the declared parameters.

Therefore, I want to know my perspectives with Pimax.

My full review on the Pimax 8K:
https://community.openmr.ai/t/overview-and-impressions-of-pimax-8k-vr-2-0-is-already-here-the-wide-fov-wins-in-all-categories-comparison-with-lenovo-explorer-samsung-odyssey-including-through-the-lens-century/18498

nukular · April 21, 2019, 10:52pm

Wow great work!..

Century · April 21, 2019, 11:01pm

thank
I was haunted by the feeling that 8K was not far from the image quality of Lenovo Explorer.
In the end, I had to arm myself with a camera for the whole weekend and get to the bottom of the truth

mojojojo · April 23, 2019, 10:54am

Wow, these are awesome, must have taken quite a while to make.

It’s interesting that in the zoomed in pictures the pixel arrangement makes a big difference depending on the content. Zoomed out though the results look to be in the same ballpark.

I’m as stoked about the coming up 2Kx2K displays as you are , hopefully we’ll get news about the Reverb hitting the market in the next few days. The Valve Index is still the wildcard.

Century · April 23, 2019, 12:03pm

Yes, there is still such a moment in the form of different pixel patterns.
And somewhere a little bit better looks one, and somewhere the second.

But now I still realized that readability is still a little better on Lenovo (the difference is very small in fact).

Then another point in which I am already sure more. In Assetto Corsa, 8K looks like with a lower resolution: I compared them face to face many times on the same track, and each time I found the images a little clearer on Lenovo. Well, that is, visually I felt the difference in favor of Lenovo every time … (exactly according to the resolution).

In repetitions, I reviewed many times how the car moves away, and its silhouette becomes a bunch of pixels / points in the distance.
So, at 8K, the silhouette of the car turned into a handful of points a little faster than at Lenovo. (again, all this is insignificant, but still, to some extent, it influences slightly the general perception)

Yesterday all day I tried to configure ETS2 with a wide FOV - it does not work and that’s it, very poor performance, a lot of aliasing, a nasty picture, low FPS. This game requires a lot of SS and anti-aliasing for a good picture.

As a result, I managed to set up a more or less pleasant picture with Smal FOV, 100% ss, PiTool 1.0, in-game SS 200 (with PP). (although the frame rate was not enough, it was about 60-70, but it was quite playable, although it stuttered at times).

I compared quickly with LEnovo, and then again the difference was never found.
Although Lenovo looked a little better, it could be because she calmly pulled out SS = 200% with 90FPS

A couple of snapshots of comparisons through the lens:

In no case do not include the MLAA option in ETS 2 (or MLSS - anti-aliasing, something like this). Everything gets very bad.

Century · April 30, 2019, 8:15am

I also made an attempt to write through the lens in Assetto Corsa, after I improved it with the help of Content Manager and Patch Shaders - Dynamic Lights. The quality of the game really improves, it looks much better, more saturated colors and contrast!
And also I hardly notice SDE, thanks to that! The picture became visually much better.

I will just add a few more images through the lens:

Summary

mojojojo · April 30, 2019, 10:29am

The Assetto Corsa fans will be happy with tweaks, the gauges look really sharp close up.

Just out of curiousity and if you can remember how big does the difference between small FOV and the Explorer feel?

Also I expected ETS2 to perform much better, it doesn’t really have the most detailed graphics.
Probably the same for ATS.

Century · April 30, 2019, 10:59am

Yes, the 8K has a pretty good readability of the dashboard.
And in general, in all games where you need to read something, everything is fine.

The difference is pretty big really. Still, a small FOV Pimax surpasses the FOV of any headsets, not just Lenovo.
But if we consider only Lenovo, the difference is quite large. Still, FOV in Lenovo is much smaller both vertically and horizontally, it feels as if you are looking into a donut hole compared to 8K

Yes, ETS2 requires Parallel Projections, I could hardly adjust with more or less normal quality. But still this is not very good, many jaggies remain. But you can play. (Maybe there are some mods for improvement, we must look for)

mojojojo · April 30, 2019, 12:47pm

That’s interesting because I’ve found the Explorer’s FOV listed as 105-110°, but reviews said it felt more constricted than the Rift or the Vive which also have 110°.

According to risa small FOV is arround 120° so it should at least not be much bigger than a Vive and very close to the Reverb at 114°.

Thanks for explaining, I’ll give ETS2 tweaking a try … once I feel motivated enough.

Century · April 30, 2019, 2:40pm

Yes, all these marketing characteristics. It seems that the real FOV of all ordinary headsets does not exceed 100°. Average real range is 75-95 approximately.

In Pimax, too, 200° FOV(diagonal) was announced, but the horizontal 170-175° turned out … (this is quite enough).