More information about it is likely to be trade secrets that Pimax won’t share. But we can surmise that it’s some sort of customized chipset which is able to handle 2x6K bandwidth, foveated transport, and some sort of low latency video codec.
It could be related to the custom chipset developed by Nofio (actually their parent company) for their wireless adapter for the Index. Perhaps being produced by the same company and customized for Pimax. Or perhaps made by a competitor to that company. Nofio’s offering reportedly has extremely low latency and is able to run the Index at full resolution at 144fps. The bandwidth for a 12K would be greater than that, but theoretically the same design could work. Just at a larger scale.
Pimax already has a history of pushing DP past the standard with the 8KX. Pimax and nVidia seem to have a relationship which they are using to expand these capabilities further. We can only speculate on the engineering behind it and whether it will remain proprietary or ultimately become an extension to the standard.
Note that the 12K uses a fiberoptic cable as standard. If they do go with 2x DP ports, those will only be pigtails at the end of the fiberoptic cable. The main part of the cable itself will remain a thin and light single cable as it has been for the 8KX.
@Sargon@SmallBaguette Thanks for you guys detailed explanation !! Now I see how Pimax achieved the impossible before.
As I understand now, Crystal’s 8k equivalent resolution @90Hz is not an easy task to pull it off. No wonder there are so few headsets on the market dare to even try it. This gives me a whole new perspective about Crystal. It’s actually pretty awesome!
You’d imagine they’d be mentioning it more often if it’s a customized chip though. “Engine” makes me think that it’s more related to software running on the XR2. There’s a breakdown of the BOM out there on the Chinese corner of the web and I don’t recall it mentioning any custom chip, just the usual XR2 SoC. Could be totally wrong though, would be very interesting if it is a custom chip! Doesn’t bother me either way as long as it works though.
Consider the 8KX. It has no standalone processor, yet it is able to process video and perform upscaling and such on the headset itself. There’s a video chipset that’s going through. The 12K would have something similar but with greater capabilities. And then the XR2 standalone mode is a video path that runs parallel to that. So it would switch to that source when running either standalone or WiFi 6E mode.
This is what is shown in the diagram, and it makes a lot of sense from an architecture point of view. Particularly considering the limitations of the XR2. The high bandwidth video needs to be handled by more dedicated hardware.
Yup, some of us figured it out lol. First 4 digits are the order number, then the rest are the date. I think I was 11 or 12. By about 2 hours after the preorders went live it was over 400.
ah ok thx, i realised the date bit but wondered about the rest. my order (reserved today) number was 2800+ guess i have a much longer wait than you early birds.
What makes you think that? They said they will ship in China in November. It’s the 6th of November, so a bit early to be thinking that plan is out the window. Of course it might not happen but considering they will be showing production retail units to people from no later than Nov 19, I think it’s pretty likely the first units will ship this month.
As for the rest of the world, they said they hope to deliver pre-orders by Christmas. Although looking at the number of pre-orders so far (I think it’s over 4000 already) then I guess it will be maybe the first like 500-1500 that get units before Xmas, if anyone outside China does. (Realistically I would expect Jan/Feb, with before Christmas being a CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!!)
I just thought Pimax would take orders from China first. Deliver the first block of orders to China. Then open orders to the US/EU later then deliver those orders Chrismas time. Just seems like a free for all. So those early in the order pegging will still be waiting in the delivery stakes if you live outside China.
How is it a free for all? They opened pre-orders to China (afaik they haven’t taken full payment yet, that will happen just as they are about to ship I assume), with the intention of shipping this month and now this month they have open orders elsewhere with the intention of shipping next month.
I don’t see the issue. They closed the Chinese pre-orders after a certain amount, so I’m guessing they have already planned numbers in some regard.
guess i have a much longer wait than you early birds.