Which is too bad. I’m sure at one time you accepted not everyone would agree with your impressions. Which is quite normal for any reviewer.
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i hope you play it on 120hz,because its much better…
one time i tried it on 80hz on the index,but there was a big difference…
if you pull a object with your gravity gun and see it flying to you,you see how fluid it is on 120hz and not on the 80hz…
So the 75hz from the 8kx worries me now a bit…
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I asked MRTV directly “Did you ever try the json file Sweviver posted on the forum that he said may eliminate the distortion you were seeing?” and he replied “Hi , I had tried the json file directly once I had received it. (wrote that on the forum as well)”, I said “Gotcha, so that didn’t help?” and he replied “Nope”
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There is something that doesn’t come back to me in what you just wrote. You say that Artisan’s FOV is identical to the normal 8kx, but it turns out that it is not so … that Artisan has an approximately 10 ° smaller FOV … and I am referring to discussions on Reddit and not only that Sebastian said. So maybe some difference makes it, or is it absurd to imagine it?
I do play it on 120 I’m about 4 hours in it’s incredible. The atmosphere is spot on. I have not tried any other mode or headset on half life. 
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This does not seem to me a sensible topic. Sebastian made it clear that even he himself when using mainly Pimax was not bothered by any distortion, which only after getting used to Index did he begin to perceive the difference, thanks to comparison A and B.
I think it is like asking a person who uses only hmd LCD if he thinks blacks are ok, he will say yes … but if you let him try an OLED he will immediately realize the difference.
Having said that we can also assume that in any case they are not important distortions if your mind gets used to it.
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just my two cents:
Sebastian is a tester and user but also a human with his head/eyes-configuration that unluckily seems to be more prone to noticing some distortions at the edge. For whatever anatomical thing makes him see more of thes than vast majority, he saw stuff on previous pimax headset I never did (neither on 5k+, 8k or 5K XR) . Some people, including me, just don’t care about those edge distortions as they don’t affect my perception or gameplay in any negative way nor induce eye strain or nausea.
IMO no headset with canted displays will ever suit 100% of population which is just fine as inevitable. Some unlucky people might even return 8kx as they find something to be a to big issue for them.
somehow reading this discussion I get an impression some are convinced 8kx is a holy grail of VR, that with all the adjustment capabilties can fit all from the very start - which I hardly can believe.
why not just accept different perceptions as like accepting us all being different? Except for the audio quality of the headphones and the slight distortion on the CURRENT 8kx on CURRENT firmware and CURRENT pitool Sebastian praised the headset for practically everything else!
maybe some would be happier if Sebastian said (did he?) that Pimax tech guy proved to be very capable in improving and optimizing their headsets over time and they might do just so with 8kx,also regarding distortion correction. He still might do it or even update his opinions in the future. But he doesn’t have to do it explicit. Nobody prevents Martin or other to do it by themselves !
I notice the big tension on personal level between some folks which seem to negatively influence this discussion. I would prefer stucking to constructivety of discussion - something I like most on this forum. 
Best regards and stay safe and healthy!
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Yepp, the brain is awesome at getting used to stuff. If you look at the completely distorted, tiny, upside down image that the brain actually receives from the eyes and what it makes out of this - the brain is really great at adaption 
If one would live in VR one could probably deactivate distortion correction completely and let the brain do it. As long as you still have to remove the HMD sometimes it might have the undesired side effect that the world then would look slightly distorted for some time 
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Just over 3 hours only so far. Its an awesome experience indeed!
True, but I feel its difficult to give the public my own impressions nowadays. Whenever its positive or negative impressions, it will always be seen as biased opinions due to my job. My 5K Super impressions regarding the 160/180Hz wasnt so super positive after all, but somehow turned out to be seen as super biased anyway. I dont blame people. Im just saying I have accepted the fact. It is what it is, and I cant change that.
The Artisan’s max FOV is basically 8KX’s Normal FOV mode, so yes around 10 degrees less on each side.
Totally agree, we are all different and there is no such thing as a “perfect VR headset”. And probably never will.
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The one thing we can never control is others. With giving a review 9x out of 10 there is always some individual bias in results or perceptions of a review.
The simple truth you do good reviews Marcin. However at times you have presented other peoples reviews “can’t” be right as it is not in alignment with your experience.
The majority of us with the 8k were not sensitive enough to perceive the latency wobble that Seb described. That was later quantified it was there with an obscure latency tap test. However Seb hadn’t seem to notice the 5k latency issues others reported.
At the end of the day we will see 1000s of reviews over the course. And honestly the only one that will truly matter to the individual is there own xp.
It shouldn’t matter how some choose to see your evaluations as long as you feel you have done your best. Focus on that and those who can see that.
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spot on, Helio! 202020
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Respectfully, I think that’s not the best approach. You (and Pimax) need to pay more attention to the minorities as well. Imo, that’s the only way Pimax will ever gain a large share of the market. Be inclusive.
Quite a few people have problems with the canted lens distortion, inconsistent builds and QA, etc. The true scope of the cracked cases defect turned out to be fairly widespread. It would have been much better to have caught that early (by paying more attention to a minority). I say that as a backer in the 3000s, with a cracked case. I haven’t submitted a ticket, since it’s not worth the hassle (and I’ll be receiving an 8KX in a few months).
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My understanding is that it is actually not all that demanding. The minimum spec is “GTX 1060 / RX 580 - 6GB VRAM”. Yes, of course VR is more taxing, but I would think that a 1080 and above would be sufficient. MRTV was using a 1080 Ti with his preproduction 8KX.
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Sure I agree. Im not saying we are ignoring such reports and we are indeed investigating possible solutions and adjustments. The distortion profiles and improvements are far from finished, and will continously be refined, and especially upon release when more people can bring us their data, opinions and evaluation. What Im saying is that there is no need to panic upon one single report, especially since its not the final mass production device, and we highly suspect the mentioned “issue” could be unit-specific at this point.
When it comes to lenses and distortion improvements, Pimax has in no way stopped to innovatate. There is more in development. But it all takes time.
Half Life Alyx is one of the best optimized VR games ever made. I think anyone with a 1080 or higher should be fine with 8KX, especially combined with FFR and upcoming DFR.
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hi Martin! any chances of using FFR on 10x0 cards somewhere in the future?
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FFR/DFR is Nvidias table and all built upon VRS, so Im not sure it will ever support non-RTX cards… especially since Nvidia seems to work further on RTX for the 3000 series.
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A little off-topic, but do we know of any other VR headsets that allow FFR? I would be interested to know if FFR is only causing Alyx issues on the Pimax
Dear @SweViver, dear all,
I had already confirmed with Kevin weeks ago (to be precise, email of 31st January), that my 8K X does not belong to the batch, that would need the additional .json file. When I had just received it, distortions were unbearable but this problem had been solved easily by upgrading to version 254 of pitool, as you must know, since I assume you do talk to Kevin on a regular basis. Now I am running the latest pitool version of course.
My 8K X is running perfectly fine and if I play Aerofly FS2 in order to recreate the CES&VR Days setup, I get the same results: it looks stunning and I can hardly perceive distortions. It is when playing different kinds of games with lots of headmovements and backdrops that are not clear blue sky and a non-moving cockpit environment that it is way easier to perceive distortions.
Anyways, I had still copied the .json file to the path that you mentioned just to put you and others at ease and it did not improve the situation at all. I hope that is clear enough now.
I feel eerily reminded of the 8K latency issue that I found and told the forum about. @Heliosurge rightly mentioned that above. At that time also quite a few people tried to blame my equipment, my headset, my computer, anything for that problem. The 8K had now been discontinued.
It of course is important to make sure that a hardware problem indeed is not responsible for any of the problems I came across, and I did so by having constant communication with Kevin and others in Shanghai.
So let me reiterate here again, just so there won’t be any misunderstandings and all readers have it in one place here:
I personally still perceive distortions on the 8K X, especially on “Large” and “Normal” settings. These distortions are quite comparable with those on 5K Plus. Probably even a bit less. I had reached out to Pimax to ask for the reasons for the advantage over 5K Plus and was told that the Comfort Kit might put my eyes at a better position/angle towards the displays.
For those people, who did not have a problem with the distortions on 5K Plus or any other Pimax headset, they will be fine with the 8K X and for sure will enjoy the device. (I think I am writing this for a third time now in this thread).
And I can again agree with what @Heliosurge said. It is truly tragic that it seems absolutely
unacceptable to some that I personally perceive distortions in the 8K X that would make me prefer the Index in a direct A/B comparison in HL: Alyx. It might be totally different for some other people, which I personally would also accept.
Conversely, what is so hard to just accept that to some the higher refresh rate and undistorted picture with better colors might be more immersive than big FOV and highest resolution?
This is not a black/white kind of affair. But when reading this thread it truly seems like you either must regard the 8K X as the savior that blasts the Index away in every single way (hands down), or you must be someone with some kind of hidden agenda with the purpose of hurting Pimax.
The reality is not black or white. It is more some kind of grey. And even if this headset might not be the very best for HL: Alyx for me, it might be for someone else. It might be just the right headset for simmers who will love the clarity and are not bothered by the distortion anyways.
My preview is not going to be a black/white kind of affair. And on top I am making it very clear that it is a preview. If there shall ever be a final version that blows this preproduction model out of the water, of course I will let people know in a full review.
So instead of trying to invalidate anyone’s perceptions, it would be way more productive to instead try to solve the headset’s problems, so that no one would have such perceptions in the first place. Ever heard of anyone complaining about distortions on the Index? Probably that’s for a reason.
Now since I already spend so much time to go into detail for the above, let me also talk about the Artisan. I have a great time in the Artisan as you all know by now. I can play HL:Alyx without being bothered by distortions on “Normal”.
Now according to Pimax, all the architectures (binocular overlap etc.) are all the same. I personally don’t know what it is that makes the Artisan so good for me. Perhaps it is the combination of smaller FOV (clipping away distortions) & higher refresh rate. At this moment in time, that is my assumption. Could it perhaps be that if the exact same distortion profile is applied 120 times per second instead of only 75 times, that imperfections will be less perceivable? I am looking forward to the production unit of the 8K Plus that is on the way to the MRTV HQ.
I had also reached out to Pimax and asked why the Artisan, if all the internal architectures are the same, has a limited FOV as compared to the other headsets. I have not yet received a reply. Anyways, I am not even asking for the Large setting, since the headset is so enjoyable for me as it is.
I took quite some time to write down this answer. I believe it should have answered all questions/concerns by now. If the overall takeaway could be: let’s accept people’s perceptions and handle all of the Pimax matters in a less dogmatic, “you are either for us or against us”, kind of a way, it would be beneficial for all of us, especially Pimax.
Sincerely, Sebastian
P.S: Please understand that I do not check this forum as frequently as before, also as a direct result of the above mentioned. And please don’t blame my 1080ti next. Thank you! 
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Hi Sebastian. Thanks for your detailed post. Perhaps it is to do with the auto scaling of Half Life Alyx’s graphics, and as the Artisan is having to render to a smaller viewport it automatically scales everything else up. That in combination with cutting off the edges of the wide FOV (where the worst distortions would be expected to be) might be enough in combination to explain your experiences.
Could you try the 8KX in upscalled 120hz mode maybe at some point, with small FOV perhaps, and see what effect that has on the experience?
Cheers.
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Good posting, thanks for your methodical approach and motivation!
Well, at least one of the brighter candles on the cake 
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