MRTV HP Reverb G2 Preview

Other HMDs MS WMR
101

for me personally priorities are:

1# comfort
2# colours / contrast / brightness / blacks & overall picture clarity
3# good controllers + tracking (CV1 best, then valve index, lighthouse tracking is supposed to be better but I don’t see almost any difference with Oculus CV1 outside/inside, also Oculus inside-outside is really great, it’s enough for me, I don’t like my O+ tracking)
4# FoV, but current gen HMDs including Pimax don’t feel IRL Fov, it’s just a wide screen it’s better than narrow FoV but still not a dealer breaker for me. Vive Pro, Index FoV is enough for me but it’s eye relief subjective.
5# Modularity & hassle free - I can coupe with tinkering if it can be done & forgot though
6# Audio - I put it at least position as you always can connect your own headphones & print 3d adapters to make it static, so not a big deal though, however sound is really important for immersion.

So just to wanted add my 50 cents, when Index was introduced & everybody was so excited about it, I bought it later in 5-6 months & what was my disappointment when I put it for the first time, don’t get me wrong it’s decent headset but:

  1. it was so heavy & did pressure on my cheeks, it requires really heavy counterweight to mitigate this issue & becomes more heavy, it’s comfortable overall with counterweight but weight a ton
  2. vertical pixel patter was so prominent, despite HMD has good colours the dark scenes are just totally bad after coming from OLED devices, so overall picture quality was not bad not good, but lenses implementation did some immersion feeling advantage so I actually enjoyed it a bit later & replayed some my games I didn’t touch for a while. Also LCD screens have jaddies issues (aliasing is worse than on OLED by a lot so picture doesn’t look as a one but as combination of different elements which breaks immersion)
  3. controllers are good, but seems they have issues, mine started to have issues with thumb stick in 3 month - it sticks on for Y axis, even dead zone doesn’t help, need to dissabmle & clean it, but overall controllers are really good & provide additional immersion feeling & good especially for FPS, but I can’t use it with echo arena though so it has cons & pros

Also Index looks a bit soft for me, I wish it would more crisper, but probably it’s due to vertical lines cancelation algorithm that I started to use.

I liked my 5+ & 5kXR mostly but Pimax’s biggest problem IMO is the poor colours, contrast & brightness (not just brightness but brightness with correct colours reprojection). And seems they ignore this issue for a while.

E.g. for XR they used Odyssey+ & Vive Pro panels but they look on Pimax ugly, I guess it’s not coz of hardware but rather that’s a firmware issue so their engineers just can’t get full potential of panels they use & this is really pity, because it’s really deal breaker thing, they can get some customers by paper characteristics, but they can’t keep many of those because they don’t pay attention to details, especially to colours reprojection, saturation & contrast, as we’ve seen with Index & now with G2 LCD definetely can give good colours, the only problem now for me is poor black, but I guess with QLED it’s more achievable, if not smear & framerates & price I don’t really see any other reason why to use LCD in HMDs at all, coz e.g. Sony with their AMOLED with RGB matrix did the brilliant job with their PSVR considering the resolution they used. Odyssey+ also did some hints with film glued on top of screen so there are a lot of tricks how to achieve a good SDE with OLED screen.

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102

Yepp, particularly if the reason for the shutdowns is hardware related - e.g. an overheating issue (but could also be a software bug? No clue.)

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103

Best to ask HP. I imagine it won’t be as bad as Valve was with the Index.

104

If comfort is really number 1 for you, then I would suggest getting a Google cardboard. It’s the lightest most comfortable VR headset on the market.

Lol I’m kidding :stuck_out_tongue:

105

G2 looks like it’ll be the right type of product the market needs. Great visuals, ergonomics, ease of use and a respectable price point.

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106

For some yes, I find the color and brigthness so dull on my 5k+ that even with a large FOV it’s accumulating dust. And this is 100% personnal. I sometime miss my OD+ The truth is that the 3 Color/FOV/Resolution are needed but to a variable degree for each one. Buying and reselling it not always an option and I don’t want to lend 1000$ US to Pimax anyway…

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108

Personally I have found this video and thread very informative - it’s good to have choice :+1:

I am very happy with my Pimax 5K+. Whilst I have the money for an 8KX banked, my plan was to wait until the production model got to you guys for reviews. Now it seems like the G2 ‘might’ be an alternative choice for me, so will wait a short time more until some of you have both and do a direct A/B comparison of features before making my decision.

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109

As a Dane (Denmark is tiny country in the Nordics), I can relate to that… :grin:

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110

I would like a wider FOV than my OG Vive, however with the 5K+ it felt like there was very little binocular overlap, almost no 3D effect, it felt like I was just looking at a large flat panel, rather than actually feeling “there”. There was no sense of presence, even going back to my OG Vive feels like an improvement in presence compared with the 5K+.

I hope the 8KX is an improvement on this front, however I have at this point basically resigned myself to the fact that I will probably be selling my 8KX. At that point I then have to consider either the index or the G2 as “the next best”, even though it means giving up FOV, but gaining in “presence”.

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111

It’s so odd that you and others have this comment (on 3d effect, I can somewhat agree on the overlap). Since getting the 5k+ it is easily the most ‘3d’ headset I own, and I own a vive and quest, and have used an index and a couple WMR hmds.

I’ve had my father try all three HMDs I own as well, he’s much older, poorer eyesight and not as educated on VR HMDs as we are but after trying the quest his first comment was ‘the pimax has the best 3d effect’. Must be a head shape thing!

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112

Hmm I think that’s actually the first time I read that someone thinks the 3d effect in the Pimax is better than the competition, usually it’s indeed the other way around. I’ve also always felt very little ‘presence’ in my 5k+ and Artisan. But I fully accept we’re all different. It seems though that Pimax has more difficulties adapting to that than their competition

113

never seen the click buy on amazon? :wink: :wink:

114

Sorry I dont buy random things and then immediately cancel them. I decide before I buy it if its worth the investment.

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115

Me neither and I never preorder something in general in the myst of hype. Oh ya maybe the 8K on KS 3 years ago :wink:

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116

I can’t compare to competition but 3D effect on my 5k+ seems exactly right. Good 3D for close object, cross-eye/double vision for very close between eyes, little/no 3D effect in distance.

I will add though that 3D effect is to large degree defined by settings/SW. To give example - on 3D vision glasses you could go from almost no effect to crazy over-done cross eye/head hurting just by tweaking 2 software values - convergence and separation. I think separation you can tweak on Pimax (IPD setting HW or SW) but convergence probably not.

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117

Well for the option of returning the headset: you pay for shipping to china ($200) and lose import taxes (another $200 depending where you’re located). And then Pimax most likely won’t return any money but coupons.

Selling on Ebay would be a better option. It depends on how long the lead time is for new orders once you have yours, if that’s long then you can probably sell for a good price, otherwise you’ll need to discount. Also shipping costs need to be discounted.

Not sure yet though, I think I’ll wait a bit and see how it goes. Maybe Pimax surprises us with their production ramp in which case it makes more sense to get both (so you can play with the X while bridging the gap to the arrival of the G2)

118

@mixedrealityTV i went through your affiliate link to pre order in the UK but it bounced me around a few screens so not sure if it’ll be registered to you. PM me for order no in case you need it to get credit for it. 3 others in my group did also. Same thing.

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119

I have now ordered a G2. I have an Index (and a Rift S & Quest), will some day this year probably receive an 8KX and should now get the G2 in September. When I have the three headsets here, I will let them battle it out and see which one(s) I keep. The 8KX will have a strong case if the visuals are as good as we have been told, because I do like me some wide FoV with no SDE and high grade of details enabled by DFR. But if it remains finicky to use despite Sweviver‘s efforts and I would feel a convergence issue which I cannot get used to (on the 5K+, I did eventually accommodate), then it might be the loser from the bunch after all.

Not bad position to be in, we have some exciting new experiences coming up as VR users, and more than one horse to bet on. Good times !

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120

I personally think the G2 looks a fantastic HMD at a great price but I have been looking forward to receiving my 8KX since I upgraded in Oct. I’m going to buy the eye tracking module and I’m going to love it. I can’t afford to buy multiple HMDs and I don’t want to. I sold my Index because I want to experience half life in the 8KX. With the extra clarity and FOV. Pimax for me. FairPlay to those who buy both!!! :0)

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121

And what do you do if your Headset has defect of some kind…