The answer might be “were still calibrating the chucker but you can be sure the woodchuck would chuck all the wood it could chuck no later than Q2” 
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Somnium are about to launch the VR1 in Q2. Ouch.
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Sorry posted what Pimax might say lol
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Really? That’s genuinely very very surprising, given that they haven’t shown anything of yet. If they manage to get a working product out before Pimax, or even around the same time, then it will be a massive blow to the crystal.
Even though Somnium are a crypto/nft company they don’t have the negative reputation and historical baggage that Pimax have. They also have cleverly marketed their headset as open source (I disagree that it really is but that’s beside the point). I see people being almost across the board excited and positive towards Somnium, which is surprising to me. That means though, if they manage to actually release an even half decent product then people will feel far more comfortable going with them.
Very interesting to see how this plays out. Pimax have never really had such direct competition before (being in the FOV niche they have been). I wonder if this will be a wake up call for them in terms of PR/reputation, although I don’t really see how they can ever recover, at least not for a good few years. The reality line was their chance to completely fix their reputation, and leave that as a kickstarter era memory, but instead they have actually gotten worse.
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Where did you see that btw? I’m struggling to find it.
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They say they’re having a Connect event in Q2.
See here at 12:00
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As long as Somnium keeps the price in the sub £2000 it’s going to.be a major competitor to Crystal if not beat Crystal in every way.
In 2022 Crystal made sense. Now in 2023 with all the delays and misinformation Crystal does not seem that great anymore.
But hey Somnium need to deliver and can also fall foul to delays and technical difficulties.
Let’s see how the cookie crumbles.
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Agreed on the last big opensource vr framework from what I saw was OSVR and it unfortunately didn’t do as well as it could have due to a variety of reasons. But might have done better today with better focus.
We really need stronger OpenXR adoption for better forward momentum. However Sonium may or may not be a competitor as they still have to prove themselves. Otherwise they may end up as promising as Decagear.
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In what ways would it beat crystal? I think it will definitely be competitive but the only ways I see it beat the crystal are size, headstrap looks better, LH built in (pro or con depending on person) and potentially better managed/better PR than Pimax.
In all other ways the crystal would appear better than the VR1. Even with the reputation Pimax has made for themselves I would still trust them more than a crypto/nft company.
Just watched the video you shared. They said Q2 they will likely release the pricing, and maybe open pre-orders. So…it’s not coming in Q2 (and tbf they never said that). So far all we know about the release date is 2023, and I like this approach of not being specific and missing it over and over. Still, no one publicly has seen the headset working yet so I’m not getting my hopes up, but if they do release a good product at a competitive price then I’d definitely see it as solid competitive to the Pimax Crystal.
Edit: Also before anyone says “They had a working devkit at CES”. No, they didn’t. They had a couple of passthrough cameras and displays with optics, mounted in a weird box with the cameras about 3 foot away from the optics, and no insight into what was going on inside etc. That was in no way a demonstration of the headset, at most it was a demonstration of what 1 aspect may look like.
Also, one last thing that particularly makes me unconfident about them, they say they are using custom made pancake lenses…but…it really looks like they are using aspheric lenses. Like the form factor, distance between lenses and display and the look of the lenses themselves, all seems like normal aspheric and not pancake. Very confused by that aspect.
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I said Somnium will launch the VR1 in Q2. As far as I can tell from the video that is true. I never said units would ship in Q2.
Art did say the VR1 will definitely be released in 2023.
As to comparing the VR1 to Crystal.
Both have 2880x2880
VR1 is native SteamVR LH
VR1 is much smaller than the Crystal behemoth.
VR1 doesn’t need a battery to work
VR1 has pass through Crystal does not
VR1 has 120 FOV much better than Crystal
VR1 has built in hand tracking Crystal needs a module.
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We are delighted to announce that Somnium Space will reveal its latest functional DevKit and final design of VR1 headset at CES at our booth nr. 15167 , Central Hall, Tech East .
I thought launch meant shipping? Otherwise what is the difference between launch and announcement? Like Pimax have had like 3 launch events for the Crystal but to me it still hasn’t actually launched yet.
Giving it a goog now:
Does a pre-order count if it doesn’t ship til ages later? I’m actually now confused haha. I really thought launch meant that you could buy it and it would ship like within a few weeks if not immediately. I didn’t think a launch was “pre-order now and we’ll ship it eventually”.
Fair enough though, if that’s what launch means. In that case though, I do think the crystal will likely ship before the VR1 but honestly who knows (definitely not Pimax anyway).
Sure, and I hope that’s correct. Still no sign of a single working unit so I don’t have any reason to believe them as they are completely new to the hardware space but fingers cross they do release in 2023 and it’s sold.
Not really tbh. It still has that typical form factor of the Quest 2/Index/fresnel headsets in general. It’s smaller for sure, but I wouldn’t say much smaller. Like 8K X is bigger than Crystal for example. In my experience going from 8K X to Quest 2, Index, Vive etc it makes basically no difference. Even with inertia I notice no difference. I think you need to be getting to pancake form factors for it to be really notable.
Complete agreed and forgot that one, huge plus for the VR1.
Well…crystal has 125h FOV lol. I don’t see why you trust a crypto company to be honest on these specs when reputable companies (not saying Pimax, I am referring to vive, Oculus etc) always fluff them somewhat.
I’d be surprised if it reaches 110h tbh but lets see. Hopefully it really is 120, that would instantly make it a winner if somehow they manage at least 32 peak PPD.
Crystal does actually, but it’s B&W like Quest 2. That said built in colour, and hopefully 3d, passthrough is absolutely a huge win on the VR1. It’s also the only feature we say (potentially) working and it did look very good.
True! Leap motion built in. I don’t care much myself but nice to have, that said it’s like 70 quid for the same leap motion for the crystal and integrates seamlessly so that’s only a slight win.
Going the other direction, crystal has: miniLED, QD, standalone, i/o slam, controllers, interchangable lenses, DMAS audio (if you pre-order), good mic (MRTV example was closest to the index that I’ve heard), much higher refresh rate options (huge deal for me personally, 120 is a massive improvement to my experience but this is highly subjective).
When it’s laid out, it’s a hell of a lot closer than I originally thought. If the price is similar and the FOV is actually 120h then, assuming so major deal breaker issues, I would prefer the VR1 overall. I just can’t get over that gut feeling of a crypto company coming out of nowhere to do hardware and pretending it’s open source. Rubs me the wrong way. I really really genuinely hope I am wrong as I would love to be done with being stringed along by Pimax with missed deadline after missed deadline and constant issues with communication and conflicting info etc.
Really do hope VR1 is the real deal. Until we see a working unit though, it’s just a wishlist for now.
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Vive Pro 2 also has 2880×2880 panels irc.
Crystal does have passthrough ability as with any camera tracking hmd as was even demonstrated in at least some of WMR hmds.
120 FoV is that diagonal or will it be compromised Horizontal like the VP2 & be what wss it 116 wide with compromises?
As pimax has shown Hand tracking using the inside out cameras. But yes you can use the Ultraleap module.
Is the VR1 true native LH as meaning can update LH Firmware?
Now you said if they keep it under 2k in price. So you would go for it if it is $1300+taxes for Headset no LH &\or Controllers included?
I pre-preemptively called that out. Not sure how you missed it.
Did you see what they had at CES?
It’s show in that video. That is NOT a dev kit. And the fact they hyped it up as such makes me think we’ll have a similar ordeal to Pimax with these folks, at best. Calling that a dev kit is completely ridiculous, it wasn’t even an actual headset.
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Yep that would suggest by his thoughts they launched long ago when they announced the VR1 and pimax launched the 12k at the Frontier first video. 
Okay if pre order counts then 9nly the Crystal with the $30 reserve deposit. So 12k does not qualify. lol
2448 x 2448. The lenses ruin it though, not to mention the lack of cooling so the panels eventually cooked and killed themselves.
The claim 120h and 100v. If that’s true then it’s excellent but when has a company ever been honest? I think Pico is the only one actually.
I don’t think they have. Almost certain they just had the leap motion module, the same one as vision series, just plugged into the crystal.
Good question, not sure if we know. It has LH built in anyway, so for me personally that’s good enough as I’m never had to touch anything on LH in terms of firmware etc (although watch me eat those words someday ha).
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Thanks for the correction. Been so long most I think have forgotten the Vp2.
Indeed and were dealing with Square panels to boot.
I’d have to look for it. But it may have been a demo on the Portal if not the Crystal. I am sure the video I saw was not using the Ultraleap. But could be mistaken.
Pretty sure you need valve’s full endorsement for that true LH compatibility. FW updating and power state control. lol
Indeed not even close to being as polished as Oculus dk1. 
I’ve heard from several corners that not everything is right there either. Yes, it renders and shows digitally 104, but slightly distorted geometrically, making the 104 actually below 100.
Couldn’t check it myself though.
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