Pimax Crystal - status, updates and fixes (Part 1)

Hearts a flutter ! :blush: :heart_eyes:

At least it seems something is ‘working’ to some degree.

No information on the WiGig module yet? availability/price?

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Nothing I have heard. But imagine they need to get key things working first before they can get something like the wigig to work.

This time around though with the new line we should see iit eventually.

True, but why did they send out the Crystal to beta testers if even the built-in wifi solution isn’t operational yet?

My expectation usually would be you send it out to external beta testers once you have everything somewhat working, just need to work on refinement & bug-fixing. And in an ideal world (read: any other commercial company) you would also expect the add-on modules to be ready for launch.

But okay, here we are, hoping that at least the basic tethered PC VR use case is functional. All additional elements like eye-tracking (-> IPD auto-adjust, DFR), internal/external wireless, lighthouse sleeve are missing. And other use cases (stand-alone/MR sleeve) are MIA too.

It’s simply too early for the beta tests, unless you intend to run them for 3-n iterations. They could have avoided this if they had gone for a base product, and left all the difficult parts, which are currently found to be missing, as different product version to be released later. The base Crystal would probably be near ready by now and much cheaper & lighter too.

I do hope they learn for the 12K to start with the simple version and go for the complex one afterwards, not in the reverse order.

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The thing is who in their right mind is actually going to buy Crystal for Stand-alone? Quest3 will be out before Crystal has has these functions in a useable state.

The Wigig module won’t be cheap and will it be exclusive to Pimax or will it work with any headset? I don’t think Pimax are making this themselves. Not sure if D-link or behind it.

Now the Beta testers have theirs and the NDA is for another 2-3 weeks when will Pimax start shipping to the public? The pre order offer ends in June.

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Actually Nordic Ren in the MRTV interview last month he stated several hundred units would ship at the end of April. Well it’s the end of April unless they ship at the weekend.

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Didn’t you say your a seasoned pimaxian? Pimax often does things that make like how the Sword Beta testers never got to preview the sense driver even though pimax made it clear they would get to trial it.

The DMAS beta was pointless as they ignored key feedback.

Internal hmd features maybe or at least working enough to test. As for add ons? Nah that would be like expecting all game dlc ready for day 1.

I do think pimax has actually researched things better in regards to wigig vs the previous line that they cancelled after 2+ years of hype and almost 2 years of silence after hyping.

I do agree at this point the onboard wireless and Eye tracking features like the auto ipd minimally should have been ready.

Which really makes ppl wonder in an understandable negative in pimax originally announcing the Crystal released Sept 30 and was shipping in China with November opening up to other regions. When it is extremely clear that was not even remotely true or possible.

That is all of our hopes that support pimax and I do hope that it is plausible.

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Yes and they might have done so to DeVs. Which would validate that statement as he didn’t clarify if it was consumer end users.

Otherwise I am sure Sliders have visited a world where pimax has launched all products on te feature complete. :beers::wink::+1:

We know when it comes to estimates and certain specs pimax has difficulty with math; but to be fair Structural engineers are given a ring to remind them to double check figures after a catastrophic failure of a bridge.

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I beg to differ - with DLC‘s for games that is true, because you would be playing through the main campaign first anyhow.
But a product offering different applications, some of them optional: no, usually that would be available at launch. At least where it is clear that the user would be utilizing this add-on from day one, as it would appear to be the case with the Lighthouse sleeve, MR sleeve, Wigig module. And I do not recall that they announced the optional modules to follow at some later stage?

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Add ons are optional buys and need not be ready at product launch. Even HTC did not have there LH plate on one of there headsets until later and there a seasoned company.

With pimax if your purchase hinges on a specific add in do not buy until that add on is released as like the Wigig for our current pimax hmds went from non 8kX models to all headset models to none of them.

Add ons are future enhancements not core in tye box features.

HARDWARE vs. SOFTWARE

I’m hoping that people don’t forget that this isn’t purely software we’re talking about here.

There’s a difference between patching a game (software), versus dealing with physical hardware issues.

Sure, the Pimax Crystal has software, firmware and of course there’s various hardware components that have already been proven in the industry.

Sure, you can potentially resolve any hardware quirks by addressing it with firmware updates.

HOWEVER, if they’ve made any design errors in their hardware that firmware cannot fix, then it means a new hardware revision, which is then a new headset.
OR. It means they deprecate some of the features they originally advertised as it wasn’t proven enough to hit a BETA and they can’t deliver on it without pulling any units out in the wild and replacing. = :moneybag: COST :moneybag:

Right now I think it’s early enough for them to fix any issues caused by hardware design.
But they’ll be bleeding more money to go to a drawing board with a revision.
That will take time and money.

They’ve blown their horn :postal_horn: so much over the past year on how great the Crystal will be and all the features it will have. It’s too late in my opinion for them to pull back without a major hit on reputation, and state that the CURRENT version of the Crystal can’t do WiGiG, or Auto-IPD/DFR. And, if you want those features, wait for the Crystal 2, or the 12K.

REGARDING WiGiG:

There are already some products out there that are providing this solution.
VIVE has a WiGig adapter.
NOFIO is also creating/refining one as well.

So it’s up to who PIMAX is going to (or are able to) partner up with to provide a WiGig solution.
I surmise PIMAX have some level of confidence as they believe they’ve provided a base hardware design that can accommodate similar WiGig technology as compared to what is already out there.

The questions are: When, Will it Work, How Much :dollar: ??
I’d be surprised if it will cost anything under USD $300

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This is foremost a PCVR device. It has an overclocked Quest 2 SOC. If anyone paid $1600 for this device because of those features primarily, I feel like you bought for the wrong reasons, and could have saved cash by buying a quest 2 or overpriced pro.

Streaming or Wigig is NEVER going to produce an image as good as using the dedicated DisplayPort wired to a PC.

Pimax has built a PC VR device the correct way, unlike the mainstream vendors focusing on wireless.

Wired is always better, even with streaming.

Nobody should be expecting an older SOC to be able to fully drive 2 2880x2880 displays.

Stand-alone will be good for watching Netflix on the go, or doing some light gaming. Have Pimax advertised for those features? Yes. Should you buy at $1600 just for those? Hell No.

Buy this if you want
High clarity, high quality low persistence FaLD LCDs that will give a killer
Image if driven properly.

I have seen every YouTuber Laud the Pimax Crystal image as the cleanest available in the consumer
Space bar none, with creators saying it’s closest competition being a $4000 XR-3 but then quibble with “hurr durr wireless, stand-alone, plug and play like everyone else.”

If that is the feature you want most, Christ on a bike, buy it cheaper from companies that
Have purpose built their hardware for your wireless stand alone use case for just $400!

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This is not about some kind of

This is a device on how they advertise it to be. They’ve not claimed any exclusivity regarding just PCVR.

It is not unreasonable for the end consumer who has multiple-use cases, and not just PCVR, to expect PIMAX to deliver on what they’ve been advertising the Crystal will be for a long time already.

I don’t think I’ve ever said that I expect a stand-alone / wireless experience to be as good as a PCVR one. I mean hey, if that’s possible, then great. But no expectation here.

Only expectation is that the Crystal works and provides (is capable of and is proven to work) all the features at the price point as advertised.

Extra things like a faceplate and WiGig module to be expected as add-ons of course, and that was never expected by me to be all included in the price.
Though Stand-Alone and WiFi6E is expected to be functional on the base without need for further hardware purchases(excluding having a compatible WiFi6E device of course).

I sure understand how people who only want it for PCVR could care less about any other features. That’s fine for those people, and if they’ve got the :dollar: to spend for the unit and feel it’s worth it JUST for PCVR. You do ‘you’.

Though even if Stand-Alone/Wireless and some other features aren’t important to you, it is my opinion it is still best to hold PIMAX accountable to what they’re promising, even if you don’t/won’t use it.

That’s just my unpopular(it seems) opinion.

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If you’ve paid attention to how they actually built it, it screams that PC is what it’s for primarily. YouTubers who have tried Crystal compare it to XR-3 as the next level you have to go to to beat it. A $5000 PC VR device that requires a $1000 subscription.

Crystal is $1600 and competes for clarity with multi thousand dollar HMDS.

It’s not that I care less about those mobile features, it’s that you shouldn’t be buying a device like Crystal for those features if that’s your primary use Case.

They are like the heated seats, the bells and whistles on a luxury car that is great at driving.

Just because of the mobile hardware they have in Crystal, you couldn’t expect That hardware to actually drive those screens. It’s not physically capable of it very well beyond very light workloads.

I’ve just seen Youtubers say how awesome it is, only to poo poo about these bolted on features of wireless and standalone. They just admit “I just drove a Bugatti Varon, but it’s not running like my Toyota.”

They just put up a video on the channel showing the standalone SOC in action. SO IT DOES WORK, BUT TAKES TIME

My point is you don’t buy a triple-decker cake from a bakery expecting a Twinkie.

There are far cheaper devices with the Same SOC that will serve mobile and wireless gamers properly. IE Quest 2

Mobile and wireless are icing for the Crystal, not the cake. They will deliver though

It doesn’t matter what the product ‘screams’ it is.

It matters what they’re selling it to be and what they’re going to provide to the end consumer for the money.

Now, if they fail to do that, then no-one is forcing the consumer to buy it.
But at the same time, that’s not going to help them make more money as a business in my opinion.
It will only sour the milk for those who took them at their word and they backtracked or didn’t provide.
If they want to play that game, then it’s fine. There’ll just be some level of consequences that will likely not help them on the road to becoming a highly reputable VR company.

In your analogy, if:
PIMAX is the Bakery
Triple-Decker Cake is Full featured Crystal (as advertised)
Twinkie is what they’re only capable of making.

Then how long do you think that bakery will stay in business if they keep advertising a triple-decker cake and can’t deliver.

Pretty soon people who just even wants a twinkie won’t even go to that bakery.

And at this point, I just don’t understand your position and argument about my original post you replied to.

I’m BASICALLY getting that you’re saying that people who want Stand-Alone and Wireless should not have any expectation that it will be delivered and will work with the Crystal, and that, it’s wrong for people who also want those features in the Crystal to have any expectation.

You’re saying that people who also want Stand-Alone and Wireless to ‘look elsewhere’ and buy a different product and to, stop expecting PIMAX to provide what they’ve been advertising as part of the feature set of the Crystal.

Is that what you’re saying?

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Read my comment again

No. Sorry I won’t You keep editing them.

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Wow. I edited to clarify, and won’t write another huge post for no reason, but Butters Says “no I won’t”

Then go drink the chocolate milk off the top of your toilet, have a cookie and calm yourself butters.

Are you a child?

I’m sorry, I have no time to go back and re-read any of your corrections (6 in total so far) that I’ve already based my responses on.
Nor would I expect you to go back and re-read all of my edits that you’ve already responded to.

I’m happy to have a discussion with you about topics, but I think it unfair for anyone to expect to have to go back and re-read things when a response is already submitted.

If you’d like to clarify something that you mis-stated or I mis-interpreted, please kindly do it in a new post.

Calling me a child is not going to improve our interaction with each other, as I said I was sorry and was truthful with you. Above is further clarification as to why.

I’m sorry if you find that unacceptable.

There’s no hard feelings intended. We’re both busy, and I do appreciate your input. I just again do not wish to spend more time re-reading your edits, and then having to potentially re-edit my responses to accomodate.

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WOW Getting a little un-called-for in here.

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The bit about the toilet and cookie is a South Park reference and I hope @Butters007 (per his namesake) understands that.that part was meant in yes, a sarcastic way, but in Jest, not to offend or insult.

@Butters007 I apologize for asking if you were a child. When you said, “No I wont re read your post” it seemed flippant and I misunderstood your reasoning. Sorry about that.

For my part, As I am writing on a phone, I opt to make edits. It is a royal pain to write a detailed post via phone and have it be free of errors.

No hard feelings indeed, didnt mean to upset you.

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