Didn’t Pimax have problems getting Devs to add parallel projection to their VR games?
That’s true, I don’t think it’s that difficult to ‘port’ such game to flat mode. However developers must still see it worthwhile to even do so. Pimax must demonstrate their platform is a success with significant user base, which I think will be hard. The other way around is barely happening (flat to VR) and there’s even way less incentive to port to the, most likely, very small pimax portal user base.
This indeed is a cardboard-like device. Which failed for a reason. There are several disadvantages to such system, losing 15-20% pixel space for IPD adjustment is one thing, more difficult weight balancing one other thing and inability to cant screens another. Better just buy a quest if you want cheap VR.
We’ll see how the kickstarter goes. Hopefully this will die a quick death and Pimax can focus on their core business, high end VR gaming.
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For a time intil pimax started to gain a larger user base helping to push fir these fixrs. But did have at least Unity and Unreal in part on board.
Now a lot if newer content has support on launch.
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That us part of the beauty of the Xr3 platform. If you have already made a title for another Xr2 device then you only need to make changes for a different company that is using the Xr2 platform.
Actual Cardboard more died as Google even with Daydream didn’t really put much effort in improving it and backed away aftet hyping it. While all Xr2 devices csn be saud in a fashion is an evolution of Cardboard it is not so simple a statement.
Any more than saying a Og Vove or og rift compares well todsy. Cardboard was only mainly 3dof much like our esrly love of the p4k.
But agreed a project to watch wait and see how it fares.
Wasn’t there even a version with lenses for 140deg FOV? I am wondering how Pimax realizes that without canted displays.
Probably i am the only one here who sees the potential of the Portal. I see Pimax maturing rapidly and can not wait to see reviews of their announced products.
The 12k can not be released because of the missing dp2.0 standard in nvidias 40xx series to drive the amount of pixels. Nobody wants a hmd with two cables (except myself, probably 
). That is why the crystal with less pixels was made. Just my 2c…
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Yeah, about that…
I am sure I am not the only one who has had a bit of a double take at the preordering promotion promising DMAS to regular customers – in a nearby place written as: “extra DMAS headphones”…
The specs sheet already speaks of DMAS, but then, soon thereafter: “Integrated high fidelity speaker”, and later yet of: “new DMAS speaker” as a compatibility option…
I can only read this as the standard SKU of the supposedly highest-of-highest-end Crystal still coming with what used to be called “SMAS” type audio, and needing the side order of an accessory, if one want something worth having. (EDIT: Is this the case? -Hard to tell; Given information is ridiculously unclear.)
Sure: Something SMAS-like is audio, whereas you don’t get any with a Varjo, and sure: Some users want to use their own headphones, but…
@Atmos
Better resolution and sound on the Pimax? Yup. Hm. Here’s another thing the Crystal does better: VR play via display port.
The Pico, while clearly an excellent choice alternative for wireless play, can’t do that ‘out of the box’ or in fact, not at all, right? No add on module to make it so?
The wireless kit for the Crystal is late arriving, but hey, it’s on the way.
The pico really is a good choice for stand alone play, especially anyone with kids.
Nothing Pimax has coming out at that price point… oh wait. I forgot the Portal.
Let’s see how it works for a family ‘right out of the box’.
Hopefully it will be a good choice at a lower price as well. We have no way of judging either the crystal or the Portal yet, but it strikes me that comparing the PICO to the Crystal is less reasonable than comparing it to the Portal.
Of course,
Interesting times.
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This is an answer to my question about who is the target audience for the Portal. I’d like to see more discussion along these lines as I think it’s the most relevant to whether this product can succeed.
The Portal is against stiff competition in any of the modes it can be transformed into. But I don’t think there’s any other single product that can do all of the things it does. So this is an interesting point about it being a starter kit particularly for a family with kids.
The other thing I wonder about is whether the Portal is a product that makes a lot more sense in the Chinese market. A transforming product that takes the place of multiple other products so as to be compact and efficient, for instance, may be a much more meaningful feature in asia than in the west. And maybe that’s a lot of the disconnect here.
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@Sargon
I was thinking along the same lines- the Asian market could be huge for the portal. But, and I may be misunderstanding this, can’t the Portal also play steam games? If so, won’t that make it an affordable alternative to the valve/Steam deck?
I don’t think we should underestimate how much appeal that might have across the markets.
We’ll see.
If it takes off, it could very well become the income source that funds more work on the Reality series and whatever comes after that.
I’m holding out for the 12k, but I just might look hard at the kickstarter for the Portal anyway.
The portal has an ARM XR2 CPU, it can’t process X86/64 instructions, in which Steam games are written. The only way to have it play those games is to stream the video to the device.
If it could have played steam games directly, I actually might have given this a chance.
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The Portal can not play steam games natively. It must be connected to a PC to do so.
The whole thing about Steamdeck is that it can play steam games natively as a standalone.
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Ah… ok that makes a difference for sure.
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It can also be connected to our mini station which is powered by a AMD 6800u via a wigig connection. The station actually includes the wigig setup built-in.
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Is the mini station also capable of battery power? To make it also an on the go device?
I apologize as I may have missed some key parts of the presentation.
Found this from RdToVR
@PimaxUSA I would like to have it confirmed that you do not need the Station to Cloud game? As you should ne able to use the Android apps for the streaming at home.
And if you by one version can it be upgraded via purchasing the upgraded component? ie buy the Qled horizon and later buy the social VR frame module?
Ah. So the 6800u would give it a similar architecture to the steamdeck then. But I think that’s a little more powerful than what’s actually in the steamdeck. Interesting.
Would this actually be running SteamOS? Or how will it work?
The presentation didn’t say much about the Mini Station, and I kind of dismissed it as a low powered device which was probably only good for video streaming or the like. I hadn’t realized this would have a steamdeck-like capability.
I think the presentation also didn’t mention how much the Mini Station will cost.
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It is indeed a much more powerful apu. Steamdeck iirc has 4 cores vs the 6800u’s 8 and the graphics core is also much more powerful.
The Deck OS like the Holo Iso or the other one Steamdeck OS based that can be installed on a flash drive WinsapOS would be quite cool to boot any pc as a steam machine with ectra goodies.
Very interesting that Nvidia is not restricting there stream service it seemz any more to Nvidia gpu based systems.
It would compress video and stream it. Not sure if you’d be able to tell, I think I would but I’d need to try one. Either way the total cost would probably be higher than a steamdeck
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Has some info on Deck apu vs the newer 6800u one.
Edit. Steam Apu 4 core 8 thread. vs Ryzen 7 6800u 8 core 16 threads.
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Judging by the trajectory, I bet you there is going to be a Pimax 12KX. Please Pimax, tell me my vision is correct. There is going to be a 12KX and it will be a Kickstarter lol.
Do you remember 8K and how excited people are getting a chance w/ the demos? Yup! I remembered!! And then out of no where they drop 8KX!!