Interesting to hear that the 12k lenses are supposed to be fresnel hybrids. I avoid fresnels like the plague, but hopefully the modular lens system means that purely aspheric lenses might also be available - even if that means some reduction in the max FOV it can support.
Unless there has been an update. Atm only the Crystal and Portal View have swappable interchangeable lenses.
Aspheric hybrid Fresnel should be quite decent vs pure fresnel lenses.
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I do think exchangeable lenses would be awesome on the 12k and I think it would be easier than the idea they had about a projector for 60 ppd. If you had a lens that could give you 60 PPD or 55 in the center, all the steam, VR software would work with it at the gate, as opposed to the projector idea which will need developers support
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I could see it having a swappable system for main purpose of making it easier for warranty issues and places like vr experience venues.
Yes. The Crystal and 12k use the same system for local dimming.
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As an 8KX owner, itâs hard to choose the Crystal knowing that 12K will get a huge discount by returning an headset that we would no longer use and is very difficult to sell used.
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With all respect, I do find this hard to believe. People buy a Pimax because they love wide FoV. I always liked my Varjo headset but after switching to the XTAL 3 I just realized again how important that extra FoV is. It just adds so much to the immersion. I do believe the Crystal will be a nice headset some day but I strongly believe that most of the âpimaxiansâ will want wider FoV than that. Maybe a decent amount will go for the Crystal but I really think even those will switch to the 12K when it comes out.
I think of the Crystal as the Artisan. Nice for a smaller group of people. But the 12K obviously will be the headset that most people want. And I donât worry about the âpixels being spread outâ at all. The 8k already was quite nice, although you could still quite easily see the pixels. With an upgrade to 12K I think it will be way harder to see any pixels at all.
Personally I will never âupgradeâ anymore to a smaller FoV, regardless of how good it is.
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I find it hard to believe too. Was the 12k even there side by side with Crystal?
It seems the 12K is not ready yet for demoing. Unless thereâs something âweirdâ with the 12K, I canât imagine a big chunk of âpimaxiansâ will prefer the Crystal over the 12K.
People are Pimaxians, not because they like the Pimax service desk so much. Or that they love the lenses. No, people are Pimaxians because they love huge FoV and Pimax is the only one bringing it to them in an affordable way.
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I love the big FOV that my Pimax 5k super offers, but after extensive uses I found that the pixel density matters too. Too often that the pixels in the graphics had become a distraction. And most of the time the wide FOV only marginally enhance the immersion feeling.
When I had a HP Reverb G2, the narrow FOV did bother me. It was like wearing a scuba goggle to see things.
Yet with my Oculus Quest 2, it feels just OK, though it was just a few degrees wider.
Therefore, when I tried the Crystal in Adorama, it was a good experience. The FOV is just right. As long as I donât move my eyeballs to the extreme left or right, it feels quite immersive already.
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Did Pimax have both sets of lenses there or did you only try the 35PPD lenses?
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I donât find it hard to believe because there was no comparison with the 12k at the show, so users were basing this just on what they were seeing. With the Crystal image being so impressive it wouldnât surprise me that a lot of people would really like it given that the FOV is still better than what most are used to who donât have a Pimax and is in the realm of the Small FOV setting on current Pimax headsets which is actually pretty good as it is. A person who already reserved the Crystal knows that the FOV is not the headsetâs strong suit so their opinions would be formed with that in mind.
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Well my point was specifically based on Pimaxians. I bet most that visited the roadshow already have owned some pimax before. And again, they did that because of the FoV. Itâs just what Pimax is mainly known for.
Of course it does. Donât get me wrong, I wonât ever go back to seeing noticeable SDE. But as the SDE already was quite small on the 8k with 4k panels, Iâd say it should be quite hard to detect on the 12k with 6k panels. Unless they f*cked something up like sourcing bad quality panels, not fully RGB for example, or really bad pixel fill or bad mura.
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I think the Crystal will be a compelling option for Index owners tired of waiting for Deckard. The Crystal and the Portal will both open new markets for Pimax, as long as the initial user experience is plug-and-play enough not to put ânormiesâ off.
The 12K is clearly the true enthusiast successor meant for people who want as few compromises as possible. Iâm totally fine with that product spread. Itâs a good strategic choice for the long term - they just need to stick the landing.
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At the German road shows, not even a quarter previously had a Pimax in their hands.
Huge flaw in your logic is that those people likely did not reserve a Crystal. The people mentioned *reserved a Crystal already knowing itâs focus. If you randomly ask Pimaxians what they want sure your assertion might be true. But those discussed have actually weighted that and went to the effort to reserve one.
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Agreed, since no demo of the 12K was shown, itâs more likely those people who took the trip to one of the demos are interested in the Crystal. Misread your previous post.
The issue for the 12 K is going to be the same as it was for the 8K when it first came out. Driving stereo 6K panels is going to be a chore for even the most high-end rig.
Iâm super excited for the 12 K although Iâll probably never own one. Iâm on a 7600 K with a 3 GB 1060 thatâs a downright low end system by todayâs standards. Most people donât have the kind of rig that will run with that white FOV headset and itâs interesting that only now with a 4090 can eight KX actually stretch its legs at the large field of view.
The 12K will require DFR to work, or youâd apply FFR generously as an interim workaround. Which actually might be okay-ish for everything beyond 150 degrees.
I actually donât see the Crystal to hit my sweet spot in terms of FoV. I feel Pimax missed a chance to make the Crystal a 150 degree horizontal FoV headset, but they clearly focused in competing with the Aero (likely b/c it serves to justify the price tag) and thus apparently felt the need to hit at least 35 PPD. This leaves it vulnerable to be losing itâs competitive value rather sooner than later when ordinary headsets move to higher resolution & PPD at a substantially lower price. So in order to get a chunk of the super niche of extremely expensive consumer hardware theyâd unfortunately need to complete the product rather sooner than later.
But perhaps all of us are underestimating the desire of Pimax to become a vendor of business VR hardware rather than primarily a consumer market focused company. Their pricing is obviously moving away from the consumer market, so it would be quite logical to also let the specs be determined by the enterprise customer desires, not so much us gamers. Remember the reasoning they gave for the Sword No(n)-Sense Controller button&no thumbstick layout? Entirely focused on enterprises, they abandoned the consumer base for those.