I had the chance to try a friend’s new revised PS VR headset, this new unit dubbed V.2 initially marketed only in Japan has apparently now silently reached European markets, and probably other markets too, it uses a new hardware in the splitter/control box that can now make it possible to see PS4 contents and games in HDR if you have the PSVR unit constantly attached to the console.
It never caught my attention before, as I thought it was only as a marginal HW revision, but when I accidentally had the chance to see it and try at a friend’s home, I had a…WOW…WTF !!! moment. I realized to my surprise, this is not at all a minor revision of Sony’s VR headset, it is a VERY CONSISTENT upgrade !
Let me just say that I have the older PS VR at home and I almost don’t touch it anymore after having purchased the Lenovo, but this new PS VR V.2 sports some really nice improvements, here are the mayor ones I noticed:
- Design: There are very subtle design changes, the microphone/volume controls previously located on the PS VR cable near the headset are now gone, there is now an integrated microphone on the lower side of the headset and the controls are moved there too, arranged on a d-pad like circular fashion buttons; the headphones connector is gone and has been rearranged on the head ring, just above the ear area, there are two indipendent connectors for left and right audio, and two included audio earphones that can be fixed in special holes in the head ring if not used, very handy.
Nose hole is now considerably bigger and wider, so it is a lot more comfortable for big nose people, this was a mayor drawback for me in the older version because I constantly had pressure on my nose, now it is finally gone.
All in all the entire headset looks and feels slightly smaller and lighter, A LOT lighter actually ! The comfort has been improved considerably by this thing alone.
The main unit cable is completely redesigned, the ugly, big double cable of the first gen PS VR, that was so much annoying and made the movement so much uncomfortable, is now a thin and flexible wire, the thinner and lighter video cable I’ve ever seen in my life actually (and believe me, I’ve seen millions of video cables in my life xD ) , feels so light that you almost forget it during the headset’s use…wow…
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Lens: The design looks almost the same, however I felt the lens have been improved a little, the feel is less of plastic and more transparent, and I think there are less visible god-rays, very clear in general terms and with no concentric circles.
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OLED Panels: I could not believe my eyes when I put the headset on…the Oled panels Sony used in this new version are a mayor improvement to the older ones, it looks they used a new type of pixel matrix I have never seen before, similar to the older version but with considerably improved image quality and better of all, the SDE effect is almost non-existant here !!! Considering that the PS VR is using a very low resolution panel (at least for today’s VR standards…) just close to Full-HD res, it looked incredible to me that the SDE is so low…wow ! I was impressed…also the image quality gained in clarity too, as some of you surely may know, Sony’s headset had a very pixellated and grainy image due to the low resolution used, but in this new version the pixel effect has been considerably reduced, I tried some games, including Gran Turismo Sport, and it was finally playable, the road and cars in distance looked so much better…
And of course thanks to the new splitter unit, it is now possible to play any HDR game and content on the TV screen with the PS VR attached, and I can tell that this headset felt to me the perfect one to watch Full-HD movies on it, now…
- FOV: I can not be totally sure about this, but the field of view felt a little improved to me on this new version, it can be just due do the headset redesign, nose hole redesign etc. that made me possible to have a closer view against the lens, but it was good to see…it was clearly wider to me compared to the Lenovo Explorer, felt like around a 100-110 degree FOV.
What I don’t get is why Sony remained silent about all these consistent changes, and why there is almost no review mentioning these…and considering that they are now selling it for as low as 250 euros/dollars including the needed PS Camera and one game, it is really a great offer if you have a PS4 or PS4 Pro.
Great job Sony…and if they are capable to make such great VR panels, it makes me now think that they have the means to make an excellent future PS VR2 if they keep along with this design and improvements, hoping they will also add at least a 150 wide FOV to it and better resolution.
