Firstly, I am thrilled to be able to get a second-generation (8K) headset, sooner than I expected, since the main players are trying to reduce prices, instead of improving the design.
I would love to be able to upgrade my 8K to an 8KX in a few years, when graphics cards that can handle the higher res will be readily available. Ideally, this would be a do-it-yourself option, for a few hundred US dollars.
The reason I mention it now, is so that the final shipping 8K version could be tweaked with this in mind.
I think everyone that has access to a hermetically sealed clean room with purified air so that no particles can get into the HMD should be provided with a diy upgrade kit, solder and all.
I think it’s a nice idea. And I doubt you would need a clean room for that, that’s just rediculous… We are not talking about manufacturing microchips, we are talking about pluging in another electronics board and some cables. Perhaps a little bit of soldering…
It would be a “nice to have” (never loss your dreams ;-), if the upscaler in the 8k could handle higher resolutions in the future or as mentioned native display resolution.
Besides the clean room, I am sure there could an adequate workaround, as we are not talking about adding pixels to the display - and in terms or reparability it would be smart to have the upscaler und the like on hardware accessible in a way which does not always require a clean room.
But I honestly have to admit, that I don’t know what it can handle up to date, expect the two Resolutions always mentioned on I/O Side. Is there an in-between in the mentioned resolution as Input and the displays native resolution?
I think the 8KX requires 2 circuit boards and 2 separate video cables, so it’s not a simple software-only change. Personally, I’m competent to swap out and install new circuit boards and basic soldering. I’ll bet anyone who upgrades and maintains their own PC could perform this upgrade, as long as the headset was designed with modularity/reparability in mind.
DIY 8k-X means removing upscaler from HMD using 1:1 signal to 4k screen + adding second input.
FoVeated rendering not referred to 8k>8kX theme. It’s reducing GPU load where it’s not necessary.
The 8k uses 4k and upscales it. Therefore the 4k screens aren’t being utilised to the best of their ability. With Foveated rendering you can then utilise the pixels of the 4k screen where the user is looking and decrease the resolution where he/she isn’t looking.
The overall effect of this is a massive increase in perceived resolution without having to pump out 2 x 4k screen resolution to match the 8kx
Do you mean that upscaler can transfer smaller image to particular part of 4k screen without distortion or additional filtration, and fill peripheral sides with low res image?
There are several problems with this: foveated rendering needs to be supported by the developer and integrated into the game engine in order to work. Unless Pimax pulls off something even Oculus and Valve haven’t been able to do, and integrate it into their driver, we’re going to have to push each VR developer to include it in their games. The second issue is that the regular 8K’s maximum resolution will still be limited by what the scaler/display hardware can handle, right now Pimax has said that is 2x1440P. It would only be possible to display the pixels where the user is looking at the maximum resolution of the display if you’re talking about the 8K X, as that is the only one that can output at the native pixel density of the 4K panels.
A thought: Could it be worth considering to create a new splitter module with one DP input that connects to the GPU, a scaler+splitter inside the module and two DP outputs which connect to the 8k X inputs?
As soon as this module exists only the 8k X would have to be produced. People with mid-range GPUs, those who prefer to only occupy one DP output or those that want to use other modules that only support one DP or lower bandwidth (e.g. wireless module) could use that module to transform an 8k X into an 8k - an HMD with just one DP input and a scaler.
This would have the additional advantage that as soon as a new connector standard (DP 1.4+XYZ) and a better scaler module are released that allow 2x4k@90 Hz over one cable, Pimax could simply release a new splitter module, so people who want 2x4k wouldn’t have to use two cables anymore and the HMD would immediately be compatible with the new connector standard.
Also the standalone-module (that transforms the 8k X into a standalone HMD) could be sold as a replacement for the splitter module and directly connect to the two DP ports. So less resource hungry things like text menus etc. could be rendered with full resolution - and for other computationally expensive stuff the standalone-module could upscale internally.
Pimax could offer 8k backers the option to either get the 8k with the hardwired splitter+scaler asap or instead of receiving an 8k to upgrade their order to an 8k X with a splitter module (which would be delivered later as soon as it is available). That would also reduce the amount of 8k devices that have to be delivered in January - could imagine quite a number of people would consider this upgrade.
And 8k X backers who don’t make use of the option to get an 8k first could instead get the splitter module as a free addon (if the pricing of shipping back and forth and the cost of the module should be in the same ballpark).
The cost of sending the unit back and forth around the globe, the time and cost to have it manually maintained by Pimax staff etc. would probably be higher - and to make this replacement realistic the exchangability would still have to be designed in. If they have to do this - then why not one step further, getting rid of the manual bottlenecks and shipping costs.
Also it could become a problem if half of the modules only work with one HMD, not the other. E.g. the wireless module might not work with the 8k X (with the splitter module this shouldn’t be a problem). And the standalone module would likely also only work with either the 8k or the 8k X. So the 8k X would likely become a “dead end” where people probably wouldn’t get the offer to (and likely wouldn’t want to) “upgrade” (or more realistically: sidegrade) to.
With only one device Pimax could fully concentrate on that one and wouldn’t have to split forces.
A while back they said that you only need to add an additional board and a extra DP cable, that the screens are supposed to be the same. I do not know if after so many changes this is still true, as it is always better to be officially confirmed.
There is an alternative to the 2 DP cables native res option, that is using compression over 1 DP cable to give the Hz needed at native 4K per eye. Maybe even brainwarp will allow for better use of the single DP 1.4 cable which btw should have enough bandwidth to deal with 2x 4k res.
The main problem is current GPU hardware more so than display tech as these panels are obviously able to support greater than 60hz at 4k, which has been the limitation of 4k displays till now.
Another way would maybe enable an upgrade kit which would provide the controller board and a DP 2.0 or what ever standard is next Gen DP. That would come out down the track and when GPU’s can support it. Keeping the HMD upgradable, modular and current. The kit could be installed by user at home, if capable or by localised techs with some support from Pimax. I can’t imagine it would be much harder than current mobile phone repairs that may do the glob over.