Proximity sensor

Hi.
Question for all you lucky backers who have already received your pimax. Does it have a proximity sensor? The earlier version did. If not why was it removed and never mentioned?

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I can confirm that my 5K+ unit has no proximity sensor.
Guessing Pimax wants to reduce production costs.

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Another change made by Pimax without bothering to announce it? Color me surprised.

I would like to know the ramifications of deleting the proximity sensor. I’m thinking possible screen burn in, LCD backlight dimming over time from having the screen always active, etc. There’s a reason nearly every other VR headset out there that I can think of has a proximity sensor. They aren’t including them on their headsets for the heck of it.

Pimax, this is getting ridiculous. Changing the specs of the headsets for the worse after the reviews have already been published is just plain WRONG.

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Probably found it not worth the cost since steam already turns the headsets off if it detects no movement.

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Anyway pimax should inform backers. doing review of a headset and release with less quality its very wrong.
At this time want to know what much more quality they reduced?

I totally agree with you on spec change after the official reviews is wrong and I enjoyed the feature on my oculus rift eg instant pause on utube.

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My 5K+ and 8K don’t have any proximity sensor. You can, however, turn the headset off manually while still keeping everything connected. Main downside of this is if you forget then it just stays on, doesn’t even seem to have a timeout to turn it off.

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the button off turn off completly the headset or put in standby mode? i see somewhere that dont shut down…

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I think it’s called standby mode but it turns the screens off completely. It turns right back on without going through the boot up process that it does if you completely remove power.

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LCD backlight panels have a finite lifespan. The more they’re used, the dimmer they get. If there is no proximity sensor and the headset remains on (even if not displaying an image), that will decrease the longevity of the headset, possibly significantly. And from the reviews I’ve read, the 8K and 5K+ don’t exactly have brightness to spare even when brand new.

So now we’re going to have to either unplug the headset or remember to manually turn it off every time we’re done using it to prevent unnecessary wear on the backlight?

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Or Pimax will need to implement a sleep function into PiTool for when the headset is unused for X seconds/minutes.

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I just don’t understand why Pimax felt it was acceptable to remove a feature that every other headset on the market has as standard. It’s not as if they’re competing with WMR at the low end and needed to cut corners in order to survive. At the pre-order pricing of $699 for the 5K+ and $899 for the 8K, I’m sure they could have afforded to leave the proximity sensor in place.

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Who knows what the cost is?

Or what the reason was?

Not sure how much SteamVR sensors (Valve) cost.

I’m pretty sure there’s a reason why WMR headsets with their inside out tracking is cheaper.

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next step is remove the headstrap?What is pimax thinking?

The reviews are done and they are changing the unit??

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The only problems I have run into by not having a proximity sensor is in a social app called “project sansar” which relied on the sensor to dictate when others could see your vr movements, which seems good enough, but in reality it’s just a bad implementation because they have a VR mode toggle already, it’s two different toggles controlling what should be controlled by one.

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Did the test (PiTool .90). The panels are always on. However Pimax seems to use tracking information to mimic the proximity sensor feature. If the HMD is not moved (defined by a threshold value) for a certain period of time the panels show black with a moving little color changing square as burn in protection after less than a minute of inactivity. However the LCD backlight is always on. A tiny vibration is enough to wake the HMD up again. If the threshold value is not configurable then this could be problematic if you life next to train tracks or a street with heavy trucks driving on it. Currently the only way to turn of the LCD backlight is to turn off HMD via the power botton.

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@pimax can you explain why you removed? its possible to put again in the next batch.
And want to know if you are not reducing the quality of the headset in each batch…

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That’s crazy. WHY would their engineers allow the panel back light to remain on at all times? If I take headset off, it needs to completely SHUT OFF after a short amount of time, including the back light. I don’t want to have to plug/unplug the headset every time I put it on and take it off. And I definitely don’t want the displays to remain active if I take the HMD off and set it on my desk.

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I agree, 100%. blah, blah, blah, 20 chars.

What? I thought it had one…

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