Valve Index user reviews

Pimax 8K Series
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110° at “the waist” of the view, where the distortion of the lens bends the edge of the screen inwards - it flares out a little bit above and below the “equator”, but I don’t count those little “horns” of FOV.

130° was a rumor - not a claim. Valve in fact bend themselves out of shape in their info material, to avoid ever having to put a number to the FOV.

What distinguishes the Index, is that the two-element lens flattens the field curvature of the lens, so the view out at 50° from straight ahead has not lost nearly as much sharpness as with previous consumer grade HMDs - still gets blurrier toward the periphery, but a good bit less.

As for the glare: What can I say - I have been whinging incessantly about the side effects of using Fresnel lenses since they were brought into the picture, and am not about to stop now. It is bad – not any worse than other Fresnel HMDs - including my p5k+, just somewhat different in character (think a hybrid of the glare in the Rift CV1 and the HTC Vive, with heavy blur applied). It can make a strongly coloured object tint the whole view with additive light, unless one is properly in the sweet spots of the lenses, and I can not see it gone soon enough.

That hasn’t stopped me from exacerbating it somewhat with my Index, by boosting image brightness a bit through config file editing. :stuck_out_tongue:

The refresh rate thing is kind of frustrating. One may not notice it so much when looking for it, but it really makes everything feel more stable. The problem is that on the other hand you have supersampling, which really makes everything feel a lot more solid and detailed, so you’re left with a choice; There is rarely computing power enough for both, but both are vital, and the experience will suffer for the deprioritisation of either. :stuck_out_tongue:

(Solid, especially when you get up to x2.0 (400% in SteamVR parlance) or above. There are a lot of people claiming that it is pointless to go above 1.7; Well those blind mice can enjoy not getting to taste those grapes they have predetermined to be sour, if that wilful ignorance makes them happy; Me, I’ll yearn for those grapes on the unreachable vine, for they are sweet, lovely, and succulent. :P)

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The Index’s FoV is up to 20° more. Not guaranteed for each user. This would be a great opportunity to compare using @knob2001’s new version of his testing suite for headsets.

There are a number of factors that affects perceived FoV. Valve & Vive pro both have lense distance adjustments vs just ipd. Plus there is no proper standards on reporting FoV.

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its not lie, 130 diagonal = 115 horizontal, ppl alway messed this 2 things

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Hi Wayne @Joeblackof . I have a pimax 8k and I love its wide fov but i do not like the lack of support and the lack of compatibility with other vr hardware I have. I keep asking questions about compatibility with no answer and no solution given. Also who knows when we are going to get the pimax controllers and base stations and wifi module and eye tracking module and hand tracking module.

At this point i am tempted to get a vive index headset , the complete setup with the base stations and the knuckles.

What are in your opinion the positive and negative points of the valve index versus the pimax 8k/5k ?

Thanks!

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15 posts were split to a new topic: Hybrid Controllers/Locomotion Ideas

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BTW, not sure if it was posted before, but I hadn’t seen sebastian’s review of the index, seems quite a fair review: Valve Index - Why THIS Is My Recommended Headset For The VR Enthusiast - Valve Index 3 Day Review - YouTube

picture quality indeed better than the 5k+ and 8k (as also confirmed by others in this thread) so that’s at least something. Then again, the difference between the Reverb and the index, as he shows in the video, is still quite big.

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yeah but he also told me if I got a Pimax already the difference in pic quality is not that big. No need to change from his POV…

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Yeah the pic quality isn’t a huge improvement. If you don’t experience distortions on the 5k+ and are enjoying the way the virtual world feels, then I don’t think you need to upgrade (at least that’s what I’m getting from the reviews). For me personally the distortions ruin the whole 5k+ experience, so that’s why I’m now going to try the Index.

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Hi Marco.
I now only use my Index and am very happy with it. I can hand on heart recommend it. Every single game or experience I have tried has worked straight away without any alteration. It’s not perfect and does suffer from glare which I notice on title screens or logos that flash during start up of a game but when your in a game it’s gone. The comfort is on another level, it’s so balanced and well padded. I love having the audio built in. The audio quality is unbelievable compared to any other hmd I’ve tried. The floating speakers are a game changer. I’m 100% sure the pimax will improve with its own audio solution and face cushion. The build quality is also a huge improvement. I can use the index for far greater lengths of time without feeling the effects of Vr I don’t know if this is down to the refresh rate, comfort or the lack of distortion. This can vary person to person but I struggled to use the pimax for longer than around an hour without feeling a little sick or just ok that’s enough now. I don’t in the index at all and find I’m surprised just how long I’ve been in VR and stop due to work and need of sleep!! The FOV is far smaller than the pimax and if you a b the devices it’s very obvious although for me it’s good enough and the positive points out weigh this. If your all about FOV stick to the Pimax. The clarity is sharper especially text and the screen door effect reduced. The index controllers are excellent and feel very futuristic compared to the wands. I hope people do not see this as bashing Pimax that is not my intention. The pimax is a fantastic Hmd. I can’t help but feel the long delays in the extra promised features is not helping the brand. The release of the audio strap and eye tracking plus controllers and light houses would inject some real interest in the HMD and make it a complete package. Hope this helps.
Wayne

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Truth folks should be content with differing viewpoints. The main thing is for companies to push each other to improve things.

Each company is pushing in different areas to improve VR experiences. And while there are areas all need to be able to do better.

Pimax is pushing FoV outward & providing a wealth of settings no other VR headset has given users.

Valve is pushing refresh & stacked lenses for a variety of benefits with one could say some of ideas promoted by Infini Eye (starvr root). Experimenting with Off Ear Audio using speaker drivers to provide a better audio without high priced headphone drivers out of the box.

Oculus is working on mobile options & improving on IO solutions for masses easy setup.

All areas of VR are lighting up with variety of choice & price points for Budget to entrprenuers.

Truth imho some with strong entertainment budgets are likely to have different headsets for different uses. Portables for easy pick up & go play. Encumbersome setups like Vive Pro/Index & pimax for dedicated spaces. Vive Pro & Index for experiences where FoV doesn’t really need to be all encompassing with Vive Pro bring for die hard blacks. Pimax headsets where FoV makes differences like sims etc…

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Right now for me FOV > everything else. Cant go back to anything lover.

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Hi Wane. Thank you so so much! Lately I am using the Quest because of its wireless setup that i need for console games streaming/playing on the quest and the locomotion system i am using. The cable of the hdmi (pimax , because i was using the pimax headset only) is a pain. It restricts my movements in gaming.

I have 2 more questions please:

  1. is the fov of the index wider of the fov of the quest?

At this point i had to force myself to accept a smaller fov of the quest vs a much better fov of the pimax, for the type of the gaming i am doing. So i kind got used to a crappy small fov again.

  1. have you heard if there is on the work a valve index wifi system and how far in time that would be?

Thank you so much again for your opinion and feedback.
I have several hdmi headsets and i too think that a perfect headset does not exist. They all have positive and negative points. At the end of the day , in my opinion, what is limiting vr, are not even the headsets quality, but the lack of original aaa gaming and a lack of a big quantity of aaa gaming, vs what we have for non vr gaming. Also, there is a lot of limitations in the dev part with companies like valve changing repeadetly their steamvr software blocking any cool feature added to vr by dev. I personally am pissed off that i can’t use the locomotions hardware i want and that i have, with any game I want, because they broke the openvr input emulator/keyboard support. This is what i care for because of the hardware i purchased and they are all (not only valve) limiting my hardware use.
I feel every vr company , dev, kickstarter , software developer or whatever , are working 1 against the other to promote/sell their own stuff, instead of working together

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Toba that’s twice in the space of days you’ve said the exact same thing in this thread. Are you gunning for the hattrick?

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I think there is room for many headset manufacturers aimed at different segments. Very excited to be with a group trying to push the envelope.

No doubt I’m biased but yesterday with a big customer I had to switch between an index and vive pro and one of our prototypes like 50 times.

There are so many use cases for wide fov and the fov of the index for me at least is almost exactly the same as the vive pro and for me it had a few millimeters of distortion on the sides. I did like the audio a lot and there is a lot to like there certainly but visually it does not seem to be a panacea at least IMHO.

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FOV is definitely wider on the Index than the Quest. However, when you play the same games the differences are incredible. Take any cross-buy game and then run them both side-by-side and you realise how low-quality the quest visuals are. Also, and this is a massive boon for the Index, the 120/144hz makes a massive difference compared to the 72hz of Quest and I mean so massive the games feel different. Try Vader Immortal Dojo and look and compare the movement of both versions.

Racket Fury updated yesterday and I played this at 120/144hz and it was incredible how smoother, faster and alive the game felt compared to the Quest version. No comparison really. Quest is great for wireless play and even streaming at a lower quality than native. That’s its main selling point really but it will never match a great tethered experience in terms of fluidity and visuals.

As for the 8K and all these new additions, tweaks, new pitools , head-straps etc. It counts for a lot being able to just put on the headset and play without the need to mess around with settings to get things right. Index is also very comfortable with its rigid head-strap. Audio also very good. I am leaning towards the Pimax VR effect isn’t as good for me, where on reflection something isn’t quite right (the 3D depth doesn’t feel as deep) again either due to a defective unit or just bad calibration which I’ve not managed to obtain after many days of fiddling about.

I definitely favour the Index over the 8K. It’s feature complete and just a really nice headset despite the black levels in some instances not being as good as it could be, the glare being an issue in some scenes and a narrower fov compared to pimax 8K). I’d say the SDE is on par with each other but the overall clarity is better than the 8K for obvious reasons. That up-scaling really makes the headset lose out considerably. The 8KX should fare much better.

@PimaxUSA

That’s very true but sadly this fragmented market isn’t doing VR any favours. We need a headset that accomplishes it all with one fell swoop and at a reasonable price. We’re many years away from that.

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We may surprise you.

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Hi Marco. Yes the index does indeed have a greater FOV this varies person to person as you slide the lenses closer to your eyes to get the max FOV. I have watched a few reviews and they mostly quote around 130. To me this feels fine and it has an increased clarity right to the edge of the lens. I also like/miss wireless and had an adapter on my original Vive. I think a wireless solution for the index will not be far away Gabe Newell has stated this is a priority see below. I think valve are opening up the index to the modding community with the fronk so fingers crossed for the future. I would love a simple locomotion solution that just works and have backed the cybershoes and kat loco. What is your personal solution?
Wayne :+1::grinning:

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That sounds interesting??!!?? I would really love the 8k x to be a genuine step up. Comfortable and distortion free with improved clarity and the full FOV. Fingers crossed. :crossed_fingers:

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Hi.
Do you wear glasses? If you adjust the headset right and pull the lenses as close as possible to your face its not comparable to the Vive. I have both also for me it’s crystal to the edge. Different shaped faces I suppose and trying multiple headset quickly between multiple people.

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As I said and have said many times in the past, the 8K+ or 8KX as a rebrand is what could be that headset if made/marketed correctly. I’m all ears on that when you have some info.

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