Sony PlayStation VR2 (PSVR2)

[Silent_Buddha]

Plus a huge price drop. That said, the more I look at impressions of the Big Screen Beyond, the more tempted I am by that thing. It encouraged me to try the Big Screen app again last night and even on my old Rift it's incredibly impressive (more so than I remember when I originally tried it several years ago). Watching films on the BSB really would be like having a true 4K OLED 3D cinema screen at your beck and call. As someone who loves film and 3D content, that's mighty tempting.

I know PSVR2 has it's own cinema mode which I image is very impressive given the high res and quality of it's displays. Does it also have the Bigscreen app itself or something similar? One thing I've noted from using Bigscreen is that a simple floating screen in a black or contextless space (e.g. a floating screen in a space vista) is no-where near as impressive as watching it in a space with real world context like a cinema, drive-in, or even the classroom setting. It's just a crazy experience even on my ancient headset.

Yeah, if the PSVR2 had been the size of the BSB, that would get it very close to potentially breaking the mass consumer market barrier that VR currently faces. IE - problems with current VR are, [1] too large and bulky, [2] too costly, [3] requires additional hardware which adds onto the cost, [4] tethered, [5] low FOV and [5] potentially underpowered if untethered.

IMO, the moment a headset can solve all of those while coming in at a reasonably consumer friendly price, that's when VR will really take off. There are some headsets that address some of those issues, but nothing that can address all of them (the technology to do it just isn't there yet).

That said it's good to see that headsets that manage to solve some of the issues preventing mass adoption do see relatively increased market penetration (Quest and Quest 2 with being untethered and relatively affordable albeit still too expensive for most consumers).

PSVR2 makes some great advances for VR, a high focus on foveated rendering to address shortfalls in rendering performance when rendering a game in VR cannot be stressed enough. That's the one thing it does to significantly move the needle for VR. So, it'll get some more people interested. And before anyone says anything, sure it's "possible" on other headsets, but there currently isn't a unified platform or push for it as there is on PS5 + PSVR2.

BSB OTOH makes a significant leap forward for VR as well by significantly reducing the size and getting it closer to a size where more consumers will find it acceptable to use. And it'll also likely get more people interested in VR.

Neither go quite far enough to bringing VR to the masses, but each takes another significant step forward. It's good to see progress in the field and that despite many VR players bowing out, that there are still some that believe there is a potential future for VR and keep trying to get there.

If the BSB weren't so expensive (also requires light houses and controllers to be purchased) I'd jump on that right now as the size is oh so nice. But if PSVR2 were able to be used on PC, I'd consider it likely "good enough" to maybe invest in another VR headset even though I've pretty much lost most interest in VR for anything other than movie watching now. Although I'm not sure PSVR2 can be used while lying down in bed with my head on the pillow. And that would be a bit of a drawback.

Regards,
SB

 

[pjbliverpool]

I don't follow. Unless the idea is PC VR enthusaists would go shell out on a $1000 PS5+PSVR2 combo, what's the relevance of PSVR2 to PC? It's not an incremental improvement as you described because PSVR2 isn't compatible with PC. It's an independent product. I don't understand the relevance of PCVR and your statement in this thread.


They do? I would have thought they'd be talking about the majority played systems. I don't know what the most popular active headsets are on PC. If more people are playing original Oculus on PC than fancy headsets, I'd have thought they'd be the 'PCVR players', to which PSVR2 is not an incremental improvement to them, nor a massive improvement. It's got no bearing on their VR experience unless they want to get a PS5+PSVR2.

I definitely think PSVR2 is of relevance to PC gamers. It's not as though owning a PC prevents us from also picking up a PS5+PSVR2 if the value proposition is there, and to be fair, I think it is. Even with having to buy a PS5 to run it, the PSVR2 is cost comparable to high end PC VR headsets so it really is a question of "does it offer enough of an upgrade (or side grade) over high end PCVR to make it worthwhile - and that's assuming one already has a good PC capable of running those high end PC headsets. So a direct comparison of what's available in the PC space compared to the PSVR2 on a technical basis is something of relevance to PC gamers IMO.

Fair enough I suppose.. though apps need to be whitelisted by the driver, and the list appears to be quite small.

I think it's the headsets rather than the games that need to be whitelisted in the driver if I'm not mistaken? As far as I understood it the games just work if you have a compatible headset and they meet the criteria (forward rendered etc...)

Yeah, if the PSVR2 had been the size of the BSB, that would get it very close to potentially breaking the mass consumer market barrier that VR currently faces. IE - problems with current VR are, [1] too large and bulky, [2] too costly, [3] requires additional hardware which adds onto the cost, [4] tethered, [5] low FOV and [5] potentially underpowered if untethered.

IMO, the moment a headset can solve all of those while coming in at a reasonably consumer friendly price, that's when VR will really take off. There are some headsets that address some of those issues, but nothing that can address all of them (the technology to do it just isn't there yet).

That said it's good to see that headsets that manage to solve some of the issues preventing mass adoption do see relatively increased market penetration (Quest and Quest 2 with being untethered and relatively affordable albeit still too expensive for most consumers).

PSVR2 makes some great advances for VR, a high focus on foveated rendering to address shortfalls in rendering performance when rendering a game in VR cannot be stressed enough. That's the one thing it does to significantly move the needle for VR. So, it'll get some more people interested. And before anyone says anything, sure it's "possible" on other headsets, but there currently isn't a unified platform or push for it as there is on PS5 + PSVR2.

BSB OTOH makes a significant leap forward for VR as well by significantly reducing the size and getting it closer to a size where more consumers will find it acceptable to use. And it'll also likely get more people interested in VR.

Neither go quite far enough to bringing VR to the masses, but each takes another significant step forward. It's good to see progress in the field and that despite many VR players bowing out, that there are still some that believe there is a potential future for VR and keep trying to get there.

If the BSB weren't so expensive (also requires light houses and controllers to be purchased) I'd jump on that right now as the size is oh so nice. But if PSVR2 were able to be used on PC, I'd consider it likely "good enough" to maybe invest in another VR headset even though I've pretty much lost most interest in VR for anything other than movie watching now. Although I'm not sure PSVR2 can be used while lying down in bed with my head on the pillow. And that would be a bit of a drawback.

Regards,
SB

Totally agree on all points, took the words out of my mouth. Although even PSVR2 with BSB form factor wouldn't quite break into the mass market IMO - it still needs to be standalone. Ideally with wireless "tethered" capability as well.

 

[Remij]

@Shifty Geezer Hey, I apologize. I'm an idiot. I did say PC players, thus making the connection between users. However, I mean, yea it is possible that PCVR players would buy into PSVR2 for various reasons such as exclusive software.. in which case the headset could be a minor upgrade depending on whether you already had a higher end PC headset or not.

 

[Karamazov]

videogames did not go from pong to nanite in 6 months, these things take time, research and money, it's already amazing that it's at last expanding and getting more and more interest, as it started in the 90s and was buried for so long, until mid-late 2010s.

 

[GhostofWar]

Fair enough I suppose.. though apps need to be whitelisted by the driver, and the list appears to be quite small.

I'm not sure about the nvidia driver route but openxr toolkit lets you use eye tracked FR aswell. I've seen it working in flight sim 2020, ACC and Iracing. It probably works in a bunch of other stuff but it was a simrig I got play with it and that's all he had installed VR wise.

 

[snc]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1627573993946460160

 

[snc]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1627699906294206464

 

[chris1515]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1627948293765402624

 

[orangpelupa]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1627948293765402624

Interesting. I wonder if max full white hdr brightness is low, thus "blinding glares" are more noticeable at night drive

 

[pjbliverpool]

It'd be interesting to know what the NIT rating is. The headset really does look very, very good. Amazing for the price.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Being OLED, the low light levels can be lower allowing for more contrast. If the headset is capable of pure darkness, the night display can be equivalent of real-world night driving, pupils wide open at a fraction of the display's peak brightness. Then any bright spots will be suitably contrasty. That's quite a big deal, being able to represent dark visuals more accurately and not having to adhere to brighter visuals to obscure background illumination from the display. You can create some real scary nigh-invisible dark shadows in a dark environment if the display is accurate enough with its dark level reproduction.

 

[orangpelupa]

Being OLED, the low light levels can be lower allowing for more contrast. If the headset is capable of pure darkness, the night display can be equivalent of real-world night driving, pupils wide open at a fraction of the display's peak brightness. Then any bright spots will be suitably contrasty. That's quite a big deal, being able to represent dark visuals more accurately and not having to adhere to brighter visuals to obscure background illumination from the display. You can create some real scary nigh-invisible dark shadows in a dark environment if the display is accurate enough with its dark level reproduction.

Now it made sense why my lg CX oled is blinding bright in dark room and not bright enough in bright room.

Its like when there were electricity blackout, i close my eyes for half minute, and I can see in the dark.

Psvr2 with a much better light shield than psvr1 would basically provide instant pitch black room

 

[Deleted member 11852]

My PSVR2 is arriving tomorrow. Mercifully it's with the best courier in my area, DPD which also means I get to pick my delivery hour slot later this evening.

edit: listening to the latest DF podcast and John is really happy with the hardware. I watched his review, but catching up on all the things he forgot to mention in the reviews. I'm glad he mentioned that glasses fogging doesn't happen because that had to be one of my minor irritations with PSVR and Quest 2.

 

[orangpelupa]

My PSVR2 is arriving tomorrow. Mercifully it's with the best courier in my area, DPD which also means I get to pick my delivery hour slot later this evening.

edit: listening to the latest DF podcast and John is really happy with the hardware. I watched his review, but catching up on all the things he forgot to mention in the reviews. I'm glad he mentioned that glasses fogging doesn't happen because that had to be one of my minor irritations with PSVR and Quest 2.

can you test with glasses? let us know whether a glasses stopper is needed or not

 

[chris1515]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1627950534207459328

 

[chris1515]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1628002943545778183

 

[Deleted member 11852]

can you test with glasses? let us know whether a glasses stopper is needed or not

No problem, I need glasses to play. DF's John L said his glasses were not a problem and his frames are massive compared to mine, I have those super-thin titanium wire frames.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1628002943545778183

F*** it. Bought and downloading.

 

[snc]

 

[snc]