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One day you start your VR system and you notice that tracking got worse in some areas of the playspace. You check SteamVR and see that one of the base stations is not tracking. You peek at a base station and see a blinking red light. OH NO! If you still have the base station under warranty, no need to panic, this can happen, you just contact Valve/HTC support (depending where you bought it from) and they will offer you a replacement. Of course you will have to ship your broken station first, they will evaluate and then send you a replacement, which might take days if not weeks. That is why I keep two spare base stations around.

But what if you are out of luck and the warranty has expired? Time to take matters in your own hands! First identify the issue. Unplug power from the base station, wait five seconds and plug it back. I have seen two different cases of failure: At first light is green, you can hear motors starting to spin, but a few seconds later – red light. Slow red blinking light means the laser in the base station has failed. It will require a replacement. Immediately fast red blinking light and no sound of the motor – it means that either one of the circuits is dead or the motor.

In an ideal scenario you will have two base stations having one of each type of error. That way, you can combine two broken base stations into one working one.

Identify your revision

Identify which revision of the Base Station 2.0 you have. All 2.0 BSs have round glass in front, while 1.0 has flat glass. I have seen three different revisions of 2.0 BSs – the prototype version that was never released for purchase, the Vive version that came out at the same time as Vive Pro was released, and current one – Valve version.

Vive versions are identified by having a sync 3.5 mm port in the back and glass going to the sides of the device.

Vive versions are not being released anymore, as Valve is responsible for producing all the base stations themselves and then selling them to partners. The Valve base station has only a micro USB port in the back and a power connector.

Disassembly

Disconnect your base station from the power.

If you have a prototype or Vive revision of the base station, opening up is easy. Just remove the bottom rubber layer (it is sticked by a double sided tape) and you will see the screws for opening it up.

For the Valve version things get more complex. Valve really, really, REALLY doesn’t want you to open the base station. Doesn’t mean it will stop us.

Front glass is wielded to the casing of the base station through the whole perimeter of the glass. Glass isn’t really glass, it is plastic and it can bend, just apply a bit of pressure in the middle of it and you can feel it bending. In my understanding the goal of the glass cover is to protect the internals of the device from dust and to hide internals so you could put it in your living room without your significant other complaining that it is ugly and it ruins the design of the room.

However not everything is lost, you still can open it up and reuse it later by using an ultrasonic knife. Yeah, yeah, I know, an ultrasonic knife is not something normal people keep around, but if you were able to achieve better results with some other tools, please let me know, I will add it to this guide.

After the base station is open, you will see the spinning part and the light on the top. Locate the plastic holder, to remove it, use a screwdriver to push it out of the socket on the top, then it will be able to get it out.

Now you have access to the screws holding the main internals. Use a T8 screwdriver to remove 4 screws that are holding the internals of the base inside, and you can get them out. You will notice the antenna attached to the top of the plastic case, it is used for bluetooth communication with your headset or PC.

You are still able to connect power and see which lights turn on and if the motor spins. Taking it further apart is straightforward.

Remove four screws on the main motherboard to take it off.

Three screws to remove the top circuit.

4 screws are holding the metal case to the motor case.

Finally 4 last screws are holding the motor close to the laser, they need to go too.

Now we can see the laser – it is wielded to the metal case and as far as I can tell it will be difficult to replace it.

But if you have a donor base station with a working laser, you don’t need to take it out, just take the whole case from the donor and start assembly

Do it in the same order – motor, metal bracket, top PCB, main PCB. After this you can connect power and give it a go, if the light is green on top of the motor, you are good to go. Just assemble it back and don’t forget the plastic holder. The “glass” can also be placed back and glued on the edges. Or just use black electric tape to tape it on the edges.

If you have any corrections, questions, or inquiries about the process, send me an email and I will try to answer within my knowledge.

During spring, when everyone already thought that WMR platform is dead and we are not going to see VR headsets using WMR tech ever again, HP has announced Reverb G2 – a device built in collaboration with Microsoft and… Valve. Last one was quite unexpected, since Vale has its own VR tracking system – SteamVR. But as we have learned over the years during interviews with Valve employees – Valve only cares for VR to succeed, no matter the way. Good on you, Valve!

A little bit of background – at the moment of writing this review my daily VR driver is Valve Index, with occasional switch to Oculus Quest 2 for playing Population One. I own an OJO 500 – weird little WMR headset from Acer, but I almost never use it. Also I’ve spent quite a lot of time using Varjo VR-2 headset and Pimax 8k+, both of which will become relevant later on.

Image quality and FOV

Let’s start with the visuals – trying HP Reverb G2 for the first time, I felt relief. We did it. We are at the moment in time when increasing PPD (pixels per degree) value in the consumer VR headset is no more necessary. You cannot distinguish between separate pixels unless you have very specific light conditions and you are trying your best to concentrate on the screen door. Bravo, HP!

After seeing such an improvement you notice FOV. Or actual lack of decent FOV. In fact, for me FOV of the Reverb G2 is similar to the one I see on the Quest 2 – about 100 degrees horizontal. After getting used to the much wider Valve Index this feels like a step back. At first I thought “did they just take a face mask from the Valve Index without changing anything resulting in such an issue?”. That would be a reasonable explanation, considering that on the Valve Index one could adjust distance between the screen and the eyes, a feature that is unavailable on the G2. But after comparing both face masks side by side it was clear that the one on Reverb is thicker. Also they are not interchangeable if you were wondering, plastic pins with magnets are located in the different spots. Luckily HP has released CAD files of face mask, so there are already 3D models available for printing at Thingiverse which will allow you to put the lenses much closer to your eyes. I have yet to find a 3D printer to check it out, however upon trying the G2 without a face mask I can see that there is definitely room for improvement.

What about the image in G2? Well, it is still an LCD panel, so it comes with all the issues of the LCDs – no real blacks and not so vibrant colors. I’ve tested side by side Quest 2 and G2 screens in one of the darkest VR games I’ve tried – Blood Trial. In the pitch black scenes you can equally not distinguish any details on both, while when I’ve tested it on my Vive Pro with OLED panels, you could clearly see the difference. Nothing unexpected here. God Rays are also present in G2, like in any headset relying on Fresnel lenses, however they are not so intruding. The Medal of Honor Above and Beyond splash screen with white letters on the dark screen looked sharp enough that I will give G2 “pass” for that.

Ergonomics

HP decided not to invent the wheel and take a head strap directly from Valve Index HMD, slightly modifying it to reduce the cost. Adjustment knob in the back has disappeared, instead you adjust velcro straps on the sides and on the top in a similar fashion as it is done on the original Oculus Quest. I was always fond of Valve Index headstrap, unlike Vive Pro’s one it has always fitted me perfectly. If you will be the only user of the G2, you can adjust the straps for yourself and forget about touching them ever again, however if there are multiple users or you are using it for business – you will face unnecessary struggle. Luckily HP realised it and the enterprise version called the Omnicept Edition will get that knob on the back. Smart move.

Sound

The headphones or the sound drivers were also taken directly from Valve Index. I am happy with the sounds it produce and even though I’ve heard reports of sound starting to break at higher volumes, I’ve never noticed anything like that myself.

IPD

I am happy to see that IPD adjustment has become a standard for modern HMD’s – it is extremely important for the user to have the center of the lense as close to the center of the pupil as possible. Available range for IPD adjustment is between 60 and 68 mm, which is not ideal and will cover a little over 70% of users. Luckily I am right in the middle with 63 mm IPD.

Connection

Originally HP intended to connect G2 in the similar manner as the original Reverb, using a single USB and a single DisplayPort cable. However HP have found a way to lower persistence without lowering brightness, which required having power brick (thanks /u/Rigger1234 for correction). I don’t mind having external power, anyways my PC is next to the socket. However it seems like HP decided to cut the corners here as well by reusing one of the power bricks from their laptops. From one hand – who cares how the power is implemented, if it is lying somewhere under the table. On the other hand – Valve and Pimax have managed to shove all the necessary power converting components in a much smaller box located at the box.

Worth noting that instead of traditional Type A USB connector, the G2 has Type C connector, which is useful for those who use it with a laptop. HP also had include Type C to Type A and DP to miniDP adapters in the box.

Controllers

HP is the first WMR manufacturer who decided to change up the original recipe for WMR controllers and introduce something new. Touch panels were removed (thank you!) and joysticks were replaced by better quality ones. Controllers now have A, B, X, Y buttons, similar to Oculus controllers. Unlike Oculus controllers, those buttons are clicking, instead of being pressed. There is very little room for the movement of the button down, which feels a little bit weird. Grip button is now implemented in the same manner as on Oculus controllers, it is easy to hold it, and by releasing it you will drop an object. Previous WMR controllers had horrendous clickable buttons for a grip. Windows and the menu button has moved higher and HP has decided to distinguish them by making the menu button pop up over the level of plastic. Even though the buttons are distinguishable, I am still constantly mixing them when I am not looking.

Tracking

HMD tracking on WMR headsets was always on-par. Microsoft was first to show us that you don’t need external cameras or lighthouses to track headset in space. At that time they only needed two cameras to do that, but G2 has four of them. In any case HMD tracking is flawless, which I can not tell about controller tracking. Controller tracking is still relying on the visual tracking of the LED rings attached to controllers. My main issue with pre-G2 WMR was how tracking is getting lost on one of the controllers when you play shooting games or games featuring archery. HP wanted to improve tracking by adding two cameras on the sides of the headset. However, they failed. Don’t get me wrong, tracking on the sides works well, you can make a T-pose and your controllers will be perfectly tracked. But I do not shoot in a T-pose. In fact I rarely do that gesture at all. What I do – I put my right hand holding a grip of a virtual gun close to the chin. While my hand is there, I adjust the position of my right arm slightly to accurately aim through the scope. That’s when G2 fails me.

Microsoft and HP did a great job on predicting the controller’s position for a second after it leaves the tracking area. However, when my hand is close to the chest or close to my chin, it is outside of the tracking area much longer. This is when I am getting frustrated with the tracking. Similar things happen when you relax your arms and hold controllers down. Neither of the cameras are able to see the controllers at my waist level if I am looking straight. When I start lifting my hands, I can clearly see the moment when tracking starts working again. That is the moment when my gun/bow/sword that I hold in my hand jumps forward to the correct position. For me, that breaks the immersion. I start constantly holding my arms in front of the cameras even when I am not doing anything, just so I wouldn’t see that snapping arm glitch. Unlike Oculus headset, none of the cameras on G2 are facing down, so I don’t see this issue being resolved by software updates.

Resolution for the issue has come from Valve. You can easily pair Valve Index controllers with Reverb G2, considering you have base stations and dongles for connecting controllers to your PC. It takes less than a minute to pair two tracking systems if you know what you are doing. G2 and Index controllers is a match made in heaven. Well, almost, I still prefer the wider FOV of Valve Index over the narrow mask of G2. But other than that – you get a perfectly crist image with no screen door and perfectly tracked pair of controllers.

Conclusion

After using G2 for about 10 days I went back to Valve Index. I was horrified. How did I manage to enjoy VR using Index with such a horrible and huge screen door effect? Of course after a few minutes your brain adapts back and starts ignoring the screen door, but damn, my favourite headset is ruined for me now. It is valid to compare G2 to Pimax 8k+ (I haven’t had my hands on 8kx) and Varjo VR-2. Since the 8k+ is upscaling the image to the 4k resolution, I didn’t see such image clarity on it compared to G2. As for Varjo, their screen is producing images beyond anyone’s perception, beating G2 fair and square. However Varjo products are not aimed at consumers.

I feel like G2 will be a go-to device for anyone who wasn’t happy with VR image clarity until now. It has the best price/value ratio for flight and driving sims users. If you paired it with an external tracking system for controllers, replacing the facemask with narrower one, it will reward you with the best possible experience in VR today.

This article will dive deep into explaining how the SteamVR tracking technology works and will show how tracking point placement affects HMD’s behaviour. I’ve also analyzed all consumer devices that rely on SteamVR tracking.

SteamVR tracking

SteamVR tracking system (don’t mix it with the SteamVR software) is based on one or more base stations that emit lasers at fixed time intervals. This system is used in devices from many manufacturers, and Valve is kindly allowing it to be used for free with only one condition. Your device has to support SteamVR software.

Main limitation of SteamVR tracking is that the lasers are easily reflected by glass, mirrored surfaces, glossy furniture, and when bounced back they can create tracking issues.

If you want to create a SteamVR tracked device you will start with a mesh of Light-to-Digital Sensors located on the surface of your controller/HMD. Sensors should be distributed evenly, so at any point base stations with emitters will see two of the sensors. It is enough to see two sensors at any given moment for accurate tracking.

How SteamVR tracking works

Every version of the base station of the SteamVR tracking system has been following similar techniques to track devices. Each base station contains two lasers – first is lighting through the room moving horizontally, second one is moving vertically. In the SteamVR base stations 1.0 there is also a grid of flashing LEDs. This grid would light-up, sending “sync flash”, telling all the visible sensors to start counting, then one laser would pass, and every tracking point would record time difference between flash and when it was beamed by a laser. Then the process will repeat for the second laser. Based on the delay between flashes and laser signals, the system can calculate where in the two dimensional plane each tracking point is located. Knowing at least two points positions the system can introduce a third coordinate (and also calculate angle and rotation of the headset). It is possible because locations of the tracking points are already predefined in SteamVR software – it contains a very simplified model of the HMD or/and controllers with information about actual distance between two tracking points. This calculation is happening at 1000 Hz which makes SteamVR tracking the most accurate tracking in the consumer VR device today.

In the base stations 2.0 the main concept remained untouched, but hardware was optimised. Instead of anonymous laser signal, 2.0 stations shoot a laser already containing “sync flash” timecode and base station ID – this way the amount of LEDs and other active components in the base station was reduced. It is also now relying on a single rotating motor instead of two, lowering chances of the mechanical failure.

HMD comparison

Now when we know how SteamVR tracking works, let’s have a look at some of the devices that use SteamVR tracking. I have not included Varjo headset in this list for two reasons – first, it is not a consumer device, second, I used to work there and my analysis of Varjo headset could be seen as biased. We will go from the best tracking to the worst tracking in this list.

Valve Index

Let’s start with a device that has the best positioning of sensors today. Valve has developed this tracking technology, so it is not really surprising that they have best tracking in class. It’s not like Vive or Pimax has bad tracking, but in the tests with robotic arm, Index was showing better results. I cannot disclose who and when tested it for confidentiality reasons, so you will have to believe me.

There are 9 tracking points on the front on the headset. Note that all of them are located outside of the glass panel area (removed on the picture). It is done this way because typically the laser passing through the transparent panel would slightly bend resulting in tracking issues. However on Valve Index the glass panel is reflective for the visible light (that’s why you can see your reflection in it) but it would not reflect the laser light, letting it pass through. This is a reason why there are no tracking issues with controllers, the front panel simply wouldn’t reflect lasers.

On each side of the headset there are five tracking points, most of them are located on the curved parts, so they will be visible from wider angles.

There are seven tracking points on the top. Note how three points in the center are slightly lifted. That way they can be tracked also from front or side, depending on the user’s head angle.

Finally there are six tracking points on the bottom. I am a bit disappointed with placement here – tracking points can be easily covered especially if you are holding a headset with two hands. However, as we know from the teardown, middle space was taken by the IPD adjustment mechanism, so I guess Valve had to compromise.

In total there are 32 tracking points – the number is not random. It is a limit of trackers that could be attached to a single tracking processing microcontroller. If you would want to have more tracking sensors – you would have to install a second microchip inside, which would have greatly complicated things.

Vive Pro

Let’s compare how tracking is different on the arguably best Vive headset up to date. HTC made a decision to use tracking points as part of the design, giving their headsets this futuristic look, that is easily recognisable.

Front panel of the Vive Pro has fourteen tracking points – the location of the sensors almost didn’t change since the original Vive, but it has become symmetrical horizontally and vertically. I have a feeling that the sensor location on the Vive Pro was guided more by the design team rather than the engineering team.

Each side has five sensors.

On the top side there are only four tracking points. Points are facing more to the side, rather than upwards. HTC doesn’t expect players to be directly under the base station.

Bottom side is symmetrical to the top side with only four tracking points. It is enough for most situations when you look up in VR.

In total there are again 32 tracking points. I will argue that the top and bottom side of the headset wouldn’t track as well as the ones on Valve Index due to the small amount of tracking points. But scenarios when the base station could only see top or bottom sensors seems to be unlikely.

Vive Cosmos Elite

This headset is a weird one. Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of modular faceplates. If you want to play casual games, you can get OG Cosmos with their horrendous (in my personal opinion) controller tracking. But having tracking sensors only on a thin faceplate creates some limitations.

In the front there are still 14 tracking points. Design has changed, there is no more recognizable Vive spirit on the face of the HMD. Four points that are closer to the center are faced inwards, so the tracking point on the bottom is best visible from the top, left tracker best visible from the right and the other way around. However notice how close sensors are to each other on the top and on the bottom. It is much easier to cover multiple trackers at once if you bring a hand or a controller close to the face. And if you take off the face plate, you can see that there is nothing that would obstruct from putting sensors closer to the cameras.

Side of the front plate has only three tracking points. And here you can clearly see how HTC have shot themselves in the foot by choosing a faceplate approach from Cosmos. Look at how much space there is around the side camera. You could easily fit there another pair of trackers which will make tracking better when not facing base stations.

There are six tracking points on the top. But again, look how close they are to each other and how much space there is closer to the head. And what if you would shove some of the trackers in the halo strap? (Latter one wouldn’t actually work as the headset can flip up, so the distance between track points on the headset and on the strap will not be constant).

Bottom side is symmetrical to the top side. So much space to use, it hurts!

As you might have guessed, Cosmos Elite has the weakest tracking out of three headsets discussed here so far. But it doesn’t mean it is bad. It just means in situations when there is a single base station in a room, it will fail earlier than Valve Index or Vive Pro would.

And now about that faceplate. If you would like to buy it separately, it will cost you about $200 or €220. And what you get are 32 sensors, a small microcontroller, a proprietary connector, and a bunch of plastic that makes it look fancy. If you would want to buy your own HDK with 32 sensors and microchip, you could get it from Tundra Labs for $129.99. And what you will be getting is the consumer version, I am sure HTC is getting it a bit cheaper. My point here? No point, companies have to earn money, I just enjoy knowing how much they are earning from every purchase.

Pimax 5k+

This was a tough one to dissect. On the Pimax headsets you cannot see tracking points with your bare eyes. Even though I have both 5k+ and 8k+ HMDs, I was terrified of the idea of taking them apart just for the purpose of showing tracking points. Mainly because of how fragile the casing plastic is, but also because my main expertise is in teardowns not the assembly. However, since the laser can penetrate the plastic case, so can I. I have found an old surveillance camera with an IR mode, connected to the pc and viola, I can see inside the Pimax.

That allowed me to find all 32 tracking sensors and map them on the photos.

The amount of tracking points on the front of the headset is underwhelming, especially considering the size of the HMD. It makes sense that Pimax was the worst SteamVR tracked headset in the tests – covering a bunch of sensors would be so easy.

However, while they fail to put enough sensors on the front, they might have put a bit too much on the sides. Each side has nine tracking points. They are packed tightly, but they are facing in different directions on different planes.

On the top there are also only six points. It is disappointing that they didn’t use elevated areas in the middle for additional trackers – it would have been useful for situations when the user is close to the base station.

If you were counting up to now, we’ve already found 30 tracking points. Which leaves us with only two tracking sensors for the bottom side of the headset. I guess Pimax really doesn’t want you to look up much. Also I think it is related to a mount at the bottom for the hand tracking module – Pimax didn’t want to block the sensors for people who will get that module.

Conclusion

When you are designing the headset, you will have many opportunities to screw things up. Hopefully after reading this article you will know the limitations of SteamVR tracking and design HMD better. Make sure to leave space for strategically placed tracking sensors, balance their placement and test prototypes thoroughly from all the angles. I really hope to see more devices relying on this tracking system in the future, not only business oriented, but also consumer oriented.

If you have ever wondered what is inside Valve Index, you might have stumbled upon my reddit post from 2019. I’ve decided to dive into the details of what makes Valve Index great and share my thoughts on tech inside.

Teardown should begin from the simplest parts – remove the face mask (held by just magnets), unplug the main cable, and remove headphones that are held in place by a single screw each. Next remove the rubber cover that is glued around lenses. It’s not that well glued, you can just pull it off.

Let’s start with a front panel – glossy front panel is removed by hand, since it is only held by magnets (but you already knew that from all the numerous pictures of people shoving stuff in the frunk of the headset). The rest of the front panel can be easily split in two parts. First is the frunk section, it will give you access to the main circuit board of the headset. You can remove it quite painlessly if you have the correct screwdriver. This panel does not contain any electronics.

Second part of the front panel is more complex. It contains tracking points for the SteamVR tracking – you can see them by looking at the plastic at different angles – plastic covering tracking points is thinner so laser beams from base stations could shoot through it. SteamVR trackers are split in two independent parts, which are connected to the main circuit separately. Also this panel contains two front facing cameras, which makes the process of taking it off even more delicate. You have to disconnect two cameras and two halves of the tracking plate’s system to finally fully reveal the main circuit.

Main Circuit

Finally we get to the main computing power of the headset. You can identify the main points of the headset.

On the top there is a metal connector with FPC cable going in. It is going to the smaller circuit in the top part of the headset where the cable plugs in the headset.

Same circuit has a 3.5 mm audio port for connecting headphones (I bet you didn’t know there is an audio jack) and proximity sensor between lenses. Last one is used for turning off the screens when the headset is not on the head.

On the sides of the main circuit board there are two black FPC cables. Those are going to the SteamVR tracking dots located in the sides of the headsets. Here is a picture of the tracking “web” when taken out of the headset.

Final two FPC cables are orange color and located at the bottom of the main board. They are connecting to a pair of displays located right behind this circuit.

Microchips

Now it is time to dive in a wonderful world of microchips and circuit boards. I want to thank Sergejs Popovs for helping to identify most of the components on the board.

Let’s start with simple chips. Here are two bluetooth chips from Nordic Semiconductors. Each of these chips is used for connecting one controller with the headset. That’s why there is a limitation of two devices connected to the HMD. If you want to connect more devices (Vive Trackers or other controllers) you will need to use a USB dongle with a separate Bluetooth chip.

Do you remember the USB port in the frunk? Well, this is a chip from Microchip for that USB port – hence USB in the name.

Here is a chip from Via-Labs. It has a purpose of converting USB 3.1 signal to the 2.0 one. Some of the chips on the circuit are not advanced enough to understand 3.1 USB, so this chip “dumbs it down”. When the signal will need to go back to the PC, the chip will convert the signal back to the USB 3.1.

This is a flash memory chip from Winbond Electronics.

Next are these two microchips. The smaller one is a SlimPort® 4K receiver from Analogix. It is capable of receiving Image in 4K at 60 Hz, but since screens in Valve Index are only 1440 by 1600 pixels it allows to process video at 90, 120, and even 144 Hz. It also splits the signal in two allowing each display to get its own image.

Larger chip is a multipurpose FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) chip from Lattice Semiconductor. It is used for tracking – all the data received from the tracking sensors is gathered here. This chip combined with the Atmel MCU (located on the other side of the circuit board) are doing all the necessary tracking calculations.

EtronTech microchip is used for merging video feeds from external cameras and transmitting it to your PC.

Last two chips on this side of the circuit from SiliconLabs are most likely related to power regulation. Both of them are located near the capacitors and an inductor (metal thingy with 150 written on it). These are making sure that nothing will get too hot on your face.

Next step is to remove the main circuit board and look on its other side. Other side is less interesting and has very little information to offer. Most parts are related to the power regulation mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Largest chip is an Atmel MCU, which I’ve already mentioned is related to the tracking system. On the left from it is a microcontroller from NXP. These are all the chips we managed to identify. One chip that is missing, is the additional Bluetooth module. Unlike Vive and Vive Pro, Index has bluetooth in the headset. It is used for connecting to the base stations, updating base station firmware, and sending them to sleep mode when the headset is turning off. Last one is completely optional – I prefer to keep my base stations 2.0 on all the time.

Why there is no separate Bluetooth chip for this purpose is still a mystery for me. Only possible explanation is that two Bluetooth chips for controllers are capable of switching to different modes and control the base stations.

Screens

After the circuit is removed you will reveal several key components. First – you can see two displays – quick search shows that those panels are made by BOE Technology – Chinese display manufacturer. Those are 1440×1600, 615PPI 3.5″ panels.

Note some key elements in this view. On the bottom there is a circular mechanism with a metal pin with springs going through the whole headset. Similar pin is barely visible on the top of the headset. This is an IPD adjustment system – movement of the knob at the bottom of the HMD will rotate circular element in the bottom center which will push screens apart. On the left and right sides of HMD you can see black gears – this is a system for eye relief – rotating a knob on the side of the headset will move the facemask relatively to the screens. Gear system is making sure both sides are rotating simultaneously, without giving too much pressure to the mechanism.

In order to take the central part out from the headset, you will need to take the cap off the IPD adjustment knob and unscrew it.

Next was what I call the “wondering in the dark” part of teardown – for about 30 minutes we were trying to find a way of taking it apart without breaking anything, eventually using force to break one gear inside that was holding display chambers in place.

After this step you can easily take off separate lens chambers and view the details. Chambers are sealed shut so nothing will get inside – they are assembled in perfectly clean conditions with no dust particles. In order to take it apart you can probably try to melt glue or something like that. But we are no iFixit, we used good ol’ force. Here you can see the screen separated from the chamber.

Screen has a polarised diffuser glued to it, which is particularly difficult to remove. It is made of very thin crystal glass and it cracks easily. You can see that the corners of it are cracked.

Diffuser is added to blend pixels better, making the screen door effect even lower.

Finally – the lenses. I was expecting them to be thicker with the effect that they create. Valve are saying “The custom lenses built into the Valve Index Headset maximize field of view without sacrificing edge-to-edge clarity. High geometric stability allows you to look around the scene by moving your eyes (not just your head) with minimal shape distortion”. I tend to agree that these are the most advanced lenses in modern mass produced HMD, even though they have their own flaws. Main issue is the light spill when using a headset, you can see the bright light’s reflections in spots where they shouldn’t be.

Final thoughts

As you can clearly see, it is not possible to replace a damaged screen or scratched lens all by yourself (even though for latter one you might try to take the lens out using a suction cup, however I don’t think that is a good idea, as lenses and screens are calibrated in the factory).

I am going to put the high-resolution images of the teardown and of the motherboard here so you can see and check all the details by yourself. If you have any corrections, notes, or questions, shoot me an email or PM me on Twitter.

The first feeling you get when you put on the Pico Neo 2 headset – this is what I hope to get from the Quest 2. It’s not just the lack of screen door effect, or slightly bigger field of view. It is an overall feeling of balance between all the desired features. Would I ever want better screen resolution in autonomous VR? Probably. But not in the next few years.

Neo 2 & Neo 2 Eye

First, let’s meet the whole enterprise family. There are two devices with slight but important differences. White cased Neo 2 is a standard model with Snapdragon 845, 128 GB of storage, 6 DOF (Degrees of Freedom), and two controllers. The dark grey version is a Pico Neo 2 Eye – it has exactly the same specs and features, but it also has a built-in eye tracking module from Tobii.

For my review Pico has provided me with Neo 2, so I didn’t have a chance to try how well the eye tracking works, but I heard it’s great. If you are interested in this feature, check Tony’s review on the Pico Neo 2 Eye.

Headset

Pico is promoting both headsets as enterprise solutions, and it is clearly visible in the product. Neo 2 headset combines all the features you could possibly think of and adds few specifically for the enterprise use. Buttons on the headset for the use without controllers? Check. Rubber material face mask and top head strap that wouldn’t absorb sweat? Check. Separate plug to charge battery while leaving USB port empty? Check.

Overall the feeling of wearing the headset is quite solid – although limitation of only three predefined positions for the top headstrap is concerning – I had to use the longest position for the strap, and my head is not the largest there is. I really liked the idea of moving the battery to the back of the headset – it provides additional balance on the head, and the headset feels lighter than it is.

If you are wondering about the grill on the front plate of the headset – it is a heat grill. Neo 2 has active cooling and you can hear loud fan when the system decides it is too hot in a room.

Display

Neo 2 is using a single LCD screen which works at 75 Hz in resolution of 3,840 × 2,160 pixels. Since there is only one screen, there is no mechanical IPD (Inter Pupillary Distance) adjustment. Additionally I have discovered incorrect information about the screen frequency. For the video review on my YouTube channel I have decided to record through the lens comparison between Pico Neo 2 and Oculus Quest. If you have ever recorded a screen, you know that you have to match your camera’s shutter speed with a screen frequency if you want to avoid flickering on the recording. For this reason I was recording Quest footage at 72 fps, but when I switched to Neo 2 I could clearly see flickering when recording at 75 fps and zero flickering at 72 fps. That clearly indicates that Pico Neo 2 that I have was running screens at 72 Hz instead of 75 Hz defined in specifications. Not a huge difference, but still worth noting.

As stated previously – screendoor on Neo 2 is much less visible compared to Oculus Quest. However I have noticed that the same scenes on Quest have better colors and contrast, mostly due to the LCD losing to the OLED. Headset is using traditional Fresnel lenses, so clearly you get all the benefits and drawbacks of these – big sweetspot, some godrays and glares noticeable only in the dark scenes. Overall I was happy with the visuals.

Sound

Pico Neo 2 has built-in speakers in the headstrap, in the same place as Oculus Quest does. However sound quality in Pico is… acceptable. Assuming you are going to be doing training in the headset, and not listening to the latest Skrillex album, it’s more than enough. For the latter scenario there is a 3.5 mm port for connecting headphones.

Tracking and Controllers

As stated before, Pico Neo 2 is a 6DOF headset with fully tracked controllers. Headset is using two front facing cameras for tracking, similar to any WMR headset, Vive Cosmos, or Oculus headsets. But it is the first finished device that I’ve tried with magnetic controller tracking. I have seen this tracking before, it is developed by Canadian company NDI and is called Atraxa. While working at Varjo I had a chance to test their devkit. Although tracking was solid in ideal conditions, as one might expect – accuracy degrades significantly when there are a lot of interfering electronics and metal objects around – computers, flight joysticks, monitors. For this reason Varjo products decided to stick with SteamVR controllers for now.

Tracking with Neo 2 controllers is decent – you have no difficulties pointing at something and picking up objects, but you will not be able to perform accurate surgery with these controllers. Their accuracy is not precise enough, and it’s clear that software is smoothing movement a little bit so there wouldn’t be visible trembling. But at least you can track your hands behind your back, under your legs, under your shirt, and even under your skin if you would like that (I wouldn’t recommend the last one). Magnetic tracking has no issues beaming through the flesh. Also worth noting that the maximum tracked “play” area for Neo 2 is limited by 3 by 3 meter square.

Controllers themselves are quite small, they have thumbsticks and plenty of buttons including trigger and grip buttons. However you wouldn’t call these controllers comfortable to hold. You need to have constant tension in your fingers to make sure they don’t fall out. Not as bad as Vive Cosmos controllers though. Neo 2 controllers have a built in battery which can be charged with USB-C cable. Yay for that!

Battery

Battery in the headset is capable of running for about two hours (a bit more for controllers), which is on par with how long Oculus Quest would work on a single charge.

Using the Pico Neo 2

Similar to every other headset manufacturer, Pico has its own home environment – room with some furniture and a huge window with a nice view. Here you will be selecting your apps, accessing your store and settings. There is a secondary menu – accessible by double pressing menu button – here you can access recent apps, take a screenshot or start a video capture. Last one was the most useful as it captures everything, including the view through the cameras when you step out of the “play area”. Make sure to wear pants if you are recording a tutorial.

Pico store has a very limited apps list to choose from – there are about 30 games and 10 applications. My understanding is that the games are there only to showcase tracking and other features of the headset – as this is not a consumer device. You could watch videos, browse the Internet, try playing OhShape… and that’s it. Since it’s an enterprise device, Pico expects you to develop your own applications for your own needs using their hardware.

However you are not strictly limited by the internal hardware of the headset. If you have a project that runs on SteamVR on your PC you can connect your Neo 2 either wirelessly or tethered to run it. Wireless connection is done through the WiFi. Pico is recommending to use 5 Ghz WiFi networks (which I have), installing their PC software and running a built in streaming service. Initial results were horrible, I would see about 10 fps and huge visual artifacts. However upon changing streaming quality settings to Low – performance became decent. Of course video quality was horrible, but at least I was able to look around and have a try at Beat Saber streamed from my PC. However when trying to play I could clearly see how big the latency was, which made game almost unplayable. I hope Pico will continue to develop and improve this feature. The option of tethered streaming using USB cable is still in Beta so there were some tricks how to make it work. You are supposed to do following to make wired streaming work:

• Prepare software for wireless streaming
• Connect the USB cable
• Unplug your Internet cable from the PC
• Software will fail to find router and will fall back to the cable option
• Enable Internet sharing through USB on the headset
• Now your Internet connection for PC is coming through the router wirelessly to the headset then to PC using USB cable

Not the most common way of using wired headset. Combined with flimsy USB-C port, it was a nightmare to make it work for longer than a minute and I gave up after the fifth try.

Neo 2 for Enterprise

Pico Neo 2 was designed to be an enterprise device – everything in hardware and software is pointing at it. You don’t need a library of games – you are having your own app. You don’t need sub millimeter precision for tracking – you will be training power plant personnel in troubleshooting errors. You don’t need to have soft face cushions – you are planning to use the device on over 20 people per day.

Neo 2 offers best image quality in class, it has an option of eye tracking, it can track controllers in dark/behind your back/behind a wall. It has a better processor than any competitor available today. And it has a decent price – Neo 2 is $699, while the Eye version is $899.

I can definitely recommend this device for the Enterprise customers, but if you are a consumer looking for a better replacement for Oculus Quest – look elsewhere.

First impression which you get when you put on Pimax Vision 8k Plus – wow, now this is a good Pimax headset that can be recommended. And indeed it has multiple improvements that make it a much desired device, compared to my Pimax 5k Plus that I got from Kickstarter last year.

Comfort

It is impressive how much difference the decent face mask makes. Buying 8k+ you will be getting something called a Comfort Kit (which can be purchased separately for mere $49.95 from Pimax themselves). It includes a thicker face mask with wider forehead area, and better nose cover, so there is less light coming from the nose hole. What is important for me, that the new mask moves the headset a few mm away from the face, which significantly reduces distortion that I could see on the edges of those massive lenses. New face mask also allowed me to play longer sessions without any discomfort. I should note though, the headset is still coming with a soft strap, but it is now bearable. Soft strap was updated a bit, slightly changing shape and losing quite convenient velcro straps that allowed attaching cable and putting behind your head. Now you have to tape it yourself.

Then there is plastic quality. If you have ever held a Pimax headset from last year, you know that plastic was feeling cheap. Like Chinese toys from the 90s cheap. It also had this weird chemical factory smell from when you opened the box. Now, plastic feels smooth, quality is comparable to HTC headsets, and there is no smell. Impressive.

One more thing worth noting about hte comfort, 8k+ has two 3.5 mm audio jacks on each side, a great solution that was first introduced in VR headsets in Oculus Quest. You can use either of the ports, although I don’t know if you can use them simultaneously for separate earbuds.

Image quality

But main magic starts when you connect the headset and put it on – there is ultimately no screen door visible on these massive 4K screens. If you focus on the screen door, you can see it (it’s no Varjo), but normally I wouldn notice it at all. Finally, devices with actual 4K per eye resolution. Well, not really. Even though panels in this headset are 3840 by 2160 pixels per eye, the renderer on your PC will produce an image in 1440p resolution, almost twice as small. Then the image is upscaled to 4k and displayed in the headset. It is done for a specific purpose – 8k+ is not positioned as top of the line Pimax headset, and Pimax wants users with not so powerful PCs to be able to run it on decent framerate. In fact because of that rendering resolution Pimax even allows to run these panels at 110 Hz in experimental mode.

However, the main issue that I had with the screens is that the upscaling algorithm does not work well by default. Render resolution was not exactly two times smaller than the screens, which means it wasn’t exactly – 1 render pixel is taking 4 pixels of screen. If you don’t change config and run the game you can see that objects edges are blurry and fuzzy. In order to confirm that I’ve run Half-Life: Alyx on two PCs – one with connected 8k+, another one with an old 5k+. Also I made sure that render resolution is very close. Results were clear, in 5k+ I can see clear edges of the objects, less fuzziness, even though the screen door effect was clearly more noticeable. I’ve reached out to Pimax and they recommended me to use resolution which would have a common divider with screen resolution or alternatively just upscale render resolution as much as the system allows. Strange advice considering this model was supposed to save computational power of your PC.

Let’s get to the main selling point of Pimax devices – huge FoV (Field of View). The only competitors who achieve something similar are XTAL from VRgeneers and StarVR from Starbreeze and Acer. But both of those devices are not sold to consumers, so most of the time Pimax will be your only option for FoV over 120 degrees. Lenses of the headset haven’t changed much since 5k+, but as I’ve mentioned before, comfort kits face mask made distortions almost disappear on large FoV settings and unnoticeable at all on normal FoV settings. However I’ve mostly been playing on normal settings, due to games not being ready to render all the objects in “large” FoV. You could notice that objects disappear from the screen before they reach the edge of the display, which is quite distracting.

IPD issue

IPD adjustment is always a pain in Pimax headsets, and nothing changed in this model. Complications happen because lenses and screens in Pimax headsets are separated, and move independently. Actually, screens don’t move at all, but you can move an image on the screens. Every other headset manufacturer on the market has sealed chambers for screens and lenses, that way it is ensured that the lens is always pointing at the middle of the screen and the image is properly calibrated, so the user couldn’t feel any discomfort. Pimax is placing this task on the user, which if you are inexperienced, might take you some time to understand.

 Traditionall arangement of the lens and the screen in a sealed chamber (Valve Index)

Let’s imagine a situation when the IPD set in a Pimax headset is not fitting the user. Your obvious move is to adjust lenses, setting the value to your IPD value that you have already measured (let’s say 63 mm). Your first instinct will be to adjust a knob on the headset until it says 63 mm on the screen. But after you’ve done it, you feel like something is wrong. And that happens because the value that you see on the screen is an average between the position of the lenses and position of the images on the screens. The issue is that the human body adopts, and that includes vision. There is a study, where participants would wear glasses that flip image upside down for a few weeks, and already after the first week they have no issues living normal life – their brain adapted to the new way of processing the world. But after they took off their glasses, it took them another week to switch back. Similar thing will happen here, if you force yourself to play on that incorrect setting for some time, after you take off the headset, your vision would be either cross eyed or feeling of exotropia (term for eyes looking slightly outwards). To be honest when this happened to me, I was scared, imagine not being able to focus on the phone that you hold in your hand, instead having double vision. Luckily I’ve only played in the wrong settings for an hour, so I quickly recovered. So how do you find correct settings then?

My method would require you to know your IPD before you begin. You can measure IPD using any piece of paper, there are tons of instructions on how to do it. You use the headset’s knob to set it to the maximum position. Then you adjust the IPD offset of the screens in the software (HMD tab) to the value that would get you to your IPD as close as possible. Now you slowly roll the knob bringing lenses back together, while adjusting value in the software so your IPD would remain the same value. So, at all times, on-screen IPD should be the same as your IPD. Everytime you adjust settings, take a moment, look around the VR room you are at. Move your eyes around. Is the image clear? Do you feel any tension in your eye muscles? Do you have a headache? If you feel anything like that, continue to the next setting. At some point, you will feel like you found the right spot. Try it out, play a round of beat saber, then take the headset off. Do you feel dizzy, is your focus correct? If it’s not, adjust the settings again.

I have to tell the truth, it took me a week of trying different settings until I became completely comfortable in the headset. But when the setting is found – it’s a blessing.

Final thoughts

Concluding the review, it is the first time I can really recommend a Pimax headset. In 8k+ most of the issues of the predecessor are gone – cheap plastic has been replaced, face mask is much better quality, distortions are nearly gone (thanks to face mask). Combined with their upcoming Deluxe Audio strap it would be a blast. But I personally look forward to the 8kx model with its native 4k per eye.

When I heard about the first VR headset from Huawei the size of the normal sunglasses, with capability to work from a phone or a PC and with a SteamVR support from ScarredGhost article, I was excited. Finally we are moving towards consumer devices that do not repel people just from their looks.

Unfortunately this product was available only in China. With help from friends in Taiwan, I got Huawei VR Glass to Finland. I wanted to try them, but I couldn’t at first. Headset was shipped to me on 21st of December 2019, just days after public release, while the PC cable for the device was released later that month.

And it wasn’t just any cable, it was one-of-a-kind cable from Belkin with two USB 2.0 ports and Display port on one side and USB Type-C on the other side. You couldn’t just buy that in a local electronics shop – you have to get it from a Huawei store in China. As for connectivity to phones, there are some limitations: Huawei VR Glass only works with some of Huawei phone models Even if you have the correct model, it requires Chinese firmware, as support is built in the firmware. So basically no phone VR outside China.

How to make Huawei VR Glass work with your PC

Few weeks later I got the cable (about $100) and experiments started. Obviously, most of the software is in Chinese, same for guides and troubleshooting forums. Thanks to my lovely Chinese girlfriend, that wasn’t an issue and it only took half an hour to install HiSuite, VR Assistant, and Upgrade Tool. Note: Huawei VR Glass would only work if you have a single display connected to your PC. If there is more than one, it would not work. When everything is connected correctly you will see your desktop wallpaper, rotated 90 degrees. After that launch VR Assistant – and a few seconds later you have your desktop view in glasses.

Functionality

With the Glass up and running, you can go in the options and choose one of two options – screen stuck to your head or static in the VR environment. If you choose the latter one, you will be able to see a 360 picture of a room of a decent quality and a screen hanging in the air in the middle. Settings also allow you to move the screen closer or further, horizontally or vertically, change the screen’s curvature, and adjust overall brightness of the glasses. Now you can browse youtube, write emails and follow the news in the comfort of your hidden screen (although it is a copy of the real screen you have connected to the computer). That’s it, that is all you get out of the box with PC – cool looking glasses which are basically a monitor. But there’s more to it.

Let’s go 6DOF

Huawei do advertise on their product page for VR Glass that the device is SteamVR compatible. It is achieved by adding additional tracking solutions from another Chinese company – Nolo VR. Nolo is used for many low-end Chinese VR devices that are not ready to spend resources on developing their own tracking solution, or integrating something as complex as SteamVR tracking with lighthouses.

Although Nolo relies on similar technology – their solution is a bit different. Nolo is using a single, battery powered base station that shoots laser, while controllers and headset need to have this weirdly looking receiver located on the top. Since the system is limited by maximum one Nolo lighthouse per device, tracking is one directional, similar to PSVR tracking, where the player cannot turn away from the camera. I had a chance to experience this tracking before with the DPVR headset, learning that both accuracy and tracking are on very low level, so I did not purchase Nolo VR tracking for Huawei VR Glass. For Huawei’s device Nolo has a custom made tracker for the glasses that fit the style and design of the device, so even if you already have a Nolo system, you have to buy it again for about $150.

Technological masterpiece

For a second there, let’s distanciate ourselves from the limited functionality of the device and appreciate the hardware. This is a device that could be easily mixed up with sunglasses if worn outside (don’t do it though, its VR glasses, you can not see through). In this tiny body is a 3,200 by 1,600 pixel LCD screen which is IMAX certified. There are speakers inside the glasses temples, producing sound good enough for watching movies. Both lenses can be adjusted separately for people who wear glasses (assuming your vision is between 0 and +7). It has a soft cloth mask held by magnets, making cleaning incredibly easy.

Personally for me, most impressive are the lenses – Huawei has proven that small pancake lenses can perform without big issues (more on that later). For such a small size, lenses are the greatest challenge, as there is a limit how close the screens can be located in relation to the lenses.

Pancake lenses

Lenses that are traditionally used for VR headsets are simple Fresnel lenses, which are conventional lenses just collapsed in smaller size while keeping refractive power of the original.

What makes traditional headsets bulky in size are the limitations of these lenses – screen and lens require having specific minimum distance between them, otherwise image would not be in focus. Think of it the same way as the human eye cannot focus on the objects that are just a few centimeters (half an inch) away from the eye.

Pancake lenses solve this issue by introducing a polarised layer inside the lens that will bounce the light twice before it can reach the eye. Unfortunate effect – ability to see reflection in the headset in some conditions.

Final thoughts

Huawei has achieved a great milestone with Glass device – it has shown the world that VR glasses can be slim, small and cool. They didn’t just showcase prototypes at CES like Panasonic and others, but they have released a product that people can get their hands on. Surely, outside of China Huawei VR Glass is quite useless without its phone VR functionality, and I would not recommend anyone to get this device for themselves. Apart from software limitations, it is clear that the device was developed for local head sizes and shapes, and does not fit well on my European face, mostly squishing my ears. However, Huawei does us a favor by spending money and resources on a device that raises the bar for consumer devices and now Oculuses and HTCs of this world have to catch up.

StarVR is one of the most desirable VR headsets on the market. Partially, it is because we know the team behind it managed to fit 210 degrees of horizontal FOV (Field of View) in a device that is much smaller than Pimax and XTAL headsets. But mostly, because we don’t know much about it.

How it all started

StarVR project has been publicly announced during E3 2015 (Electronics Entertainment Expo) by Starbreeze studios, Swedish game developer and publisher mostly known from their Payday series about robbing banks. Starbreese just acquired French company InfinitEye which was working on a prototype device that would allow watching movies and playing games. The device at that time was looking slightly different compared to what we see today.

Later on in September of the same year Starbreeze announced collaboration with another Swedish company Tobii. Working together, companies expect to add eye tracking capabilities to the headset and develop foveated rendering technology to reduce hardware load of the device.

In early 2016 Starbreeze decided to establish an VR arcade in Los Angeles, called Project StarCade. Arcade featured the company’s own catalogue of games and experiences including OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead VR experience developed by Skybound Interactive. Many years later, in 2020 Skybound Interactive would release The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners.

In May of 2016 Starbreeze announced a joint venture with Acer Inc., who are mainly known for producing consumer electronics. Companies are expected to develop, design, manufacture, market, and sell StarVR HMD to the professional and entertainment market.

Soon after that IMAXhas announced their intent to open VR entertainment locations using the IMAX brand and StarVR headsets. New locations should open in shopping centers and tourist destinations. Meanwhile Starbreeze made an agreement with Hollywood studio Lionsgate on developing the John Wick VR game and others.

On June 25th of 2016 Starbreeze announced that Acer Inc. will invest in the StarVR project 9 million USD over two years, slowly gaining B-shares. Soon after that Starbreeze acquired French VR/AR and toys company ePawn for 4 million EUR in B-shares and 1.5 million in cash. ePawn was developing technology for bringing VR and tabletop games together. Starbreeze is interested in the technology as tracking tech that could be used for player’s positional tracking in the VR arcades.

One year later, in September of 2017 Acer Inc. invested 5 million USD to the joint venture, receiving 66.7% of the company, leaving Starbreeze with mere 33.3%. Both companies express high interest in VR and the future of StarVR project. Next year, in February of 2018 Starbreeze confirms discussions about StarVR company going IPO in order to become leading global VR company. At that point it seems nothing could stop them. StarVR has 210-degrees field of view, in high definition resolution over the entire field, eye-tracking, support for multiple tracking solutions, lightweight casing, backpack wireless option and its own 2nd generation Fresnel lens. In March 2018 StarVR applied for Public Issuance in Taiwan, beginning the road to becoming an IPO.

In the end of May, Starbreeze opened its own arcade in Stockholm called Enterspace VR Center. In November, the company announced StarVR One with integrated SteamVR tracking. Companies and developers can apply for the development program, and if chosen, they will be allowed to purchase StarVR for 3200 USD. And that was the last we’ve heard from StarVR until early 2020.

When it all went to hell

Since 2018 Starbreeze had a rough patch, the company has acquired a new game engine and started transitioning half-done games to it, pushing release dates further. After a year of struggling to use the new engine for OVERKILL’S The Walking Dead it was decided to scrap two years of development and begin from scratch on Unreal Engine. Game was rushed and released in November of 2018 and was destroyed by reviewers and critics selling only 100 000 copies. After this fail Skybound Entertainment has pulled its licensing contract for The Walking Dead franchise.

Starbreeze began reconstruction inside the company in December 2018 halting all internal work. Before news about the difficulties were announced, several executives have sold their shares of the company, which lead to their arrests in suspicion of insider trading. In February 2020 one of them was charged with a fine.

During the investigation by authorities, the company was financially struggling. In order to survive, the company sold rights for System Shock 3 to OtherSide Entertainment, 10 Crowns to Mohawk Games, publishing rights for Psychonauts 2 to Microsoft, and even sold shares of one of its studios – Dhruva Interactive to Rockstar Games. After acquisition Dhruva Interactive has become Rockstar India. Additionally 60 employees were laid off. In January, Italian publisher Digital Bros announced intent to acquire Strabreeze for 21.2 million USD.

Resurfacing in 2020

As you can see, from 2018 until now StarVR was not worked on by Starbreeze and was quietly sitting in the shadows. First partners and developers that were approved, have received their StarVR One dev kits, but without support from the manufacturer and no updates to its software you couldn’t have even launched StarVR with modern VR games. Trust me, I’ve tried. Pictures of StarVR would occasionally show up in Acer’s presentation when talking about VR, but nothing concrete would be ever said about the headset. Usually, it would be featured next to another WMR headset from Acer – Acer OJO 500 (which was released), and later Acer OJO ConceptD.

However, in February of 2020 Acer have announced that OJO ConceptD is canceled and is no more. And in May of 2020, suddenly pre orders were open again, for the same price of 3200 USD. But this time – enterprise only. Headset could be purchased through partners in Japan and Taiwan, later coming to China, Europe and the US.

Old StarVR = New StarVR

I have reliable sources who said that StarVR One’s were produced in hundreds of pieces in 2018, and since Starbreeze’s difficulties those headsets were collecting dust somewhere in the warehouse. Now Acer decided to get rid of them. Few things indicate that it is true – headsets didn’t change in specs. For 2018 displays with 1,830 × 1,464 pixels per eye were good and cool, but nowadays Pimax 8KX is offering 1,920 × 2,160 per eye, while newly announced HP Reverb G2 (and original Reverb) offers even higher 2,160 × 2,160 per eye. Of course, we are comparing AMOLED in StarVR One to LCD panels for competitors, but in the past few years LCD panels made a huge leap forward, giving OLED’s quite a competition. And it doesn’t help that this resolution is stretched over 210 degrees of fov, while HP Reverb G2 is having less than 120 degrees.

Why is StarVR special

StarVR Compass – software for StarVR was rolled out in March of 2020 and StarVR now has full support of SteamVR. Software allows you to make Display Optimisations by downloading mura correction files – it would search the database by the serial number of the headset, and will download correction files that were made from the images of screens taken in the factory. We were doing the same thing at Varjo with all of the headsets. That way you get much better, solid colors. Software also allowed changing screens frequency (max 90 Hz) and field of view. Latter one only had two options.

Together with Compass you will be asked to install Tobii software. When running it together with Compass, the system can track player’s eyes and automatically track the user’s IPD (Inter Pupillary Distance), adjusting image position. Unlike Varjo headsets, where IPD is adjusted mechanically by motors, here it is only done in software.

Curiously, the proximity sensor on StarVR One is not located between lenses where we usually see it in other headsets. It is located in the nose area, performing in the same way. Not clear though why you need a separate sensor for that if you have eye tracking, using which you can detect if the headset is on the head.

System seller for StarVR One is the large FOV without aberrations in a small case. And I have to admit, it does look like they have nailed these points. It took Pimax two years of trying and failing to get to the state where they almost have no aberrations, but StarVR did it from the first try.

Why $3200

From the people who were close to the original StarVR project I’ve learned that manufacturing StarVR costs much less than $3200, approximately half of that. Main reason behind this specific price point is the customer that StarVR wants. Enterprise. No, not the one from Star Trek. Headset needs to be enterprise only. And for the enterprise $3200 is a good price point. It wouldn’t be considered too expensive (at Varjo headset price started with $5000 and still we had enough customers). If you would put a price tag of $1500, many consumers would want to buy that headset for games and home use. And when they would learn that consumers couldn’t buy this headset anyways, they would be furious. However, if you set the price high enough, it would make 99% of consumers uninterested, while keeping business customers happy with the price.

Another way of scaring people away is to have high-end requirements. Currently for GPU StarVR is asking for NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080Ti or NVIDIA® Quadro RTX5000 – which are expensive for the average Joe, but doable for business.

In the future I hope to see a consumer oriented version of StarVR with improved displays, built-in headphones, but still about the same size. Of course it should be much cheaper to compete with Pimaxes, Indexes, Vives, and Oculuses that already dominate the market. StarVR would need to figure out how to lower system requirements, either by heavy usage of foveated rendering, or by improving renderer software.