Valve Officially Launches the Valve Index VR HMD, Full Kit Preorder Up for $999

[Octavean]

I love seeing this kind of improvement even if it is out of the price range I would pay. There are options at enough price points that VR/AR will continue to grow. I never believed the sales projections or that VR would explode on to the scene and take over gaming the way these companies hoped. However with the PS4 offering a decent entry level experience and PS5 is supposed to be compatible with the 1 million + VR headsets sold, there is a big enough install base between that and the other offerings available, I don't think it will be a fad this time.
Each generation is getting better and there will always be people who can pay more and get higher end hardware than the average gamer can afford, but those improvements should trickle down as they already are. As long as there is software worth running and enough users for the companies to make money, it will continue to grow. I don't think it will ever become "the way to game" but I expect more developers will add VR modes into games where it would be a good experience. Personally I would love a first person VR Diablo 4 and would drop the coin on a PS5 and a headset for that. I fully expect an upgraded headset for the PS5 at launch or soon after.

I seem to recall hearing something about the PS5 having backward compatibility with the current PSVR and that a PSVR2 would eventually come some time down the line after the the PS5 release. I forget where I came across this but naturally it should be taken with a grain of salt.

If I come across the info again I'll post a link.

 

[Hardware Geek]

Even announcement features will be cut sometimes. I thought Microsoft had announced the would support VR on Xbox One and then quietly killed it.
Sony does have a ton of room to improve and will likely be aiming for a price the same or less than the first generation while making improvement in refresh speed as well as minimizing the screen door effect.

 

[Octavean]

Even announcement features will be cut sometimes. I thought Microsoft had announced the would support VR on Xbox One and then quietly killed it.
Sony does have a ton of room to improve and will likely be aiming for a price the same or less than the first generation while making improvement in refresh speed as well as minimizing the screen door effect.

Microsoft should have allowed Microsoft Mixed Reality HMDs to function on the XBox One. Since that hasn't happened they Microsoft should make it an option on the XBox One successor.

 

[mouacyk]

120Hz should be minimum on both Hz refresh for the displays, and also FPS for games for better immersion. Now, what kind of horse power do you need for this especially that the resolution is 2880x1600?

Foveated rendering should help greatly and since Valve owns their own relatively light 3D engine, they can implement it once for everyone to use with Source.

 

[Prima.Vera]

How does this works if people have different eye sights? Contacts or glasses mandatory??

 

[GoldenX]

I'm starting to get tired of American companies only selling premium products. Not all can be Apple.

 

[Caring1]

How does this works if people have different eye sights? Contacts or glasses mandatory??

They should have a built in focus control.

 

[Hardware Geek]

Microsoft should have allowed Microsoft Mixed Reality HMDs to function on the XBox One. Since that hasn't happened they Microsoft should make it an option on the XBox One successor.

It better! I'm not buying one if it doesn't. I should have known better than to expect Microsoft to actually follow through with their announced plans.

 

[atomicus]

Another dead in the water HMD.

Too expensive. Still has the usual problems.

If VR wouldn't have most of these problems, I think 999 dollars for a nice HMD is a steal. But in the current state? This is going nowhere for the consumer market, no matter how much it is loved by a niche.

No one is saying VR is perfect, but it's the pure definition of a nascent technology. Mass consumer uptake is years away, although something like the Oculus Quest is a big step in that direction in terms of the ease of use, portability and set-up. If these expensive bleeding edge HMDs such as the Index were literally "dead in the water", then VR would have fallen flat on its face years ago and gone the way of 3D TV's (which laughably some people still want to to compare VR to).

The Index is clearly an enthusiast product for a niche market, but if you genuinely hope that VR will eventually solve all of its issues and fulfil its true potential one day, you should be EXTREMELY grateful that this niche exists, because without them, VR will go absolutely nowhere.

 

[Deleted member 197986]

It's weird that this thread is dead while it's still current ...

 

[Vayra86]

It's weird that this thread is dead while it's still current ...

Maybe necro and then deleted post after seeing the open grave

 

[drayzen]

How can it have 50% more subpixels?
That makes no sense.
Most LCD's have 3 subpixels per pixel, RGB.
So what do these panels have?
R+G+B+?+?

The only thing like this in aware of was Sharp's Quattron LCD's which added yellow subpixels for an RGBY display, though the purpose of this is to widen the colour gamut, not increase density, obviously.