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Valve Index Available June 28 ($499.99 VR Headset Only, $749.99 Headset + Controllers, $999.99 Headset + Controllers + Base Stations)
- Thread starter Schierke Mori
- Start date
Yay got mine in this morning!
Quick impressions is that it's a solid upgrade from the Vive, just as I expected. The resolution and fov didn't blow me away but very noticable right when you out it on. Going to take some time to get used to controllers, can't figure out how best to position my hands to reach everything including the system button. I couldn't get windows to recognize the speakers as an output device, but fixed itself after a few reboots. They sound great as others have mentioned. Finger tracking wise pretty good but not perfect. The analog stick feels good to me, was a little worried about that.
Barely got to play so excited to sink some time in with this thing!
Quick impressions is that it's a solid upgrade from the Vive, just as I expected. The resolution and fov didn't blow me away but very noticable right when you out it on. Going to take some time to get used to controllers, can't figure out how best to position my hands to reach everything including the system button. I couldn't get windows to recognize the speakers as an output device, but fixed itself after a few reboots. They sound great as others have mentioned. Finger tracking wise pretty good but not perfect. The analog stick feels good to me, was a little worried about that.
Barely got to play so excited to sink some time in with this thing!
For the first time ever, Fedex came early in the day. Here are some quick impressions, from an OG Vive user:
- The biggest visual improvement for me is the larger sweet spot in the lens. It is not quite edge-to-edge clarity, but it is much better than the Vive. This is a big improvement for immersion for two reasons: First I can move my eyes more naturally rather than moving my head to look at stuff. Second, when you are turning your head you do not have the exaggerated sense of motion blur as the blurry peripherals sweep across the scene.
- SDE is definitely improved, but we are not yet at the point where it is seemless. SDE is still clearly visible, and you will be aware that you are looking at a screen.
- Field-of-view is kind of a mixed bag, so I'm a little surprised this is one of the areas they focused on so much. The vertical FOV seems improved. The horizontal FOV doesn't really feel subjectively better than the Vive when both headsets are at minimum eye relief. The Index also has an issue where the edges of the screens are visible only when looking forward that I find distracting. In order to get rid of it, I would have to move the eye relief back a lot
- God rays or internal reflections or however you want to classify it is pretty bad, seemingly worse than the Vive. If I look at a white mouse cursor against a black background, there is a large halo around it.
- The attached headphones are surprisingly good. I know, people had already been saying that a lot, but I was skeptical of what their standards for audio quality were. I had been using HE400S headphones, which are a pretty decent set of open-backed headphones previously, and the built-in Index speakers are good enough that I can't see myself going through the hassle of putting on the headphones over the headset anymore.
- I am not sure what to make of the controllers yet. You may have read that they have some built-in learning based on the user's hands. They certainly started out fairly janky, though they seem to have gotten better after only an hour or so of use. They are certainly more comfortable to hold than the Vive wands, but the straps make them harder to put on and harder to take off. You can pair multiple controllers and even mix & match controller types at the same time, so I would not be surprised if I still used my Vive wands for times when I want to switch between VR controllers and a mouse.
- The biggest visual improvement for me is the larger sweet spot in the lens. It is not quite edge-to-edge clarity, but it is much better than the Vive. This is a big improvement for immersion for two reasons: First I can move my eyes more naturally rather than moving my head to look at stuff. Second, when you are turning your head you do not have the exaggerated sense of motion blur as the blurry peripherals sweep across the scene.
- SDE is definitely improved, but we are not yet at the point where it is seemless. SDE is still clearly visible, and you will be aware that you are looking at a screen.
- Field-of-view is kind of a mixed bag, so I'm a little surprised this is one of the areas they focused on so much. The vertical FOV seems improved. The horizontal FOV doesn't really feel subjectively better than the Vive when both headsets are at minimum eye relief. The Index also has an issue where the edges of the screens are visible only when looking forward that I find distracting. In order to get rid of it, I would have to move the eye relief back a lot
- God rays or internal reflections or however you want to classify it is pretty bad, seemingly worse than the Vive. If I look at a white mouse cursor against a black background, there is a large halo around it.
- The attached headphones are surprisingly good. I know, people had already been saying that a lot, but I was skeptical of what their standards for audio quality were. I had been using HE400S headphones, which are a pretty decent set of open-backed headphones previously, and the built-in Index speakers are good enough that I can't see myself going through the hassle of putting on the headphones over the headset anymore.
- I am not sure what to make of the controllers yet. You may have read that they have some built-in learning based on the user's hands. They certainly started out fairly janky, though they seem to have gotten better after only an hour or so of use. They are certainly more comfortable to hold than the Vive wands, but the straps make them harder to put on and harder to take off. You can pair multiple controllers and even mix & match controller types at the same time, so I would not be surprised if I still used my Vive wands for times when I want to switch between VR controllers and a mouse.
Thanks for the perspective. I have an OG Vive and been tempted for the next step up in visual quality. Did you have the GearVR lens mod or were you using the original lenses?
Got my controllers this morning! Unfortunately I have some stitches on my head that prevent me from using any VR headsets, so I have to wait a week or so to use them.
Same here. It took 1,5 days to get from Netherlands to Germany. Guess these countries must be far apart...
WOW. The value proposition is worth mentioning, but that's an insane tl;dr. Rift S is in a different class. Head to Ars today for my feature length buying guide, which reminds how Index's massive FOV and 120Hz refresh really do change the game.
damn a completely different class eh?
I look forward to doing my own comparison later today assuming it does arrive today (and I didn't miss it already)
A couple of quick impressions before I have to do some running around:
- The controllers are going to take some major getting used to. I may just need to adjust how I'm attaching them to my hands, but the grips are incredibly sensitive. It was also registering my middle finger as the ring finger instead so I'm likely holding it too low. The System button requires me to almost wiggle my hand out of the strap in order to hit it with my thumb. I will need to fiddle with this a bit, but I was having a fair bit of wonkiness in Blade & Sorcery and Superhot. I tried Pavlov and it was awkward as hell there. The Vive -> Index remap made things very counter intuitive. I read that there's a beta out to support the Index controllers so I see this getting fixed pretty soon. I do think they will be better for many games, but I may honestly stick with the Vive controllers for Beat Saber.
- The SDE is heavily reduced from the OG Vive. Text is far easier to read and things like Virtual Desktop are far more usable. I'm actually typing this up in Virtual Desktop just to check it out. I'm excited to try a movie in Bigscreen later. Although everything is quite crisp, the FOV feels more or less like the Vive's which is a disappointment.
- I'm currently having an issue where the Index HMD sound device disappears from the available output options. I'm not sure what the deal is with this. I was able to get it back the first time by restarting the headset. Hopefully this is a bug that can get fixed soon.
- The controllers are going to take some major getting used to. I may just need to adjust how I'm attaching them to my hands, but the grips are incredibly sensitive. It was also registering my middle finger as the ring finger instead so I'm likely holding it too low. The System button requires me to almost wiggle my hand out of the strap in order to hit it with my thumb. I will need to fiddle with this a bit, but I was having a fair bit of wonkiness in Blade & Sorcery and Superhot. I tried Pavlov and it was awkward as hell there. The Vive -> Index remap made things very counter intuitive. I read that there's a beta out to support the Index controllers so I see this getting fixed pretty soon. I do think they will be better for many games, but I may honestly stick with the Vive controllers for Beat Saber.
- The SDE is heavily reduced from the OG Vive. Text is far easier to read and things like Virtual Desktop are far more usable. I'm actually typing this up in Virtual Desktop just to check it out. I'm excited to try a movie in Bigscreen later. Although everything is quite crisp, the FOV feels more or less like the Vive's which is a disappointment.
- I'm currently having an issue where the Index HMD sound device disappears from the available output options. I'm not sure what the deal is with this. I was able to get it back the first time by restarting the headset. Hopefully this is a bug that can get fixed soon.
Is the fov really that massive? Two other impressions on this page seem to indicate it isn't much of a leap over the og Vive. So which is it?
As far as i know it depends how you set lenses. It is UP TO 135 degrees.
It's the combined effect of wider FOV, a wider "sweet spot," and a jump to 120Hz, that really nails the subtle boost in comfort. Valve Index is less impressive when tested by itself; all of its best qualities leap out when you immediately compare its comfort and quality to the "swimmy" feeling you can get from long-term use of other standard-spec VR headsets.
The best "oooooh" test I've done is Project Cars 2 on a Vive Pro, then immediately on a Valve Index.
Q: have you tried on on Elite Dangerous? I'm curious how the reduced black level performance impacts that game given its backdrop of space itself, or if it's not even really noticeable.
Thanks for the explanations. I'll probably try and pick one up later this year after my next system upgrade. My creaky 970 ain't gonna cut it anymore :p
I assume pairing is done same way as on the Vive?
If you've already tried that... old school trick, change the usb port on your pc-hmd connection and see if that helps.
I'm just guessing but changing the USB port once helped me with a vive controller not connecting, don't know why!
Various space sims have been fine in action. I think Valve Index is the best LCD VR headset in terms of minimizing light bleed in all-black scenes. The bigger issue is black crush when trying to play through or watch content with dramatic contrast between light and dark. (The Matrix is my testing favorite to check for this, and Index failed its black crush test pretty badly.)
I'm shocked Tested didn't have a video ready to go live.
There's plenty of impressions on Reddit to say most people aren't finding this true. This combined with the raw data we do have makes me think there's a lot of placebo going on here (at least if comparing to the Vive). Either that or some people are just a lot more appreciate of the nice boost in the vertical FOV (+10 degrees over Vive).
There's plenty of impressions on Reddit to say most people aren't finding this true. This combined with the raw data we do have makes me think there's a lot of placebo going on here (at least if comparing to the Vive). Either that or some people are just a lot more appreciate of the nice boost in the vertical FOV (+10 degrees over Vive).
oh that's too bad. I really like watching movies in VR. I will keep my Vive Pro around for that if I am disappointed in my Index's performance in that arena.
Mine arrived! Had to leave work early to get it though because Fedex decided to leave it on my doorstep in the heat and rain. Leaving it out there for 4 hours to potentially be stolen or damaged by the weather wasn't great. Even worse is the driver put a scribble and decided to say I signed for it, I was very confused when I checked tracking and it said I had signed for it. I never have a good experience with Fedex.
Looking forward to playing with it this weekend -- assuming that the cord is long enough. Still have to find out if I have to eat the cost of expensive extenders so it reaches my playspace.
Looking forward to playing with it this weekend -- assuming that the cord is long enough. Still have to find out if I have to eat the cost of expensive extenders so it reaches my playspace.
Well different people are going to experience the FoV differently. Literally facial structure can cause a difference in field of view.
Valve even has a write up about a few different factors.
That sounds disappointing. Always hated seeing god rays with my Vive.
Interesting how people's impressions regarding FOV here aren't exactly super positive. Wasn't that one of the big improvements with the new headset?
I still think it's crazy they haven't announced their first VR game yet.
Anyone who closely follows Valve knows it's probably Half Life VR (unless something else is further along in Unity) but still if you want to sell your $1000 VR bundle to anyone outside the most hardcore they need to show off software.
Probably holding any game announcements for a simultaneous reveal alongside another (more critical) initiative.
No doubt. I just think it's best to keep expectations in check, because the majority of the impressions are not saying "massive" when referring to the FOV. It's going to lead to disappointment if people go in thinking they're getting 135 degrees (which no one is getting) and it ends up closer to Vive levels.
I would assume you're making this statement with some inside knowledge, but I couldn't even begin to imagine what that would be.
Why call out the Rift S for not having an IPD adjuster but not the PSVR? Because it's cheaper? Speaking from personal experience PSVR gives me eye fatigue after half an hour because my IPD is 70
Something even more critical to Valve than selling $1000 VR bundles? Your teases are killing me finalflame ;)
Hopefully Valve time wont push all of this past this year.
I have as hard of a time predicting Valve Time™ as all you fine folks, even after spending time there :)
I'm still a bit salty we haven't gotten at least one of those games yet, iirc they were originally planning on showing them off at the 2016 (someone correct me if this was the wrong year) Steam dev days event and said event then never happened. Like who releases a new platform that's so high tech like the Vive without at least one full game to support it published by the platform creator (spare me The Lab examples, full game)? Valve, that's who :p
The nature of the bright object lens artifacts is somewhat different. It's not so much well-defined bright rays, but rather diffuse haloing and clouding. The effect is more like wearing glasses that are steaming up. I think whether you think it is better or worse will be a matter of taste.
As far as the FOV goes, I was skeptical going in, since they did not want to quote any specific numbers and Durante's calculation showed a value that was pretty similar to the Vive screen. I think a lot of these claims about improved FOV were based on the premise that Vive owners did not know how to adjust the eye relief and left it at stock. Whereas the Vive came with the relief extended by default, with the Index the default starting position is much closer to your face.
How do you activate the pass through camera? Double tapping the SteamVR button on the headset doesn't do anything.
On my Vive, it's a flip of a coin whether or not the passthrough camera works. Maybe the Index has the same problem?