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Meta Quest 3 | OT + Review Thread |

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Just want to vent about my ongoing experience with Meta Support. First off, their support chat is straight out of 2017.

They ask for info that requires you to switch to another app briefly, BAM disconnected, start over.

You are waiting for an agent to respond and your screen times out for 2 seconds, BAM disconnected, start over.

You act super careful not to let screen timeout, and make sure to use another device to gather info to avoid switching apps, BAM disconnected for no reason, start over.

Once I get to speak with an agent, they try to gaslight me into believing that nothing is wrong. I can't access the God damn store to buy software, how the fuck am I supposed to believe that nothing is wrong. Doesn't pull up at all on my headset, and on any other device every sale or bundle is completely absent. Example, RE4 is on sale for everyone else, but if I pull it up then it is full price.

Now my issue has been escalated so I am conversing through email. A real time conversation is impossible. Responses take 24 hours, and in my case where they continually keep asking for more screenshots, videos, etc., a simple dialog exchange has taken days.

Lastly, I'm having an account issue that is effecting my Quest 3, Quest 1, iPad meta app, android meta app, and meta.com. They would not move forward unless I factory reset my quest 3. I questioned how erasing all of my content installed on my Quest 3 is going to correct an issue that spans multiple devices. No good answer, "just do it". Of course that didn't work as expected. I tried act as if I had already performed the reset, and those son of a bitches can actually tell if you legitimately performed the operation.

To tie it all together. I have had an issue since last Tuesday. They have been a huge pain in the ass every step of the way, and a week later nothing has been fixed.

Sounds shit, man. Hope it gets sorted for you soon. 👍
 

cyberheater

PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
Demeo has a Quest 3 update but to be honest I can't tell the difference. Anyone else?
 
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SABRE220

Member
This is actually seriously impressive, its so damn versatile and has so much content...sony really dropped the ball with psvr2 in comparison. I still dont know why sony didnt make it pc compatible, they already abandoned it so why not give it a lifeline with the vast amount of content since they cant support it really.
 

MarkMe2525

Banned
Did you reset everything and it still does it?
You are probably sitting too close to your guardian boundry, I did the exact same thing in bigscreen by mistake and was tripping.

edit: the obligatory referral links
The Light Brigade: (My favorite rougelite)

In Death Unchained:

Gun Club:

Golf+:

Real VR Fishing: (this one is awesome to chill and listen to music or youtube with its built on browser)


Onward:

little cities:

Racket Fury VR:

Red Matter:

Beat Saber:

Virtual Desktop:

Pistol Whip:

Pixel Ripped 1995:
 
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Minsc

Gold Member
This is actually seriously impressive, its so damn versatile and has so much content...sony really dropped the ball with psvr2 in comparison. I still dont know why sony didnt make it pc compatible, they already abandoned it so why not give it a lifeline with the vast amount of content since they cant support it really.

Yes, there's quite a bit that doesn't overlap, enough so I'm very happy to have both devices, but I find that's mainly just true of old content that's been out for a few years now, not current stuff since the PSVR2's release.

New VR games that are very notable and exclusives not on PSVR2 really aren't a common thing I'm aware of. I'd be hard pressed to think of a single upcoming VR game that's more notable than RE4 Remake on PSVR2 at the moment, but if you have any I'd love to hear them (yes, I'm aware of Asgard's Wrath 2, but that doesn't hold a candle to RE4r)! If they're not on my list of games to play, I'll add them in.
 

MarkMe2525

Banned
This is actually seriously impressive, its so damn versatile and has so much content...sony really dropped the ball with psvr2 in comparison. I still dont know why sony didnt make it pc compatible, they already abandoned it so why not give it a lifeline with the vast amount of content since they cant support it really.
It seems like it would make sense. Lots of PS5 owners who may be potentially pushed to purchase a PSVR2 if it was PC compatible. As long as Sony invested in exclusive content, those new owners would still be spending money in their ecosystem.
 
Yes, there's quite a bit that doesn't overlap, enough so I'm very happy to have both devices, but I find that's mainly just true of old content that's been out for a few years now, not current stuff since the PSVR2's release.

New VR games that are very notable and exclusives not on PSVR2 really aren't a common thing I'm aware of. I'd be hard pressed to think of a single upcoming VR game that's more notable than RE4 Remake on PSVR2 at the moment, but if you have any I'd love to hear them (yes, I'm aware of Asgard's Wrath 2, but that doesn't hold a candle to RE4r)! If they're not on my list of games to play, I'll add them in.

I’m not sure about Asgard’s Wrath 2 not holding a candle. The previews are absolutely glowing and some are saying it has serious potential to be a system seller. Built from the ground up for VR. A brand new game. 60-hour high quality fantasy RPG. I think it’ll have a bigger impact than Resident Evil 4 VR personally.
 
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Romulus

Member
I’m not sure about Asgard’s Wrath 2 not holding a candle. The previews are absolutely glowing and some are saying it has serious potential to be a system seller. Built from the ground up for VR. A brand new game. 60-hour high quality fantasy RPG. I think it’ll have a bigger impact than Resident Evil 4 VR personally.

Yes and we've all played RE4 so there's zero sense of discovery or exploration. Just prettier visuals for the 20th time.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
I’m not sure about Asgard’s Wrath 2 not holding a candle. The previews are absolutely glowing and some are saying it has serious potential to be a system seller. Built from the ground up for VR. A brand new game. 60-hour high quality fantasy RPG. I think it’ll have a bigger impact than Resident Evil 4 VR personally.

Hmm, we'll see, I plan on playing it for sure, and hope it is as good as the previews claim, but I've been around long enough to know that's basically the entire point of previews. The definition of a preview might as well be a positively, almost fanboy-written article in order to sell a game. That's essentially what you get with previews, almost every preview claims the game it's previewing to be incredible, not to miss, great wonderful game, so I generally don't get very invested in previews. But it's not like it's an unknown property either, Asgard's Wrath 1 exists and was well enjoyed and well recommended, even now. So I think it's sound to expect it'll be a fun game.

I personally have not seen a trailer for AW2 which has me convinced on it yet, but I have no doubts about RE4 in VR. Village was amazing, despite not being built ground up for VR, the game impressed me to no end. And I expect RE4 to be even better. And like you say, since it is actually out, and known to be a great game, I already know I'm in for quite a treat. Visually it'll be unrivaled, and as a traditional game as well, all the stuff people who want AAA games in VR will be present in RE4 VR because it's literally a AAA game, but in VR.

I'm curious about how deep combat will be in AW2 and how padded it will feel being 60 hours. Even traditional console RPGs suffer from this, except for a few. FFXVI greatly suffered, I'd say DQ11S did not. But certainly most 60+ hour games do, so I'm curious how well written and how engaging it will be.

Either way, I was genuinely interested in this claim the PSVR2 was a disappointment and abandoned when the Quest 3 was not, because for the most part, all I'm seeing in VR threads is mainly games that are cross-platform releases.
 

Trogdor1123

Member
Hmmm, I was torn between a psvr2 but is this the way to go now? I’ll have a decent pc going in a month or so (5800x3d, 32 gigs of ram, and an amd 6800)
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Hmmm, I was torn between a psvr2 but is this the way to go now? I’ll have a decent pc going in a month or so (5800x3d, 32 gigs of ram, and an amd 6800)

If you're just going for one device, it's a better value in my opinion, so I'd say go Quest 3. Just be prepared to mod the Quest 3, the default strap is not good (simply getting the Elite strap is a huge improvement).

But it's visually a clearer headset by a mile due to the pancake lens, has much more utility (due to PC VR and backwards compatibility), and offers a larger pool of games overall (especially if you count VR mods of non-VR games, but I don't think a large number of people engage with those based on how few impressions I read from people with them, they're very rare). But like I was saying earlier, I feel there is a very large overlap in current games between the two devices.

Quest 3 definitely has more positives than negatives, but on the PSVR2's side it has a few cool exclusives, and generally speaking a better image in terms of color (the HDR makes colors really pop and OLED blacks are great), but it is hurt by the mura and small sweet spot making it hard to use it outside of gaming - where you can mostly get away with that weakness - the center of your vision in focus and the rest blurrier, which is what you get with the PSVR2. The Quest 3 gives you the entire image in focus, so it's usable outside of gaming too (IMO watching media is better despite the weaker colors due to the increased clarity), and stuff like reading text is a million times better on the Quest 3.

Plus the wireless aspect of it and all-in-one aspect brings some convenience to the table for sure (stuff like Pistol Whip, RE4, and others running natively on the headset is really impressive to me), and the mixed reality is something that will mature in future headsets and seems fun and useful in some genres like fitness, music apps, etc. And the color passthrough makes it much better to walk around with without needing to take it off.

To me Quest 3 feels like a much more advanced piece of technology, where the PSVR2 feels like a geeky gamer's device, with no use outside of that. That's not to say it's bad, but it's definitely laser-focused on gaming only, and if you get a PSVR2 (really any VR device) I think it's best if you go in to it open to new experiences, because that is what you're going to discover in VR, it's really cool, new experiences, even if it's playing a game like Resident Evil Village, which you've played already on a console, in VR it feels completely different.
 

amigastar

Member
Hey there guys, a question regarding Meta Quest 2 (sorry for using this thread but i see no Meta Quest 2 thread)
I've ordered a Meta Quest 2 and i wanna know if it is possible to turn the monitor off when i connect the Meta Quest 2 to my PC?
So my PC doesn't have to render the Meta Quest 2 AND the monitor when playing a game.
Is this possible?
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Hmmm, I was torn between a psvr2 but is this the way to go now? I’ll have a decent pc going in a month or so (5800x3d, 32 gigs of ram, and an amd 6800)
I was thinking of getting a PSVR2 and going in on that VR ecosystem. But when I looked at the game list, I saw mostly... ports of Quest games. The crossover is enormous. There are a handful of great exclusives that I am missing out on, yes - I whined about one of them in one of these threads yesterday. But on the other hand, you have Meta which is all-in making exclusive games vs. Sony which is half-assing it. They didn't even update some of the best PSVR1 games (like Astrobot and WipeOut). Plus, the Quest gets you access to SteamVR and the best VR game yet (Alyx).


Hey there guys, a question regarding Meta Quest 2 (sorry for using this thread but i see no Meta Quest 2 thread)
I've ordered a Meta Quest 2 and i wanna know if it is possible to turn the monitor off when i connect the Meta Quest 2 to my PC?
So my PC doesn't have to render the Meta Quest 2 AND the monitor when playing a game.
Is this possible?

Nothing gets rendered twice. It just gets encoded and sent to the VR device through USB-C.
 

amigastar

Member
I was thinking of getting a PSVR2 and going in on that VR ecosystem. But when I looked at the game list, I saw mostly... ports of Quest games. The crossover is enormous. There are a handful of great exclusives that I am missing out on, yes - I whined about one of them in one of these threads yesterday. But on the other hand, you have Meta which is all-in making exclusive games vs. Sony which is half-assing it. They didn't even update some of the best PSVR1 games (like Astrobot and WipeOut). Plus, the Quest gets you access to SteamVR and the best VR game yet (Alyx).




Nothing gets rendered twice. It just gets encoded and sent to the VR device through USB-C.
Hello, could you explain it a little more in detail, please?
 

cyberheater

PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
Hey there guys, a question regarding Meta Quest 2 (sorry for using this thread but i see no Meta Quest 2 thread)
I've ordered a Meta Quest 2 and i wanna know if it is possible to turn the monitor off when i connect the Meta Quest 2 to my PC?
So my PC doesn't have to render the Meta Quest 2 AND the monitor when playing a game.
Is this possible?
You can turn your monitor off. The quest will still see it.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Hey there guys, a question regarding Meta Quest 2 (sorry for using this thread but i see no Meta Quest 2 thread)
I've ordered a Meta Quest 2 and i wanna know if it is possible to turn the monitor off when i connect the Meta Quest 2 to my PC?
So my PC doesn't have to render the Meta Quest 2 AND the monitor when playing a game.
Is this possible?
You can definitely turn the monitor off or use another input. My computer is hooked up to my TV and my son sometimes uses the Quest 2 as just a screen to play Forza while we watch TV.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
There's nothing to explain. It's just an output. Like if you have two mirrored monitors.

I dunno, if you had Steam VR running through USB-C as a display there would be no encoding at all, it would just send over the raw data, like how PSVR2 does it, the PS5 isn't encoding the output to HEVC or anything like you get with the Quest, it's a direct feed, uncompressed.

But to transmit to a Quest headset, which doesn't have any Video input, it needs to be encoded to a video file. The encoding process compresses the image, reducing the image quality, and possibly introducing lag if your PC hiccups or anything, or if it's over a network. Even wired, it still needs to encode the output exactly the same as wireless.

Mirror monitors can also take a hit on the GPU's capabilities, so when I output to a TV I don't use mirroring option at all. I get better refresh rates / resolution running a single output than mirrored displays duplicated on the laptop and TV.
 

Hot5pur

Member
Anyone tried the new Ghostbusters game?
Apparently it's very childish and basic. Didn't even bother after seeing reviews/impressions.

Also, it seems this whole streaming business is more complex than I thought. Got a 6e router and will try to figure out all this stuff about bandwidth, quality settings, using non busy bands, etc. I can see why they needed to go untethered to reach the mass market, likely meta won't have any more PCVR investments.
 
Yeah no way I'm buying Ghostbusters.

Looks mediocre at best and way over priced even with 25% off codes.

Assassin's creed, Asgard’s wrath 2, Arizona sunshine 2 and a cheeky Powerwash simulator are my next buys lol
 

Hot5pur

Member
A couple of useful tidbits for Airlink people (I haven't needed VD).
I started off using a 5GHz router. In general, you can hit decent latency but it's not the full story.
Basically, if you live in a crowded area, you will have a lot of interference on your 5Ghz band, which will create problems with occasional hitches and frame drops.
I was getting 50-55 ms latency with airlink (which is fine, note VD calculates theirs differently so they appear lower), but was still getting a weird feeling and getting somewhat woozy when playing.
There are also other devices on my network so that doesn't help.

Went out to get a new router, a 6e. You can check out this one, it's likely the cheapest one and it's decent. It has the same internals as the XE75, cuz you can't find the Archer AXE5400 anymore (it's now the TP-Link 5400 XE75), also has a different enclosure.
If you have a router from your ISP, likely it's not great in general, so you're going to want to put it in bridge mode and disable the networks on it. Then connect it to the router.
Put the Quest 3 (and that alone) on the 6 GHz band, which should be the most uncongested since most people don't have 6 GHz, everything else on the 2.4/5.

In your Oculus PC app, adjust the settings for the quest under device > graphics preferences, to go at 90 Hz and 1.5x render resolution. If you don't have a top GPU, you may have to scale these down.
Then once you connect to airlink with the Quest, set the bitrate to dynamic at 200 mbits.

What I noticed is that my latency is more stable around 50 ms (so not much of a nominal improvement), but it feels like it hangs out at a higher bitrate and I don't feel sick, there is no micro-stutters, it feels almost like playing native.
Hopefully this is useful. You should also see if you can get away with your existing router, but if not you will likely be able to go with the 6e option.
 

Haint

Member
A couple of useful tidbits for Airlink people (I haven't needed VD).
I started off using a 5GHz router. In general, you can hit decent latency but it's not the full story.
Basically, if you live in a crowded area, you will have a lot of interference on your 5Ghz band, which will create problems with occasional hitches and frame drops.
I was getting 50-55 ms latency with airlink (which is fine, note VD calculates theirs differently so they appear lower), but was still getting a weird feeling and getting somewhat woozy when playing.
There are also other devices on my network so that doesn't help.

Went out to get a new router, a 6e. You can check out this one, it's likely the cheapest one and it's decent. It has the same internals as the XE75, cuz you can't find the Archer AXE5400 anymore (it's now the TP-Link 5400 XE75), also has a different enclosure.
If you have a router from your ISP, likely it's not great in general, so you're going to want to put it in bridge mode and disable the networks on it. Then connect it to the router.
Put the Quest 3 (and that alone) on the 6 GHz band, which should be the most uncongested since most people don't have 6 GHz, everything else on the 2.4/5.

In your Oculus PC app, adjust the settings for the quest under device > graphics preferences, to go at 90 Hz and 1.5x render resolution. If you don't have a top GPU, you may have to scale these down.
Then once you connect to airlink with the Quest, set the bitrate to dynamic at 200 mbits.

What I noticed is that my latency is more stable around 50 ms (so not much of a nominal improvement), but it feels like it hangs out at a higher bitrate and I don't feel sick, there is no micro-stutters, it feels almost like playing native.
Hopefully this is useful. You should also see if you can get away with your existing router, but if not you will likely be able to go with the 6e option.

The Oculus desktop app comes bundled with a debug tool somewhere in the folder structure where you can change the codec and adjust the bitrate higher than 200 (manual entry is capped at 500, but you can copy and paste higher numbers). You can also increase the video stream's resolution (the 1.5x figure you're referencing in the official menu is the game's 3D render resolution, not the streamed video resolution), turn on/off sharpening (it's VERY strong, like an edgelord's Reshade config), among other settings. H.264 at very high bitrates (600-800mpbs or more, not sure what the cap is) produces the best image quality, far better than even AV1 200mbps. The Quest 3's SoC is too slow to decode any other codecs at very high bit rates. I legitimately do not understand how people can not see the compression artifacts @ 200mbps, it seriously looks like a Youtube video in heavy torture scenes. Even just the default SteamVR home environment (the modern house up on the moutainside) looks absolutely grotesque when you look off the balcony outside at the moutain vista, or at the tree in the garden with the bark texture. The artifacts show up so bad in the fog/volumetric lighting.
 
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Minsc

Gold Member
The Oculus desktop app comes bundled with a debug tool somewhere in the folder structure where you can change the codec and adjust the bitrate higher than 200 (manual entry is capped at 500, but you can copy and past higher numbers). You can also increase the video stream's resolution (the 1.5x figure you're referencing in the official menu is the game's 3D render resolution, not the streamed video resolution). H.264 at very high bitrates (600-800mpbs or more, not sure what the cap is) produces the best image quality, far better than even AV1 200mbps. The Quest 3's SoC is too slow to decode any other codecs at very high bit rates.

8-bit at any bitrate even 10000000mbps is going to produce terrible banding in certain images when encoding, and real-time hardware encoding is inferior to software encoding. It's an inherent problem with 8-bit not the codec really, but you get banding in smooth gradients.
 

Haint

Member
8-bit at any bitrate even 10000000mbps is going to produce terrible banding in certain images when encoding, and real-time hardware encoding is inferior to software encoding. It's an inherent problem with 8-bit not the codec really, but you get banding in smooth gradients.
Banding and posteurization don't even qualify as an issue when compared to the literal MPEG compression artifacts that are omnipresent at 200mpbs.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Banding and posteurization don't even qualify as an issue when compared to the literal MPEG compression artifacts that are omnipresent at 200mpbs.

I mean, when I boot in to Steam VR Home, and look at the little video stats UI that pops up when you click both thumbsticks it says 5Ghz, then for bitrate between 400-900mbps depending on what I'm viewing, and 10-bit HEVC.

So I'm not 100% sure if this 200mbit/s is a thing, but regardless the image I get through VD is pristine, no compression artifacts (not even in your LotR Hobbit homescapes, or the Half-Life ones, or any of the other dozens I've used, all are totally free from any compression artifacts). Like I can open this on YouTube on my PC and view it fullscreen and I can easily see all the blurriness and compression artifacts as the screen shakes/pans around on my monitor. I can put the headset right back on right now and it looks as clear as viewing a screenshot does back on my PC regardless of how fast I spin around or jump from place to place.

To be honest, I almost feel like your setup is not doing something correctly, because I'm far from the only one who has commented/observed how clear the Quest 3 looks under VD in Alyx/other games.

Edit: I think that 400-900mbps number I see next to 5Ghz is actually the wifi speed? Weird it measures that. I see video bitrate at 150mbit/s, so that's pretty low (well not compared to like a 4k bluray,those generally around 70mbit/sec on average), but still, I ensure you there's no mpeg artifacts in my vision, like in that YouTube video linked. I tried to make a recording from my phone, I'll pm it to you and you can critique there, but yeah, it looks smooth and sharp/clear all the time to me.
 
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Hot5pur

Member
The Oculus desktop app comes bundled with a debug tool somewhere in the folder structure where you can change the codec and adjust the bitrate higher than 200 (manual entry is capped at 500, but you can copy and paste higher numbers). You can also increase the video stream's resolution (the 1.5x figure you're referencing in the official menu is the game's 3D render resolution, not the streamed video resolution), turn on/off sharpening (it's VERY strong, like an edgelord's Reshade config), among other settings. H.264 at very high bitrates (600-800mpbs or more, not sure what the cap is) produces the best image quality, far better than even AV1 200mbps. The Quest 3's SoC is too slow to decode any other codecs at very high bit rates. I legitimately do not understand how people can not see the compression artifacts @ 200mbps, it seriously looks like a Youtube video in heavy torture scenes. Even just the default SteamVR home environment (the modern house up on the moutainside) looks absolutely grotesque when you look off the balcony outside at the moutain vista, or at the tree in the garden with the bark texture. The artifacts show up so bad in the fog/volumetric lighting.
Ooo okay will try h264.

On another note, synth riders, pistol whip or beat saber? (Yes why not all 3, but if ya'll had to pick 1).
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Ooo okay will try h264.

On another note, synth riders, pistol whip or beat saber? (Yes why not all 3, but if ya'll had to pick 1).

Pistol whip is the most like a real game from a rhythm game, I'd 100% recommend it over Synth Riders and Samba de Amigo. It's just so much cooler (sorry haven't played Beat Saber yet so can't comment on that).

But Synth Riders is really great IMO. I haven't tried Beat Saber, but have been quite happy with Synth Riders, and the music as well. However, get Pistol Whip regardless, consider it something a bit different than either. There's like a comic-book campaign (two of them), all sorts of fun levels and more in Pistol Whip, different guns, etc. It's way better than it looks and it runs really really well on the headset itself.
 
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Haint

Member
I mean, when I boot in to Steam VR Home, and look at the little video stats UI that pops up when you click both thumbsticks it says 5Ghz, then for bitrate between 400-900mbps depending on what I'm viewing, and 10-bit HEVC.

So I'm not 100% sure if this 200mbit/s is a thing, but regardless the image I get through VD is pristine, no compression artifacts (not even in your LotR Hobbit homescapes, or the Half-Life ones, or any of the other dozens I've used, all are totally free from any compression artifacts). Like I can open this on YouTube on my PC and view it fullscreen and I can easily see all the blurriness and compression artifacts as the screen shakes/pans around on my monitor. I can put the headset right back on right now and it looks as clear as viewing a screenshot does back on my PC regardless of how fast I spin around or jump from place to place.

To be honest, I almost feel like your setup is not doing something correctly, because I'm far from the only one who has commented/observed how clear the Quest 3 looks under VD in Alyx/other games.

Edit: I think that 400-900mbps number I see next to 5Ghz is actually the wifi speed? Weird it measures that. I see video bitrate at 150mbit/s, so that's pretty low (well not compared to like a 4k bluray,those generally around 70mbit/sec on average), but still, I ensure you there's no mpeg artifacts in my vision, like in that YouTube video linked. I tried to make a recording from my phone, I'll pm it to you and you can critique there, but yeah, it looks smooth and sharp/clear all the time to me.
This is the best example of what I'm talking about, a sliding comparison of 200mbps AV1 Vs 850mbps H.264. View fullscreen on a large monitor, not a phone or tablet. Pay close attention to the shadowed foggy area under the trees and note how 200mbps turns into a blurry soup by comparison. I'm coming directly from an Index of 4.5 years with like 2000 hours clocked so I'm very familiar with what these environments should look like on a lossless connection. If you've only ever used a Quest and lossy streaming, I can see how you wouldn't necessarily recognize it as an issue in isolation with no point of reference. Visually complex scenes like pictured/linked are where the algorithm falls apart, though I must admit I'm puzzled as to why fog/volumetric effects are the easiest place to see it's failings.
 
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Minsc

Gold Member
This is the best example of what I'm talking about, a sliding comparison of 200mbps AV1 Vs 850mbps H.264. View fullscreen on a large monitor, not a phone or tablet. Pay close attention to the shadowed foggy area under the trees and note how 200mbps turns into a blurry soup by comparison. I'm coming directly from an Index of 4.5 years with like 2000 hours clocked so I'm very familiar with what these environments should look like on a lossless connection. If you've only ever used a Quest and lossy streaming, I can see how you wouldn't necessarily recognize it as an issue in isolation with no point of reference. Visually complex scenes like pictured/linked are where the algorithm falls apart, though I must admit I'm puzzled as to why fog/volumetric effects are the easiest place to see it's failings.

Yes, on a decently large 27" 1440p monitor, I zoomed the image to 200% and observed the area in the shadows from the trees, and I can see and identify that compression. SO FAR (perhaps it's a matter of time before I can notice it on the headset) I don't see that in VD on my Quest 3. I fully admit that re-encoding cause image quality loss from the native signal, and hardware encoding is a magnitude less efficient than software - which is logical, hardware encoding is realtime, and you can software encode at the same bitrate and change the encoding settings to the point you are getting a single frame of encoded video a second, instead of 90. So it's no surprise software is better quality. Both hardware and software create the same file, it's just software is WAY WAY better at it.

Hardware can get around this by increasing the bitrate, like a hardware encoded movie at 200mbit/s could very well look worse than a software encoded one at only 40mbit/s. So I'd agree it's possible going beyond 200mbit/s would be useful. That said, at the moment, I do not notice the issues in your screenshot, but it's probably like one of those things when you see them you don't unsee them anymore haha.

And there was a pretty long period in the encoding world when we moved from h264 to h265/x265 that people insisted h264 is better quality - and it has to do with the way h264 handles details in areas like those shadows, it is able to preserve them better at the cost of looking worse in bitrate starved situations (which can be fixed by increasing bitrate, where x265/etc would smooth out those details instead, similar to how your screen looks, and I hated that myself, so once I was able to optimize the settings to avoid it, that's when I was happy with x265), at least until people started using different/better settings with the newer codecs. There was a pretty long period I preferred h264 myself, but h264 is terrible at 4k content and can't do HDR so that basically disqualifies it as a choice entirely - and this is going to happen in VR once HDR becomes a thing as well, no one in their right mind would pick h264 and give up HDR, which by in large, gaming agrees is one of the best things to happen in a while.
 

Hot5pur

Member
Tried playing around with h264 and some other settings, it looks like it might increase sharpness at a distance but otherwise identical to h265...
Is it normal to get some shimmering effects on thin lines at longer distances, I assume it's an aliasing thing. Things that are up close look really good but then there is some shimmering farther away, might also be the game (Zero Calibur).
Also if anyone needs an Eleven VR Table Tennis Referral. So far it's by far the most impressive experience I've had and playing people online is pretty awesome. I can see myself using it to learn and playing daily.
 

Hot5pur

Member
Is Synth riders on sale for anyone?
Apparently it's on sale but shows as regular price for me, but I can't apply any coupons because it says it's on sale...
 

amigastar

Member
Hey there,
i have a problem. My Meta Quest 2 is so blurry in DCS that i can't read the instruments. Resoluton is really bad.
What may be the problem?
 
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Hot5pur

Member
Hey there,
i have a problem. My Meta Quest 2 is so blurry in DCS that i can't read the instruments. Resoluton is really bad.
What may be the problem?
This is a PC VR game right? Are you wired or wireless?

ALSO:

Seems this VR business is somewhat niche and several games almost require to have friends to make them a lot more fun. If anyone is looking for a VR buddy feel free to DM me.
A little about me:
Mid 30s, longtime gamer
STEM background, have several nerdy hobbies
Action RPG as a favorite genre
Interests: cats, birds, fitness, guitar, cooking, being lazy on weekends
General availability between 9-11 PM weekdays, and flexible on weekends.
 

Wonko_C

Member
This looks brilliant


I really don't get why so many are excited for MR gaming, you're limited to where you are. With VR your whole surrounding changes and with it, environments can be as big or small and varied as the designers make it. Logically the latter would be more exciting than the former, am I wrong here? Even my RL friends who have never owned a headset are suddenly are hyped for it... Well if that's what it takes for more people to buy VR headsets, I can't really complain.
 
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