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PancakeXR announces the 'Pancake 1' VR headset. Launches at MWC 2023 for $444. Flippable lens, wireless, 5K resolution, standalone and PC compat.
- Thread starter Eddie-Griffin
- Start date
RoadHazard
Gold Member
China.
saintjules
Gold Member
5K?
Anyway, I see 444 everywhere. Now even here.
Anyway, I see 444 everywhere. Now even here.
ozz ex machina
Member
Apart from VR was never actually a mainstream popular thing. Just a gimmick with potential. Which I still don't believe in.
Why there at it maybe chinese devs can help the west bye delivering some AAA VR exsperiences?
Buggy Loop
Member
Pico 4 is pancake and $425, the headset in this thread is rumoured at $450. Both roughly the same optic wise, with the one in this thread having a few more features (but pico 4 is proven)
4,320 x 2,160 pixel for pico 4 and they call it 4K
4,560 x 2,280 pixel this headset and they call it 5k
China gonna copy China
For pancake lenses you have 2 choices as of now : LCD or micro-OLED ($$)
I’m personally waiting for the uOLED but Quest Pro with quality LCD is nothing to scoff at. The production for micro-OLED is ramping up for massive output from the reports online. Right now it’s premium price but the costs should drop like a brick hopefully by end of the year.
The best feature, outside of way thinner headsets, for pancake lenses is the very large sweet spot.
TRIGGER WARNING!! These are NOT to compare resolution or to say that it’s what you see in your PSVR 2 headset, it’s a through the lens and just to showcase how hard it is to capture a sweet spot on fresnel lenses (PSVR 2 reportedly with an even smaller sweet spot) with a camera. This only means it’s picky to adjust, while pancake… you slap that motherfucker on and you’re good to go.
I’m not touching fresnel headsets until a Quest 3 or Deckard comes into the scene with pancake lenses. Quest 2 is a PIA too for sweet spot, especially with glasses.
Mephisto40
Member
That hinge is going to wear out fast
Klik
Member
Yep, waiting for Quest 3 later this year especially knowing its gonna be pancake lens and lens adjustement. It should cost around 500-600$Pico 4 is pancake and $425, the headset in this thread is rumoured at $450. Both roughly the same optic wise, with the one in this thread having a few more features (but pico 4 is proven)
4,320 x 2,160 pixel for pico 4 and they call it 4K
4,560 x 2,280 pixel this headset and they call it 5k
China gonna copy China
For pancake lenses you have 2 choices as of now : LCD or micro-OLED ($$)
I’m personally waiting for the uOLED but Quest Pro with quality LCD is nothing to scoff at. The production for micro-OLED is ramping up for massive output from the reports online. Right now it’s premium price but the costs should drop like a brick hopefully by end of the year.
The best feature, outside of way thinner headsets, for pancake lenses is the very large sweet spot.
TRIGGER WARNING!! These are NOT to compare resolution or to say that it’s what you see in your PSVR 2 headset, it’s a through the lens and just to showcase how hard it is to capture a sweet spot on fresnel lenses (PSVR 2 reportedly with an even smaller sweet spot) with a camera. This only means it’s picky to adjust, while pancake… you slap that motherfucker on and you’re good to go.
I’m not touching fresnel headsets until a Quest 3 or Deckard comes into the scene with pancake lenses. Quest 2 is a PIA too for sweet spot, especially with glasses.
CuteFaceJay
Member
looks like it would be painful for even a 5min session.
Buggy Loop
Member
The visor of the one in OP is 189 grams
These new headsets with pancakes are light as fuck, you don’t need fancy head straps or halo design, it’s roughly 1/3 the weight of fresnel equipped devices just for visor. Batteries in the back of head helps with balance.
rofif
Can’t Git Gud
HUGE difference!Pico 4 is pancake and $425, the headset in this thread is rumoured at $450. Both roughly the same optic wise, with the one in this thread having a few more features (but pico 4 is proven)
4,320 x 2,160 pixel for pico 4 and they call it 4K
4,560 x 2,280 pixel this headset and they call it 5k
China gonna copy China
For pancake lenses you have 2 choices as of now : LCD or micro-OLED ($$)
I’m personally waiting for the uOLED but Quest Pro with quality LCD is nothing to scoff at. The production for micro-OLED is ramping up for massive output from the reports online. Right now it’s premium price but the costs should drop like a brick hopefully by end of the year.
The best feature, outside of way thinner headsets, for pancake lenses is the very large sweet spot.
TRIGGER WARNING!! These are NOT to compare resolution or to say that it’s what you see in your PSVR 2 headset, it’s a through the lens and just to showcase how hard it is to capture a sweet spot on fresnel lenses (PSVR 2 reportedly with an even smaller sweet spot) with a camera. This only means it’s picky to adjust, while pancake… you slap that motherfucker on and you’re good to go.
I’m not touching fresnel headsets until a Quest 3 or Deckard comes into the scene with pancake lenses. Quest 2 is a PIA too for sweet spot, especially with glasses.
Had no idea pancake is so good. PSVR2 chromatic abberration and sweet spot are very annoying
midnightAI
Member
TRIGGER WARNING!! These are NOT to compare resolution or to say that it’s what you see in your PSVR 2 headset, it’s a through the lens and just to showcase how hard it is to capture a sweet spot on fresnel lenses (PSVR 2 reportedly with an even smaller sweet spot) with a camera. This only means it’s picky to adjust, while pancake… you slap that motherfucker on and you’re good to go.
I’m not touching fresnel headsets until a Quest 3 or Deckard comes into the scene with pancake lenses. Quest 2 is a PIA too for sweet spot, especially with glasses.
I know you are doing this for illustrative purposes, but both of those shots are from Quest Pro arent they? I know it doesnt look like that right image to me (PSVR2 version has had an overhaul, that bar scene lighting is much different now)
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Buggy Loop
Member
No, user on Reddit picked those on right from PSVR 2.
Was it patched on day 1? But I see what you mean, looking at videos now, it doesn’t look like that.
Edit- probably the scene before he goes under the light?
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Henry Panic
Banned
They aren't going to price Quest 3 at PSVR 2 price. Quest only succeeds when it undercuts the competition with good specs. Quest 3 won't be stronger than Sonys headset, so pricing it above $500 is sending it off to die
StereoVsn
Member
Nobody knows. Basically random firm out of China it seems (too lazy to Google) and that makes their store pointless endeavor in the West.
Also, not having OLED is a mistake, IMO. All that said, will be interesting to see reviews of PC compatibility, controller accuracy, device itself, and so on. Wireless is a big plus.
nemiroff
Gold Member
That doesn't make any sense without a minimum of context. Every headset is a mix of technology with pluses and minuses. In fact, the VR industry was on their way to OLED (Oculus DK 2) but was more or less abandoned partly because of black smear (I'd take LCD over black smear any day, it's horrendous)(yeah, low res sub pixels on pentile wasn't ideal either). I was so happy to go to the Vive's LCDs after the amOLEDs.. Pancake lenses is the next big thing for a reason (some being form factor, sweet spot and weight), and it'll become standard until the next big lens tech (or projector tech, who knows) replaces it.
Edit: BTW, if you want to compare prices, at least include the fact that this headset is untethered.
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poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Yeah it seems the choices currently are fresnel with OLED or pancake with LED. Both have pluses and minuses. I'm fine with the sweet spot of fresnel, but the reduced protrusion from your face is what is making me lean towards something with pancake lenses when I eventually upgrade from the Quest 2.Pico 4 is pancake and $425, the headset in this thread is rumoured at $450. Both roughly the same optic wise, with the one in this thread having a few more features (but pico 4 is proven)
4,320 x 2,160 pixel for pico 4 and they call it 4K
4,560 x 2,280 pixel this headset and they call it 5k
China gonna copy China
For pancake lenses you have 2 choices as of now : LCD or micro-OLED ($$)
I’m personally waiting for the uOLED but Quest Pro with quality LCD is nothing to scoff at. The production for micro-OLED is ramping up for massive output from the reports online. Right now it’s premium price but the costs should drop like a brick hopefully by end of the year.
The best feature, outside of way thinner headsets, for pancake lenses is the very large sweet spot.
TRIGGER WARNING!! These are NOT to compare resolution or to say that it’s what you see in your PSVR 2 headset, it’s a through the lens and just to showcase how hard it is to capture a sweet spot on fresnel lenses (PSVR 2 reportedly with an even smaller sweet spot) with a camera. This only means it’s picky to adjust, while pancake… you slap that motherfucker on and you’re good to go.
I’m not touching fresnel headsets until a Quest 3 or Deckard comes into the scene with pancake lenses. Quest 2 is a PIA too for sweet spot, especially with glasses.
cash_longfellow
Member
Eddie-Griffin
Banned
The only example we have of headsets in that price range generally is Pico 4 which got some praise, so not sure what you mean.
China has a market that can get away with shallow or mobile experience to sell headsets if the specs make them look and possibly play better than on a budget smartphone that's gaming ready, without needing a powerful PC.
China has very little reason to push AAA development on headsets. However, TCL hinted they were attempting to make it easier to get AAA content games and otherwise in VR for their headset, we will have to see if they actually pull it off though.
PancakeXR is a subsidiary of Skylake which is a major chinese tech firm in the country, with some business in India as well. You don't keep showing up at big events like CES, FBEC, and now MWC as a random company the money spend in the VR industry and the question of its sustainability is basically removing all the fodder out of the arms race.
The last time we had nobodies in VR was early gen MobileVR that could run on a toaster phone at terrible quality and do the bare minimum, and even they eventually got pushed out, screwing over the scalpers who are still trying to sell them on Ebay.
StereoVsn
Member
Ty for the info. IMO, still a nonstarter in the West for their own store, but PC possibilities are more interesting. We shall see more in reviews and also where devices are sold.
Eddie-Griffin
Banned
They gave a journalist a headset to try and he's walking all around MWC 2023 event field with it.
He apparently hasn't had to take the headset off because he can use VR anytime and he can easily swap to see his surroundings in real life. This matches the company website suggesting you can bring the headset with you in public.
We'll just have to wait on the videos to try about the experience, extra details on headset feature and controllers, and what peoples impressions are. Looks like this might be one to consider.
He apparently hasn't had to take the headset off because he can use VR anytime and he can easily swap to see his surroundings in real life. This matches the company website suggesting you can bring the headset with you in public.
We'll just have to wait on the videos to try about the experience, extra details on headset feature and controllers, and what peoples impressions are. Looks like this might be one to consider.
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SF Kosmo
Al Jazeera Special Reporter
I'm thinking of like the DecaGear or the FOVE or all these headsets that sound great but never come out or only come out when they're no longer competitive.
Pico 4 is mostly an exception obviously, but I still probably wouldn't want to buy one, because I don't think the SLAM or the video-over-USB/Wi-Fi is competitive with Quest.
Eddie-Griffin
Banned
The headset physically exists. Even the post above you have people using it at MWC.
Also you quoted buggy loop not me, and got my text under his name by incident lol.
Spukc
always chasing the next thrill
dude apple vr
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Lightbleed city.
Eddie-Griffin
Banned
Where?
Crayon
Member
We're not the Rockefellers!
SF Kosmo
Al Jazeera Special Reporter
There's a big gap between a prototype existing and being able to produce it at scale for that price. Just seems a bit too good to be true, which usually means it is.
Sakura
Member
Pancake lenses aren't bad. Quite the opposite as far as I am aware.
Minsc
Gold Member
It's not that they're bad, it's just that they're not without faults (iirc FOV, color saturation and brightness suffer). So pick your poison so to speak.
I said the same thing, the piece that goes against your face looks terribly rigid and horrible at blocking light compared to PSVR2.
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midnightAI
Member
To be fair, no other headset on the market blocks light as well as PSVR 2. I think with XR type devices if you are using pass through all the time then light blocking or even blocking your surroundings at all isnt that important.
Eddie-Griffin
Banned
It launches this month.
No one has complained about it yet shown off in China and at MWC.
Sakura
Member
The FOV isn't really a big issue.
The Quest 2 has an FOV of 90, and the PSVR2 has an FOV of about 110 iirc.
Other Fresnel lens based headsets are typically around this.
The Quest Pro, and the headset which this thread is about, both have FOVs of about 105, and they use pancake lenses.
Not really much different than what you'll get with mainstream Fresnel headsets.
Pancake lenses will also give you a much clearer image within that FOV.
Minsc
Gold Member
As you can see with the PSVR2 no one really complains about much at all in previews/reviews, almost no one complained about the PSVR2 being blurry and low resolution, yet we all had this impression that is was going to be crystal clear and it is not. I guess the truth is nothing is as clear as a 4k TV yet, probably not even this device with the pancake lenses.
Anyway, I feel like when you get used to something having it removed bothers you, which is why people who get used to pancake lenses likely dislike any headset without them, and to an extent someone who got used to the darkness / light blocking in the PSVR2 would miss them - especially for horror games like RE8 - I've seen quite a few reviews comment how much better they play because of that.
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Eddie-Griffin
Banned
I mean the magnetic cushion and design of the flexible lens were along with the clam design around the lens made to avoid like leak. The headset launches before the end of the month, that's is basically what the headset is going to be and not a demo unit so I mean if we aren't hearing anything and we have people wearing the headset walking around crowds through the the event region in day light without issues it seems like it's fine.
Of course there could be some other issues, impressions will drop as more people try it out, MWC goes into March so we'll see more impressions, more info on the controllers, and video soon to really see what this thing is about in action.
Eddie-Griffin
Banned
PancakeXr has a pretty active booth at MWC,
Seems using the top head strap is an option since two of the pictures have users having it off.
Apparently it's light and very interactive and fast.
Still waiting on a video or more details on the controllers but they seem to have some advanced tracking features.
Seems using the top head strap is an option since two of the pictures have users having it off.
Apparently it's light and very interactive and fast.
Still waiting on a video or more details on the controllers but they seem to have some advanced tracking features.
MastAndo
Member
Looks like there could be a lot of light bleed coming in from the sides, but maybe that can be remedied by moving the back up a bit.PancakeXr has a pretty active booth at MWC,
Seems using the top head strap is an option since two of the pictures have users having it off.
Apparently it's light and very interactive and fast.
Still waiting on a video or more details on the controllers but they seem to have some advanced tracking features.
Interested to see how this thing pans out.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
PancakeXr has a pretty active booth at MWC,
Seems using the top head strap is an option since two of the pictures have users having it off.
Apparently it's light and very interactive and fast.
Still waiting on a video or more details on the controllers but they seem to have some advanced tracking features.
Have they shown games on it yet?