I bought a Pimax 4k HMD for $360

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nasomi

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I've never done the vr thing before. I was honestly looking at buying a 40" 4k curved monitor but instead decided on this. I thought "this will be better!". This is not really the same thing. They're not comparable. One does not replace the other.

That being said, I can honestly say I don't regret my purchase.

The Pimax 4k is a chinese brand headset with 4k display. This isn't to be confused with 4k input, the input is actually 1440p, upscaled to 4k to get rid of the SDE. And I have to say, this was extremely effective. It looks incredible.

The software it came with is iffy as hell. You switch between video mode and pimax mode, ti takes a few seconds, throws your monitors all over. Best to avoid doing stuff while this is happening. Once in pimax mode, steam vr picks up on it right away, and you can get into any steam things. This has worked really well. Also done some video playback and that's worked well as well. Think: porn. It's a game changer, given the UHD display.

The headphones are brilliant. I have no complaints. They're 5.1 and sound amazing at all ranges. Very good for the immersion factor.

No position tracking, but with motion tracking, this works great for a sit in your chair experience. That's fine for me. motion tracking of hte head looking around is really quick, I could only produce visual glitches shaking my head fast as I could, which gave me a headache, from the shaking, not from the headset.

Overall it feels really good on the head. It's light, well balanced, and feels solid. The foam by the nose needs adjusted once you're in position so it's not pushing your nostrils shut, but that's easily fixable. The headphones are comfy as well, soft padding and light weight. The cables are a solid 8' long, so yeah, you aren't really giong to move very much. However they're more than sufficient for a chair experience.

Overall I am having a great time. It lacks the rift wands, which some games require, so you are limited to things you can do with the keyboard/mouse/controller.

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I bought a pair of these for $300 with free shipping. They are showing up in two days. I have not decided yet, but I may add Nolo motion tracking to it.
 
There are slight compatability issues with some steam stuff. It doesn't seem to know where you're looking at startup, and menu's will show up either 90 degrees to the left or right. Typically they're easy to re-center though. I don't know if this is a device in general issue, or just this.
 
I saw a video about these...looks cool but no room scale is a deal breaker. Hopefully we can get some lighthouse-compatible HMDs like this soon (maybe the LG one?).
 
How would this work for someone who doesn't need roomscale (i.e. flight sims)?

The SDE on the current mainstream headsets is what has made me hold off so far.
 
Sounds like it will be ideal for car racing / cockpit sims as long as the head tracking works well.
Downside is GPU power required to run those pixels, 1080ti minimum.
 
Everything I've thrown at it has worked great with minimal tweaking. I'm driving it with a GTX980 4gb card and it has been going full speed. I have one GPU dedicated to the headset and another 980 on my 3 displays. Steam has a way to filter out the hand sticks to only use controller/keyboard/mouse. Everything I've tried thus far works well.
 
00Dan said:
How would this work for someone who doesn't need roomscale (i.e. flight sims)?

The SDE on the current mainstream headsets is what has made me hold off so far.
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It'll work fine for cockpit stuff where you don't move around - just don't lean forward/back or side to side as if you do that too much you'll get motion sick without the positional tracking. I was able to play cockpit games (ie racing) with the Rift dk1 no problem as long as I didn't move around too much. If I moved around too much I'd start to get motion sick.

I wonder if a trackIR would add the positional tracking for seated stuff? If so, it'd be about ideal for racing/flying stuff.
 
I have had no issues with my Pimax 4k. As far as visual quality it far surpasses the Rift and Vive by quite alot. In the visuals department this thing feels like it is a generation or two beyond the Rift and Vive. The head motion tracking is fantastic. I would say it is also better than the Rift and Vive in that department as well. Elite Dangerous is great on this HMD. The only place where it is lacking is in the room scale because it has no room scale. Like I said in my earlier post though Nolo VR is coming out in early May which will add room scale capability to the mix.
 
Tempted to get one of these for my desktop...

I have a Vive, and it's great, but something that's a bit more... dog friendly for seated controller games would be nice, especially with how big of leap the visual quality is reported to be.
I really wish that it had *some* positional tracking, though. I've watched some 360 degree videos on the Vive, and it's awkward how moving at all also moves the "world" around you. Single-camera DK2 levels would be fine.


//Getting a dog has *seriously* limited my roomscale VR time. TV/Games are fine, but the moment you start swinging Vive wands around...
 
gsilver said:
Tempted to get one of these for my desktop...

I have a Vive, and it's great, but something that's a bit more... dog friendly for seated controller games would be nice, especially with how big of leap the visual quality is reported to be.
I really wish that it had *some* positional tracking, though. I've watched some 360 degree videos on the Vive, and it's awkward how moving at all also moves the "world" around you. Single-camera DK2 levels would be fine.


//Getting a dog has *seriously* limited my roomscale VR time. TV/Games are fine, but the moment you start swinging Vive wands around...
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Why can't you play seated VR games with your Vive?

I have a dog too. I typically shut the door to the room before I get into a roomscale game.
 
TheSmJ said:
Why can't you play seated VR games with your Vive?

I have a dog too. I typically shut the door to the room before I get into a roomscale game.
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It may not be impossible, but the Vive is set up around the largest area of free space in my house, which is the living room. The dog would not really tolerate being kept out of it when I'm in there. Or being crated when I'm walking around in a strange manner (as he can see the VR area from the crate). Seating isn't really ideal, either.
A secondary headset that I could put in the office where roomscale is not a concern (and I can easily keep the dog out) would be nice.


Though realistically, I'll probably wait until there's an Oculus 4K or something.
 
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00Dan said:
How would this work for someone who doesn't need roomscale (i.e. flight sims)?

The SDE on the current mainstream headsets is what has made me hold off so far.
Click to expand...
I've been eyeing the Pimax 4k just for flight sims, like Elite Dangerous and War Thunder. I'm really not interested in the "jumping around" VR. These seem Ideal. I read they have a 8K version coming out soon. IF so this 4K one should see a price drop.
 
Gasaraki_ said:
It's $300...
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And the Vive/Rift are ~$600-700...but also come with tracking stations, motion controls, etc...and have much more functionality.

This is fine for what it is but it's not a screamin' deal compared to a real VR setup unless all you care about are seated experiences with limited tracking capabilities.
 
MavericK said:
And the Vive/Rift are ~$600-700...but also come with tracking stations, motion controls, etc...and have much more functionality.

This is fine for what it is but it's not a screamin' deal compared to a real VR setup unless all you care about are seated experiences with limited tracking capabilities.
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So add one of these to the pimax 4k https://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/ and you're at 450, still way cheaper and with 4k. If you don't care about motion controls, which flight, driving etc. you don't need.

Edit: Pimax has the ability to turn off the internal gyro for specifically this reason: http://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/use-trackir-for-headtracking-how-to-turn-off-gyroscope/464/7
 
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The Pimax 4k has head tracking. I am adding a Nolo VR for roomscale, but that adds on $200. I only spent $300 on my Pimax so when my Nolo VR gets here I will have only spent $500 and my experience will be on par if not better than a Vive. Image quality will be better for sure.
 
trudude said:
The Pimax 4k has head tracking. I am adding a Nolo VR for roomscale, but that adds on $200. I only spent $300 on my Pimax so when my Nolo VR gets here I will have only spent $500 and my experience will be on par if not better than a Vive. Image quality will be better for sure.
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Just rotation, not 6dof, which is the main problem with it (imo).
 
trudude said:
Yeah I without the Nolo VR I will not be able to move my head straight up or straight down.
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Has anyone considered the HTC Trackers and light house with the 4k pimax? It will be much more expensive at about 600$ + (400 pimax) but wouldn't it be a much better experience? Is it even possible?
 
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So this headset is basically the best one to get if you are only interested in playing normal gamepad/KB+mouse games with VR visuals or for watching 3D movies? Bookmarked for later use. I will definetly get this when I have some loose money. While Vive wand waving is a neat concept and very functional I am more interested in games with traditional controls.
 
MaZa said:
So this headset is basically the best one to get if you are only interested in playing normal gamepad/KB+mouse games with VR visuals or for watching 3D movies? Bookmarked for later use. I will definetly get this when I have some loose money. While Vive wand waving is a neat concept and very functional I am more interested in games with traditional controls.
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If you are mainly interested in normal games I would wait for a windows VR headset with inside out tracking.

Positional only tracking feels very odd (and can cause sickness) unless you keep your head perfectly still.
 
would the higher resolution and clarity make something like virtual desktop more viable?
 
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workshop35 said:
would the higher resolution and clarity make something like virtual desktop more viable?
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No. Think about how high resolution your monitor is and how much of your field of view it takes. For me it is 2560x1440 and about 70 degrees. This thing has 110 degree FOV and takes 2560x1440 input that it has to divide by each eye. It would need close to 8k resolution at that FOV to be equivalent.

They're actually making an 8k version, but it will have 200 degree FOV so it wouldn't really work either. You would need 16k resolution at that FOV.

Also this headset has no motion blur reduction. So while you move move your head everything is super blurry. Even if you added Vive equivalent motion tracking it wouldn't fix the blur.
 
sharknice said:
No. Think about how high resolution your monitor is and how much of your field of view it takes. For me it is 2560x1440 and about 70 degrees. This thing has 110 degree FOV and takes 2560x1440 input that it has to divide by each eye. It would need close to 8k resolution at that FOV to be equivalent.

They're actually making an 8k version, but it will have 200 degree FOV so it wouldn't really work either. You would need 16k resolution at that FOV.

Also this headset has no motion blur reduction. So while you move move your head everything is super blurry. Even if you added Vive equivalent motion tracking it wouldn't fix the blur.
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You are looking at the idea of using the headset to replace your desktop the wrong way. The point is not to have a virtual monitor that occupies the same amount of space in your field of view. Like you said it would require a 16k screen with 200FOV to achieve that. Where I see potential (not for the PIMAX give it is blurry and other major issues) is in higher resolution headsets (like the upcoming microsoft mixed reality) where text is legible in VR. This allows people to create giant virtual monitors that mimic the real life monitor at similar resolution that you make up with by making the virtual screens much larger. In real life we move our eyes in order to look at different parts of the monitor. We also move our head slightly all the time even if it feels like we don't. Regardless of all of these movements we get the same resolution which doesn't happen with the headset where you the full resolution is always static in one place and does not move along with your eyes. I never owned a PIMAX but looking at the Oculus and HTC i know for sure that a little bit more resolution and replacing real life monitors with virtual monitors becomes possible.
 
Rysen said:
You are looking at the idea of using the headset to replace your desktop the wrong way. The point is not to have a virtual monitor that occupies the same amount of space in your field of view. Like you said it would require a 16k screen with 200FOV to achieve that. Where I see potential (not for the PIMAX give it is blurry and other major issues) is in higher resolution headsets (like the upcoming microsoft mixed reality) where text is legible in VR. This allows people to create giant virtual monitors that mimic the real life monitor at similar resolution that you make up with by making the virtual screens much larger. In real life we move our eyes in order to look at different parts of the monitor. We also move our head slightly all the time even if it feels like we don't. Regardless of all of these movements we get the same resolution which doesn't happen with the headset where you the full resolution is always static in one place and does not move along with your eyes. I never owned a PIMAX but looking at the Oculus and HTC i know for sure that a little bit more resolution and replacing real life monitors with virtual monitors becomes possible.
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Yeah you don't really need big fov for virtual desktop, but even with current Rift and Vive FOVs you would need close to 8k. The current res feels like a 640x480 desktop.
 
Seems a bit iffy to call something that isn't 4K, 4K.
 
What would ya'll be prepared to pay if it was full 4k?
 
Much less than they will need to charge.
It will also have to show a tangible benefit without needing the very best graphics hardware.
Its niche of a niche until prices become realistic and performance is high enough for most of VRs fans.
 
00Dan said:
The SDE on the current mainstream headsets is what has made me hold off so far.
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I wondered about that myself, and I'm sure if I used a 4k option I would notice it going back to the oculus. However, I've used a VIVE and now have an Oculus and I don't notice the SDE at all in games. You're too busy having fun focusing on the game itself and not so much the resolution, but even at that you have to really focus to notice the SDE in game. Robo Recall looks fantastic, especially with my upgraded 980 TI SC (Up from rx 480). I mean, but as far as the SDE is concerned I don't even notice it...at least not in game. For other things, Videos look like crap on here. I was really surprised at how bad they look actually. Menus look ok, but are obviously not high res. But once you are in a game, it's like it goes away. Pretty amazed at that actually.

I have considered a pimax for desktop only use.
 
I use my oculus for sbs 3d movies like Kong Skull Island etc...

Yes there is a screen door but you dont see it because ypur bwing entertained.

Was playing windlands and worried about falling and never seen sde because I was too adrenalined up.
 
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