Took the Plunge...Expectations Far Exceeded

[HiFlyer 9,343]

1 hour ago, Iceman2 said:

The Pimax lacks full head movement like the rift and vive but I'm told Track IR will fix that, however as of now I haven't figured out how to make the two to work together.

 

 

[KL Oo 695]

Hi Iceman,

I didn't realise it didn't have full movement - So you can move your head around (up/down/sideways) but can't move the actual position of the head within the cabin? Thats a bit of a disadvantage...

 

However, it appears as if HiFlyer has posted a video that shows it IS possible with PiMax to move full around. Do you have any expirence with this HiFlyer?

 

It seems odd to me that Rift/Vive would continue to be so popular when the PiMax appears to be equally capable and has better resolution. Why is it that fewer people appear to be using PiMax rather than Rift/Vive?

 

 

 

[Iceman2 110]

KL, 

Pimax use a gyro method for their head movement rather than the head tracking method. The gyros are excellent although I'm told Pimax had a few issues (drift) with the software side of the gyros in the beginning.  I have not experienced any gyro drift. 

I don't know how many gyros are in the head unit but you don't have a sit up/down forward and back. There's a small amount of sidewards movement. 

The panning left/right up/down is great and perfect, no lag whatsoever. The only thing I miss is the lean forward movement and hoping I can get my Track IR to add this part.

Thanks HiFlyer I'll look into this.

For the money I'm more than happy with the Pimax, but I only use is it for flight simming (seated) and not running around the room. 

IM

[HiFlyer 9,343]

5 hours ago, KL Oo said:

However, it appears as if HiFlyer has posted a video that shows it IS possible with PiMax to move full around. Do you have any expirence with this HiFlyer?

Not personally; I just tend to keep up with new tech, and especially VR, lately.

5 hours ago, KL Oo said:

It seems odd to me that Rift/Vive would continue to be so popular when the PiMax appears to be equally capable and has better resolution. Why is it that fewer people appear to be using PiMax rather than Rift/Vive?

The issue is that, particularly at first, Pimax had several concerns that made it an obvious also-ran.

One was the lack of a positional head tracking solution until fairly recently with the arrival of things like NOLO, and that also meant no hand controllers to manipulate objects.

Two was that initially, the Pimax software, Pi-play, was very buggy, as successfully getting many games to even run was a problem for lots of early adopters.

Third were noticeable feelings of lag because of the slower 60hz refresh rate of the headset when compared to the 90hz refresh rate of its competitors, which for many, is compensated for by the higher resolution. Your milage may vary. (Many say they don't notice any lag)

Forth was a perceptible dimness to the display that bothered some people, and an orange tint brought about by the Hmds Blueguard settings. Also, to this day there's a ghosting issue reported by many users related to fast moving objects on contrasting backgrounds.

Fifth, due to bandwidth restrictions of the HMD's connections, the full pseudo-4k capabilities were not available and in fact the headset was initially displaying at a lower (1080p) resolution than it was capable of.

Over time, almost every one of those issues have been addressed via software updates/patches, and the device fares much better against competitors than it did at first. Still, the necessity of purchasing additional (slightly clumsy) hardware like NOLO to get the fullest from the device, lingering first impressions and bad reviews from the public, and the eminent arrival of newer versions, has made the current Pimax a much rarer purchase than its competitors.

Hope that helps!

[warbirds 555]

My decision was simple, go with the most popular option with the most solid software and, of course, the sale price was the closer. There will be a ton of new headsets coming out next year and my Rift will do just fine until the coming rez wars decide on a winner. 

I just finished a VR flight over the Innsbruck valley in the Alabeo Waco and being able to lean out over the cockpit while taxing to see where your going, per real procedure for tail draggers, was amazing. The whole flight was what VR is all about. 

[KL Oo 695]

2 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

Not personally; I just tend to keep up with new tech, and especially VR, lately.

The issue is that, particularly at first, Pimax had several concerns that made it an obvious also-ran.

One was the lack of a positional head tracking solution until fairly recently with the arrival of things like NOLO, and that also meant no hand controllers to manipulate objects.

Two was that initially, the Pimax software, Pi-play, was very buggy, as successfully getting many games to even run was a problem for lots of early adopters.

Third were noticeable feelings of lag because of the slower 60hz refresh rate of the headset when compared to the 90hz refresh rate of its competitors, which for many, is compensated for by the higher resolution. Your milage may vary. (Many say they don't notice any lag)

Forth was a perceptible dimness to the display that bothered some people, and an orange tint brought about by the Hmds Blueguard settings. Also, to this day there's a ghosting issue reported by many users related to fast moving objects on contrasting backgrounds.

Fifth, due to bandwidth restrictions of the HMD's connections, the full pseudo-4k capabilities were not available and in fact the headset was initially displaying at a lower (1080p) resolution than it was capable of.

Over time, almost every one of those issues have been addressed via software updates/patches, and the device fares much better against competitors than it did at first. Still, the necessity of purchasing additional (slightly clumsy) hardware like NOLO to get the fullest from the device, lingering first impressions and bad reviews from the public, and the eminent arrival of newer versions, has made the current Pimax a much rarer purchase than its competitors.

Hope that helps!

Thank you for the excellent and informative reply!

To me it sounds like I need to do some research into this NOLO device and see how much of a burden it is. The cost difference to me is not a consideration which leaves me thinking that the PiMax does appear to be a more capable device, particularly now that alot of the software has been updated and it's much more compatible than it was upon initial release.

Would appreciate the advice or input from anybody else who's using the PiMax. I'm prepared to give the Rift a go but will need to wait until Flyinside is complete for V4 anyway.

 

 

[warbirds 555]

Why wait, v4 has native VR that works great, and in fact, I get better results and a much better, sharper image than I do with FSX with Flyinside. 

[KL Oo 695]

I guess because all the reading I've done seems to indicate the Flyinside is pretty important for getting the best out of the sim. Access to different menus, maximizing performance and tweaks etc appears to be more of an option with Flyinside installed.

I'm also hoping somebody else will jump in and give their point of view re PiMax as I'm much more inclined to get that at the moment...I just feel I'm going to be disappointed by the screen door/poor resolution of the Rift

[Tanguy SEHA 0]

To be honest, maybe that it's beacause to many sliders are on the right with me, but on P3D V4, I've got realy bad perfs in comparition with XP11, and the sim with the best perfs are for sure Aerofly FS2, there you have easily +100 fps with graphisme max out

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Found this for you guys looking for a pimax/nolo review: 

 

 

[steve310002 1,198]

Slightly off topic but does anyone know if Xenviro 1.07 which has just been updated works in VR or it is still not compatible?

[JLSeagull 191]

On 19/09/2017 at 10:56 AM, steve310002 said:

Slightly off topic but does anyone know if Xenviro 1.07 which has just been updated works in VR or it is still not compatible?

Slightly off topic as well Steve.. but the the new update crashes my XP11 at random. Probably best continued in a seperate thread?

[Tanguy SEHA 0]

On 19/09/2017 at 11:56 AM, steve310002 said:

Slightly off topic but does anyone know if Xenviro 1.07 which has just been updated works in VR or it is still not compatible?

Still doesn't work 

[KL Oo 695]

Thanks for the link/video HiFlyer - It really does look like a good alternateive to the Rift given the lesser SDE. 

[steve310002 1,198]

17 hours ago, J.L.Seagull said:

Slightly off topic as well Steve.. but the the new update crashes my XP11 at random. Probably best continued in a seperate thread?

Agreed...I will not install it anyway for now...as....

9 hours ago, Tanguy SEHA said:

Still doesn't work 

...apart from crashing X-Plane 11, it also still doesn't work. Thanks for the info guys. Hopefully they update that soon but it will likely work in the native version of VR in X-Plane 11 anyway and hopefully not crash the sim in any case. Anyway...back on topic....

My latest experiences to blow my mind have been American Truck Simulator and Project Cars. I also tried webvr via Firefox which is interesting and free, and pretty impressive. I still think the Rift is the best thing since sliced bread 4 weeks after purchase. I am using it almost everyday and prefer VR over my 4K tv in most cases if given the choice. In fact, I would say VR is dangerous....dangerously good that is. I worry for the future of society a little with these kind of innovations. If we eventually have photoreal graphics, better headsets and control interfaces, we will need to be careful not to spend too much of our free time in the virtual world. It could seriously become dangerously addictive for some people just as facebook and the like is today. I can see it happening...mark my words 10 years from now