Valve Index Hands On

[Vullcan]

Hmm thats strange this box has a companion cube caution label!

[Revelation]

I got my Index today, so it is time to set things up and give it a whirl...

[Revelation]

Okay, one word.... Amazeballs! Every text in the cockpit is easily readable. The HUD is crystal clear. I can see ground targets as high as 20k feet. Roads, buildings, airports, etc... are easily viewed and pretty damn clear at 35k feet. (Haven't tried higher yet)

 

I left all of my settings to what I had set for my CV1 for this first test. I am now going to start tweaking things specifically for the Index.

[nrosko]

I had mine since midday yesterday but unfortunately i've had many technical issues.

Sometimes headset will not connect & no audio at all.

 

I did get to try dcs for a bit although in complete silence.

ok so fov imo is much better than cv1 made a huge difference dogfighting, clarity is also much improved everything is much sharper & clearer again much easy to spot & identify planes. felt like a different game in that respect with fov & clarity.

That's the good.

 

The bad. Black levels, i flew at night & its just grey, very flat grey. Of course cv1 was not good at night time either but that was for other reasons, there is certainly less noise & black smear. It is of course still much sharper & much easier to read your dials & hud. But i'm not sure if i could ever put up with the grey blacks.

What else? colours. I only tested dcs & steamvr home but they seem a bit washed out & there is definitely an issue with black crush. You lose some of the finer texture detail of the cockpits surfaces & can make things look darker than they should be(do not confuse this with black levels) I need to try this out more though on other games.

Glare. glare is really bad in the headset. road to vr got it spot on. I can see it often around the edges, sometimes it moves more to the centre. God rays are also there. A good example of the the godrays & glare is to go to the millennium falcon home in steam vr & the lights zip around the lenses its quite distracting.

Performance so far in dcs was significantly worse than it was running in my cv1 @ 1.5, & in the f14 it was doing this horrible fade in of steamvr loading screen all the time. It could very well be my settings in steamvr they are not as simple to understand as oculus pixel density.

[cordite]

SDE compared to CV1?

[nrosko]

SDE compared to CV1?

 

no contest at all the sde is very good. You can still see it, but it's like a fine grain.

[Vullcan]

You have to really look for the SDE, its there but not like on the CV1 where its obvious. Its something you forget about when you're not trying to see it.

 

Revelation is right, everything is so clear now.

 

This thing exudes quality, with all the issues with the Reverb is having I'm glad Valve chose to focus on build quality and clarity with this.

[Revelation]

You have to really look for the SDE, its there but not like on the CV1 where its obvious. Its something you forget about when you're not trying to see it.

 

Revelation is right, everything is so clear now.

 

This thing exudes quality, with all the issues with the Reverb is having I'm glad Valve chose to focus on build quality and clarity with this.

 

I an second all of these points.

 

This headset is simply really impressive. Full disclosure: I have not tried the Rift S yet and at this point in time I don't think I will.

 

This is the experience I have been waiting for in VR. The CV1 was pretty impressive, but the Index is like going from 480p to full HD. That is how big of a jump it "feels."

[RealDCSpilot]

@nrosko

check your Steam VR settings in -> Video and Application. Those super sampling values work on top of each other. Try PD 1.0 in DCS and slowly raise those SS values in SteamVR (start with 100%). Look at the calculated resolution values, if they exceed a resolution per eye that doesn't make sense you'll know why performance is bad.

[Revelation]

@nrosko

check your Steam VR settings in -> Video and Application. Those super sampling values work on top of each other. Try PD 1.0 in DCS and slowly raise those SS values in SteamVR (start with 100%). Look at the calculated resolution values, if they exceed a resolution per eye that doesn't make sense you'll know why performance is bad.

 

In addition try forcing your Index to run at 90Hz instead of 120. Depending on your computer 90 may be easier for your system to run than 120.

[etherbattx]

Valve Index Hands On

 

I left all of my settings to what I had set for my CV1 for this first test

 

excellent!

that’s the best way to compare.

 

any drop in FPS with the index because of increased resolution?

[Revelation]

excellent!

that’s the best way to compare.

 

any drop in FPS with the index because of increased resolution?

 

I did not enable any FPS counter. It "felt" better. With very fast head turning I could get a tiny bit of tearing.

 

That is with a PD of 1.8 in DCS and default of 100% in Steam VR and at 120Hz.

 

It feels smoother than the CV1. That could just be a placebo as well at this point in time.

[RealDCSpilot]

Yep, maybe related to motion smoothing and auto-switching to 60 fps (half of 120).

[nrosko]

@nrosko

check your Steam VR settings in -> Video and Application. Those super sampling values work on top of each other. Try PD 1.0 in DCS and slowly raise those SS values in SteamVR (start with 100%). Look at the calculated resolution values, if they exceed a resolution per eye that doesn't make sense you'll know why performance is bad.

 

Its at 150%

 

I'm trying to move it & it keeps moving back to 150. I have enable custom res on.

 

edit: ok eventually got 100 but it was very glitchy to move. rendering at 2016x2240 isn't that still high?

Edited June 28, 2019 by nrosko

[RealDCSpilot]

2016x2240 is x1.4 of the panel resolution. It's the minimum optimal rendertarget for 1440x1600 panels. From there you can try to go higher in Application SS to try to get the most out of your GPU. It's more of what you like more, more fps or crisper image. 150% is just a recommendation based on your hardware for normal VR titles.

Edited June 28, 2019 by Alec Delorean

[nrosko]

Its at 150%

 

I'm trying to move it & it keeps moving back to 150. I have enable custom res on.

 

edit: ok eventually got 100 but it was very glitchy to move. rendering at 2016x2240 isn't that still high?

 

so after doing this dcs will not load beyond the menu, when i try to start a mission it crashes back to steamvr.

 

Also how do you switch off the chaperone?

 

why does oculus home boot up when i start DCS?

[RealDCSpilot]

You should try to knock out or uninstall any trace of Oculus drivers and software to prevent any interfering.

[cordite]

And the god rays/glare? Nrosko, they aren’t a show stopper?

Edited June 28, 2019 by cordite

[Svsmokey]

Mrtv had a live stream on utube . Very in depth report . He did mention the god-rays (repeatedly) but otherwise has it beating every other current headset overall .

[nrosko]

And the god rays/glare? Nrosko, they aren’t a show stopper?

 

I haven't spent enough time in it to say it's a show stopper. I put up with it in the cv1. In dcs i don't notice in day flying but at night there is glare.

[Secoda]

I have the Reverb (about 25+ hours on it) but the Valve Index was my second choice. These two seem to be the major competition now. Reverb wins hands down on clarity/resolution, few god rays, and less cost, and the Valve Index on FOV, tracking, adjustable IPD, and controllers.

 

For DCS where spotting tiny things far away is critical in missions - I give the edge to the Reverb. For games other than sit down sims - I think the Index gets the win. I guess it depends on how you plan on using it, your IPD, and budget. The Index is definitely more versatile. I wonder if the Acer Ojo ConceptD will beat them all for DCS? Clarity of the Reverb but adjustable IPD. Still two camera tracking but I prefer inside tracking myself. It's great to have several good choices. :)

[itarrow]

After experimenting a bit more with the Index (mainly DCS and Elite Dangerous) I suggest everyone experiencing god rays to try to move a bit the headset around to find the best possible fit.

 

Yesterday I suddenly realized what a “sweet spot” is after placing my headset a bit higher on my cheeks than what I was used to with the Vive, and everything got clearer and sharper and no god rays anymore.

[TacoGrease]

Is it worth $600 more than a Rift CV1 or Rift S? Is the experience *that* much better?

[RealDCSpilot]

found this on reddit:

 

 

cleaning up your system seems to be mandatory for the best experience...

 

 

@TacoGrease:

 

 

someone measured the display capabilities of several HMD's. The Rift S suffers a lot from cheaper panels.

Edited June 29, 2019 by Alec Delorean

[imacken]

From RoadtoVR review:

'Compared to the Vive Pro (1,440 × 1,600 per-eye OLED) however, there’s little overall difference in SDE. This is likely partly due to the larger Index FOV (which serves to reduce pixel density compared to a smaller FOV), and the fact that RGB subpixels create a slightly more defined (if smaller) SDE structure compared to the offset pattern seen with PenTile OLED displays.'

 

From a personal POV, that is very disappointing. The only thing that disappoints me about my VP is the SDE. I've been really looking forward to getting the Index as I assumed the SDE would pretty much have disappeared. When I had the Reverb, the only things it had - in my opinion - that were better than the VP were resolution and hugely reduced SDE.