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Author Topic: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?  (Read 36594 times)

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Howard_Casto

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Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« on: January 03, 2019, 02:53:40 am »
So Walmart has this pos(?) on sale for 20 bucks:

https://slickdeals.net/f/12576460-vr-tek-windows-vr-glasses-fhd-resolution-2560x1440-black-free-shipping-to-bm-22?src=SiteSearchV2_SearchBarV2Algo1

I'm assuming it's fairly terrible for vr with bad optics and no motion tracking but I'm wondering if it might still be useful for limited use and/or hacking.  Assuming the info is correct it's 4k per eye, so it must have some decent lcds inside at least.  It might be a good source of parts for projects or something.  I've had a hard time finding info on it.  No reviews ect. except for the mouth breathers on Walmart.com.  I'm just curious if it works on games manually added to steam... then it might be a decent toy. 
« Last Edit: January 03, 2019, 01:27:38 pm by Howard_Casto »

RandyT

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2019, 11:01:17 am »
It's probably not 4k per-eye.  I would guess that for the price though, it's a no-brainer.  It may be worth the 20 bux just for the wireless controller packaged with it. Someone took a short video through the lens, and the image looked surprisingly good.  He felt it was worth more than  the $50 he paid for it.  The limited info I have seen on it makes it seem decent, but being only 3DOF there are only a few things it's good for:

Seated experiences with a game controller.  There are some, but it's usually not the focus of VR developers.
Cockpit-type games like racing, flight sims, Elite Dangerous!
VR Videos (you know the type)

You'll get only 60hz refresh and no room-scale.  You'll also see IMU drift, due to it having no external sensors to track the actual headset position.  It's not a deal breaker, but you will need to re-center occasionally.  Also, these things, like other PC-based headsets, will require a beefy system to drive them.  Do you have a graphics card and PC capable of it (or plan on getting one soon?)  If not, then save your money.  But if you do, you should have ordered one before they change their mind.  I just bought a couple just to play with :)

On a side note, don't use CD autorun and run the drivers through every virus, adware, malware and trojan checker you can find before you install them.  I always find Chinese hardware a bit fishy when only CD-based drivers from executable launchers are used, which seems to be the case here.

pbj

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2019, 11:04:00 am »
Just spend the $200 and get a PSVR bundle, bro.

RandyT

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2019, 12:06:44 pm »
Just spend the $200 and get a PSVR bundle, bro.

Also not a bad option, but then again, it's lower resolution (but OLED, higher refresh rates and better comfort) and no Steam access, without some extra cash for paid drivers and hacking.  Also more like over $300 if you want Move controllers, unless you find a nice deal somewhere.

For $20, including a wireless game controller, maybe do the PSVR route after deciding whether one likes the VR stuff.  Hard to go wrong at the price.  But if the PC isn't up to spec, there's no point.  Go straight to the PSVR.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2019, 12:51:07 pm »
Go to Wal-Mart and get the $5 clearance VR glasses.  Put them on, sit cross legged on the floor.  Close your eyes and imagine you have an oculus rift with all the dodads.

You would get a better experience.  Don't laugh, as it is a form of meditation, without judgement.






« Last Edit: January 05, 2019, 11:25:45 pm by ark_ader »
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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2019, 01:26:11 pm »
I'm thinking for 20 it's probably worth playing with.  I do intend to get a psvr eventually, but I've got like 6 or 7 AAA titles still in my backlog so that'll probably last me until around Easter when they do the $100 off deal again.  Since apparently the hacked drivers for psvr don't work well on the pc I was thinking this would be a good alternative for the few steam games I would want to play.  VR fps games just seem like a vomit fest for me.  If I didn't just hack the thing apart and use it for parts, I would most likely use it for stationary games like racers and flight games.  There's some drivers out there for repurposing wiimotes and/or the Kinect to add in additional motion tracking but it's most likely a mess to setup so I'm not counting on it. 


I think my pc is on the cusp, so I'm not sure if it'll run or not.  I've got an overclocked R7 in this machine... not sure what the nvidia equivalent is. 

pbj

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2019, 01:42:06 pm »
I think you are setting yourself up for frustration and failure, frankly.  We all love a challenge around here, and I think you're capable of making it worthwhile eventually...

But $200 PSVR is plug and play and a nice experience.





05SRT4

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2019, 02:14:35 pm »
I've got an overclocked R7 in this machine... not sure what the nvidia equivalent is.

About a GTX 9800

RandyT

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2019, 03:36:15 pm »
I think you may have a bit of a struggle with that card.  Some things may work ok, but an awful lot won't.  You might pick up some slack from the 33% refresh rate loss, but I get the feeling that this won't be enough, given the resolution of the device.  What does the SteamVR Performance Test tell you when you run it?

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2019, 07:13:12 pm »
I've got an overclocked R7 in this machine... not sure what the nvidia equivalent is.

About a GTX 9800

More like a GTX 9500 2GB and I'm being generous here.
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BadMouth

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #10 on: January 03, 2019, 07:23:51 pm »
I looked at it this morning and passed.  Without motion tracking, it's just a pair of little monitors in a helmet.  Still worth $20, but uncertainty about whether the monitors could be used separately in other projects kept me from buying.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #11 on: January 03, 2019, 07:52:21 pm »
I looked at it this morning and passed.  Without motion tracking, it's just a pair of little monitors in a helmet.  Still worth $20, but uncertainty about whether the monitors could be used separately in other projects kept me from buying.

There has to be a gyro sensor or two in there as well.  It looks to me like it's basically a GearVR with a built in screen, SteamVR support and higher resolution than most cell phones can deliver.  I'm the most curious about the execution of the device (optics, etc.).  If nothing else, maybe I can use the face pads and/or head straps for modding one of my other units.

Howard_Casto

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #12 on: January 03, 2019, 08:37:15 pm »
I just tested this pc and yeah, the video card is too slow.  Surprisingly the other components of the pc aren't a bottleneck and this rig is getting pretty old.  I've been meaning to get a new pc, but I decided to put it off another year or until I see a good sale.   

But yeah it has tilt sensors, just not motion tracking. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2019, 01:33:57 am »
I just tested this pc and yeah, the video card is too slow.

I can't remember, did it give you any other info?  Like I stated earlier, it should have a reduced requirement, due to being limited to 60hz refresh, as the test probably comes to it's conclusions based on the standard 90hz.

The PSVR probably is the best option for you at this point.  It pretty much just works when you plug in all the wires.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #14 on: January 04, 2019, 02:16:30 am »
I ordered one purely to see if I can make a better personal environmental development system, which I stupidly got interested in while researching for my doctorate.  I have a design with my Note 5 and the Samsung VR, but I am having problems with heat.  The Gear VR has no way to lose the heat without adding small fans that make a crap amount of noise.  If this device turns out to have better heat management and a reduced resolution, to prevent eye strain, then I can add head tracking later on either via Kinect or Wii Mote if necessary.

If anything this device could be a cheaper way to play dig dug or watch a decent movie in bed without waking the girlfriend up.  Unfortunately the reviews do not give much optimism, there again they could be millennials wanting/complaining  something for nothing as usual.   We will see.  :lol

Howard, would this device not hinder/impair your vision/condition further? 
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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #15 on: January 04, 2019, 02:52:02 am »
I had surgery on my eye.  I'm no longer 20/20, and I have a decent astigmatism but I'm ok now in that dept.  It took well over a year for it to fully heal though.  The 3d effect is slightly diminished for me because of the distortion in that eye, but I can see it, especially with rigs where I can wear my glasses. 

Randy the results screen, if you can call it that, wasn't very informative.  All it told me was that 100% of the tests scored under 90 fps, which I could have told them myself.  I might just get one for the hell of it.... if we were talking a couple of hundred I would take pause, but I wouldn't feel bad about trying it once and throwing it in a drawer.  The only thing giving making me second guess it is I think this video card only supports 1440p.  Strangely enough I think it supports full 4k when spanned across multiple monitors.  AMD cards can be weird. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #16 on: January 04, 2019, 06:09:52 pm »
This 11 year old idea might be the solution to the head tracking problem.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #17 on: January 05, 2019, 10:53:49 am »
This 11 year old idea might be the solution to the head tracking problem.



That's pretty much how the PSVR and Rift do it.  The challenge would be incorporating the IMU data and writing a driver so the whole thing puts out something meaningful to SteamVR.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #18 on: January 05, 2019, 12:07:36 pm »
I looked at it this morning and passed.  Without motion tracking, it's just a pair of little monitors in a helmet.  Still worth $20, but uncertainty about whether the monitors could be used separately in other projects kept me from buying.

There has to be a gyro sensor or two in there as well.  It looks to me like it's basically a GearVR with a built in screen, SteamVR support and higher resolution than most cell phones can deliver.  I'm the most curious about the execution of the device (optics, etc.).  If nothing else, maybe I can use the face pads and/or head straps for modding one of my other units.
Ok.  I misunderstood and thought no tracking=no motion sensing at all.  I get it now.

Now I''m tempted to order one and try it with a VR racing setup.  As long as the sensors could register your head turning to look around, there isn't much need for other tracking.  Virtual hands will move with the steering wheel.  45 degree field of view isn't great for racing though.

I'm blind in one eye so don't need a stereoscopic setup.  Hopefully someday there will be a flexible lightweight screen that could wrap halfway around a helmet for a wide viewing angle.  Add tracking to that and I'd be set.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #19 on: January 05, 2019, 01:17:30 pm »
This 11 year old idea might be the solution to the head tracking problem.



That's pretty much how the PSVR and Rift do it.  The challenge would be incorporating the IMU data and writing a driver so the whole thing puts out something meaningful to SteamVR.

There are some drivers floating around already... mind you I think you have to pay a little for them, but they do exist.  It's just a question of how well it works. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #20 on: January 05, 2019, 01:35:36 pm »
If I didn't just hack the thing apart and use it for parts, I would most likely use it for stationary games like racers and flight games.

My experience with sim games and VR is they tend to need higher-than-average system requirements for a good experience. Otherwise you end up having to trade off a lot of visual fidelity which can make sim games not overly playable in VR.
« Last Edit: January 05, 2019, 01:39:32 pm by shponglefan »

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #21 on: January 05, 2019, 04:22:40 pm »
It stayed in stock too long (which is probably a bad sign).  I just ordered one.
Here is some more info and what the controller looks like: http://direkt-tek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Direkt_Tek_PC_WVR_QSG_Oct17.pdf

I have a 6GB GTX 1060.

My expectations are that it be better than the plastic VR cell phone goggles I got for $3.50.


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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #22 on: January 05, 2019, 11:14:59 pm »
It stayed in stock too long (which is probably a bad sign).  I just ordered one.
Here is some more info and what the controller looks like: http://direkt-tek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Direkt_Tek_PC_WVR_QSG_Oct17.pdf

I have a 6GB GTX 1060.

My expectations are that it be better than the plastic VR cell phone goggles I got for $3.50.

Well that is encouraging.  So my RX580 will "just work" eh?  I wonder why the requirements are so high?  Well your 1060 might just scrape by.  I am hoping I can add this VR to my setup as a mirrored 4th monitor.  Not sure I can do that with eye infinity enabled....

This is getting more interesting by the post.  Thanks Howard.  Excuse my earlier skepticism ;D
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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #23 on: January 06, 2019, 08:43:26 am »
The reviews say it isn't 4k per eye and only one video connector is required.   A 5.5" screen is mentioned somewhere else, so pretty sure this setup only has one screen.  I'd think the video card requirements would be much lower than VR setups with two separate screens.

Not sure how much weight I'd give to the manufacturer's system requirements since they also list 256GB of hard drive space.  I can't imagine what that would be for.


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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #24 on: January 06, 2019, 01:10:25 pm »
The reviews say it isn't 4k per eye and only one video connector is required.   A 5.5" screen is mentioned somewhere else, so pretty sure this setup only has one screen.  I'd think the video card requirements would be much lower than VR setups with two separate screens.

I'd say you were correct.  I think the real "gem" (if there is one) is likely to be the 1440x1440 model.  It's $10 more, but it seems to be the better model, with physical IPD adjustment (important if you don't fall within the "norms").  This, and the smaller screen size spec, seems to imply that there are two panels of that resolution, one for each eye.  But it's a crapshoot at this point.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #25 on: January 06, 2019, 02:39:08 pm »
I'm going to pick one up even if I can't use it until I get a new pc.  Should I get the $30 one then?  I know with those cruddy cellphone housings I always have to adjust the lens placement a little. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #26 on: January 06, 2019, 10:22:51 pm »
I'm going to pick one up even if I can't use it until I get a new pc.  Should I get the $30 one then?  I know with those cruddy cellphone housings I always have to adjust the lens placement a little.

More pixels will (likely) need more grunt. You may have a better chance of using the 1920x1080 model with your current PC (same res as the PSVR) if that's what you want to do. 

But the 1440x1440 (2880x1440?) model which I assume from the photos has IPD adjustment *may* be a better choice, if you plan to get a new graphics card.  The difference between the models is mostly conjecture at the moment, due to there being little information available. 

IOW, you would be taking a chance, no matter what you decide.  If you have $50 to blow, maybe get both.  The lowest res one to try with your current card now, and the higher res one for later.


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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #27 on: January 07, 2019, 12:22:57 am »
Thought about it again and common sense finally kicked in.  Only the 4k one is on sale, so I ordered that one.  If it works great, if not I'll get one of the other ones.  I mainly want to see if the "must use steam VR" limitation can be worked around.  Much like badmouth I'm not so interested in the 3d effect but rather having a portable 4k screen.  I found the camera data in outrun 2006 so I might be able to add a head controlled mode if it's in 2d.  It'd probably work for stuff like future pinball even on this puny rig.   

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #28 on: January 07, 2019, 11:37:59 am »

All of the units are heavily reduced.  The UHD version started out at $99 a few months ago.

I've had the Vive get confused at least a couple of times, which caused it to show as a second desktop in the headset.  The issue is that when this happens, you get half the image in each eye, which is then overlaid.  It's counter-intuitive, but even "2D" has to at least be stereoscopically represented.  And, more often than not, you would want to shrink the images and offset them to make it appear to be a distance in front of you.

It's probably the least processor intensive way to make things appear properly in a headset, but it still needs to be done for a usable image.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #29 on: January 07, 2019, 12:49:40 pm »
I pickup mine tomorrow so I will run a batch of test and update, luckily the main PC is 2 feet away, I will also have been to day one of CES, so I should sleep pretty good that night.  It will be nice to see if this VR rig has no heat issues or it will modded for cooling (I have a frigging big heatsink) and I'll stay with the Samsung VR for Elite Dangerous.  This device seems to be online only. My super center at wallyworld is not in stock.  But I picked up a EVO VR controller for $9, which has more buttons the the Zeemote (remember that?) and it has mouse support so I should have fun playing Starwars Vector and getting wrist cramps.

Since I got the 1080 version, I will test it with the Tinker and a Windows slate.
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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #30 on: January 07, 2019, 01:17:54 pm »

All of the units are heavily reduced.  The UHD version started out at $99 a few months ago.

I've had the Vive get confused at least a couple of times, which caused it to show as a second desktop in the headset.  The issue is that when this happens, you get half the image in each eye, which is then overlaid.  It's counter-intuitive, but even "2D" has to at least be stereoscopically represented.  And, more often than not, you would want to shrink the images and offset them to make it appear to be a distance in front of you.

It's probably the least processor intensive way to make things appear properly in a headset, but it still needs to be done for a usable image.


Well for outrun at least, I can get the render target to show up as only half of the screen (or a quarter or whatever) and just blank out the rest.  That should be good enough I would think.  I get what you are saying though, you can't just display a regular image on the screen and expect it to work. 

I don't think these are going to sell out anytime soon (thus the heavy discount) so we've probably got enough time to play around.  Hell if they are junk just take them back. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #31 on: January 07, 2019, 02:45:31 pm »
So just for the hell of it I threw the steam vr test on a much newer i5 dell laptop I have as a backup.  The results didn't make a lick of sense.  It also said this one wasn't up to snuff, but it also said that it ran above 90 fps about half of the time and the cpu, which is generally considered faster than the cpu I have in this desktop, was partially to blame.  Now keep in mind the laptop has a crappy integrated intel hd graphics card and the desktop I tested before passed in the cpu dept and failed in the graphics. 

Long story short I'm just going to have to try.  It's throwing up the wrong culprits for things not running smoothly.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #32 on: January 08, 2019, 07:40:21 pm »
Picked mine up.  Just starting to fiddle with installing Steam VR and the drivers. 
Only complaint so far is that the HDMI cord is short.
User manual is attached.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #33 on: January 08, 2019, 07:47:25 pm »
So it came today.  Decent packaging well protected.  HDMI needs a usb for power and my rig is next to me and a good job too as the cable is about 6 feet.  Shows up as a portrait monitor in windows so I will scan the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out of the supplied CD for nasties and then try and get it going.  The controller is not that bad really.  Almost like a PS2 controller.  So I hope I can mirror the 4th display with the eye infinity setup or it is going to be an interesting half an hour.

I'm having problems upping images put I will post a few.  If I was you I would order the 1920 x 1080 version unless you have dual GTX 2080.   :lol
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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #34 on: January 08, 2019, 07:48:39 pm »
So I played around with it more.  I managed to get the controller working and Steam thinks this is a Vive.  I am getting a nice purple image from the right side, but no video.  Since the required settings are less in the accompanying documentation, I will try it on the laptop as the PC is not liking things.  Head tracking is working, so either I have a duff unit or I need to tinker more with it.

Any suggestions please shout out.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2019, 10:09:22 am by ark_ader »
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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #35 on: January 08, 2019, 08:40:13 pm »
For $20, the wvr2 has to be the deal of the century.  Yes, no motion controllers, only 3DOF, some smearing when moving your head, some chromatic aberration and I have yet to get a seamless experience starting up SteamVR (still working on figuring out the magic order to do things).   

But seriously, this thing is worth much more than that if all you did was play Lucky's Tale and watch VR video.  The controller feels good and works well.  The headset isn't too heavy or uncomfortable.  The image is bright and colorful, and very sharp even beyond the center of the lenses.  Almost no "screen door" effect.  Steam is reporting this thing as 1440 x 2560 (IIRC) per eye, at 100%.  Based on how nice it looks, I can't tell for certain that's an error.  The 1070 also seems to handle it fine (just).

My Odyssey is much smoother, has a larger FOV, etc.. but man, for image quality, this one is better.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #36 on: January 08, 2019, 09:22:56 pm »
I got the WVR2.  Steam VR kept starting in Safe mode.  Not sure how I finally got through it, but in a dozen attempts at disabling safe mode and enabling direct mode, it finally started working.
It works OK with the one Steam VR compatible game I already had (race the sun).

This is my first VR device other than a cheap cell phone holder.

Does the Steam VR room and tutorial work without the VR controllers?
The gamepad doesn't seem to cover all the functions.  I can't seem to do much or even click "next" on the menu.
I'd like to be able to walk around using the gamepad.
Seems like too much is dependent on having other handheld controllers.

I guess the screen is clear, but when watching a video the blur at the edges of the lenses starts too close to the center for me to enjoy it as a real option.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #37 on: January 08, 2019, 10:27:08 pm »
I'm new to VR, but so far...meh. 
Neither steam media player nor Holoview recognize most of my ripped media (mp4).
The media that it did play was lower quality, so not a good test.
Watched a few videos on the youtube steam app.
It seems to be pretty useless outside of Steam.
Any free games worth trying to check out the VR experience?

The screwdriver is probably coming out tomorrow.  >:D



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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #38 on: January 08, 2019, 10:46:33 pm »
Does the Steam VR room and tutorial work without the VR controllers?

Motion controllers are required. That's the major selling point of current PC VR; the ability to use room scale and motion controllers. Consequently a lot of VR games/experiences you'll find on Steam are designed with those in mind.

The WVR2 seems highly limited if all it has is tilt tracking, but no positional tracking or motion controllers. Probably usable for 180/360 video but I can't imagine too much else it would be useful with. Maybe some seated games that don't rely on motion controllers?
« Last Edit: January 08, 2019, 10:49:42 pm by shponglefan »

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #39 on: January 08, 2019, 10:55:33 pm »
Any free games worth trying to check out the VR experience?

Install ReVive and Oculus.  Lucky's Tale is free (or at least it was) and it will show you that platformers in VR can be legit.  As long as you are there, check out Aircar.  Both work with just a controller. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #40 on: January 08, 2019, 11:38:47 pm »
I didn't realize that race the sun had a vr mode.  If nothing else I know my rig can play that.  Mine comes in Thursday, so I'll chime in when I get it.  Randy if the image quality is as good as you say it's probably worth it for me to go ahead and cobble together a motion control solution for everyone and/or find one that'll work.  If Headkaze will let me use his vjoy dll I can code a decent wiimote solution in an afternoon or two.  I've been working on that already for light gun tracking. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #41 on: January 09, 2019, 01:56:51 am »
I found this:

https://www.driver4vr.com/

I don't have a clue how much it is or how well it works, but it's been recently updated and seems to support many controllers like joycons, wiimotes, psmove and Kinect. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #42 on: January 09, 2019, 01:59:11 am »
I also found this one:

https://github.com/ajayyy/Wiimote-FreePIE-VR-Controls

It doesn't seem to be as far along but it's free. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #43 on: January 09, 2019, 04:22:26 am »
The WVR2 seems highly limited if all it has is tilt tracking, but no positional tracking or motion controllers. Probably usable for 180/360 video but I can't imagine too much else it would be useful with. Maybe some seated games that don't rely on motion controllers?

Compliments of TrinusVR: 

"Here's a list of games that can be played just with Gamepad or Keyboard+Mouse."

I already own a few of these (UltraWings, PinballFX VR, etc.) and the headset seems to do a decent job with them.  Not on par with the high-end units, but much better than expected.  Definitely better than the cell phone gizmos.

BTW, folks need to keep in mind that the less power their system has, the fuzzier the graphics will appear.  SteamVR will set the quality settings for what it thinks will be the best experience, based on their hardware. At 100% it's pretty impressive, but the low refresh rate does quite a bit to degrade the experience in games. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #44 on: January 09, 2019, 09:04:15 am »
I tinkered with it a tiny bit this morning.

Plugged the hdmi cord into a roku and the usb into a power bank to see if the screen could be used for other things.  The screen lights up, but nothing is displayed.
Could be a "handshaking" issue, but when I tried to mirror a 1080 desktop the results were the same so I think it may be a resolution issue.
It displayed fine as a second monitor on the PC using 1440 or higher resolution, at least before installing steam VR and the drivers.
This may seem pointless, but I am blind in one eye.  The idea was to reconfigure it to use the entire screen for my one good eye, possibly swapping in an adjustable lens from a cheap phone VR headset.
If the Roku worked, it could be turned into a wireless video headset (for one eye).  There is a bunch of optical stuff I'm temporarily ignoring there.

Steam VR is scaling my GTX 1060 to 86%.  I manually forced it to 100% and didn't see any performance hit, but I was just watching youtube videos.

I downloaded a few things on Steam to try this evening.
Looks like I'll have to fork over some money for the real experience.  :(
I wish I hadn't passed on Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice during the winter sale.
Oh well, Desert Bus VR is free.  ;D

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #45 on: January 09, 2019, 10:33:34 am »
So I played around with it more.  I managed to get the controller working and Steam thinks this is a Vive.  I am getting a nice purple image from the right side, but no video.

I don't think Steam should see it as a Vive.  The icon which pops up in the SteamVR Status window with mine, is one I haven't seen before.

Did you right click on the tray icon for the "Holo" thing and download the latest driver and firmware?

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #46 on: January 09, 2019, 10:52:53 am »
So I played around with it more.  I managed to get the controller working and Steam thinks this is a Vive.  I am getting a nice purple image from the right side, but no video.

I don't think Steam should see it as a Vive.  The icon which pops up in the SteamVR Status window with mine, is one I haven't seen before.

Did you right click on the tray icon for the "Holo" thing and download the latest driver and firmware?

Yes I did that but I think I have found the culprit.  You see I am being treated as a step child by Microsoft.  I have Windows 10 N and anything media related like Xbox streaming etc it doesn't like it.  Add the media feature pack and nothing.  A Microsoft Tech I know said any application that loads Windows N it just ignores and tells you to add the feature pack.  So no love from Microsoft.

So I have the real deal windows 10 on my laptop and it worked fine just had to flip the secondary screen horizontal and I can see everything just fine with one eye closed, so I will try it again.  This laptop is an A10 with an APU and HD7600G in crossfire so it should make up any short comings.  I can play GTA Ultra on it, and it looks superb at 1fps.

We shall see.
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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #47 on: January 09, 2019, 12:05:35 pm »
Mine was detected as a vive before updating the holo-whatever software and getting disable safe mode/enable direct mode to take.
As I said above, it took what felt like a dozen tries so I don't know what finally worked.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #48 on: January 09, 2019, 12:37:01 pm »
Mine was detected as a vive before updating the holo-whatever software and getting disable safe mode/enable direct mode to take.
As I said above, it took what felt like a dozen tries so I don't know what finally worked.

Same here.  Once it worked, it worked, so I didn't get out of SteamVR until I was done messing with it.  I'd say it was odd, but I have seen similar things happen with the Odyssey and the VIVE, but to a lesser extent.  The difference I think is that the situation improved with those two recently, due to updates.  I'd be surprised if this one gets any love in the future to improve the situation.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #49 on: January 09, 2019, 03:16:54 pm »
Mine was detected as a vive before updating the holo-whatever software and getting disable safe mode/enable direct mode to take.
As I said above, it took what felt like a dozen tries so I don't know what finally worked.

Same here.  Once it worked, it worked, so I didn't get out of SteamVR until I was done messing with it.  I'd say it was odd, but I have seen similar things happen with the Odyssey and the VIVE, but to a lesser extent.  The difference I think is that the situation improved with those two recently, due to updates.  I'd be surprised if this one gets any love in the future to improve the situation.

It says Ready (SteamVR 1.14)  And I got the controller to pair, but I just get one purple image out of the right eye.  Virtual Pink eye maybe?  Gonna download some of that VR Pron to see if that fixes it, or I'll probably go blind anyway.  Head tracking works, but the lappy didn't, so I plugged it back into the PC and.........Hello.
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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #50 on: January 09, 2019, 07:56:00 pm »
No joy on Desert Bus.  It requires the other controllers.
The other free stuff I downloaded was passive stuff where you just look around.  :-\

Picked up Dirt Rally from greenmangaming for $6 after some promo codes.
That one oughtta tell me something.

EDIT: Dirt Rally does not work.  It doesn't give me the option for VR and says it doesn't support VR when I launch it.
Steam store page has it listed as supporting Oculus Rift, so I guess it only works on that specific headset.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2019, 07:06:41 am by BadMouth »

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #51 on: January 10, 2019, 08:21:15 am »
Ok.  Finally found some free things that work well that I'll recommend.

DeoVR video player works for my ripped blurays.

Redout Demo
Overload Playable Teaser

Pretty sure the things that show up as working with Vive will work, but the ones only supported by Oculus will not.

Only had a few minutes, but the demos I tried worked well.
I can see where the handheld tracked controllers would add a lot to the immersion.
Without them it just feels like I'm playing with a screen real close to my face since 90% of the time you are looking forward anyway.  Again, I don't have stereoscopic vision so I'm not experiencing any 3D effect.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #52 on: January 10, 2019, 12:12:45 pm »
Well I tried several times to get the device to view anythng - I stopped Direct mode and the left lens worked showing my desktop.  Rebooted steam VR and now I have my 4th monitor (VR) flipped and it is showing the desktop.  I can see why these devices are so cheap.  They do not work out of the box.  There is a new update to Hollowview and I think this helped.  I'm keeping it but I fear I will dismantle it for other purposes.

At least I got a 360 joypad out of it.  ;D
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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #53 on: January 10, 2019, 12:17:19 pm »
What's the included controller look like?

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #54 on: January 10, 2019, 12:38:25 pm »
What's the included controller look like?

https://pix.sfly.com/OZ_Ghp

Has triggers.  Have yet to try with retropie. 

But when you plug it in the USB port (via a wireless dongle) it shows up as a 360 controller.
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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #55 on: January 10, 2019, 04:57:18 pm »
Yeah it's a decent controller.... even has full rumble.  I'm not super fond of the psx style form factor, but I figure I've got 10 bucks worth of value out of it alone.  I picked mine up today but I'm waiting on a long and arduous process of downloading everything and setting it up.  Trying the laptop first. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #56 on: January 10, 2019, 07:13:42 pm »
Pretty sure the things that show up as working with Vive will work, but the ones only supported by Oculus will not.

Install Revive and Oculus.  I think it's required for Dirt Rally, plus there are some nice free experiences on Oculus.  I can confirm that Oculus titles work with these headsets.

On a side note, I also picked up one of the $30 models (WVR3) just to see how they differed.  Honestly, I'm a bit underwhelmed.  There are some benefits, but the image clarity, brightness and color just doesn't seem to be there.  It improved when wearing my glasses with it, which is something I don't normally need to do, but it just wasn't as crisp and colorful as the WVR2.

The IPD adjustment seems only useful for those who have an IPD which is less than what is considered common.  Mine is pretty much dead-nuts on the norm, and it doesn't adjust wider than that. One thing which does seem much better is the refresh rate.  It seems higher than the other units, making the experience less jarring.  The 3D effect is also more pronounced.  If the image didn't smear when looking around, it would be a pretty decent unit.  Oh, and it has a much longer cord.  Probably about 12'.

Physically, it feels more substantial than the other one, and it had a nicer strap, which comes pre-attached.  The face pad is softer, but still not great, being fabric covered.  The gamepad is the same as the WVR2.

If you are looking for a reasonably good VR HMD, for little money, the WVR3 is probably the one I would go for.  But if you want it primarily for VR video, or games where you wouldn't do a lot of head movements (cockpit games, racing, etc) the WVR2 is probably the better unit.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2019, 10:36:42 am by RandyT »

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #57 on: January 10, 2019, 07:18:37 pm »
So right now I'm getting "compositor failed to start" errors from steam vr on all of my machines.  I do have the desktop visible through the headset on my main computer though at full res.  Did any of you guys run across this error?

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #58 on: January 10, 2019, 07:37:22 pm »
If you can see the desktop in it, the drivers probably aren't installed.  Did you update them through the "Holo-whatsit" app?

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #59 on: January 10, 2019, 07:40:19 pm »
So right now I'm getting "compositor failed to start" errors from steam vr on all of my machines.  I do have the desktop visible through the headset on my main computer though at full res.  Did any of you guys run across this error?

Yep.  Updated video card drivers.  Updated the Holo-thing program it comes with (using a second program to update it).  Then kept disabling safe mode and enabling direct mode per the instructions.
Eventually it took and then I could move onto the Run Room Setup in the drop-down menu.  Now it says Ready and works every time.  I've even unplugged it and replugged it.

Updater thing made me uncomfortable and made registry changes, but hey...it's working now.

Edit: It seemed to change it's tune after updating the holowhatever app.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2019, 08:11:28 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #60 on: January 10, 2019, 08:09:04 pm »
The holoview assistant doesn't seem to be working right for me.  It says it updated the drivers and steam vr can see the headset.  Updating the actual app seems to give me an error during the "downloading" process but I'm trying again. 


Anyway, I can get this to show up as a second monitor so I'm keeping it.  I'll crack it open and use it as a mini display if nothing else.  I also fired up outrun 2006 and threw it up on the left hand side of the goggles and it seemed to play well, so I'm guessing I'm ok for low-end games or games set to low quality.  If not I can get a r9 300 series for about 60 bucks and I'd probably need that when I get a new pc anyway. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #61 on: January 10, 2019, 08:28:18 pm »
I know that when I kept getting "compositor failed to start", is when I decided to update the video card drivers and try to follow the directions.  :D 
I'm not sure when the other steps were done.  It was a blur of many failed attempts, then....it worked after updating the drivers and following the instructions multiple times.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #62 on: January 10, 2019, 09:02:34 pm »
How do they show up in device manager in terms of drivers/ect?  Maybe I can install them manually and get things fixed that way. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #63 on: January 10, 2019, 09:47:33 pm »
Sorry, not convenient to get to that info at the moment.  I do recall that after installing drivers and it not working that I did restart the PC before trying again and it finally working.  I can't tell you how many attempts it took after the PC was restarted.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #64 on: January 10, 2019, 11:26:26 pm »
I finally got it working.  Like you I'm not sure exactly what I did but in case someone else wants to pick one up some of the things I did:

In the drop-down menu on the steamVR popup I went into development and clicked on the "remove all usb" button, unplugged the goggles, quite steam vr and plugged them back in.  I also had to enable the goggles as a monitor in windows (which is counter-intuitive as we are trying to get it to work in direct mode) use the extended desktop option and move the goggles to the left side of the virtual desktop.  Then I started the holoview app and steam vr sort of crashed.  After starting it again everything worked.  That's all I know. 


First impressions of the goggles are quite good for the price.  The resolution is quite good and even though my pc is waaaay below spec, I just played a smooth 60fps game of race the sun, so they WILL work for punier games on old pcs.  Not having the individual eye adjustment sucks for me as my bad eye is throwing things off a little.  I haven't tried to cram my glasses in yet, but it doesn't look like they would fit easily.  That being said, there really isn't a screen door effect or anything like that and the head tracking is decent.  FOV is quite tight, but still more than playable. 


If you don't mind screwing around for an afternoon to get the things working I would recommend them.  I mean they are just 20 bucks.  I might pick up wvr3 model to get per-eye adjustment, but other than that, they'll do for casual vr anyway. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #65 on: January 11, 2019, 06:46:08 am »
I also unplugged and replugged them at some point.  Maybe they shouldn't be plugged in until after the holidays program and drivers have been installed.

I've been wearing glasses with it.  Only issue is getting the goggles on and off without my glasses getting pressed against my hair or skin and picking up oils that smear on the lenses.

Check out the Redout demo I mentioned above.  That's the best experience I've had with it.

If you picked up Payday2 for free or as part of a humble bundle, there is a VR option now.  It's in my download que, so I haven't actually tried it yet.
The game was either free or part if a bundle at some point because I have it, but know I wouldn't have bought it.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #66 on: January 11, 2019, 10:05:34 am »
All models now sold out.  Glad I got one.

Ridiculous deal when you consider what the parts and tooling probably cost to manufacture it.
Even if every corner was cut, I can't imagine this thing was made for less than double what I paid for it.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #67 on: January 11, 2019, 12:29:23 pm »
I think I found the actual manufacturer of these units.

Turns out the WVR3 does have a higher refresh rate than the other units.  Supposedly, it can go as high as 120hz.  It's still using a TFT LCD, but it uses the pulsed backlight shenanigans to try to make the refresh rate feel higher.  Not sure how that's supposed to work.  To me, it just seems to reduce the image brightness and color.

There is also something mentioned on this unit called gesture recognition and "Tracking +MO-something" which got cut off.  It makes sense, as there is a window in the bottom portion of the unit.  I have no idea if there's actually anything under it on the WVR3, or how any of it works if there is.  It might just be screwdriver worthy to find out.  If I were to guess, it's probably a couple of IR LEDs for a stationary camera.

*edit*  One of the SlickDeals guys indicated that a new driver is supposed to drop on the 25th to address some of the performance issues.  I guess we shall see.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2019, 12:39:30 pm by RandyT »

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #68 on: January 11, 2019, 01:55:04 pm »
That sucks about them selling out.  It also looks like they have raised the price back to full retail as well, so when/if they get them back in it won't be as cheap.  Amazon had some the other day, but they are more around the 70-80 dollar mark.  Something that threw me off while playing around last night was the fact that vr videos don't seem to play well.  I guess it makes sense... that is quite a large video for a card geared towards 1080p playback to handle, but it seemed odd considering the 3d rendered games seem to be more or less ok. 

Perhaps the driver update will help.  I'm amazed that they are getting a driver update.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #69 on: January 11, 2019, 04:01:51 pm »
Something that threw me off while playing around last night was the fact that vr videos don't seem to play well.  I guess it makes sense... that is quite a large video for a card geared towards 1080p playback to handle, but it seemed odd considering the 3d rendered games seem to be more or less ok. 

Are you referring to youtube?
For me, quality on the youtube app was horrible regardless of quality being streamed.
Ripped 1080 mv4 files ripped from blurays played through the DeoVR player look good.
480 ones ripped from DVDs didn't look nearly as good despite them looking fine on my 1080 televisions.
It would be decent for watching movies on it if you have a crappy TV or sleeping spouse.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #70 on: January 12, 2019, 12:00:20 am »
Install Revive and Oculus.  I think it's required for Dirt Rally, plus there are some nice free experiences on Oculus.  I can confirm that Oculus titles work with these headsets.

Working with this.  It seemed to be working, but when I launched Lucky's Tale, it said something about the controls, I fumbled some buttons, then it switched to Japanese and became unresponsive. 
Deleted and re-downloading.  Looks like it should work though.

Real reason I'm posting is to make sure Howard sees Revive.  It's open source.  It may be useful for injecting wii controller info.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1401048874


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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #71 on: January 12, 2019, 12:40:55 am »
I'll take a look.  Right now I'm just trying to get things stable.  I think it's my weak system specs, but the headset is giving me some issues.  I tried redout and it ran too slowly to be playable, so I tried tweaking the settings in game and that just seemed to make the whole thing unstable and crash.  I thought maybe I could go into the game in regular mode, change the settings and then launch in VR, but the demo doesn't appear to save settings.  Race the sun runs rock solid and stable and redout isn't that much more intensive graphically, so I'm not sure what the issue is... might just be with that game. 

Btw the videos I meant were those huge 4k ones that are stereoscopic and you can look around.  You see them on pr0n sites a lot but there are also more traditional videos like roller coasters or swimming with fish.  My machine tends to stutter with them even in a regular non-vr media player, so it might be a codec issue or something.  It could also be rendering the video onto a sphere as my experiments with it for use with front-ends in the past found that to take a lot of processing power. 


Also, do you guys think it would be possible to add better optics to these units?  The real thing holding them back seems to be the lenses.... everything else is of pretty high quality.  I think it'll be fairly easy to get wiimotes or something similar working as controllers so that part of the equation isn't a big deal. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #72 on: January 12, 2019, 01:00:54 am »
Dang.... can't do oculus on this pc.  It says I need a cpu with sse 4.2 support.  I think this one only does three.  I might try getting the rig to work on my laptop again but with integrated video I doubt I could play much. 


*edit*


Apparently this is one of the first cpus to support sse 4.2 and the software only needs 4.1 anyway.  It's a known issue and there is a hacked version that bypasses the check.  I'll give that a go. 
« Last Edit: January 12, 2019, 01:07:47 am by Howard_Casto »

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #73 on: January 12, 2019, 01:12:14 am »
Dunno if it would be worth it for you.  Getting Revive to work is starting to feel like getting the VR headset to work all over again.
I can launch the games through steam.  They show up on the desktop, but not the headset.  Lucky's Tale has what looks like the headset not detected screen, but it's in Japanese and doesn't respond to anything.
Spent enough time on it tonight.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #74 on: January 12, 2019, 01:27:32 am »
Yeah this is a lot of fiddling, but for that price I kind of expected it to be.  I'm just playing with it to see what I can get working and to pass the time at night... if it gets too frustrating I'll just box the whole thing up and save it for when I upgrade. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #75 on: January 12, 2019, 01:58:05 am »
Finally got redout to run, albeit with a reduced resolution and frame rate.  Very fun but tbh all those fzero like twists kind of made me sick.  I can see the potential though. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #76 on: January 12, 2019, 08:39:57 am »
A new update was available last night.  Too much hassle with Steam VR and I cannot shake the Vive recognition to the VR-Tek.  The gamepad is recognized, but it is still looking for Vive controllers.  It also messes up my desktop display settings.  It is really comfortable to wear.  Will try this again on Windows 7, and see if it is a directx issue.
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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #77 on: January 12, 2019, 11:21:19 am »
Finally got redout to run, albeit with a reduced resolution and frame rate.  Very fun but tbh all those fzero like twists kind of made me sick.  I can see the potential though.

The reduced framerate is partially to blame, but it will probably pass, just stick with it.  Wipeout had me in knots the first few runs with all of the comfort options off, but I played a few runs the other day and didn't get queasy at all.  For mostly healthy folks, it's just a matter of conditioning.

A new update was available last night.

Just out of curiosity, which version are you on?  I'm to the point I can't get mine to start anymore.  Had me digging fruitlessly into SteamVR log files looking for the hitch-up.

One thing I noticed was that the Holo-Assist background app, which I assume is what does the translation, kept silently disappearing.  Maybe it's just unstable on my system for some reason.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2019, 11:30:52 am by RandyT »

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #78 on: January 12, 2019, 02:33:49 pm »
Steam VR updated to 1.2.7 or something like that last night.  The firmware and stuff is still the same.  Whatever they did, things seem more stable now.  What's been working for me, at least is you need to start steamVR up manually... let it do it's thing (which can take a while) and then start the games from within steam if at all possible.  It also seems to work better if you have everything plugged in before you start your pc, which is annoying, but not the hugest deal. 


The holo assist and holo launcher don't seem to be necessary.  You need the assist app to update firmware, but other than that I just use steam and ignore those apps now as they are very unstable.  I tried a few times to get non-vr games to run via the app but it kept crashing on me. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #79 on: January 13, 2019, 08:19:16 pm »
Something I played last night that was way more fun than it should have been were the sega megadrive/genesis collections.  Yes, those work in VR and while it isn't a 3d masterpiece or anything, the games play well and with the appropriate settings for fullscreen mode it really feels like playing on a crt in a darkened room.  Also since you aren't looking around a lot the motion blurring isn't an issue. 

I think I'm going to wait until the 25th it try to hack this thing and see how the firmware update goes. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #80 on: January 14, 2019, 07:01:03 am »
Tried to install it on my laptop (GT555M) last night.  I didn't plug it in beforehand and followed the instructions to the letter.

No dice. It's still stuck at the compositor error and holowview assist also crashes.  Was hoping to learn something useful that could be shared.  No such luck.  This thing is random.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #81 on: January 14, 2019, 02:03:22 pm »
Hopefully the firmware update will fix the issue.  I can't get it to run on my laptop either.  It seems like there should be a way to manually start the compositor.... it's just a process running in the background according to task manager. 

Something of note that may or may not be useful is the fact that if you turn direct mode off, the headset shows up as a secondary monitor again and the compositor error returns.  I doubt that will be useful for getting it working, but it means that you can, for example run a virtual boy emulator on the second screen and if it's positioned properly You'll get stereoscopic 3d.  With some effort I could probably get some older games to work that way as well.  Steam VR is supposed to have a "desktop theater" mode, but I haven't been able to find it.  I think some of the features in steam vr are tied to the vive controllers. 


Btw I couldn't get the oculus stuff to install.  It throws up a random error or something when it's 99% done with the install. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #82 on: January 25, 2019, 11:52:25 pm »
If you guys are still interested in these the update today seemed to have made the goggles more stable.  HomeVR now works right, no crashing.... and even a slight performance boost.  I'm going to try installing on my laptop when I feel better. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #83 on: January 26, 2019, 07:52:34 am »
Thanks for the heads up.  I'm still messing around with it.  I gave up on trying to get it to work on my laptop.
The compositor error went away on my desktop after updating the video card drivers.  I think the reason it is still there on the laptop is that the 555M just doesn't support it.

I bought the "Android" version to tinker with.  It sucks bad.  The "android based" OS is called Nibiru and it cannot access the google play store.
It has a built in app store, but all the games remind me of the crappy knockoff games that come with the "250 games included" handheld or mini arcade toys at walmart or target.
You basically move your head to steer or aim in all the ones I tried.  But the character or shot doesn't line up with where you are looking, you basically use your head as an analog joystick.  :censored:
I think there is some way to get actual android apps through a website called Aptoid, but it's a shady mess that I haven't worked my way through.
One review I found of the Nibiru OS said that most android apps they tried didn't work well anyway because they require a touchscreen to put them into VR mode.
There is a mouse peripheral available, but I'm not buying it.
The menus are low-res and jaggy when angled.  The built in browser resembles a cell phone browser from 15 years ago, when cell phone screens were square and low res.
Its only saving grace is that Kodi is available on the included app store.  It's missing options for screen adjustments and such, but I was able to install add-ons and it all works well.

I tried to play 4k video from microsd, USB(using a USB3 drive), and internal memory.  Same freezing and audio issues across the board.  1440 plays fine, which is the stated native resolution.
Drift is really bad and it will only let you reset the position to a place far enough away from the current position that the menu won't overlap.
So you end up having to move the menu way far in some other direction and then back to where you wanted it.
Luckily Kodi just stays locked in position.
Last gripe is that you can't leave headphones plugged into it or they won't work when it boots up.  They must be plugged in after it has already booted up.
Overall, I do not recommend unless the price goes down and the primary purpose you want it for is Kodi.

« Last Edit: January 26, 2019, 01:37:30 pm by BadMouth »

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #84 on: January 26, 2019, 01:09:09 pm »
I figured out what my problem was on my particular laptop, but I haven't tried to fix it yet.  You know where it draws power from the usb port?  My laptop doesn't supply enough, even when plugged in.  I'll have to try it with a powered hub. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #85 on: February 22, 2019, 03:22:32 pm »
Have you guys tried 'Big Screen" yet?  Some stereoscopic games are really cool in a theatre style screen.  Can't remember the game but there's a hang on style 2D racing game that really looks good in big screen in vr).  Also Netflix and movies are cool too ;)

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #86 on: February 22, 2019, 11:22:24 pm »
I recall Dolphin being fun in Big Screen on my Rift. Haven't tried it on this headset yet though.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #87 on: February 27, 2019, 07:56:40 pm »
They are on sale again.  10 bucks higher, but they come with the $20 gift card now.  I'm tempted to get another.

https://slickdeals.net/f/12879139-vr-tek-virtual-reality-headset-and-bt-controller-with-bonus-20-steam-gift-card-29-99-44-99-fs?src=catpagev2_catnav_games

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #88 on: February 28, 2019, 10:59:40 pm »
Are these the units you're talking about? https://uploadvr.com/cheap-walmart-vr-headsets/
If so pay special attention to the last sentence:

Quote
Hopefully people who do buy them realize that they don’t represent what VR truly has to offer.


Is it still a gimmick to you or you finding there is more to it?

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #89 on: February 28, 2019, 11:45:37 pm »
It's already expired, sorry.

It's fair to say that they aren't great quality compared to more expensive sets, but they are definitely $20-30 worth of fun.  They work great for limited use. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #90 on: March 01, 2019, 03:23:58 pm »
It's already expired, sorry.

It's fair to say that they aren't great quality compared to more expensive sets, but they are definitely $20-30 worth of fun.  They work great for limited use.

Seems to be Live again but it's only $19.99 with the $20 Steam card - so basically free if you buy the $20 steam card !

https://www.walmart.com/co/VR-Tek-Virtual-Reality-Headset-with-BONUS-20-Steam-Gift-Card-Save-20-Total/903059996?u1=cb3490983c5f11e994d5266c2775f9cb0INT&oid=223073.1&wmlspartner=lw9MynSeamY&sourceid=03885643131897186521&affillinktype=10&veh=aff

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #91 on: March 01, 2019, 03:59:52 pm »
Yeah the 1440 per eye version was the one I was wanting.  Still a great deal.  Keep in mind that without drivers these show up as a 4k, 5 inch monitor, so if nothing else you have a small screen to hack for projects.....Tempted to get one to tear apart and use as a digital dash on my racing rig. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #92 on: March 02, 2019, 10:38:06 am »
Tempted to get one to tear apart and use as a digital dash on my racing rig.

...because THAT needs to be 4K.  :lol


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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #93 on: March 02, 2019, 02:40:42 pm »
No, but it needs to be small and easily connected to a pc.  Other than as add-ons for Arduino/pi related projects, small inexpensive screens can be hard to find. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #94 on: March 03, 2019, 06:39:22 am »
No, but it needs to be small and easily connected to a pc.  Other than as add-ons for Arduino/pi related projects, small inexpensive screens can be hard to find.
No kidding. I shelved a pi zero mini arcade project because of the cost of 2.5" (IIRC) screens.  The more common bigger sizes are actually cheaper.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #95 on: March 03, 2019, 01:22:08 pm »
Yeah I actually found a recent article over at hackaday where a relatively inexpensive motorcycle tacho/speedo combo was controlled via an Arduino and the source was actually included.  Might be worth looking into. 

I know I'm starting over from scratch with my racing rig.... it turned out pretty ok, but it looks ugly, having the pc in the bottom makes it hard to work on and overall it sits too high for me to use my tv as a monitor.  I'll put up a post mortem eventually.... learned a lot and a lot of the ideas I tried actually worked quite well.... I just need to take all of that and put it on a better chassis. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #96 on: April 18, 2019, 04:26:14 pm »
Elite Dangerous is on sale.  Has anyone tried it with one of these cheap VR sets and gamepad?

Bought Thumper on sale and was disappointed.  It's another one where the gameplay requires you to stare forward, so the VR effect isn't much.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #97 on: April 19, 2019, 09:14:13 pm »
Elite Dangerous is on sale.  Has anyone tried it with one of these cheap VR sets and gamepad?

Bought Thumper on sale and was disappointed.  It's another one where the gameplay requires you to stare forward, so the VR effect isn't much.

I gave it a shot.  It requires you to register with the developer's site, provide more information than I wanted to, and link accounts.
After going through that BS, it launches in desktop mode despite clicking to launch it in VR.
After messing with it for an hour and still being stuck in desktop mode, I requested a refund.  :angry:
 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #98 on: April 20, 2019, 12:27:50 am »
Sorry, been working on other things lately.  Honestly my pc is barely powerful enough to run some of the more basic games, so I haven't messed with it much.  Still think it was worth the puny asking price of $20 though.  Gonna pickup the basic Vr kit for labo later as well... it's getting surprisingly good reviews for what it is and it appears that Nintendo wants to add VR modes to most of it's first party games. 

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #99 on: May 28, 2019, 10:54:25 am »
For anyone who bought this thing:
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice VR edition works well on it.  (using the controller that came with the headset)
The Oculus software launches with it, but I'm not sure if it's being used or not.  You may have to install it as well.

I picked it up on sale for $15 a few weeks ago and just got around to playing it yesterday.
Game is enjoyable but aside from the fighting, it is thin on actual gameplay.  Character can't wander off the assigned walking paths or interact with anything out of order.
Although VR, it is still third person from a perspective behind the character.  Being able to look around by moving your head is pretty cool though.
It supposed to be fairly short, taking around 8 hours to complete.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #100 on: May 22, 2021, 05:34:19 pm »
Hey so I'm resurrecting this one as I finally decided to hook mine up to my new gaming pc.  Now I can actually play stuff with it!  Steam VR has been updated and it is much improved.   A little dialog box pops up with the launcher and all the basic stuff you'd need (setup, a vr media player, ect) is right in there you you don't have to bother with the virtual environment unless you are actually playing a game.

Anyway I have a problem..... there seems to be dust BEHIND the right lens.   Has anyone had this issue and did you manage to fix it?

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #101 on: June 30, 2021, 10:16:56 am »
Anyway I have a problem..... there seems to be dust BEHIND the right lens.   Has anyone had this issue and did you manage to fix it?

I don't know if you've ever remedied this, but the only way would be to open up the unit in a nearly clean-room environment, and popping the lens out or opening up the unit.  Some are easier than others when it comes to this.  Then use one of those puffer brush tools you see use by photography folks for cleaning SLR cameras.  But the catch is, you can actually make the problem much worse if the environment and tools are not very clean and dust-free.  Most recommend doing this kind of thing in a high humidity environment, like a bathroom after running hot water through a shower head for a few minutes.  Keeps the dust down.

I sometimes see folks hanging their headsets by the headband, with the lenses up and exposed.  This allows dust to settle on the lenses and greatly increases the odds that some of it will find it's way inside.  I absolutely never do this with mine.  I'm too lazy to pack them up when not in use (ideal), so I have a hook system which holds them with the lenses facing the floor.  Seems to keep the lenses clean and protected.   

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #102 on: June 30, 2021, 06:32:24 pm »
I managed to get it apart.   I still haven't gotten all the particles out of if but I cleaned it and it's a vast improvement.   They are two specs of dirt still left and unfortunately they are too tiny for me to see easily.... I'm going to have to sit down with a magnifying lens or something.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #103 on: July 10, 2021, 03:36:45 am »
Cheaper going to Best Buy and getting the original Oculus Quest.  This thing rocks now with the latest update and plays Alyx really well.  Not bad for $200.

The other unit from Walmart (I got the 1080P version) doesn't have the drivers available for it anymore and is now something to stick on the shelf with the Samsung VR.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #104 on: July 10, 2021, 03:51:06 pm »
How is $200 cheaper than $20 ??

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #105 on: July 12, 2021, 11:43:09 am »
How is $200 cheaper than $20 ??

It's not, but you do get what you pay for.  If it's just something to play around with, no point in spending real money.  But if it's something you expect to use seriously, there's no comparison between the cheap toys and a real unit.

Just off hand, the major difference is the pretty bad smearing on the LCD when things are moving, as well as the lack of motion controllers.  The cheap ones are ok for seated controller based experiences with slow activity.  But that's pretty much it.  As much as I don't like FB, the original Quest is probably 50-100x better than the cheap unit, at 10x the price.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #106 on: July 12, 2021, 12:13:14 pm »
I don't care what the differences are and I'm well aware from most of them.   I just found it baffling that we bought these things as a toy and somebody chimes in and says a $200 unit is cheaper.   Now could it be a better bang for your buck?   I guess you could argue that, but that's not what he said.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #107 on: July 12, 2021, 01:44:25 pm »
I don't care what the differences are and I'm well aware from most of them.   I just found it baffling that we bought these things as a toy and somebody chimes in and says a $200 unit is cheaper.   Now could it be a better bang for your buck?   I guess you could argue that, but that's not what he said.

I think he was factoring in your time ;)

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #108 on: July 15, 2021, 01:58:57 am »
I don't care what the differences are and I'm well aware from most of them.   I just found it baffling that we bought these things as a toy and somebody chimes in and says a $200 unit is cheaper.   Now could it be a better bang for your buck?   I guess you could argue that, but that's not what he said.

I think he was factoring in your time ;)

Exactly. 

Thanks Randy.  :cheers:

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #109 on: July 15, 2021, 06:55:22 am »
This site is full of old guys tinkering with old junk.
Our time is obviously worth nothing.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #110 on: July 15, 2021, 02:57:03 pm »
Exactly...any time "wasted" is kind of the point of getting it in the first place. 

That being said this thing has worked fine since day one.   Mind you it isn't super great but for my purposes it works fine.   I've got a psvr for the serious stuff.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #111 on: July 15, 2021, 03:18:13 pm »
...I've got a psvr for the serious stuff.

Well, if you are into wasting time and have a PSVR, you might want to check out TrinusVR and/or iVRy so you can use it on the PC.  :)  Still probably a better option than the Walmart set.

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Re: Highly Discounted VR toy... what do you guys make of it?
« Reply #112 on: July 19, 2021, 05:21:56 am »
...I've got a psvr for the serious stuff.

Well, if you are into wasting time and have a PSVR, you might want to check out TrinusVR and/or iVRy so you can use it on the PC.  :)  Still probably a better option than the Walmart set.

Samsung VR and a Note 5 is better than the Walmart set.  The drawback is it gets too hot,