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Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?

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141–150 of 257 posts

Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?

#141

I have a vive and a quest 2 and I tried working like that when travelling. The quest won't work in a car as it uses gyros. I tried for about 18 hours each device to work in VR. Many things are not there yet. My vive is attached to a 5 monitor dual GPU beast that drives a central 144hz 4k HDR 43" and 5 2560x144 monitors. The vive couldn't touch the physical setup for comfort or resolution or just non-fussiness. I cons…

I feel that the bare minimum headset that can handle work is the HP Reverb G2. It’s the only headset with a high enough resolution under $1000 (you can find it under $300 on eBay). There’s also Pimax, but their QA and customer support is terrible and you need to deal with base stations.

Through the lens comparison g2 vs Index vs Quest 2

https://youtu.be/ny_OPsxHQmU

Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?

#142

Don't only consider VR headsets; also check out AR glasses. The newest generation of AR glasses are surprisingly practical as portable displays e.g. Nreal Air.[1] However neither VR headsets nor AR glasses have reached the resolution sweet spot to compete with monitors in permanent workspaces [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDekX4vrSsA

The HP G2 is much better than any AR product for reading text. It comes close to desktop monitors. It’s also under $300 on eBay and frequently on sale

Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?

#143
post #24
post #13

You can comfortably work in VR, but the trick is that you can't use any of the headsets as is. There are upgrades that you really need: A better head strap, ideally one with an adjustment knob at the back to easily loosen and tighten the headset. Also one with an extra battery that both gives you longer unplugged time but more importantly balances the headset front to back. And a better headset/face interface. You ca…

It looks like they put extra effort into making the Meta Quest Pro comfortable. Do you think those straps would need replacing? If so, do such straps already exist?

According to reviewers, it is comfortable, but you can’t change any of it

Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The quest won't work in a car as it uses gyros. Am I reading it correctly you are trying to use VR in a vehicle while someone is driving? I get car sick very easily when riding. I also get motion sickness when using VR. I cannot imagine being affected by both at the same time.

Quoted post unavailable.

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Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?

#145
Just a warning that I can see all kinds of people relating very personal takes on it, esp based on last-gen hardware like the Quest 2.

The key thing is that effectively, there has never really been a VR device released with this as its primary purpose until the Quest Pro. So all the complaints of clunky software, lack of comfort, visual clarity, etc are all in part side effects of people repurposing tools that were simply not meant for the job.

I've always been interested in this space and my conclusion with Quest Pro, which I've had for a week or so now, is that its borderline usable for specific tasks. However it's still not quite there for me as a primary working mode. I think about 50% of the issues are software addressable and it will be a big test of Meta to see if they managed to actually address them or not.

The main issues for me are display resolution and refresh rate I think. When looking at black text on white background, it still has a "shimmering" type effect. It's very subtle and not something obvious at first but if I try to work hours in there (like I did yesterday), it eventually affects me. This seems addressable to me but I'm not 100% sure if the approach being taken (compressing the video feed) can solve it completely - we really need something more like RDP where it draws windowing primitives natively in the headset so that there's no "refresh" at all. The resolution would be "ok" if everything else was perfect but literally any other problem makes it an issue.

However, my biggest suggestion here is that this is very personal - both to your own visual / perceptive / comfort context AND what you exactly do. Even within a specific application, "how" you do it matters. Which is all to say, you just need to try this out. I'd guess that prior to Quest Pro something like 5% of people would have found working in VR viable. Quest Pro probably brings it to 20% or so - a huge improvement but nothing like mainstream. The next gen should bring that way up to 50% or so I think - and we'll have line of sight on this, if not actual devices within 6 months - rumors are there will be an announcement from Apple in Jan/Feb (but likely not shipping until June) and then Simula is working hard on their device. If you are in the Apple ecosystem it'd be pretty crazy not to wait until their announcement (I deplore the closed ecosystem that is going to result from this but there's no chance it won't be awesome).

Finally, you'd definitely want to consider the light weight options like Nreal Air [0] if truly all you want is a giant floating monitor or two.

[0] https://www.nreal.ai/air/

Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Nreal Air looks cool, but it only offers a 46 degree FoV[1]. That's less than half the FOV of the Quest 2, which makes it hard to see all of your windows/workspace. (To be fair: the tradeoff is excellent PPD within its narrow FOV). [1] https://www.nreal.ai/specs/

(I'm trying a pair out. They are on Amazon for $379 and extended returns during Christmas...) It feels like a wall height screen about 8-10 feet in front of you. Perhaps a little bigger would be good, but it isn't that too small. The resolution of 1920x1080 is ok. I wish it was higher. And it doesn't support AR monitors (the 1920x1080 in the glasses a mirror of the iPad - except for blink .. - the demos for android a…

> it doesn't support AR monitors

At the top of this thread, the youtube video linked by that comment shows AR monitors on a Mac at 7:24 in the video. The software support for that isn't there on iOS or iPadOS, but it is supported on Mac, apparently. (And Android, as you noted.)

Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I'm trying a pair out. They are on Amazon for $379 and extended returns during Christmas...) It feels like a wall height screen about 8-10 feet in front of you. Perhaps a little bigger would be good, but it isn't that too small. The resolution of 1920x1080 is ok. I wish it was higher. And it doesn't support AR monitors (the 1920x1080 in the glasses a mirror of the iPad - except for blink .. - the demos for android a…

> it doesn't support AR monitors At the top of this thread, the youtube video linked by that comment shows AR monitors on a Mac at 7:24 in the video. The software support for that isn't there on iOS or iPadOS, but it is supported on Mac, apparently. (And Android, as you noted.)

the Macos software is pre-release - and jittery/high latency is an understatement.

Supposedly a new version is being released mid-nov. Hopefully that will address the issues.

Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?

#148
post #71
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is outdated since the Quest Pro came out.

How so?

It addresses nearly all concerns for comfort without the need for 3rd party accessories. Even glasses fit well. The catch is that you can’t seem to change anything out for 3rd party options

On the other hand, im not sure resolution is high enough for text heavy work

Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?

#149

I get upset when my workplaces don't provide me with a high DPI monitor. I feel every screen should be a "retina display" by now and we should accept no less. Needless to say I feel that working in VR is currently a sad joke. VR headsets simply don't have adequate PPI and optics yet. Text is barely legible unless it's blown up to ridiculous sizes.

VR pixel density is arguably on an exponential curve. Most headsets are within one tripling of "human eye resolution".[1] A few are within one doubling. [1] https://i.imgur.com/Ml1dv3w.png

As noted elsewhere in this discussion, the Nreal Air glasses already offer 49ppd, which is way higher than the VR headsets on that chart. I haven't gotten to try them out yet, but they seem interesting.

Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?

#150
post #121
post #13

You can comfortably work in VR, but the trick is that you can't use any of the headsets as is. There are upgrades that you really need: A better head strap, ideally one with an adjustment knob at the back to easily loosen and tighten the headset. Also one with an extra battery that both gives you longer unplugged time but more importantly balances the headset front to back. And a better headset/face interface. You ca…

Can you recommend one of these great products that won’t transmit my activity and usage off my device? Fortunately monitor manufacturers haven’t figured out that trick yet and I don’t want a privacy regression from my non-virtual monitor setup. Everything I have found in VR land assumes internet connectivity, demands a login/PII, and transmits data back to the mothership against my will.

It’s not a dumb monitor. Even the new Apple headset will require internet connectivity and an online account. Also from what I’ve seen, most VR headsets have an option for not sharing your usage analytics. It’s not shared by default.
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