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Meta Quest Pro – Bad AR Passthrough

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Re: Meta Quest Pro – Bad AR Passthrough

#21

Post by edgefield »

A new VR arcade opened up in my area and I visited with my son. They were using HTC Vive headsets, which retail for $1,000+. It’s the first time I really used VR, especially in a couch coop mode setup. The following struck me:

(1) There is no killer, must have game for VR. Beat Saber seems to be the most popular and mainstream game but not nearly engaging enough to convince the mass market to buy one or more VR headsets. Related, we cycled through about 5 games and none of graphics were particular realistic or immersive. I didn’t walk a way from the experience thinking wow! And note I’ve had this “wow” experience playing PS4 games on a higher end TV that supports HDR.

(2) We had a 1 hour session with the goggles and I felt quite sea sick during and after gameplay. The headset was also uncomfortable after 30 minutes or so. Playing games while sea sick is about as much fun as it sounds. It’s pretty awful.

(3) The arcade was expensive. I paid nearly $100 for 1 hour for 2 people in a MCOL area. One of the reasons for the high cost is the arcade required an employee to help us cycle through games and explain gameplay and controls. It dawned on me after the experience that my son and I would have to buy two headsets, not just one, for any couch coop play. Maybe we’d have to buy two copies of games as well? Gaming is really becoming a social experience, which is why Fortnight is such a big hit because it’s essentially free and cross platform.

VR is dead in the water unless they bring to market must-have games (or other apps and Beat Saber is nowhere close to this), solve the sea sickness problem, and somehow bring down the cost so two headsets cost about as much as a current generation console.

I think it’s also very premature for Meta to go after the business market. It first needs to convince geeks like me to buy and evangelize about VR. If anything, my experience at the VR arcade convinced me NOT to buy VR goggles. Good luck building out a new market if this is a typical reaction to the state of VR today.

Re: Meta Quest Pro – Bad AR Passthrough

#22

Post by threeseed »

kart23 wrote: post #12

I don’t think people fully grasp how much power and compute it takes to record and process video (me included). let me know how long that canon r5 can record for continuously, and how many batteries it’ll go through for that recording time. It wasn’t that long ago that it was taxing for desktop computers to play a 4k video file.

With cameras the problem isn't the power or compute. It's the heat dissipation.

Cameras like the Sigma FP are built around the heat sink and have vents all around to dissipate the heat during long recording sessions. Most typical DSLRs simply have recording limits e.g. Canon R6 = 30 mins.

Pretty big issue for a device they are aiming to be around your head for hours at a time.

Re: Meta Quest Pro – Bad AR Passthrough

#23

Post by threeseed »

edgefield wrote: post #21

A new VR arcade opened up in my area and I visited with my son. They were using HTC Vive headsets, which retail for $1,000+. It’s the first time I really used VR, especially in a couch coop mode setup. The following struck me: (1) There is no killer, must have game for VR. Beat Saber seems to be the most popular and mainstream game but not nearly engaging enough to convince the mass market to buy one or more VR heads…

a) 10 million Quest 2 devices have been sold. There is already a market.

b) Business market is already a large adopter of VR devices e.g. for training, warehouses, architecture/car etc demos etc. Meta is big enough to tackle both markets at once. And Quest Pro helps to validate newer technologies that will trickle down into their cheaper models.

c) Motion sickness is better on newer devices and from research videos Meta already understands what are the causes of it. It's now largely an engineering question of how to get solutions translated into shipping products.

Re: Meta Quest Pro – Bad AR Passthrough

#24

Post by Shank »

gkoberger wrote: post #9
batch12 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not supposed to be able to see well through the device?

Well, I'm sure in future versions it will be a lot better. But my experience with my Meta Quest Pro is that it's more for getting a vague idea of your surroundings than just interacting with them. For me, the only time I've seen it pop up is when I step out of my "zone". Rather than just flashing red, I get a vague understanding of where I'm standing and who's nearby. I've never had a problem with it at all, even tho…

> But my experience with my Meta Quest Pro is that it's more for getting a vague idea of your surroundings than just interacting with them.

The point of the article is that this experience, while good, is juxtaposed with Meta's marketing claim that it's a mixed reality device. You're saying the device is good at the thing the author says it was probably built for. Mixed reality implies that you're seamlessly switching between environments, as if there wasn't a distinction.

Re: Meta Quest Pro – Bad AR Passthrough

#25

Post by Mizza »

I've heard that some of the AR stuff got nerfed because of the ability of IR cameras to see through some fabrics and Facebook not wanting to have those headlines in the newspapers. I just heard it as a rumour though, perhaps an insider with a throwaway account can "shed some light".

Re: Meta Quest Pro – Bad AR Passthrough

#27

Post by theptip »

SheinhardtWigCo wrote: post #19
sdrinf wrote: post #16

The primary use case for passthrough is not AR, it was not intended to be projecting stuff over room interior, and as such, it's crap at a thing that it is explicitely not optimized for. The primary use case for passthrough is bringing stuff into VR, specifically your hands (when used in hand tracking mode), and your keyboard. Your monitor is projected into VR by being hooked to your headset. Any other function's uti…

The author's point is that it's crap at a thing it's explicitly marketed as being good at.

It's a weird point to spend so much ink on though. The author explicitly raises the possiblity that the marketing fluff could just be marketing fluff, but then seem to go on as if this can't be the explanation.

Seems obvious to me that the "Mixed reality" stuff is just marketing fluff, if you pay any attention to the technical evolution of this product line when interpreting these complaints.

Re: Meta Quest Pro – Bad AR Passthrough

#28

Post by nprateem »

threeseed wrote: post #23
edgefield wrote: post #21

A new VR arcade opened up in my area and I visited with my son. They were using HTC Vive headsets, which retail for $1,000+. It’s the first time I really used VR, especially in a couch coop mode setup. The following struck me: (1) There is no killer, must have game for VR. Beat Saber seems to be the most popular and mainstream game but not nearly engaging enough to convince the mass market to buy one or more VR heads…

a) 10 million Quest 2 devices have been sold. There is already a market. b) Business market is already a large adopter of VR devices e.g. for training, warehouses, architecture/car etc demos etc. Meta is big enough to tackle both markets at once. And Quest Pro helps to validate newer technologies that will trickle down into their cheaper models. c) Motion sickness is better on newer devices and from research videos M…

My employer could send me one. I wouldn't use it. I don't want to be virtually present in meetings. I've left the office and can multitask now (eg do household chores, go for walks). I'm not going back to an office, physical or virtual.

Re: Meta Quest Pro – Bad AR Passthrough

#29

Post by yafbum »

threeseed wrote: post #22
kart23 wrote: post #12

I don’t think people fully grasp how much power and compute it takes to record and process video (me included). let me know how long that canon r5 can record for continuously, and how many batteries it’ll go through for that recording time. It wasn’t that long ago that it was taxing for desktop computers to play a 4k video file.

With cameras the problem isn't the power or compute. It's the heat dissipation. Cameras like the Sigma FP are built around the heat sink and have vents all around to dissipate the heat during long recording sessions. Most typical DSLRs simply have recording limits e.g. Canon R6 = 30 mins. Pretty big issue for a device they are aiming to be around your head for hours at a time.

In addition to the recording limits on a DSLR, you might need to rest it for a good while if you're filming for a long time with too much light on a hot day. It shuts off when the sensor's too hot.

Re: Meta Quest Pro – Bad AR Passthrough

#30

Post by into_infinity »

threeseed wrote: post #22
kart23 wrote: post #12

I don’t think people fully grasp how much power and compute it takes to record and process video (me included). let me know how long that canon r5 can record for continuously, and how many batteries it’ll go through for that recording time. It wasn’t that long ago that it was taxing for desktop computers to play a 4k video file.

With cameras the problem isn't the power or compute. It's the heat dissipation. Cameras like the Sigma FP are built around the heat sink and have vents all around to dissipate the heat during long recording sessions. Most typical DSLRs simply have recording limits e.g. Canon R6 = 30 mins. Pretty big issue for a device they are aiming to be around your head for hours at a time.

The 30 minute limit had little to do with heat:

https://www.fujirumors.com/yes-eu-import-duty-reason-fujifil...

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