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Steam Frame

store.steampowered.com

51–60 of 717 posts

Re: Steam Frame

#51
The only really incredible VR experience I have had so far was Half-life Alyx. Is there anything that tier or even better these days?

Re: Steam Frame

#52

Excited to see that it uses LCDs instead of OLED! One of the things holding me back from head-mounted displays is the short lifespan / burn-in issues of OLED. Also loving the replaceable batteries on the controller.

OLED only burns in if the content is static for hours. If your head is that stable while using VR, I give you $5.

Do your VR games not have static HUDs / UIs? It has been a long time since I picked up a VR game since I no longer have the room.

Re: Steam Frame

#54

The whole "foveated streaming" sounds absolutely fascinating. If they can actually pull off doing it accurately in real time , that would be incredible. I can't even imagine the technical work behind the scenes to make it all work. I'd really like to know what the experience is like of using it, both for games and something like video.

There's an awesome shader on shadertoy that illustrates just how extreme the fovea focus is: https://www.shadertoy.com/view/4dsXzM

Linus the shrill/yappy poodle and his channel are less than worthless IMO.

Re: Steam Frame

#57

Kind of weird using AA batteries, I'd imagine something else would be better suited for this?

AA means they don’t have to handle battery replacements; and it’s not too-too hard to get rechargeable batteries.

I would prefer batteries in machine, too; but this does have some sustainability and repairability (by not needing it) advantages.

Re: Steam Frame

#58
Whoo - first party support - including a graphics stack on ARM!

I hope this means the GPU and drivers is advanced enough to run fully featured modern video games.

Windows for ARM was kinda sunk by the fact that the GPU wasn't compatible enough due to the crappy drivers and outdated GPU uArch optimized for mobile games.

I'm still kinda on the fence about VR, but I hope ARM + Linux succeeds in a big way and this'll make a truly handheld Steam Deck possible.

Re: Steam Frame

#59

Excited to see that it uses LCDs instead of OLED! One of the things holding me back from head-mounted displays is the short lifespan / burn-in issues of OLED. Also loving the replaceable batteries on the controller.

OLED only burns in if the content is static for hours. If your head is that stable while using VR, I give you $5.

OLED is always burning in as a feature of it. It’s just much less noticeable when it’s:

  * cooled aggressively 
  * constantly changing colors (more even wear)
But it is still always losing durability in a steady way.

Re: Steam Frame

#60
Foveated streaming! That's a great idea. Foveated rendering is complicated to implement with current rendering APIs in a way that actually improves performance, but foveated streaming seems like a much easier win that applies to all content automatically. And the dedicated 6 GHz dongle should do a much better job at streaming than typical wifi routers.

> Just like any SteamOS device, install your own apps, open a browser, do what you want: It's your PC.

It's an ARM Linux PC that presumably gives you root access, in addition to being a VR headset. And it has an SD card slot for storage expansion. Very cool, should be very hackable. Very unlike every other standalone VR headset.

> 2160 x 2160 LCD (per eye) 72-144Hz refresh rate

Roughly equivalent resolution to Quest 3 and less than Vision Pro. This won't be suitable as a monitor replacement for general desktop use. But the price is hopefully low. I'd love to see a high-end option with higher resolution displays in the future, good enough for monitor replacement.

> Monochrome passthrough

So AR is not a focus here, which makes sense. However:

> User accessible front expansion port w/ Dual high speed camera interface (8 lanes @ 2.5Gbps MIPI) / PCIe Gen 4 interface (1-lane)

Full color AR could be done as an optional expansion pack. And I can imagine people might come up with other fun things to put in there. Mouth tracking?

One thing I don't see here is optional tracking pucks for tracking objects or full body tracking. That's something the SteamVR Lighthouse tracking ecosystem had, and the Pico standalone headset also has it.

More detail from the LTT video: Apparently it can run Android APKs too? Quest compatibility layer maybe? There's an optional accessory kit that adds a top strap (I'm surprised it isn't standard) and palm straps that enable using the controllers in the style of the Valve Index's "knuckles" controllers.

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