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Steam Frame

store.steampowered.com

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Re: Steam Frame

#81

Post by starkrights »

marknutter wrote: post #65

So it connects to your PC via Wifi? I could use this anywhere in my house as far away from my computer as I want?

I think it depends on whether or not you have good 6ghz connectivity. The headset comes with a 6ghz usb dongle pluggable to your rendering PC for locales without a 6ghz router or good 6ghz penetration, but due to 6ghz lack of wall-penetrating capability, that's probably going to be more/less line-of-sight. The LTT video [0] does explicitly mention the ability to use either mode of connection though- over your existing wifi network, or via their 6ghz dongle. It's somewhat unclear if the headset would function over a non 6ghz connection (regardless of quality- supposedly 2.4/5ghz VR-over-wifi is pretty rough due to channel congestion and maybe bandwidth limits)

The headset is also capable of being its own renderer, ie, it can do 'mobile' vr games (android apks like on the quest, eg). That functionality wouldn't need a connection to your PC at all.

[0]: https://youtu.be/dU3ru09HTng?t=445 - timestamped at wireless segment

Re: Steam Frame

#82

Post by phantasmish »

LukaD wrote: post #71

This looks really cool, but USB-A on the wireless adapter? Really?

Pretty sure the vast majority of device ports on plugged-in devices in my house are still USB-A. And the only non-phone/tablet devices I have that are C-only are Apple, I’m pretty sure. Everything else has at least one A port.

It’s only just getting to the point that if I search for USB peripherals (mice, flash sticks, whatever) in a non-Apple online computer hardware store without specifying I want USB-C, some of the first page results might be USB-C.

USB-A appears poised to remain the safe choice that least-often demands your customer also buy an adapter for another couple years, minimum.

Re: Steam Frame

#83

Post by vunderba »

Insanity wrote: post #70

This is going to be an instant buy for me, and my first VR device ever. I've used the previous Steam VR headset over at a friends' place many times, but never bit the bullet to get one myself. The fact that this can run standalone, doesn't have a bunch of wires dangling from it, and is pretty much a fully working Linux box makes this am almost on-brainer for me. I do _hope_ the price is reasonable though, if it ends…

I can't imagine it exceeding ~1k USD - they've got to at least keep it reasonably competitive with the Meta Quest which is around half that.

Re: Steam Frame

#84

Post by potatolicious »

stetrain wrote: post #48
Night_Thastus wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe in Linus very little. I'll keep my eyes peeled to see what others say. It's certainly possible though, Valve has the chops to pull it off.

Norm from Tested said the same in his video. https://youtu.be/b7q2CS8HDHU

The Verge reports similarly - can't tell foveated streaming. Seems like Valve really cracked the code with this one.

Re: Steam Frame

#85

Post by xeonmc »

modeless wrote: post #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 bro…

> 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.

Question, what is the criteria for deciding this to be the case? Could you not just move your face closer to the virtual screen to see finer details?

Re: Steam Frame

#86

Post by foxandmouse »

Interesting they went with the 8 Gen 3 instead of something like the X Elite. From what I’ve seen, the 8 Gen 3 actually outperforms the Elite in emulation and running PC games. I wonder if that factored into the decision.

Re: Steam Frame

#87

Post by aezart »

Wonder if/when prescription lenses will be available for it. I had to get some for my index since my glasses were too big to fit inside the headset.

Re: Steam Frame

#89

Post by modeless »

xeonmc wrote: post #85
modeless wrote: post #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 bro…

> 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. Question, what is the criteria for deciding this to be the case? Could you not just move your face closer to the virtual screen to see finer details?

Not only would it be a chore to constantly lean in closer to different parts of your monitor to see full detail, but looking at close-up objects in VR exacerbates the vergence-accommodation mismatch issue, which causes eye strain. You would need varifocal lenses to fix this, which have only been demonstrated in prototypes so far.
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