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Steam Frame

store.steampowered.com

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Re: Steam Frame

#371

Post by wolfd »

esskay wrote: post #152
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…

They've cut some fairly shallow corners, like mono vs color cameras so I imagine getting it within a decent price range has been of high importance. I really doubt it'll be any thing close to $1k.

I think it’s possible that there’s a technical reason for monochrome cameras. For example, to let in the maximum amount of IR light for tracking. Bayer filters reduce the amount of light getting in, so it might help the IR LEDs be visible on surrounding walls in the dark.

Still hoping that you’re right, though.

Re: Steam Frame

#372

Post by anvuong »

dagmx wrote: post #139
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…

Foveated streaming is cool. FWIW the Vision Pro does that for their Mac virtual display as well, and it works really well to pump a lot more pixels through.

It's the same amount of pixels though, just with reduced bitrate for unfocused regions so you save time in encoding, transmitting, and decoding, essentially reducing latency.

For foveated rendering, the amount of rendered pixels are actually reduced.

Re: Steam Frame

#373

Post by jackvalentine »

SchemaLoad wrote: post #362
dzonga wrote: post #78

kudos to them for using AA batteries for the controller. will help the hardware last longer. cz non-removable lithium batteries suck.

Maybe, but I've seen more controllers destroyed by AA batteries that leaked and corroded the contacts than internal batteries that failed.

It’s good that we have decent NiMH batteries that I don’t think leak like alkaline ones do (I’ve never seen one!).

Lower voltages, but flatter discharge curve so pretty much everything works with them.

Re: Steam Frame

#374

Post by piva00 »

lopis wrote: post #194
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…

Not to mention this comes from a company that I respect and that has a proven record of trying to respect its users, unlike literally every other company making VR headsets. The fact that they are trying to making this an open device, and that the controllers have user-replaceable batteries is almost unheard of in any consumer device these days.

Valve kinda shows how a well-managed private business ought to run: respect your customers, find a cash cow and use it for slowly expand into related markets to your niche, develop good products over a long period (SteamOS took many years to become something actually useful) without focusing on the mentality of hyper-growth, keep the stereotypical contemporary MBA thinking away, have a small but competent team.

There are, of course, the issues with lootboxes but even there they've kept their hands much cleaner than any other game developer.

It's a very well oiled machine, I had another VR headset ordered for sim racing, immediately canceled it when saw the Frame announcement because even if specs-wise it's a bit of a downgrade, I want to buy what Valve is selling.

Re: Steam Frame

#375

Post by famahar »

The main thing I dislike about VR is how uncomfortable it is on my head and how hard it is to adjust that comfort. Too much friction to enjoy. If I can just easily slip these on that would be perfect.

I also never got used to the feeling of being completely detached from my own world. I know that's the point of VR, for it to be completely immersive but it felt very jarring not knowing what was going on around me.

Re: Steam Frame

#376

Post by modeless »

bsimpson wrote: post #323
modeless wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Valve is focused on making a device that works well with their existing game catalog. It's a Steam device first, and it needs to be inexpensive to compete with Quest (which is subsidized by Meta), so they need to prioritize which features get included. I wouldn't be surprised to see a first party AR camera attachment a while after launch. The expansion port seems specifically designed for this, with the inclusion of…

I wonder if this will be a VR trojan horse. The Steam Deck was wildly popular for a non-Nintendo device. It's got Linux up to 3% of total Steam playtime. If this has a similar draw (play every game on Steam without having to buy a TV), maybe the install base of VR will grow to a point where it's more feasible to make games that support it. It also makes SteamVR relevant again in a world where Oculus has been eating a…

It will be more expensive than Quest 3s and so is unlikely to grow the VR market significantly beyond what Meta has achieved so far IMO. I'd love to be wrong.

Re: Steam Frame

#377

Post by entropicdrifter »

anvuong wrote: post #372
dagmx wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Foveated streaming is cool. FWIW the Vision Pro does that for their Mac virtual display as well, and it works really well to pump a lot more pixels through.

It's the same amount of pixels though, just with reduced bitrate for unfocused regions so you save time in encoding, transmitting, and decoding, essentially reducing latency. For foveated rendering, the amount of rendered pixels are actually reduced.

That depends on the specifics of the encode/decode pipeline for the streamed frames. Could be the blurry part actually is lower res and lower bitrate until it's decoded, then upscaled and put together with the high res part. I'm not saying they do that, but it's an option.

Re: Steam Frame

#379

Post by foresto »

krzyk wrote: post #187
skywal_l wrote: post #174

> Steam Frame Controllers: Powered by AA batteries (rated 40 hours) Yes, I want to see standard batteries being used more. Too bad they didn't go with this on the Steam Controller.

Why? It is a bummer to keep them, buy them when suddently they stop working, etc. While chargeable needs just a usb-c socket.

Allow me to recommend low self-discharge NiMH batteries (Eneloop brand is excellent) and a good charger made for that chemistry.

Re: Steam Frame

#380

Post by dontlaugh »

Fabricio20 wrote: post #224
LukaD wrote: post #71

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

I mean.. my X670E motherboard (a high end, modern mobo!) has only ONE usb-c port.. it has, in comparison, 3 usb-a 10gbps ports and another 4x usb-a 5gbps ports. Given the headset's main use case to be plugged in is for PC-VR game streaming, it makes sense that they'd go with USB-A. Maybe in a few years they can switch but right now most desktop mobos barely even have usb-c.

Some motherboard have a rear USB-C, but no internal front panel header.

Desktop is so far behind on ports.

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