According to today's Oculus Blog post, v28 will include Oculus Air Link, which allows Quest 2 users to stream PCVR games over WiFi. It sounds like it will only be for Quest 2 headsets initially--it's unclear whether this feature will eventually release for Quest 1 as well. It's basically Link without the cable. I look forward to testing it and seeing how it compares to the PCVR streaming feature included in Virtual Desktop. V28 will start rolling out this week, and will also include 120 Hz support and some new Infinite Office features.

The v28 release notes haven’t been published yet, but someone on Reddit was provided a copy by Oculus Support. Text is as follows: The Guardian issue should be resolved in this software release including the following: Quest 2 headset does not remember previous guardian The guardian jumping around May see an error message "Tracking has been lost" Bring your desk into VR We've added the ability to place a virtual desk on your real desk to use while you're in VR. You can see and use this Desk in the Oculus Home environment. We've recommended staying seated while using the Desk. To opt into this experimental feature, open your universal menu, select Settings then select Experimental Features. Select Bring Your Desk Into VR to enable your virtual desk. Oculus Air Link Oculus Air Link allows you to discover and pair your Oculus Quest 2 headset to your Oculus-ready PC over a secure Wi-Fi network. You can opt into this experimental feature from the Experimental Features section of Settings. Follow the instructions on our support site to set up oculus air link. Oculus Air Link requires your Quest 2 and PC App to be updated to V28 120hz Support 120hz support is now available on Oculus Quest 2 in an experimental setting. Developers can now ship apps that run at 120hz, allowing you to experience a higher refresh rate in any app that supports 120hz when you enable this in settings. To opt into this experimental feature, open your universal menu, select Settings, select Experimental Features, then select 120hz. Keep in mind, it's up to the developer to provide support for 120hz. While there aren't any apps that support 120hz just yet, people who turn on this setting will experience 120hz performance in apps that choose to support it in the future. This feature may affect battery usage, headset temperature and the visual quality of some system features. Light theme Light theme is being introduced to Oculus Quest 2. You can now change the appearance of system features and Oculus apps to a light theme. To opt into this experimental feature, open your universal menu, select Settings, select Experimental Features, then choose Display Theme to select between a Dark or light theme. Hand Tracking We've made improvements to the hand tracking behavior so that when you pinch the cursor will not move. I also saw someone mention on Reddit that they got the v28 PTC update for the PC app, and it fixed the problem of Link being locked to 72 Hz.

Certainly Virtual Desktop provides an excellent streaming experience, so Quest 1 users have that as an option if Air Link doesn’t support their hardware. It will be interesting to see how the Oculus version holds up—the blog suggests that it won’t match the fidelity of cabled Link, but I find that Virtual Desktop usually looks as good as or better than Link. That may be because VD dynamically adjusts the resolution as performance allows. (I was recently using VD with SteamVR, and noticed that Steam was rendering at an insanely high res.) Anyway, it’s great to see Oculus moving forward with their own wireless PCVR option. As happened with Quest 1, Quest 2 continues to get better as time goes on and new features are introduced.

Wireless PCVR does sound nice - I was never fond of a flimsy USB cable for connection, and although it could mean the death of Virtual Desktop (at least for Q2), it may lead to more improvements of the wireless connection due to Facebook funding. 120 Hz are interesting, because the XR2 hasn't got power to impress much even in 72 Hz, and 120 fps require about 70% more gpu power to render the frames. Of course they could limit the res even more, but let's wait and see what's going to happen (120 Hz could allow for 2 x 60 fps, which are more smooth than 2 x 45 and especially 2 x 36 fps). Movies in 5 x 24 fps could be nice. Let's start with true Netflix 4k res streaming - that could be really awesome 😉

So, I finally got to try Air Link. I had to jump through a few hoops to get it working; on the Quest 2, I had to reset all experimental features to get the Air Link option to show up. On the PC, I had to log out and back into my account to get the Air Link button to appear in Settings/Beta. I also had to set my encoding bitrate back to default in the Oculus Debug Tool and I lowered my Link resolution a bit (from 2096 to 1875 vertical resolution). Anyway, once I connected, it was just like Link. No noticeable loss of quality or feeling of extra latency. It worked really well. I played some Alyx and some Fallout4VR, and puttered around in my Oculus Home. It truly feels like native PCVR. This is really a killer feature!

Can't wait for this! My PC version updated to v28 tonight but my Quest 2 is still running v27. Hopefully soon!

Oculus Air Link coming in v28!! | Meta Community Forums

15 Replies

xeno3d
Adventurer
5 years ago
Can't wait for this! My PC version updated to v28 tonight but my Quest 2 is still running v27. Hopefully soon!
Strongit
Heroic Explorer
5 years ago
Looks like a great feature set. If virtual desktop is anything to go by the quest 1 should be capable of it too but seeing as the device is nearing the 2 year old mark I wouldn't be surprised if it started getting left out of new features. Might be time to upgrade.
nalex66
MVP
5 years ago
Certainly Virtual Desktop provides an excellent streaming experience, so Quest 1 users have that as an option if Air Link doesn’t support their hardware. It will be interesting to see how the Oculus version holds up—the blog suggests that it won’t match the fidelity of cabled Link, but I find that Virtual Desktop usually looks as good as or better than Link. That may be because VD dynamically adjusts the resolution as performance allows. (I was recently using VD with SteamVR, and noticed that Steam was rendering at an insanely high res.)

Anyway, it’s great to see Oculus moving forward with their own wireless PCVR option. As happened with Quest 1, Quest 2 continues to get better as time goes on and new features are introduced.
Anonymous
5 years ago
Someone have the complete changelog ?
- nalex66
  MVP
  5 years ago
  The v28 release notes haven’t been published yet, but someone on Reddit was provided a copy by Oculus Support. Text is as follows:
  
  The Guardian issue should be resolved in this software release including the following:
  
  Quest 2 headset does not remember previous guardian
  
  The guardian jumping around
  
  May see an error message "Tracking has been lost"
  
  Bring your desk into VR
  
  We've added the ability to place a virtual desk on your real desk to use while you're in VR. You can see and use this Desk in the Oculus Home environment.
  
  We've recommended staying seated while using the Desk.
  
  To opt into this experimental feature, open your universal menu, select Settings then select Experimental Features. Select Bring Your Desk Into VR to enable your virtual desk.
  
  Oculus Air Link
  
  Oculus Air Link allows you to discover and pair your Oculus Quest 2 headset to your Oculus-ready PC over a secure Wi-Fi network.
  
  You can opt into this experimental feature from the Experimental Features section of Settings. Follow the instructions on our support site to set up oculus air link.
  
  Oculus Air Link requires your Quest 2 and PC App to be updated to V28
  
  120hz Support
  
  120hz support is now available on Oculus Quest 2 in an experimental setting. Developers can now ship apps that run at 120hz, allowing you to experience a higher refresh rate in any app that supports 120hz when you enable this in settings.
  
  To opt into this experimental feature, open your universal menu, select Settings, select Experimental Features, then select 120hz.
  
  Keep in mind, it's up to the developer to provide support for 120hz. While there aren't any apps that support 120hz just yet, people who turn on this setting will experience 120hz performance in apps that choose to support it in the future.
  
  This feature may affect battery usage, headset temperature and the visual quality of some system features.
  
  Light theme
  
  Light theme is being introduced to Oculus Quest 2. You can now change the appearance of system features and Oculus apps to a light theme.
  
  To opt into this experimental feature, open your universal menu, select Settings, select Experimental Features, then choose Display Theme to select between a Dark or light theme.
  
  Hand Tracking
  
  We've made improvements to the hand tracking behavior so that when you pinch the cursor will not move.
  
  I also saw someone mention on Reddit that they got the v28 PTC update for the PC app, and it fixed the problem of Link being locked to 72 Hz.
RuneSR2
Grand Champion
5 years ago
Wireless PCVR does sound nice - I was never fond of a flimsy USB cable for connection, and although it could mean the death of Virtual Desktop (at least for Q2), it may lead to more improvements of the wireless connection due to Facebook funding.
120 Hz are interesting, because the XR2 hasn't got power to impress much even in 72 Hz, and 120 fps require about 70% more gpu power to render the frames. Of course they could limit the res even more, but let's wait and see what's going to happen (120 Hz could allow for 2 x 60 fps, which are more smooth than 2 x 45 and especially 2 x 36 fps). Movies in 5 x 24 fps could be nice. Let's start with true Netflix 4k res streaming - that could be really awesome 😉
TomCgcmfc
MVP
5 years ago
Air Link looks very good and I'm pretty sure that once it's out of experimental beta Q1 support will follow. In the meantime I'll just enjoy my Q1 wireless w/Virtual Desktop. This still works better for me than Link with my official Link cable and of course, wireless is soooo much fun!
Anonymous
5 years ago
Will Air Link also be supported for Oculus for Business customers?
Pixie40
Expert Trustee
5 years ago
That, I don't think we have any indication either way on. We know it's coming for the Quest 2 headset, but not Quest 1. But that's about it.
Gotmilkman
Explorer
5 years ago
So regarding the 120Hz update, will we be able to turn on 120Hz like we could do with the 90Hz? Or is this app specific for quest2 games?
I do a lot of Sim Racing and use my quest2 via link.
nalex66
MVP
5 years ago
Link won’t support 120 Hz initially, but is intended to be added later. Currently 120 Hz will only work in a handful of games that support it (Eleven Table Tennis, Cubism, and Racket Fury).