The Index thread (please keep to subject)

TomCgcmfc said:

Hope he never needs to RMA anything, lol!

That weighed heavily on my mind before they started selling them in Canada. I was about to order one and have it picked up at a PO box across the border when, thankfully, it was announced Canada would be getting Indexes.

Side note - Valve's RMA is amazing. I submitted my ticket after my left controller developed the dreaded drift, they gave me a few things to try (they didn't work), and so I got a new controller in 3 days... before I ever had to send my old one back!!! 

In fact, they specifically said the following:

Of course, I sent the old one back as soon as the new one showed up. I'm still a little blown away by their customer service!

Oculus has been just as kickass to me too. I had an old out-of-warranty CV1 that needed a new audio ribbon inside the strap cause the old one failed. I was gonna take Palmer Luckey on his offer to get the repair kit free of charge, but Oculus replaced the headset for me no questions asked. And they full well knew the headset was at least 10 months out of warranty

I still tried Palmer, on two occasions (just as a backup cause CV1 had a known flaw in the audio ribbon), but I never heard back. I think it was a stunt to get even with Oculus for being asked to leave

For me, the price isn't a problem. But my general attitude is if Valve don't want to sell it to me, I don't want to boost Valve's numbers by jumping through hoops to trick them into selling me one.

Been using Index for 9 months now, and apart for the drifting controller in October, everything else hasn't changed since I got the kit in July - it feels like new. But I'm also very careful with my kit, although I have been hammering the Knuckles into nearby walls and the ceiling from time to time :blush: After use I store the Index (same goes for CV1) in a bag with some access to air to prevent build-up of humidity and to avoid any dust. I carefully wrap the cable around the bagged Index - to avoid any twisting of the cable - and then the cable holds the bag in place.

The new left Index controller has been working perfectly since Nov 2019, but otherwise my hmd really has not aged since I got it in July. In fact it has improved a lot due to automatic column correction. And SteamVR Home has improved to a degree where I prefer it compared to Oculus Home (even though I do love watching the old frigate and the buildings etc) 

Both my base stations work perfectly - never been unplugged for 9 months, and they enter standby when not in use. My HMD is also unplugged for 9 months - with a constant nice blue light in standby mode.

I don't have any glue-problem with the lenses at all. Never lost sound in the headphones. My cable-holder on the HMD has not broken - like I said, HMD is like new, no physical damage in any way. Even using glasses every time I use the Index, the lenses have no scratches. Actually I think my glasses protect the lenses, because my son greased the lenses with his eyelids (due to lenses being very close to the eyes), but my glasses save me from doing that, lol. 

Btw, I do not sweat using the Index - my man cave in the basement is like a constant 68 F (20 C). Both my Knuckles also look like new - even though I've hit the wall a few times. No paint problems. Compared to the CV1 which often fogged up, Index has never done that - and it never felt more hot than CV1. Comfort is better with CV1, also due to the CV1 being more lightweight. 

I take great care of my things - my CV1 is also in great condition, apart from some of the plastic turning whitish (due to age) - I do not step on the cable - I don't jump up and down or make a lot of wild movements, lol - so if you're into very heavy physical use - and if you're not very careful using your hmd - your experience might of course differ a lot from mine. 

I have no idea how many hours I've used the Index, got this reading from SteamVR, but it probably also contains some CV1 hours, and I'm not sure the number is correct:

My main problem with the Index is the vertical columns, but due to Valve's automatic column correction sometimes I don't see the columns and image quality is really awesome (no SDE), but other times I do notice the columns. I get the feeling that the columns are happening somewhat randomly, thus some days when powering up the Index I don't see them, while other days I see them more clearly. The CV1 SDE is like 20 times more noticeable than the faint columns, but striving for perfection these are the main thing I'd like to see improved with the Index. Note that my son never noticed the columns, you may have to know what to look for to see them. Funny that most Index users never mention the columns - am I one of the few to be able to see them? Some users also see them with the Rift-S, seems to be part of the lcd tech limitations. 

Revive is also working amazingly - to a degree where I don't see any performance impact at all - besides the impact of using a 80% higher physical res than the CV1. CV1 is still great for very dark games and games profiting a lot from asw 2.0 and temporal antialiasing. I do get the feeling that everything the Rift-S can do, then Index can do a lot better - and setting up two base stations is extremely easy. 

Btw, just took some "9 months" pics - yeah, I don't bag Knuckles, you may see some dust on those, lol:



Close-up new left controller:


Close-up - old right controllers (9 month of usage, never failed me):






Haven't removed the plastic from the frunk cover yet, but it sits there nicely - why remove it? :D Face gasket feels completely like new - but found out so was my CV1 face plate even after more than 2 years, because the new one I bought from Oculus felt - and smelled - the same, so kinda a waste of money. - Unless you really sweat a lot, changing face gasket/plate may be a lot less important than many think... 

^^You are like me, treat your VR HMDs with kid gloves.....although my OCD would not allow me to leave anything switched on or sitting on standby while i was sleeping. lol

OmegaM4N said:

^^You are like me, treat your VR HMDs with kid gloves.....although my OCD would not allow me to leave anything switched on or sitting on standby while i was sleeping. lol

Agreed, but if you turn the base stations off, then they will fully power on when you plug them in - the only way (I know of) to get them into standby mode is to provide them with that signal, when you exit SteamVR. If possible, you could just plug them in when you want to use them. 
I have tvs and blu-ray players etc. using standby mode, guess standby mode with Index and base stations are similar.... I don't think Valve recommends unplugging when not in use. 2c.

Finally tried SkyBox, well had to since it soon won't be a free app, lol:


Steam says it requires 10GB space which for years made me avoid the player, but it's an error, the app is like 500MB. 

In short, I disliked all other SteamVR movie players, but this one is simply awesome! I could use res 200% and still get solid 90 fps. Checking the same 2k movies, the image quality was extremely much better using Index than CV1, due to much higher res and no SDE. I guess my local cinema is better, but this is getting so close that the difference may not be important to many. There is some glare using the Index, but when choosing a scene where you're placed in a virtual cinema, the ambient lighting reduce glare a lot (compared to a totally black background). It seems like res 200% works wonders, and maybe SkyBox did something to increase image quality? Watching the same movies using CV1 and Oculus Video, I got a lot more compression artifacts, but using Skybox the image quality in 2K looked much like 4K res and I saw no compression artifacts at all. Mp4 and mkv movies never looked this awesome in VR, again it felt really close to being in a real theater. Suddenly SkyBox became my no. 1 VR movie player, at least for the Index.

^^Skybox is good media app, i use it on the Go as it allows you to change colour saturation, brightness and contrast as well as enviroment, or just have the screen always in front of you, useful for when your sprawled out on the couch watching something.

OmegaM4N said:

^^Skybox is good media app, i use it on the Go as it allows you to change colour saturation, brightness and contrast as well as enviroment, or just have the screen always in front of you, useful for when your sprawled out on the couch watching something.

Also it's air screen feature lets you network files easily, so you don't have to upload them to the Go or Quest. It's the best of the video players I've tried. Hopefully they'll add panorama viewing at some point too.

This was an interesting post - although I do not agree, I do understand his point about the large and sharp image (all over the lenses) using the CV1:


He could be wearing the Index wrong - using the Index image quality is like 10 times sharper in the center than CV1 ss 2.0, and you really got no SDE with the Index, but in the periphery the Index distorts the image significantly more than CV1. I don't notice that distortion in games - at all - but you would notice it if you're surrounded by a lot of text. 
Some other Index users disagree with his estimates of fov sharpness, which should be much the same and could imply he's not wearing the hmds properly - but since he tried different units and I have not, can't argue much with his impressions. 
Still I have been enjoying the Room VR a lot lately - due to its ultramersion textures (like Alyx and Boneworks) - and I'm using Index res 200% in solid 90 fps in that game. The image quality is so far beyond what I've ever seen using CV1 ss 2.0 that there's really no comparison. Also watching movies in Skybox is way beyond the CV1s capabilities, Index feels like being in a real cinema, CV1 has way too little res and way to much SDE for that. I think the Index needs res 150 - 200 % to shine, and if he never tried that the above review would be very flawed concerning Index sharpness.