The Index thread (please keep to subject)

I keep repeating to myself "I don't need that" 

This pandemic can't come to a end quick enough so i can at last get my hands on a Index......why oh why oh why oh why oh why was i so dumb as to cancel it last year with about a week left to get delivered because i could get a Q2 on launch day..........hindsight is a poison in your soul. lol

Users going from Quest1 to Index seem rare, and this user even has an RTX 3080 to totally max out Oculus Link quality. This is the first one I've read about taking that plunge directly from Quest1 to Index, and it does contain some interesting observations. I've put some in bold:

"Some thoughts on going from a Quest 1 for PCVR to an Index

I have had an Oculus Quest 1 for the past year and a half or so, and I recently bought a Valve Index. I had initially thought about selling my Quest 1 and upgrading to the Quest 2, but after some research I decided to go with the Index. Here are some comparative thoughts after having had the Index for a couple of weeks:

- The Quest 1's screen is really great generally speaking. The OLED's colour range and deep blacks look wonderful in single player games. There's nothing like walking through a dungeon in SkyrimVR with a bunch of mods to make the environment pitch black, only get attacked by a skeleton mob out of the inky darkness. The Index is good at representing blacks, but it can't even come close to the deep blacks and rich warm colours of the Quest 1. I was initially very disappointed with the Index in this regard, even thought about returning it, but I've gotten used to it over time and don't notice it as much anymore.

- The 72hz refresh rate shows its limits when compared to the Index's max 144hz capacity. The truth is that after 90hz or so you stop seeing the benefits of such a high refresh rate, but the difference between the Quest's max 72hz and 90hz on the Index is significant.

- The Quest 1's field of view is very limited. It feels a lot like you're looking at your game through binoculars. It's distracting at first, but once you get into a game it sort of goes away. However, when you try the Index and see just how great its field of view is, it's hard to go back to the smaller FOV.

- The computational overhead that is required by the Quest 1 for PCVR has a noticeable impact on performance on graphically demanding games. Basically, your PC needs to do some compression work to pack the visual signal to fit the bitrate afforded to it by the more limited bandwidth of the USB 3.2 used by Oculus Link. A real world example of why this matters can be seen in the difference in playing a heavily modded Skyrim VR on my Quest 1 vs Index. On the Q1 my gameplay stutters and lags far more, distractingly so, than when I play on my Index. On the Index, the video image is transferred using Displayport. Also, if you want to play SteamVR games with a Quest, you will need to run both the Oculus App and SteamVR at the same time, which causes more resource drainage on your system. I have an RTX 3080 and a Ryzen 3700x and even with this system I run into more issues with performance on the Q1 than on the Index. That said, there are ways to get around running SteamVR to pay Steam games in VR, but it does add an extra step.

- The Index is leagues more comfortable to wear than the Q1. It's not even comparable. With the Q1 I need to have an additional counterweight in the back of the ridiculously uncomfortable headstrap, just to make wearing it tolerable. That counterweight only added additional weight to the headset, which my neck has to compensate for in supporting. Turning your head too quickly can give you some mild whiplash if you aren't careful. The alternative is no counter weight, which puts all of the headset's pressure on your nose and forehead, and I really can't emphasize enough how uncomfortable that becomes. On the other hand, I can wear the Index for hours without issue. It's lighter, and it just feels way more comfortable, I can almost forget it's even on my head. I can't speak to the Quest 2 for comfort, but I hear it isn't great without upgrading to the more delux version of the headstrap.

- The audio on my Q1 is passable. The audio on my Index is phenomenal. I've been using a pair of sony headphones with my Q1, which, when in VR, completely isolates you from the outside world. With the Index speakers, I can hear my game perfectly, it sounds amazing in stereo 3D, but it also allows me to hear what's going on in the real world around me. If my partner is calling out for me, or if my dog walks by, I can hear them and be able to orient myself to my physical space far more quickly. Also, it's much less of a pain to have to put on the Quest, get it to sit comfortably, then locate my headphones on my desk and put those on, then reverse the process whenever taking them off. With the Index I can slip on the headset and be done.

- The controllers are both great IMO. I like both the Q1 controllers for their size and comfort, but I have bought an additional strap that mimics the Index's hand straps. The Index controller's multi-finger reader is neat, but kind of useless and gimmicky. I couldn't choose between which I like better.

- I've used my Q1 wirelessly for PCVR gaming, but I always always go back to the Link cable. I've tried using a dedicated wireless router located right next to me where I game, and followed guides on optimizing the router for maximum signal latency for streaming... but using Virtual Desktop to stream games creates visual artifacts in my games that I find terribly distracting. The visual fidelity isn't great with the Link cable either, the compression does certainly lead to some blurriness. The Index doesn't have this problem at all, in fact it's clarity continues to impress me. I know a lot of folks would never want to go back to a wired experience, but for me personally wireless streaming to my Q1 doesn't match the wired connection by a long shot, and I'm happy to keep playing VR with a tether for now.

Hopefully this post helps some folks make up their mind when choosing which VR headset to get in the future. A lot of what I've written above is personal preference from experiencing both headsets, and I welcome alternative opinions."
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/m3khgb/some_thoughts_on_going_from_a_quest_1_for_pcvr_to/

Deleted - double post.

Deleted - no longer relevant.

^^Yeah saw that yesterday and just annoyed myself even more reading it as i want a index NOW. lol

I do hope Valve bring out an updated headset before too long, ideally one with the more simplistic inside/out tracking. Resolution of Reverb G2 with FOV of Index - I would be all over it in a heartbeat.

^^^I still have the Vive lighthouses and controllers so all i waiting for is the Index HMD itself, but i would not say no to a Index 2 that went down the inside out tracking route but kept the big FOV and manual ipd asi feel those two things alone should be the standard for every single VR HMD, you get those two right and everything else is just icing on the cake.

Fun observation - although many PCVR enthusiasts do not appreciate low-poly non-textured bottom-end Quest games, I read that several Index owners like the dumbing down of VR games. 

Why?

Because the Questification gives Index owners games that work perfectly in 144 fps in 144 Hz.

Some say 144 fps/hz provide great advantages in multiplayer games like Population One and Hyper Dash.

Personally I prefer great PCVR with tons of polys and 4k-ish ultramersion texture res - to push VR immersion forward. 

Thus, I don't want this even if I got it for free (I think the PCVR version is twice as big as the Quest version - like 800MB vs. 1.6GB, so of course these aren't fully identical, but poly levels usually are the same):

New patents from Valve - the wireless Index is coming?

 Not sure I like it - it looks heavy and bulky - the Index is already close to twice the weight of the Rifts... Never been bothered by the Index cable which is 6 meters long, but the CV1 was on the short side with 4 meters.