The Index thread (please keep to subject)

RoadToVR has published their full Index review - they do seem happy for it ;)

"The Valve Index headset is more expensive and less user-friendly than its nearest competitor, the Oculus Rift S, but the experience it offers is the clear choice for VR enthusiasts who want to maximize immersion."

More here: https://www.roadtovr.com/valve-index-review/

kevinw729 said:

So the issues from launch we are seeing:

- Washed out colours = need to undertake an adjustment
- missing components = better QA needed
- issues with Index controller = being looked into

Have I missed any?

Maybe the black levels - also some got dead pixels, sound problems. I think black levels could be a real issue - when I use the CV1 I love darkness, because then I can't see where the screen ends and the plastic surrounding the lenses begins - but due to the less black LCDs, it seems you won't get that effect on the Index (like described in the negative review above). 

Another one - from CV1 to Index:

It is this statement in the RtVR review that marks the divide in business strategies - "...clear choice for VR enthusiasts..."!

On one side with have OculusVR who are moving away from the VR enthusiast to achieve the goal of the founder and corporation for "mass adoption" - while on the other side we have Valve and their founders goal of "creating a new ecosystem". Those that watched GabeN's video statement yesterday heard how the Index is part of building a player-base. As seen with the Lenovo decision, the PC master-race and enthusiast scene is not really a priority.

The question will have to be; is the enthusiast market enough to encourage continued investment in AAA content for VR, or will this become a niche in consumer for a select few with deep pockets and a hobbyist mentality? 

Tom's Hardware tested the Index using:

Intel Core i7-8700K CPU overclocked to a clock speed of 4.8 GHz
16GB of G.Skill SniperX DDR4-3600 RAM
Crucial 500GB MX200 SSD 
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition 

MS = Motion Smoothing. Seems like it's best to disable MS:



144 Hz was very possible and consistent without MS. Remember that 2080 non-Ti is performing nearly the same as 1080 Ti. 

Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/valve-index-vr-headset-controllers,6205.html

Review by Venture Beat:

Quote: "The Valve Index is the best head-mounted display that a consumer can buy off the shelf. But it’s probably not the best for you. You need an even more powerful PC to take advantage of the improved resolution and refresh rate. That means you’re still tethered to a computer and to external tracking stations. And let’s not ignore the price.

While the Index is better than any other headset, it’s not $400-to-$600 better than them.

But, be honest, you already knew whether or not you would spend $1,000 on a VR headset before you read this review.

For those of you who want the best and can afford it, however, the Index is the only choice. If you don’t care about price-to-performance ratios, then don’t hesitate. Go get one. The Index is the best VR experience you can have at home."

Source: https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/28/valve-index-review-when-only-the-best-will-do/

Nearly forgot this one, a very long review - but this user doesn't seem to have used CV1 or Rift-S, so here's just the link:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/c6ogl3/first_impressions_very_mixed_feelings/

Polygon made a nice review and also summed up some of the issues they experienced:

THE ISSUES (AND THERE ARE ISSUES)

One of the problems with running bleeding-edge VR hardware is that things can go wrong. The Index seems much more finicky than past Vive units, and is definitely less reliable in its current state than Oculus’ offerings.

Steam VR crashes fairly often when using Index, and I kept getting errors saying the tether wasn’t seated in the headset correctly, despite it being firmly connected. This could only be fixed by disconnecting the thick cable, which takes a fair amount of work, and reseating it, which caused Steam VR to reset and allowed the headset to work. (Until the next time I opened Steam VR and received the same error.)

Sometimes Steam VR would just ... not work, and no amount of troubleshooting would bring it back. A friend visited to try the new hardware, and our hours of fiddling couldn’t launch Steam VR, despite nearly an entire issue-free day of play. We finally gave up, and the system works fine this morning, despite no additional work on my end. It’s currently a touchy, slightly temperamental kit, although stability in general has improved through system updates since I originally received the unit. I’m hoping it gets even better from here with more stability fixes. Most potential customers will have to be patient anyway; you can currently only sign up to be told when more units will begin shipping, although the headset and controllers package for $749 should begin shipping on Sept. 30, according to the pre-order page.

This situation is even more frustrating because Index makes VR feel more real through all its improvements over past headsets, but those gains disappear the moment I get dumped out of an immersive experience due to a fiddly hardware issue. And then I’m stuck trying to figure out what went wrong with those huge controllers strapped to my hands.

Virtual reality only works when I can get lost inside a game or experience, and that’s incredibly hard when I have to spend so much time trying to figure out how to deal with crashes and error messages.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?

Do you have a lot of patience and want the absolute best VR experience money can buy? Is there already a ridiculously powerful GPU in your gaming PC? If the answer to these questions is yes, you should pick up Valve Index.

But it’s an enthusiast product that’s best left to tinkerers and those who don’t mind spending the time to make everything just so, and are willing to place external sensors in the corner of their VR space. I was impressed with Index, but often left frustrated at the time commitment and lack of reliability.

I hope stability improves in the near future, because Index has the potential to be the most comfortable and effective virtual reality platforms on the market. But none of those innovations mean anything if the system doesn’t work consistently. 

Read more here:  https://www.polygon.com/reviews/2019/6/28/18758877/valve-index-review-steam-vr-headset-virtual-reality-pc

BTW, Tom's Hardware also experienced some relatively severe issues:

Technical Difficulties 

In the week leading up to the embargo lift, our Index headset started to malfunction. SteamVR kicked an error that indicated that it couldn’t detect the headset after rebooting the software to initiate a refresh rate change.

After some troubleshooting, I got the headset to work again by reseating  the display cable at the headset end. Following that, SteamVR kept giving me false errors about the tether being disconnected at the headset end even when the display was working just fine. If I would leave the headset idle for a few minutes, I'd get an error about the headset not being detected. Sometimes reseating the cables would work, and sometimes it would require a complete power down of the PC to get it working.

Eventually, the headset stopped responding to my quick fixes, and I had to leave it sit. I believe it may have been overheating as the left side of the Index and the tether cable were warm to the touch. I tried it again the next day, and it turned on at the first try.

But currently, the headset shuts off while in use. The displays go gray, and SteamVR kicks an error about not being able to see the controllers.

I’m Probably an Outlier

I hope that these issues are unique to my unit, and I have reason to believe that they may be. I’m in North America but am running a European version of the Index. Because of that, I’m using an adapter to change the power plug to work with my outlets. I suspect this could be causing a voltage issue or there could be poor wiring in the adapter. Or, I could have pulled the short straw and received a rare dud. It’s hard to tell right now, and I'll update this article when I can determine what the problem is.

Still, I can say I won’t be using HTC’s wands anymore. Valve won me over with the Index controllers.

Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/valve-index-vr-headset-controllers,6205-2.html

At least we're staring to be prepared for what the Index might be - and what it might not be ;) 

....Problems working with Steam VR!
Who did not see that coming!