Known Issue - Rainbow screen artifacts Natively and PCVR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSnyiWRRPes

Participant

Another reddit user posted a video a couple days ago that shows the issue very well.

Look at 0:02, 0:13, 0:16, 0:21 and numerous other times the white pixels flash at random. This needs to be addressed ASAP. It's almost certainly from the firmware change that undervolted and overclocked the quest. I'll be doing a chargeback on my credit card if this is not fixed within the next few weeks. You are shipping units that all have the same defects and are not providing any info about fixing it.

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Evolad2004

Participant

I'm having this issue while watching films on any app. Really annoying and meta want me to return the headset. I don't want to give them my well looked after device for a refurbished one! Really don't know what to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSnyiWRRPes

Participant

Ya, the issue you described is different than the rainbow artifacts and the white dots that the rest of this thread discusses. It's also funny to not that Meta CS WAS responding to this thread right up until I included a video of the problem. Likely because they realized something along the lines of, "oh. This user actually has the problem that's not fixable. Guess we won't respond to this anymore".

Anyways. Here's a link to the video again. Just want to keep it fresh on the thread so if customer service ever comes back it's readily accessible.

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Soarbywire

Up and Coming

I’ve now upgraded to Nvidia RTX 4080 from a 2080 super and after testing with Half Life Alyx, artifacts are only occasional now compared to very frequent with the older video card.

This is with settings all at max, AV1 encoding, 100 MBS stream, and snapdragon up resolution at 120 HZ.

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vissegard

Inspiring

thats because synchronous spacewarp is not working as much anymore

Participant

Glad I found this thread, been experiencing the Artifacting/ white pixel shimmer/ and decoding fault ( stops decoding freezing image )

Before I continue, I work in the field of Technology I manufacture hardware for tech giants, cannot go further due to NDA. So I do speak with a very educated mind on the matter and am offering solutions to address core issue.

This issue has been present since the recent update, thought it was my computer hardware/ Router and spent many days troubleshooting my components. I have even tried multiple encoders, HEVC,H264, H264+, H265, and AV1 to all have the same issues.

Reading up on the posts in this thread, some are reporting that there was a change made to the performance of the Processor to save battery life. If this is true, that was a bad decision and misses the biggest issue that would address the battery life problem.

The real problem is the headset is set to always draw power from the onboard battery even with a external power source. This needs to be changed, External power needs to be recognized as primary power when connected and the onboard battery to be on standby. That way when the user needs to swap the external battery pack or disconnects the cable the headset can switch back to onboard battery. The only time the headset should charge, and this is for safety reasons to avoid a exploding lithium ion battery in their eyes, is when the headset is on standby or is shut down.

Until this can be done however, there needs to be a rollback on the current update that limits the processors performance.

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assettomio

Up and Coming

I would like to add to this that the same has been happening to me, and the one thing I noticed (because my big headphones are pushing against the quest and I can hear the vibration) is that the very second I turn on screen recording inside of the quest menu, the artifacting stops, immediately.. Now the only thing that I can think of (again since I can hear the vibration) is that the moment I turn on screen recording, the cooling fan kicks in, probably because it for some inexplicable reason is in power save mode when using virtual desktop, steam link, or oculus link (doesn't matter) and turning on screen recording is just enough to make it disable battery saving mode.

Now I will note that this does not happen to me when using wired link, and when using wired link the fan does not kick in either, but the fan starting up could be a symptom, not a cause

Jss4830

Participant

Thats a solid guess. I think it could somewhat be related to power saving mode, in a sense that the current overclock on the chip could be causing instability in low-load scenarios. I'm no expert in overclocking at all, but I'm pretty sure an unstable overclock can cause instability not only when the APU has a high load, but also at low load when very little power is being pushed to the chip. So, in other words, perhaps the Quest APU is borderline unstable at low load, but when you start recording, which increases load on the APU, you of course push more voltage to the APU which brings it to a more stable state. This is just conjecture of course though. I sure wish Meta would share some information on this, even if it is just to say that they are looking into it or close to inentifying the cause of the graphical artifacts...

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FUNtastic

Inspiring

I've already tested all power state modes for CPU and GPU using Quest Games Optimizer.
I've set every state from Powersave to Ultra High and tested with Prime Video. The artifacts occur regardless of the mode set.
Of course, this doesn't mean that it has nothing to do with the particular power state, but simply changing the mode does not bring any improvement.

Jss4830

Participant

Oh good idea. Thats interesting. I also recently tried using the native Bigscreen app to watch a movie in a dark theater, and I didnt notice a single artifact. I wonder why specifically Prime Video is affected so badly.

Participant

SO seems the recent v62 update did not address the low quality decode issue, still having the .jpg like artifacts and with the lack of response from meta I am about to return mine and get my money back. Seriously Meta we have been reporting this issue sine after v59, HOW HARD IS IT TO REVERT THE CHANGE TO THE HOW DECODING IS HANDLED?

Participant

Having very noticeable poor decoding wireless on the Meta Quest 3, best way to describe is that of what you would see in a poorly compressed JPG image.

This issue has been spoken of since v60 came out, we are now at v62 and the issue is still present making it a headache to play PCVR games literally. This issue is present in Steam Link and Virtual Desktop.

Again V59 this issue was not present, this needs to be fixed.

Participant

I finally found out how to write a support ticket, hopefully it will bring us a fix for wireless PCVR.

Participant

I just want to re-emphasize that this is not just an issue with PCVR. This is an issue with native Quest apps as well. I don't want the scope of the issue to be downplayed. Users that use the Quest without a separate PC also experience this issue extensively.

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zzrailzz

Participant

I would also like to add that this issue has been going on way longer than the 60 update. I wish people would quit saying it is from a newer update. I have had this problem since the 53 update over a year ago and stating it is a newer issue is kinda misleading. I understand for some people it might have just started with the 60 update but this problem is a long standing one. Google it and see. It gets better with some updates and worse with others but always still there. For those of you that have just started seeing these artifacts please dont take offense to this post. I just want to make clear just how long this has been going on without a fix. As far as the charging problem I have not experenced this issue just the artifacts and sometimes one of my lenses (Usually the left one but not always) will turn completly pink on me and I have to exit my game and steam Vr for it to go away.

Participant

True. I've read that extensively elsewhere. I've also seen tons of Reddit threads where users are just like, "oh yeah. That's a thing. It's a software issue they'll fix eventually." Everyone is unbelievably complacent about this issue. It's enough that everyone should be doing chargebacks. But for some reason everyone is totally complacent instead.