Feature request: Passthrough Camera Access + passthrough over Quest Link (PC-tethered MR)
I build high-fidelity mixed-reality installations where a Quest 3 is tethered to a workstation over Quest Link and all rendering happens on the PC (Unity HDRP, ray-traced). Tethering lets the visuals far exceed what the standalone SoC can do — which is the whole point for gallery/production work.
The blocker is that every MR capability is standalone-only, so a PC-tethered app is effectively blind to the room:
- Passthrough Camera Access API (Android Camera2) is on-device only — "the Android Camera API is not supported over Link." So no real-world light estimation, color sampling, or CV when tethered.
- Passthrough compositing requires a transparent, SDR background, documented as supported only for URP and Built-In — not HDRP (HDR breaks compositing). And raw passthrough isn't exposed to PC apps over Link in the first place.
Net result: a PC-rendered app cannot see the room or composite over passthrough. High-fidelity tethered MR is impossible — you're forced to choose between fidelity (PCVR, fully opaque VR) and mixed reality (standalone, limited GPU).
What I'm asking for:
- Expose the passthrough camera feed over Link / PCVR — even a low-res, low-FPS stream would unlock light estimation and CV for tethered apps.
- Support passthrough compositing over Link, and clarify/enable a supported path for HDRP transparent-background compositing (or document that HDR-over-passthrough is a hard limit).
Why it matters: professional MR production, virtual production, high-fidelity art/museum installations, and research all render on capable workstations but are locked out of MR by the standalone-only restriction. Tethered MR would be a distinct, valuable tier.
Is any of this on the roadmap? Are there sanctioned workarounds today (short of a second standalone app, which Link suspends)?