Getting Fully Immersed With Pimax's 8K VR Headset (Hands On)

[olli.honkasalo]

Two 4k panels does not equal 8k, 4k= 4X4k, I expected better from toms hardware.

They never claimed it did. Every time in the article "8k" is mentioned it's part of the product name. They even went and mentioned it being two 4K panels couple of times. What else do you want?

 

[bit_user]

@BIT_USER, Pimax 4K also had 2560x1440 upscaled to 3840x2160. So yes, they did literally double it with the doubling of FoV.

You're saying it was single 2560x1440 and this is 2x 2560x1440? That's good, but unless FoV increased only on one axis, then rendered pixel count should be more than doubled. Exactly how much depends on the relative aspect ratios. In the simplest case, if you double both the horizontal and vertical FoV, then you need to double both X and Y image resolution to maintain the same amount of spatial resolution.

With the 8k HMD using 2x 2560x1440 outputs, it should still suffer from a slight drop in spatial resolution relative to Vive, due to both the scaling artifacts and the demands of a FoV that's larger in presumably two dimensions by more than the resolution difference can cover.

I'd trade a bit more screen door and some FoV for a 4k that's rendered at native res.

 

[rob0131]

Two 4k panels does not equal 8k, 4k= 4X4k, I expected better from toms hardware.

They never claimed it did. Every time in the article "8k" is mentioned it's part of the product name. They even went and mentioned it being two 4K panels couple of times. What else do you want?

Ok I stand corrected, but they still could have said that it's not technically 8k even if you deciding to include the scaler resolution thing it still doesn't equal 4k, but you are correct the flak should be towards pimax.

 

[willgart]

the low-latency screen appear to be more a marketing point, they certainly just uses the most recent LCD panels. like going from a 10ms panel to a 9ms one... its a low latency compared to the previous version... but nothing more.
CLPL appear to be customized low persistence liquid... which mean... nothing at all. just a marketing buz word. its like saying PS is using the new PSLCD technology! just PS in front of the LCD in the name but nothing really new.

 

[dark_lord69]

I was expecting them to say and it's all driven by two Titan XP's.
Then I read this...

"The PC drives two 2560x1440 outputs, and the scaler brings the perceived resolution up to 4K per eye."
Meh...
This is actually a good idea because not too many people are willing to spend the price it would take do drive that system at it's full resolution.

 

[dstarr3]

I was expecting them to say and it's all driven by two Titan XP's.
Then I read this...

"The PC drives two 2560x1440 outputs, and the scaler brings the perceived resolution up to 4K per eye."
Meh...
This is actually a good idea because not too many people are willing to spend the price it would take do drive that system at it's full resolution.

It cuts down the hardware requirements, but also even just considering the 1440p outputs, it's still the highest-res HMD being made.

 

[Heliosurge]

Like I said you need to experience the headset to appreciate it. There are many ways to upscale images & look great. Now is upscaling going to create a bang on accurate image? Technically no. However if you have time to screenshot & blow up tge image to find inaccuracies then your not playing the game as you have no time.

It is amazing how many are stuck on the 5k 8k naming schemes. In VR most are using combined panoramic wide resolution.
-StarBreeze's StarVR 5k (2x1440p)
-Cinelero(sp?) 5k (2x1440p)
Andvtge list goes on.

VR headsets are not conventional Displays. They are special purpose displays. The K value represents width.

Overall resolution is important for gpu requirement. The per eye is what you see.

Yes 1 4k panel with native resolution at 110° FoV will look great. However twice the panels at 200° FoV will look great as well.

Human FOV 220° at about 32m
Pimax 8k FOV 200° 16m
PiMax 4k FOV 110° 8m
Rift/Vive FOV 110° 2m

The point is 2x2160p is far superior to rift/vive res atva low fov. Higher ppd & more importantly much higher sppd.

 

[Heliosurge]

WhatvBit fails to understand is that they did double the input resolution on the 8k cimpared to tge 4k model.

This might help remove confusion.
4k model
-1 Panel 3840*2160 native (1920*2160/eye)
-Input Resolution 2560x1440 (1280*1440/eye)
-FoV per Eye : 55L+55R (Tot=110)
-Sub Pixel (RGB) 3

8k model
-2 Panels 7680*2160 native (3840*2160/eye)
-Input Resolution 5120*1440 (2560*1440/eye)
-FoV per Eye: 100L+100R
-Sub Pixel (RGB) 3

As you can clearly see the 8k is generall double the resolution of the 4k, but is slightly less than double FoV. Only constant between them is resolutuon height.

Now for reference lets add Vive/Rift basics
-2 Panels 2160*1200 native (1080*1200/eye)
-Input 2160*1200 (1080*1200/eye)
-FoV per Eye: 55L+55R (Tot=110)
-Sub Pixel (Pentile) 2

So we can see that Native wide resolutuon is just over 3x that of vive/rift. But lets go by unscaled the input resolution is over 2.5 of the vive/rift.

Because the PiMax headsets like psvr use RGB panels the sub pixel density is considerably higher than rift/vive which uses pentile. Remember psvr lower resolution than vive/rift (1920*1080 or 960*1080/eye) but has less noticeable sde.

 

[cryoburner]

It is amazing how many are stuck on the 5k 8k naming schemes. In VR most are using combined panoramic wide resolution.
-StarBreeze's StarVR 5k (2x1440p)
-Cinelero(sp?) 5k (2x1440p)
Andvtge list goes on.

Of course, it's worth noting that these are all headsets from lesser-known companies trying to make their product sound more technically advanced than it actually is. None of the well-established companies are referring to their headsets by horizontal resolution, and combining the horizontal resolution of two screens side-by-side does not match with any existing standard for 8K or 4K resolution that people might be familiar with. And that's even before we get into upscaling like the Pimax 8K apparently employs.

You don't see Acer marketing their ultra-wide 3840x1600 monitor as "4K", because it's not, and they know that would be considered deceptive advertising. Instead, they refer to it as UW-QHD+. Likewise, these lesser-known headset companies should be using less deceptive ways to refer to the resolution of their headsets. Rather than "5K", simply call it 2x1440p, or in place of "8K", use 2x4K. Or refer to the total pixel count in megapixels.

Aside from that, these might be fine headsets, and it's certainly good to see more competition coming into a field like this and pushing higher resolutions, but these companies might be taken more seriously if they weren't relying on inflated numbers to sell their headsets.

 

[debus.stephane]

I test it and it's really incredible, not perfect but a great improvement (image, FOV ansd i think sickness too) compared actuals headdset (Rift and Vive).

 

[vracan]

DSTARR3-- That price is for the kickstarter. Retail price will be higher!