We all want more competition in the VR industry, right?
More competition is more choice for us consumers, and competition could also push companies
to improve and bring better products or maybe something entirely unique even.
So when this company reached out to me for a review on their VR headset, I thought, ok,
why not - let’s check it out.
You never know whether it might become a good option, and this headset really does have
some things that caught my eyes, like it’s 4K display.
This is a resolution you don’t often see yet in VR headsets unless you are ready to
put in the big bucks.
This one is around 500 bucks, not too shabby for a 4K display.
So is it a worthy alternative?
Let’s find out in this video.
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Cas here, and this is your channel for VR tips and tricks.
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This is the DPVR E3 4K Gaming Combo.
It’s another 6-degrees-of-freedom headset, which means it’s another one that lets you
move naturally in a VR game, just like with the Oculus Quest and most other PC VR headsets.
Except, this one has external tracking, and it uses a tracking solution that you may have
seen before.
The NOLO tracking system.
This is a system that you can buy separately to, for example, transform 3-degrees-of-freedom
headsets, like the Oculus Go or Samsung GearVR, into a 6DoF headset.
It’s a cute design with the little ball on top of the headset, it makes it also look
effective as it’s round with sensors all around it.
So it would seem that it may track in a larger area than sensors that just face the front.
But more on the tracking later.
I wanted to show you it’s design first as it’s pretty interesting.
It has a more minimalistic design than other headsets, which is so different from the headsets
we see from the major VR brands.
It’s weight, without it’s cables but with the tracker is 385 grams while a headset like
the Rift S weighs about 470 so it’s a 100 gram difference.
While it may not seem a lot, it does make a difference when the headset’s on your
face.
But that does take us to something that I don’t like about the headset.
The strap is very rigid; there is not a lot of room for adjustment.
There are springs at the sides, but you can’t move the strap up or down to fit your head
shape.
There is an adjustable top strap that uses Velcro to prevent the headset from sliding
down.
But when you wear this headset, you can see, the strap is higher than the headset.
Since you can’t adjust the spring tension, there is significant pressur e on the forehead
that isn’t comfortable to me.
If your head is small, you do get this back cushion to tape at the back, which I don’t
need.
I guess I have a big head O.o But let’s talk about what’s inside this
thing, the part that caught my eye - the display!
The panel is a single fast-LCD with a refresh rate of 75Hz.
Low refresh rate for PC VR, but it does have a resolution of 3840 x 2160 in total.
So that is almost 4K.
That amount of pixels isn’t something we see a lot in consumer headsets yet, except
maybe in Pimax headsets or the upcoming HP G2, but both are more expensive.
And yes, this is a clear display with good color contrast, maybe we needed a little bit
deeper blacks but the screen door effect is almost not noticeable.
But there is one thing that’s bothering me and that is the low refresh rate in combination
with the fact that you can’t move the lenses to match the distance of your eyes, as it
doesn’t have a manual IPD adjustment.
It makes the screen uncomfortable, especially when you just put on the headset.
When I move my head fast, I can notice some motion blur, almost like the display’s persistence
is higher than other headsets.
Or maybe that’s the lower refresh rate causing it.
It is a little bit more noticeable though in this headset than on the Oculus Quest for
example that has a pretty similar refresh rate of 72Hz.
But my eyes do seem to get accustomed after like 15 minutes or so.
But let’s talk about tracking.
So the tracking works like this.
You get this base station that you plug into the computer using a micro-USB cable.
In the box, you get this 3-in-1 cable by the way that you can use charge the base station
and the two controllers at the same time, which is a cable you don’t often see in
a VR box from other brands so that’s.. fun.
The cable is very short, though, but I guess that’s easily solved if you just got a longer
USB cable; still, it would have been nice to get it included.
The base station uses a combination of a gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer to track the
little ball that’s mounted on the headset.
Unfortunately, the tracking is only front-facing.
The base station can view the headset around a 100 degrees field of view, so you lose tracking
when you try to turn around.
I was really hoping to have a better tracking field of view since the round form factors
of the trackers seemed like an efficient method for that.
The front-facing tracking of the headset works fine as long as you don’t turn around.
Sometimes I can see the software trying to compensate for the loss of tracking or something
as I can see the screen move with me.
Almost like the 6DoF tracking becomes 3DoF on occasion.
But most of the time, I can play games with good enough tracking as long as it has artificial
turning options.
The controller tracking could be better tho.
It seems it gets decalibrated easily.
However, DPVR does have software in place to fix that.
Calibration is done by pressing the home button twice while pointing the controller to the
base station like this.
That usually fixes the tracking and the position of the controller in-game and that allows
me to play fast-paced games like Beat Saber well enough.
You may have noticed already, but DPVR works well with SteamVR games.
The headset comes with a DPVR Assistant software that is well integrated with SteamVR.
This is a straightforward and user-friendly setup where you just connect everything to
your PC with the cables provided and then you just have to launch SteamVR, and it works
without hassle.
The controllers will be seen as HTC Vive Wands, so it should work with every game that works
with the Vive Controllers.
Ok, so usually, when I test a headset, I write my impressions and script kind of simultaneously,
and because, during testing, it just quickly became apparent to me that I just cannot recommend
the headset at this current price point.
Not because this headset doesn’t work, because it does, and yes, some of the specs are still
interesting to at least check out.
But unfortunately, it compromises in too many areas that I do find essential.
Like, the strap’s comfort, the tracking, and the display’s persistence or that refresh
rate.
I don’t think it’s a bad headset, though.
I just think there are headsets out there at the same price that offer better value.
But most importantly, to me, a more comfortable experience, but those headsets may have a
more average resolution.
For me, the overall comfort is more important than having the highest resolution or the
widest field of view, as I also want to have a comfortable experience for at least two
hours.
So I can’t have that if it compromises in other things.
So I know I skipped some things in this review, like lenses, audio, battery life, other things
I usually cover in my VR headset reviews.
But since I came to this conclusion, I didn’t want to make this video longer than necessary.
But if you do want to know more about the headset, feel free to ask me below, and if
I can, I’ll check it for you.
If you don’t have questions about the headset, then do let me know if you agree with me on
this conclusion.
Do you also want a fuller package but maybe more average specs, or do you find something
like a high resolution more important than anything else?
I’d love to know your thoughts on this too!
Even if you disagree.
Lastly, I just wanted to say that I am happy that a company like DPVR exists and that they
are creative as we just need more competition, so I really do hope they keep it up and that
we see more from them.
And that’s the end of this video!
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