The future has arrived. For no longer is VR just a thing you can have, but now China also
has its own, much cheaper version vying for your affections. But would you trust it and
is it worth it? These are the two questions I’ll be trying to answer in this video.
CAN YOU TRUST IT? If you’re looking to get into VR properly,
then the Oculus and Vive are probably the names that spring to mind. But even with these
well-known products, the technology is in its infancy and if you’re anything like
me you’re wary of taking the plunge, especially when it’s such an expensive plunge to make.
And you probably don’t like the idea of adding the uncertainty of a company and product
you’ve never heard of from the other side of the world to that list of worries, either.
Fortunately, the kind people over at Gearbest gave me a Pimax 4K headset to review, in exchange
for awareness about the product and a link to their site where they’re currently offering
a discount on it so you can get VR for about half the price of the Oculus. Obviously, I
was very interested in trying it out. I love cheaper versions of things! I rock a cheap
Asian mechanical keyboard because it was about 80% as good as the European version for about
50% of the price. And I’d say that the Pimax is the same sort of deal.
The good news is, it IS a thing! You know, like the sort of thing you buy and then receive
through the post. I discovered this when it turned up on my doorstep about 2 weeks after
it was sent. Firstly, I had to assemble the thing. It does come with a simple set of instructions
but honestly, I was happy to figure it out myself. That’s part of the fun right? It’s
all rather fool-proof; no confusing cables or excess connections! Just the headset, some
straps and some optional ear-speakers, which I recommend since it cuts down on the number
of cables you need to wear to experience this. The audio quality with these is exceptionally
good with decent yet not overpowering levels of bass and they possess a neutral yet mellow
tone of I don’t know what I’m talking about. But I can assure you that you’ll
have no complains about the audio quality and the cups are comfortable to wear for extended
periods of time. Their volume controls are on the top of the device and will be more
than loud enough for what you need. Given the choice between these and the hassle of
my normal headphones on top of this device, it’s a no-brainer to use these for hassle-free
audio. The Pimax requires 2 connections to your PC. The first is an HDMI connection to
the graphics card and the second is a common USB connection. The cable is about 8 feet
long so you won’t be able to freely walk across your room with it on, but it should
easily reach you in a seated position even if your PC is tucked far away under the desk
or whatever. If you want a longer cable then you’ll have to buy extensions for both the
USB and HDMI connections. All in all, the Pimax headset will give anybody
who wears it confidence in its design. I noticed a faint mid-pitched electrical humming sound
when it was turned on, though it is very quiet and the ear cups mask it entirely. The device
itself feels solid, well-built and comfortable, with padding around the eyes and a lovely
squidgy bit that rests on the back of your head. I’m a bit upset there isn’t more
padding for the bridge of your nose. In use it’s not painful because the device is pretty
light. Their site likens it to the weight of ‘3 eggs’. For me it didn’t feel a
lot heavier than your average pair of headphones since its load is spread across your entire
head. It’s just a shame that the nose arch is made of unpadded plastic. Had this been
padded then I would have nothing bad to say about the Pimax’s design. Put it on and
it’s pitch black and fits snugly. I certainly don’t feel that they’ve cut corners with
the product itself. The same can’t be said for the software,
which I think was my biggest concern with this product all along. The software it uses
is Piplay, a terribly chosen name since Googling it reveals that it’s also the name of a
Raspberry Pi Operating System. You need to install the correct Piplay software before
the device will work. The Pimax doesn’t come with a CD for drivers so you have to
rely on their site, which is all written in adorably broken English! It wasn’t the easiest
to navigate- looked more like a forum and I had to click a few times before I found
the download, but eventually I did. Installation took a few minutes but was simple enough.
I’ll cover Piplay more later on. Being a bit of a VR noob I didn’t know what
the next step was, so I tried booting Steam VR and to my surprise it detected the Pimax
immediately! At this moment I could immediately forgive the rough edges and broken English.
I was being treated the same as an Oculus or Vive user… and for a fraction of the
price! I had cheated the system! China has done it again by offering something that works,
and at a lower price than we can seemingly manage.
So this answers the first of my two questions. This product is a thing, it exists and it
works. From its lack of polish and questionable English you might not think it will, but it
does. Which moves us onto the second, and far more difficult question:
IS IT WORTH IT? This to me is far harder to answer as I think
that everybody will have different opinions about how much they want VR and what they
want from it. As far as a VR headset goes, it does the job. You put it on, you enter
a VR world and can do so for a fraction of the cost that other devices are charging.
Compared with the Oculus’s £550 and the Vive’s £750, the Pimax costs $375, or $359
if you use the coupon provided in this video’s description. And no: it doesn’t give me
commission or anything like that. You cynical people. If you’re in England then this cuts
the price to under £300. Problem is, I don’t have an Oculus or Vive and I guess the question
most people will want to know is how they compare. All I can do is to say what the Pimax
is like, rather than what it’s like against the competition.
I’ll start with the visual quality. The Pimax has a much higher resolution display
than either the Oculus or Vive do. This is full 4K, though it’s split across 2 eyes
which makes it pretty much 2000x2000 pixels per eyepiece. But it’s complicated. For
a start, bandwidth limitations mean that it can’t support the full 4K resolution so
instead quickly interpolates lower ones between your eyes. The one time I noticed this effect
was when trying to read small text at a distance. It’s a very strange effect that I’ve only
encountered in VR, but it’s like it skips bits of the words depending on how far you
are from it. It feels like you have hundreds of tiny blind spots in your eyes! It’s mean
to criticise this headset for this though, since you only really notice it with text
and at distances where it would be impossible to read with other VR headsets any way. What’s
more disappointing is that there’s very little software that is designed run at higher
resolutions. But even if you end up running things at the same resolution as the other
VR headsets around, a 4K display has another advantage.
Admittedly, I haven’t tried an Oculus for 6 months but I remember my first impression
being that I was staring at a panel of LED lights rather than pixels, with noticeable
black lines between each of them. This is known as the ‘screen door effect’. Just
google it and you’ll find plenty of examples. But even with the Oculus, this was only something
I noticed for a number of seconds before my mind ignored them and I felt as though I was
in a 3D world. The Pimax’s resolution is far higher than this and I feel is to the
point where it doesn’t distract you at all. If you find a particularly bright scene and
look for them then you can make out faint wavy lines of pixels. Sort of like that of
a heated car windshield, but it’s not going to be something that annoys anybody. The resolution
is one of the Pimax’s major selling points. Unfortunately, most demos I tried don’t
seem designed for 4K and instead display at the lower and blurrier resolutions that the
Oculus and Vive run at. But the Pimax has a very clever trick. For in its software you
can enable a function that at first I thought would lower the resolution, but it instead
forces this higher 2560x1440 resolution which makes anything viewable on the SteamVR store
look much more crisp and clear. This is MASSIVE for the Pimax. It means you can see everything
with more visual clarity than with any other VR headset right now… provided your PC can
handle this higher resolution smoothly. But even if you choose lower resolutions,
I still think that Pimax’s 4K display helps to eliminate the screendoor effect. I noticed
a degree of chromatic aberration with the display that ranged from fine to SO BLURRY
YOU CAN’T SEE WHAT’S GOING ON, depending on where your eyes were relative to the middle
of the display. After putting the device on I found that I had to finely adjust how it
sat on my nose for the best results. But once I had then I was good to go.
Now onto the weaknesses. On paper, the once major downside of the Pimax is that it’s
only 60 hz, instead of 90, which is the standard with Oculus and Vive. This means that turning
your head doesn’t feel as responsive with the Pimax and it may lead to increased nausea.
Occasionally I’d stand still in a place for a couple of minutes, shaking my head about
to try and catch it out but it kept up nicely. Of course I’d prefer 90 but 60 Hz isn’t
the vomit-filled deathtrap you might think it is and certainly is a long way from feeling
juddery. Though there was one demo that made me feel
terrible: the Deus Ex VR demo. Now, I don’t get travel-sick and haven’t vomited from
anything other than illness (and alcohol) since I was a child. And even then it was
because I was trapped on a roundabout while all the bigger children spun it and laughed
at me. But within just 5 minutes of this demo… my God. I was sweating, breathing heavily,
felt bloated and the idea of hunching over a toilet felt very appealing. I had to leave
the house for a good half hour before I felt better. I don’t think that it’s coincidence
that this was the one demo I played where you could turn around using a controller rather
than just your head and I’m absolutely sure it’s this that caused it. It concerned me
about the implications that this could have with VR, though I’d like to stress that
the demos where you look around using your head didn’t cause this to happen, despite
being at just 60 hz. This could be down to the ‘brain warp’
technology it uses where it flashes images one eye at a time, tricking you into thinking
it’s closer to 120 Hz. There’s no way of knowing it’s showing images one at a
time in practice and I can’t possibly compare it to a 120 Hz screen because VR feels so
different to use. But like I said, 60 Hz isn’t the disappointment you might think it is when
it comes to VR. But it’s not SUPER-INSTANT, either.
Something more noticeable for me was the ghosting, which I could see in almost every scene when
I looked for it. This could apparently be the trade-off with the Brain-warp effect mentioned
earlier. This ghosting appears similar to the effect you get on a cheap TV screen, where
if you move quickly you can see one or even two after-images of what was there before.
It doesn’t look blurry, but rather like a video rendered on Vegas with resampling
enabled. It doesn’t get in the way of the immersion, and I can’t say I can remember
what the Oculus and Vive were like in comparison, but I suspect that this is the one area that
the more expensive headsets will be a lot better. If you’re sensitive to ghosting,
or already have a Vive or Oculus, then this would be the one issue I can think of that
would convince you to avoid the Pimax. Another thing you might notice are the dozen
or so vertical strips going down the displays. These are only really obvious when looking
into the eyepieces when they’re not on your FACE. I’m assuming that these are de-misting
strips to reduce how much it fogs up in use. Once you’re wearing the displays your vision
doesn’t focus on them and they fade out of sight and mind, but there were a few situations
where they seemed to appear for a while before disappearing again. Maybe this is them kicking
in and out of action. I don’t know. I wouldn’t say you can ‘see’ the lines but when moving
your head about against a white background, at its worst it can look like uneven back-lighting.
Field of View is the same as the Oculus and Vive at 110 degrees. Your eyes are closer
to 180 though so you will be aware that you’re viewing the world through circular goggles.
You see enough for it to not feel claustrophobic and, like most issues I had with the Pimax’s
image quality, unless you’re looking for it your brain quickly hides it and you’ll
forget about its limitations. It’s hard for me to balance how bad these
issues sound with how little they bothered me in practice. Like, they weren’t things
that immediately stuck out to me until I started looking for them, and the friends that I’ve
forced to test this product didn’t mention them. I wouldn’t accept these things from
a new monitor, where my standards are a lot higher. But when it came to VR, the novelty
and excitement of exploring a virtual world in 3D far outweighs these issues. But remember
I don’t have fresh memories of the other headsets to compare it to. And I suspect that
these issues are the price you pay from saving on a cheaper device. And I have no doubt that
in a few years I’ll frown on these issues a lot more once the platform has matured.
But right now these things aren’t deal-breakers for me.
And the second part of ‘is it worth it?’ comes down to software and support for VR
in early 2017, which I know isn’t directly to do with this product but it’s important
to cover. What you get with Pimax is the headset. It
has built-in gyroscopes that track your head motions. And these are great, by the way.
So much so that I almost didn’t remember to include them in this video because it does
such a good job of tracking that you take it for granted.
What you DON’T get are base stations that track your body’s movement. These let you
walk about in an area of your room, ducking below things and peering over others. So while
you can look around 360 degrees and there’s a clever bit of movement manipulation depending
on how much you tilt the device, you don’t get to properly explore a 3D world just by
walking about an open bit of your room. Being able to use your hands as controllers
to pick up and to interact with stuff has become one of the biggest selling features
of VR! And unfortunately, Pimax doesn’t come with these controllers either, which
seriously reduces the number of titles available to experience right now on the Steam VR store.
You can boot them up but won’t get past the main menu. It feels sort of like trying
to use a PC without a mouse. This isn’t to say that Pimax won’t ever
have base stations or controllers of its own. In fact, preview pictures of the upcoming
8K version of the device appear to feature both.
I discovered I could use a mouse and keyboard to navigate Nvidia’s Funhouse, but still
had to look in the direction I wanted to move using my head, which took some getting used
to. And by lucky chance I had a Playstation 2 controller plugged in and it began vibrating
at one point, which was when I realised that I could fully control some games using this,
complete with dual shock! Having to discover these things isn’t a plus point for the
Pimax. But I can’t deny that it’s fun to mess about with. Getting devices to work
with the Pimax seems to be less a case of ‘will it work’ and more of ‘how much
will it work’. One game that really deserves mention is ‘Dimensional’
and can be found on the SteamVR store. It was the one demo I tried that seemed designed
for a PS2 controller. Whereas Funhouse’s aiming seemed to involve you moving your hands
about -which made some of the stages pretty much impossible without VR controllers, Dimensional
worked with head movements. I quickly learned to teleport about the world, navigating areas
by looking around. This is about as close to a full VR game that I’ve got working
with the Pimax and I felt no nausea with it at all. Although simple, it felt very natural
to play in VR and was proof that it could indeed work with a classic controller… if
developers bothered to develop for it. I would have had a lot of fun in many more titles
if they let me control with my head rather than hand controllers that I don’t have.
Yes, I accept that they’re the way VR is meant to be played! But please don’t shut
out everybody else completely. If you enjoy discovery and want to be one
of the first to explore VR then you might find just tinkering with the Pimax an enjoyable
experience. There are some encouraging Youtube videos where people seem to have got it working
with all sorts of devices, many of which mimic how the Oculus and Vive work.
For games I found myself spending most of my time with SteamVR. I feel Valve really
should work on Half Life 3 but have to admit that what they’re doing to get VR off the
ground is much appreciated by me right now. I would go as far as to say that they’ve
single-handedly moved VR out of the ‘regrettable purchases’ category and into something with
enough distractions to keep you occupied until the big VR titles eventually come out.
The software that lets Pimax work with everything else is called PiPlay. You don’t need to
explore this if you don’t want to, though do occasionally have to switch between the
2 3D modes depending on what you want it to be compatible with, and changing it causes
the device to throw a hissy fit for about 30 seconds, bombarding your PC with messages
about how it isn’t working before suddenly working and going quiet again.
Piplay’s interface looks very primitive and has an unprofessional ‘feel’ to it
that I first found worrying but have now decided it’s rather charming. It also has its own
library of ‘experiences’, which was completely empty for a couple of hours after installation,
before suddenly filling with more than you can be bothered to look at. They’re all
using that adorable broken English I mentioned earlier. When it described a large pendulum
as very stimulate I knew that it would be a bit of Software that I’d treasure for
a long time to come. Especially when you discover the Kodi Player.
Get this: it can run any videos you have on your computer. It’s as though you have a
massive screen right in front of your FACE. I’m definitely going to use this to watch
stuff in bed. And maybe some movies too! This is undisputedly a win for the Pimax’s higher
resolution screen and if you’re the kind of person who enjoys watching stuff in bed-
let’s face it, who isn’t- but you get a sore neck trying to see the screen then
this is the perfect device for you. Stuff in the very corners of the image can be hard
to see, but there is the option to scale the image so that more of it is close to the middle,
but it’s at the expense of resolution. There are a number of 360 degree pictures
and videos you can view from the PiPlay software. And although the Pimax site makes it very
clear that it NOT ALLOW PORN, a lot of these 360 degree ‘experiences’ seem to rely
on you being interested in watching smiley looking ladies acting a bit tired in their
bedrooms. Though really, I find 360 degree views a bit limited. I much prefer the 3D
content. And what is on the store is impressive, though sadly it’s hard to capture for this
video and there’s not a lot of proper 3D videos on the Piplay right now.
You can probably get it to work with Youtube in 3D as well but it’s not something I’ve
tried yet. Oh and be sure to disable the PiPlay software
if you don’t have the Pimax plugged in or the cheeky rascal of a program will pester
you every couple of seconds informing you of it.
SO, the conclusion. There are many things about this that I could point at and say that
I’d like it to be better. But right now the Pimax does deliver on its ultimate promise
of putting you into a VR world and at a very competitive price. Honestly, if you want a
perfect VR experience then I’d suggest waiting a year or so to give both the headsets and
the software time to mature. But if you have an itch for VR that you need to scratch but
also happen to be poor then the Pimax is a working budget alternative that will get you
access to the bulk of the experiences. Whether you can play them is another question, but
investing in a controller will improve your chances.
When it comes to image quality, Pimax does some things excellently and the rest acceptably.
It surprised me by being so good for viewing movies. It’s a feature I really think I’m
going to use it for more than I expected. When it comes to games, I can definitely think
of things they could work on to improve it but I don’t think there’s any one issue
that’s going to make using it intolerable. If you’re looking to experience VR then
I certainly think you can quench your thirst with this headset, provided you also have
compatible controllers and motion trackers as I feel these are as much a part of the
VR experience as the headset itself. I don’t believe that this product is as
well-rounded as the more expensive Oculus or Vive gear will be and if they were the
same price then, sorry Pimax, I’d rather go for the others. But they’re not the same
price! You have to be the judge of what VR is worth to you. I’d say that the Pimax,
in true Asian style, delivers 80% of the performance for 50% of the cost.
Honestly though, what the Pimax desperately needs are compatible base stations and controllers,
or at least concrete information somewhere saying when to expect them or what it can
work with already. This would allow me to confidently recommend it as an all-in-one,
working budget VR system, rather than just a working headset with questionable controller
support. This whole thing is infuriating for me too since it seems like the groundwork
is in place for something with real potential. All it’s waiting for are a couple of last
connecting pieces and if it waits too long then it will be up against the next generation
of VR devices. And if you can wait, there are some exciting
things around the corner. Earlier this year Pimax showcased an 8K prototype with a field
of view of 200 degrees! Although I’d like to add that it’s not proper 8K, but rather
a 4K screen for each eye. Though it still looks like it’ll be at 60 Hz.
In conclusion, I am very happy to have had a chance to test the Pimax and can definitely
vouch for it being something that exists and works. Thanks to Gearbest for providing the
headset and in trusting in me to make this video, check out their site in this video’s
description. Be sure to choose the ‘EU’ warehouse option since it’s situated in
England and should make delivery faster. And also don’t forget to use the code to get
you a discount on the Pimax. I for one am very pleased to have experienced this kind
of pi on my FACE.