The years of heavy, bulky, uncomfortable headsets will be behind us.
This is such an exciting one as it's the first headset of its kind.
This is the Bigscreen Beyond, the world's smallest PC VR headset that offers 5K resolution
on OLEDs, and that's not even the unique selling point.
It's custom-made to suit your face and eyes.
This means comfort and clarity are maximized out of the box.
So I've been helping them by testing and providing feedback on early units for like a year.
I wasn't able to talk about it as it was under NDA.
But we finally can, and I have all the info you need, plus early impressions.
Let's get into it.
You might recognize the name, Bigscreen.
Yes, these are US-based developers of the popular VR app that basically turns your VR
headset into a cinema for free.
They have been there since the beginning, I've met them a couple of times throughout
the years, and I've always found them very passionate about VR.
They felt there wasn't a headset they could use for a long time without it getting uncomfortable.
So they decided to build the VR headset they wanted for themselves.
In comes Beyond—a tethered PC VR headset that you can preorder starting today from
999 US dollars.
Is this the Valve Index upgrade we've been waiting for?
There are a couple of things you need to know to decide.
The idea is simple.
Solve one of the biggest problems of VR headsets right now.
Discomfort.
Instead of trying to design a one-size-fits-all headset like most other manufacturers, Beyond
is custom-fit to accommodate the enormous diversity of people's eyes and faces.
That comes with a lot of pros but also cons.
First, the headset doesn't need complex mechanisms like IPD adjustments and eye relief.
So significant weight can be saved, making the headset tiny and improving comfort.
How this works?
When you order one, you will receive an email to scan your face using Bigscreen's iPhone
application.
It'll measure the shape of your face and the position of your eyes.
You do need an iPhone XR or newer to do this.
But it's only needed once, so if you don't have an iPhone or iPad, chances are you could
borrow one from friends or family.
Your Beyond will then be custom-made based on this 3D scan.
The optics will be correctly aligned with your eyes for the best clarity.
This means the IPD is fixed so you don’t have to adjust it yourself.
It can still accommodate a minimum of 56mm and a maximum of 74mm.
You'll also get a face cushion that fits your face shape comfortably.
Comfort Here I have a very early prototype; this isn't
representative of the final consumer product.
But I can somewhat show you the scale with this.
Look at how tiny it is!
It comes with a soft strap; usually, this wouldn't be enough for a headset to be comfy.
But the front only weighs 127 grams, so this strap is enough for good weight distribution.
This is my face cushion prototype, custom-made for my face, and this is Chary's.
You can easily tell how different our faces are.
It attaches magnetically, and if I wear Chary's, it feels so weird and just wrong, but if I
wear mine, it's so comfortable because the headset rests at the correct angle, and there's
no light leakage at all.
The foam feels like memory foam and seems to conform to my face the longer I use it.
It's genuinely unlike anything else I've felt before.
And I would feel even better if you subscribed and liked this video :D <3
But that's how the clarity is maximized on the already impressive dual micro OLED displays
with a total resolution of 5120 times 2560 pixels and up to 90Hz refresh rate.
Bigscreen came by our house to show the device using our own PC, and from those early tests,
I found the visuals crispy, clear, and beautiful.
I didn't notice any screen door effect.
Combined with the comfort, I didn't want to stop playing.
I was so into the games that I forgot to check for any visual artifacts like mura, god rays,
or sweet spot, so I'll save that for the final review.
The headset uses SteamVR 6DoF tracking, so you need base stations, SteamVR-compatible
controllers, and a VR-ready PC, which are not included.
For the PC, Bigscreen recommends at least an NVIDIA RTX 2070 or AMD RX 5700 GPU with
DisplayPort 1.4 and DSC.
You also need a Quad Core Intel or AMD CPU and dual USB 3.0 ports for the 5-meter fiber
optic cable and the Link Box.
What I like about this is that SteamVR tracking is still the best available.
No inside-out tracking headset has outperformed this yet, so there are no compromises here.
And since it works with SteamVR, anything compatible with the base stations works with
this headset, like the Valve Index controllers or full-body tracking systems.
You have more choices.
If you have the budget for it, you can play with multiple Beyonds with only one pair of
base stations in the same room.
You do need separate controllers and you need a PC per headset, but we did it here and that
was so fun.
I imagine watching movies together like this would be incredible.
Plus you can eat and drink comfortably with this headset on!
There are no built-in speakers.
You can either use your own USB-C headset or get the optional audio strap.
But there are stereo microphones, and the devs told me they wanted it to be as good
as the Valve Index.
Which are really good VR microphones.
I tried it, and it does sound really good.
Listen to this.
[Little sound segment]
Cons There are a couple of things I don't like.
Beyond is expensive, especially if you don't have the things needed.
Whether that's worth it depends on your personal preference.
Is comfort the biggest factor for you, or do you find other things important?
Not everything is better; the field of view hasn't improved much over other headsets because
of the small form factor.
The custom pancake lenses offer a 93 degrees horizontal field of view and 90 degrees vertical.
I haven't measured this myself, but I'll do so later.
And since everything is tailored to you, a con is that you cannot share your headset
with anyone else.
You can't ever show off this headset or have a family member enjoy it, which is a bit of
a shame.
If you wear glasses, you cannot fit them in the headset either.
Instead, you must get custom prescription lenses that magnetically fit into Beyond.
These are things that add to the price even more.
If comfort and clarity are more important than all else to you, this might be the headset
worth getting.
But I'm not sure yet if it can beat the quality-price ratio of the Valve Index.
I think Beyond is a headset that won’t get outdated fast tho because it’s small and
the specs are ahead of other headsets.
I’ll need to do more testing but for now, I’m impressed.
It does what it promises, and unless something is different with the final unit, I think
Beyond could become my main PC VR headset.
The thing is that if you’ve played a lot of PC VR games already, you might not have
a lot of use for it.
But perhaps that’s changing with more and more tethered headsets coming out like PSVR2.
If you’re new to VR, though, I’m a bit jealous you can play games like Half Life
Alyx for the first time with specs like these.
So this one I have right here doesn't actually work.
It's here so I can film it.
I'll provide more impressions and a definitive answer when my WORKING preview unit comes
in.
If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below and subscribe to stay up
to date.
I'll take your questions into account for the following video.
Preorder availability It is available for preorder from today, February
13, and you can cancel it and request a full refund at any time until your device ships.
If you're interested already, you can use my personal link below.
It doesn't cost you more; it just gives us a small referral fee, which supports the channel.
If you use it, thank you.
Shipping is in waves; the first wave begins in the US in Quarter 3 this year, and the
next waves will start later.
Let me know what you think about Beyond so far, and thanks for watching.
Special thanks to our Champions, but I love you all en ik zie je in VR.