Today, I am going to do an initial review of another new stand-alone VR headset - the
Skyworth V901.
The most impressive feature of the Skyworth is 8K hardware video decoding with a true
4K LED screen.
This is the only stand-alone VR headset that can natively play 8K monoscopic 360 videos
and 6K stereoscopic 3D 360 videos without even the help from "viewport-adaptive" streaming
third-party services like Visbit or Pixvana.
Other cool features including wireless charging - great for long hours movie binge watching
or in a tradeshow.
Skyworth also can do hardware encryption of your content.
Mmmm...maybe you have some VR videos that you don't want your Kids or your wife to find
out?
Let's dive right in the review.
Hey, what's up everybody, it's your boy Hugh here from CreatorUp - the #1 YouTube channel
dedicated to 360 Virtual Reality Filmmaking for everyone.
We are back to an episode that I talk about new VR headsets that help you showcase your
content in the best possible way.
After Pico G2 4K review, lots of my viewers are still not so happy about the Pico, as
it relies on Visbit to get you that high-quality playback.
And let's be honest, who can capture 11K or even 12K video beside this guy.
Well, 8K monoscopic or 6K stereoscopic 3D is very common.
Any professional cameras - Insta360 Pro, Z Cam, Kandao Obsidian, or even the cheapo Pilot
Era, review right here ... can easily capture that.
But no headset can natively play those high resolutions - which require you to downsampling.
So now you understand why having the ability to play any 8K video with simple sideloading
is so essential.
Skyworth sends me this rental test unit - the V901 - so I can test it out for you.
Let's pull up the spec comparison among Skyworth, Pico G2 4K, and Oculus Go.
I skip Oculus Quest here because the Quest is a 6DoF gaming headset - not really designed
for comfortable video viewing experience.
First thing let's pay attention to the FOV.
The Skyworth is 105 degree, 4 degrees larger than Pico G4 4K and 5 degrees larger than
the Go, which is really significant, especially for 360 videos.
Second, is the 4K LED display.
It is the same size as the Pico G2 4K but larger than the Oculus Go, Oculus Quest and
the Vive Focus Plus.
If you saw my last video - the math portion - you understand that, in order to see 8K
video, you need minimum 4K display to have enough PPD, Pixel per degree.
Then the CPU and GPU - which is the most interesting things of Skyworth.
Not like Oculus Quest or Pico G2 4K, both use Snapdragon 835, Skyworth uses Samsung
Exynos 8895 - a 8-core CPU with 2.5Ghz.
It also has a GPU - the Mali-G71 MP18.
I won't say this is better than Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 - but this is the main reason why the
Skyworth can play 8K but Oculus Quest or Pico can not.
Let's talk about wearing.
The weight of Skyworth is around 320g, slightly heavier than the Pico G2 4K but lighter than
Oculus Go.
It feels light when I watch Averager in 3D with the headset.
But Pico G2 4K is def more comfortable to wear.
Sound is a huge thing in VR and it is a hassle to put a headphone on people when demo-ing.
So I am always looking for a headset that really cares about the ambisonic sound.
Pico G2 4K totally blow it with a stereo speaker sit under the headset.
Oculus Quest and Go are pretty good with the speaker hidden within the headstrapes.
But Skyworth goes above and beyond.
They patented a wide-frequence speaker design - as you see right here - hidden under the
face mask.
It has better ambisonic panoramic sound around you with better low frequency.
Just look at the size of the speakers.
Skyworth will be perfect for my latest VR release - the new Dance & Music series now
available for free on YouTube VR.
You can really hear the bass melting your face.
Skyworth has a 3500 milliamp battery, just like the Pico G2 4K and better than Oculus
Go, which is 2600 milliamp.
Skyworth has wireless charging feature - which is a break tho.
I feel like my Oculus Go always running out of juice in a tradeshow so I need to buy back
up when the other ones are charging.
With wireless charging, this solves lots of problems.
It is truly cableless now, even on low power.
You can't say that for Oculus Go or Quest.
Last weird feature is hardware encryption.
Besides hiding your questionable VR video collection - I don't see any real application
on this one for the consumers.
Apparently, it is pretty vital in the enterprise world.
Well, it is a great feature if you want to hide what you like to watch in VR from your
girlfriend.
Hey, You don't hear that from your Boi Hugh - I don't want your girlfriend to track me
down and kill me.
Skyworth uses Viveport.
So for the VR gamers out there, you can play whatever Vive Focus can play.
Skyworth V901 is not only a 3DoF headset.
It can be upgraded with NOLO VR bundle - officially designed for the V901 to play mobile VR game
like the ones you familiar on Vive Focus Plus thought Viveport.
But they don't stop there, with NOLO 6 degree of freedom handle controllers, camera attachment
and base station, Skyworth V901 can connect to your PC wirelessly to play SteamVR game
like beat saber, Skyrim VR, and other big Steam VR titles.
So potentially, this can be the only headset you need for ALL your VR entertainment - both
6DoF gaming and high quality 3DoF video viewing.
This is on their Chinese press release, and I still have not received the NOLO VR bundle
yet.
When I do, I will create another in-depth review for VR gamers - especially for those
who love SteamVR and can not decide between Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S or can not
afford the Valve Index.
For the price, Skyworth is not cheap, and it is not targeted to the consumer just yet.
It will be launched in the US market very soon - so it is a bit easier to get compared
to Pico G2 4K.
They send me the testing unit but did not tell me the price.
My estimated price is around $400, a little bit higher than Pico as it is an 8K headset.
I will update you the price when I have more info, so check the description and comment.
Okay, something I found out during my long hour testing is that the Skyworth gets really
hot here.
It is hotter than Pico G2 4K and Oculus Go.
It does not affect the headset performance, but just something you need to watch out for.
Video Format that Skyworth Support
There are 2 easy ways to move VR video into Skyworth.
The easiest one is just USB cable and sideload it.
The internal storage is 60G.
It also supports up to 256G micro SD card just like Pico so that you can load up lots
of your video.
Okay, so what video Skyworth can play natively.
I did lots of testing with my Insta360 Titan render out different file formats and here
is what I found: Max resolution for monoscopic 360 video is
in 8K in both H.264 and H.265.
And Max resolution for Stereoscopic 360 is 5.7K by 5.7K in 30fps.
In order to do that, you do need to compress it with H.265 or HEVC.
Resolution is nothing if you can not playback high bitrate.
So the recommended bitrate of Skyworth is 120Mbps with Maximum bitrate of 240Mbps.
Almost double the bitrate of Oculus Quest.
To really maximize your video quality, I will suggest using H.265 instead of H.264 on compression.
As you all know Premiere can not compress HEVC more than 5.7K.
So here is a quick tutorial on how to get 8K H.265 video for Skyworth.
The trick is again, using AfterCodec or FFmpeg.
If you use FPCX or other not Adobe Premiere editing software, and you are okay with terminal
commands - the best and free way is FFMPG.
Go check out this tutorial here
For 60fps, it is 4K by 4K stereo.
And 4K by 2K, you can go up to 120fps.
For VR180, I have not hit the limit yet.
The best VR180 camera I have is the K1 Pro - and its max resolution 6144 x 3072 from
WonderStitch - and Skyworth can play it no problem.
Just for reference, the max VR180 resolution for Oculus Quest is 5.7K.
So Skyworth can do a lot more if I have a better VR180 camera to test it.
Thank you for watching this initial review of Skyworth V901 - the world first stand-alone
8K headset.
I will do a more detailed review later when I have the remote wireless charging unit and
get a better camera to test its limit.
The Titan footage looks amazing on this headset.
And make me really appreciate the money I spent on upgrading my camera.
Now I can finally see the true quality.
If you like this video and want more video like this, don't forget to like, share, and
subscribe to CreatorUp.
Hit the notification bell to keep up-to-date so you don't miss out.
I am on Huawei film gig, and the client metioned about Skyworth and require to film 8K.
That is why I drill the rabbit hole and find out more info for you guys.
You don't want to be less informed than your client makes yourself look bad like your Boi
Hugh - almost lose his gig by being dumb.
Well, now you are getting smarter.
And I will see you next time - for a big in-depth tutorial, back on some Mistika magic and 3D
stereoscopic post-production.