Valve Steam Frame - VR gaming headset

1am7h30n3

1am7h30n3

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www.ign.com

Steam Frame Preview – Hands-On With Valve's State-of-the-Art VR Headset - IGN

Ultra-fast wireless tethering and a built-in Snapdragon ARM processor make the Steam Frame one of the most versatile and interesting VR gaming headsets thus far.
www.ign.com www.ign.com

Steam Frame VR Headset Specs, at a Glance​

  • Resolution: 2160x2160 per eye (pancake optics)
  • Field of View: 110 degrees
  • Refresh Rate: 72Hz to 120Hz (144Hz experiemental)
  • Weight: 435g total
  • Processor: 4nm Snapdragon ARM
  • Memory: 16GB Unified LPDDR5 RAM
  • Storage: 256GB / 1TB UFS storage options (microSD slot for expansion)
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, 2x2 Dual 5Ghz/6Ghz streaming for simultaneous VR and Wi-Fi
  • Wireless PC Tethering: Wi-Fi 6E (6Ghz) with USB 3.0 receiver
  • Tracking: 4x outward facing monochrome cameras (outward IR illuminator for dark environments), 2x interior cameras for eye tracking
  • Battery: Rechargeable 21.6 Wh Li-On Battery (mounted on back of headstrap)
What's everybody thinking about this? As someone that already owns a meta quest 3 and absolutely loves VR gaming, I'm sort of... Not sure? The resolution is somewhat similar, the FOV is somewhat similar, the refresh rate is somewhat similar. The processor is clearly higher spec and there's double the RAM, but it feels like OK so I will be able to play games directly on the steam hardware better than I can on the meta hardware, but still nowhere near comparable to PC VR, so it will likely remain just for small simpler games the same as it currently is with meta quest 3? Dedicated wifi dongle will make using it on the PC easier, but at the same time, Half Life Alyx already runs really, really well streaming from the PC via my existing WiFi 6 router.
 
Apparently the pass through is only monochrome on the steam frame, not full color like the quest 3. That's a bit of a drawback honestly. Pass through on quest 3 is actually really impressive.
 
- The new controller looks great, I definitely want to try that out.
- The box looks pretty cool, but reports seem to say that its going to cost a bit more than a console, e.g. $800. Going by local pricing vs a PS5 that could be around R17.5k or so, bit pricey.
- The frame also looks pretty good, but I think its going to be more than the box. They're saying its less than the original/launch, but that probably means $899, maaayybe $799.

They might try for a one and done corner the market strategy by pricing all three lower, will be interesting.
 
animal531 said:
- The new controller looks great, I definitely want to try that out.
- The box looks pretty cool, but reports seem to say that its going to cost a bit more than a console, e.g. $800. Going by local pricing vs a PS5 that could be around R17.5k or so, bit pricey.
- The frame also looks pretty good, but I think its going to be more than the box. They're saying its less than the original/launch, but that probably means $899, maaayybe $799.

They might try for a one and done corner the market strategy by pricing all three lower, will be interesting.
Click to expand...
If they aim for $899 or even $799 it might be a bit much, I mean quest 3 is $499?
 
1am7h30n3 said:
If they aim for $899 or even $799 it might be a bit much, I mean quest 3 is $499?
Click to expand...

It's a much better headset overall, but yeah, we'll have to see how much better and if that's worth the extra $200-300.
 
1am7h30n3 said:
www.ign.com

Steam Frame Preview – Hands-On With Valve's State-of-the-Art VR Headset - IGN

Ultra-fast wireless tethering and a built-in Snapdragon ARM processor make the Steam Frame one of the most versatile and interesting VR gaming headsets thus far.
www.ign.com www.ign.com

Steam Frame VR Headset Specs, at a Glance​

  • Resolution: 2160x2160 per eye (pancake optics)
  • Field of View: 110 degrees
  • Refresh Rate: 72Hz to 120Hz (144Hz experiemental)
  • Weight: 435g total
  • Processor: 4nm Snapdragon ARM
  • Memory: 16GB Unified LPDDR5 RAM
  • Storage: 256GB / 1TB UFS storage options (microSD slot for expansion)
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, 2x2 Dual 5Ghz/6Ghz streaming for simultaneous VR and Wi-Fi
  • Wireless PC Tethering: Wi-Fi 6E (6Ghz) with USB 3.0 receiver
  • Tracking: 4x outward facing monochrome cameras (outward IR illuminator for dark environments), 2x interior cameras for eye tracking
  • Battery: Rechargeable 21.6 Wh Li-On Battery (mounted on back of headstrap)
What's everybody thinking about this? As someone that already owns a meta quest 3 and absolutely loves VR gaming, I'm sort of... Not sure? The resolution is somewhat similar, the FOV is somewhat similar, the refresh rate is somewhat similar. The processor is clearly higher spec and there's double the RAM, but it feels like OK so I will be able to play games directly on the steam hardware better than I can on the meta hardware, but still nowhere near comparable to PC VR, so it will likely remain just for small simpler games the same as it currently is with meta quest 3? Dedicated wifi dongle will make using it on the PC easier, but at the same time, Half Life Alyx already runs really, really well streaming from the PC via my existing WiFi 6 router.
Click to expand...
Looks very solid, love that fact that they put XYAB on one controller and D-Pad on the other. If eye tracking ends up working UEVR titles someday it'll be pretty awesome.
It has some weird add on capabilities that can make the camera color, so there's room for that too. I'm already streaming on WIFI6, it works well for me, can play in a seperate room. 6Ghz and foveated streaming will be almost indistinguishable from, a direct wired connection but there will not need to be any walls.


The price will determine it's ultimate value. If you just beat saber, then it won't be much of an upgrade from the Quest3. Games that support eye tracking natively that's rough on performance, especially simulators it'll be great, the higher bitrate you stream the more the delay, so foveated streaming can max the fidelity for simulators now, where delay matters more.

The dongle will also make it easier for the more technically challenged to get a perfect wireless set up, seen way to many people fail to set theirs up properly or try to do so with shitty inadequate routers.

The closer it is to the price of the Quest3, the more worried Meta will become.
 
animal531 said:
It's a much better headset overall, but yeah, we'll have to see how much better and if that's worth the extra $200-300.
Click to expand...
Why do you say it's a much better headset overall? Seems like the specs are very similar, aside from the built in processing power, but we'll have to see what sort of gaming performance that translates into, but my guess so far is we'll still want to run proper games from the PCVR so I feel that's not really a big benefit.
 
1am7h30n3 said:
Why do you say it's a much better headset overall? Seems like the specs are very similar, aside from the built in processing power, but we'll have to see what sort of gaming performance that translates into, but my guess so far is we'll still want to run proper games from the PCVR so I feel that's not really a big benefit.
Click to expand...

The headset hardware is about the same, but:
a) They have new foveated streaming where their graphics driver is figuring out where you're looking and then automatically raising the quality there while lowering it elsewhere. Others have had foveated rendering which works the same way, but the devs of the game had to do all the work, so no one was really using it. Apparently it can track your eyes really really fast and it works very well.
b) They have their own 6Ghz wireless adapter which does dedicated streaming to the headset, so when connected to your PC you're going to get higher bandwidth/throughput.
c) Apparently even without the streaming they're aiming to have HL Alyx running in standalone mode, which would be a pretty impressive feat.
 
animal531 said:
The headset hardware is about the same, but:
a) They have new foveated streaming where their graphics driver is figuring out where you're looking and then automatically raising the quality there while lowering it elsewhere. Others have had foveated rendering which works the same way, but the devs of the game had to do all the work, so no one was really using it. Apparently it can track your eyes really really fast and it works very well.
b) They have their own 6Ghz wireless adapter which does dedicated streaming to the headset, so when connected to your PC you're going to get higher bandwidth/throughput.
c) Apparently even without the streaming they're aiming to have HL Alyx running in standalone mode, which would be a pretty impressive feat.
Click to expand...
Yeah the eye tracking and foveated rendering and streaming is interesting, I'll be interested to see how much difference the foveated streaming makes in real world use, will be fun!

OK that's interesting, IGN said not to expect Alyx running natively, so I'd thought that's what Valve had said, but if the plan is to run it natively then yeah that will be amazing. I want everybody to have the opportunity to experience that game, it's mind blowing good. The opening scenes where you see the pigeons flying in nearby and the level of detail on them, it's amazing, you really feel like you're in the world and can reach out and touch them (but of course when you do they fly away - much like a real pigeon would lol).
 
1am7h30n3 said:
Yeah the eye tracking and foveated rendering and streaming is interesting, I'll be interested to see how much difference the foveated streaming makes in real world use, will be fun!

OK that's interesting, IGN said not to expect Alyx running natively, so I'd thought that's what Valve had said, but if the plan is to run it natively then yeah that will be amazing. I want everybody to have the opportunity to experience that game, it's mind blowing good. The opening scenes where you see the pigeons flying in nearby and the level of detail on them, it's amazing, you really feel like you're in the world and can reach out and touch them (but of course when you do they fly away - much like a real pigeon would lol).
Click to expand...

Yeah to be honest about VR, there are not that many games for it and of those there are only a few that are really good.
HL Alyx is bloody amazing though, every gamer should have the chance to experience it at least once.

At the moment I think its still mostly PR talk, so we'll have to see if they can pull the native aspect off.
 

Pretty interesting gamers nexus video about the engineering process and challenges during the steam frame design, they do go quite deep and it's a bit of a longer video, so maybe not for everyone.
 
I go back and forth about the controllers. Is having the layout with the ABXY all on the right controller a mistake or a non-issue? I guess thinking about it, how many games require you to actually use AB on the left hand at the same time as XY on the right hand (quest/current control schemes)? I think basically none. So that makes it a non-issue, we have the same number of buttons labelled the same, they're just now all on the right hand instead of on the left and right, it could just work fine? And we now gain a d-pad, that could be fun?
 
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