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HP Reverb First Impressions Thread (Gen 1)

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
Some very quick first impressions and that's without experimenting with Super-sampling.

Ok, well I have that horrible vertical line in my headset which hopefully I'll get fixed or replaced but despite that. Wow, just wow. One word..."clarity".

More words.

Very nice headset all-round. Reasonably comfy but that cable is awful. I mean really bad and terribly distracting. Needs to be fixed to something to not become a hindrance. Headphones feel cheap  and the red smear is not very good when you abnormally move your head from side to side all fast like. In normal situations you won't notice it so much. SDE is so minimal it's the finest mesh like silk. Mura is there for sure such as looking at the sky you will notice it quite a bit.

Fallout 4 VR - Holy crap. Now this is how it's meant to be seen. Mindblowing, and I rarely use such hyperbolic phrases. Up close detail you'll see the textures as you would playing on a monitor. Distance details are just perfect now. NO MORE BLUR you can easily define medium range and long range objects which gives the game a complete overhaul on the visuals. Wonderful and if you're a FO4VR fan then nothing beats this crisp display.  Period. 

PCARS 2 - Ok I struggled a little to find the right sweetspot and keep it there. But once there this is it guys. The game just looks like it's meant to be on this headset. Nice details on the track and close up cars. Distant cars also look much better, they still can get fuzzy but none of that blur you might be used to. This is pretty awesome now and just looks great.

SLR APP/Movie viewing - Nice sharp visuals but you are restricted to the quality of the source material. The SLR thumbnails look fantastically crisp and the videos great. I ran a 4K gameplay video from one of my recordings and it looks really nice, so much clearer than any other VR headset. So if you have 4K movies then they are going to shine on this headset. I tried some older 1080p 3D movies but they didn't look much different to other headsets.

Desktop - wow now this is really nice. You can actually work with this now. Comfortably. See all the text and no shimmer or SDE to mess up your view. Really workable as an alternative to a monitor now. Nice vibrant colours and good contrast. I do notice what seems to be a fixed foveted rendering technique though where the center focus is incredibly sharp and when you move your eyes and head to another part of the screen it seems to catch up and then focus really sharp.I think HP talked about this with the way the screens are calibrated. 

Elite Dangerous: OK you're still getting these LCD blacks but the text readability is fantastic now without a shadow of a doubt. No distorted letters even in the info pane which has the smallest text it's easy to read, no leaning in. I just docked with one of the space stations and whilst there is still some shimmer on some finer lines/edges (there's a technical name for that which escapes me) it's nice a crisp and looks like a space station rather than a blurry mess of lights and protracting parts. Really clean. Upon entering the opening into the docking area...mind-blown! I really loved the extended FOV of the Pimax 8K in Elite D, made it feel more real, but I think I would sacrifice that for this wonderful clarity. I'll say it again if Pimax 8K X delivers the FOV and the same clarity then wowsers. I'm not holding my breath though, focusing on the here and now.

Even with the negatives, I can see this being a really great headset for the VR connoisseur. I am wondering how close the Pimax 8KX can match this as its increased FOV will stretch the pixel density. Either way, £600 well spent thus far and I will no doubt get lots of use from this headset and sadly the Pimax 8K will get boxed. Quest/Reverb combo for the win here for anyone serious about VR.



System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.
376 REPLIES 376

Techy111
MVP
MVP
It did yesterday but now its available again.
A PC with lots of gadgets inside and a thing to see in 3D that you put on your head.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Just checking up again, I think Mr. Wood has gotten better at taking shots - this may show at least the SDE quite nicely comparing Rift-S, Reverb and Index, click to enlarge (very important!):

xa9r528b8qc7.jpg

In this picture Index does seem slightly blurry. When in the sweet spot I don't get that experience at all - it seems razor-sharp. More importantly you can see the fine lines of pixels, so this really shows the (lack of) SDE. More here:

w560vgpthd5t.jpg

Probably my favorite shot of the SDE in a game - even Reverb has some, but it's very hard to see. Also notice that the more pixels may reduce SDE even further in Reverb and account for the higher brightness and more popping colors (the sky is more white-ish using the Reverb). That said, when everything is moving Reverb and Index don't look far apart. These images are without ss, and of course you may be able to increase ss more on the Index before you hit the same (lower) performance of the Reverb (due to Reverb has many more pixels to render).

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

lensmandave
Superstar
To be honest, these through the lens shots are great when we see what we want to see 🙂
Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.5GHz. Asus-Z170-PRO MB - Nvidia RTX 3080 ti - 16GB DDR4 2666MHZ HYPERX SAVAGE.

SkScotchegg
Expert Trustee
Yeah those screenshots look very promising for Reverb and Index, both look great but Reverb definitely looks better.

This technology is progressing so nicely. I love it.

Imagine how good the next HMD's will be in the future from all manufacturers?

Imagine Index version 2, Rift CV2 and HP Reverb version 2, just imagine!! 2-3 years from now we could have some well sexy headsets! lol  😄
UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!

RuneSR2
Grand Champion


Yeah those screenshots look very promising for Reverb and Index, both look great but Reverb definitely looks better.

This technology is progressing so nicely. I love it.

Imagine how good the next HMD's will be in the future from all manufacturers?

Imagine Index version 2, Rift CV2 and HP Reverb version 2, just imagine!! 2-3 years from now we could have some well sexy headsets! lol  😄



Agreed, I've been spending some time looking at Index pushing SteamVR ss 200% (=ss 2.0), and the image quality is beyond awesome (17 mill pixels per image, nearly twice Reverb ss 100%), unfortunately only the more simple games like Kin, Angry Birds, Lucky's Tale, First Contact, Thumper, Merry Snowballs etc. work in 90 fps on my oc'ed GTX 1080. I'd say when this image quality (or better) becomes the norm, VR should make everyone happy - at least with the res. I don't feel I need a better HMD than Index, but I'd love a RTX 4180 Super-Duper-Extravaganza to push those pixels in Lone Echo ss 2.0 (Index res, not CV1), lol.   

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
@RuneSR2 - The problem with adding a load of Super Sampling is that it's a resource hog. Having a higher resolution would be less of a resource hog then 200% ss, so you might just as well have a better resolution headset. I saw that someone was playing No Mans Sky using a HP Reverb and they were getting good fps.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

RedRizla said:

@RuneSR2 - The problem with adding a load of Super Sampling is that it's a resource hog. Having a higher resolution would be less of a resource hog then 200% ss, so you might just as well have a better resolution headset. I saw that someone was playing No Mans Sky using a HP Reverb and they were getting good fps.


It's indeed a resource hog - I'm at Index ss 100% using NMS, maybe I can go higher, but Shadowmask72 seems to max out at ss 150% using a 2080 Ti, and the jaggies not ss are my main problem in NMS. I don't like the WMR controllers, and I love the giant fov on the Index - I can't go back to the scuba gear, so I don't consider Reverb a true contender to Index. I also like the awesome super-crisp 3D-like sound on the Index - and tracking is the most perfect I've ever tried. 
 If you're happy with the CV1 fov and don't need the WMR controllers, I think Reverb may be an awesome choice. Also 120 Hz are much better than 90 Hz, but I need a faster gpu for 120 Hz - I consider the option of 120+ Hz important, it's another level of presence. 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RedRizla
Honored Visionary

RuneSR2 said:


RedRizla said:

@RuneSR2 - The problem with adding a load of Super Sampling is that it's a resource hog. Having a higher resolution would be less of a resource hog then 200% ss, so you might just as well have a better resolution headset. I saw that someone was playing No Mans Sky using a HP Reverb and they were getting good fps.


It's indeed a ressource hog - I'm at Index ss 100% using NMS, maybe I can go higher, but Shadowmask72 seems to max out at ss 150% using a 2080 Ti, and the jaggies not ss are my main problem in NMS. I don't like the WMR controllers, and I love the giant fov on the Index - I can't go back to the scuba gear, so I don't consider Reverb a true contender to Index. I also like the awesome super-crisp 3D-like sound on the Index - and tracking is the most perfect I've ever tried. 
 If you're happy with the CV1 fov and don't need the WMR controllers, I think Reverb may be an awesome choice. Also 120 Hz is so much better than 90 Hz, but I need a faster gpu for 120 Hz - I consider the option of 120+ Hz important, it's another level of presence. 


I don't mind Fov size the main things I don't like are glare, godrays and screen door. Once I pay off the HP Reverb, I plan on trying to hook up the HP Reverb to some light houses, but only if a better headset hasn't come out by then. Need the fricken HP Reverb to come out before all that though 😄

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

RedRizla said:


RuneSR2 said:


RedRizla said:

@RuneSR2 - The problem with adding a load of Super Sampling is that it's a resource hog. Having a higher resolution would be less of a resource hog then 200% ss, so you might just as well have a better resolution headset. I saw that someone was playing No Mans Sky using a HP Reverb and they were getting good fps.


It's indeed a ressource hog - I'm at Index ss 100% using NMS, maybe I can go higher, but Shadowmask72 seems to max out at ss 150% using a 2080 Ti, and the jaggies not ss are my main problem in NMS. I don't like the WMR controllers, and I love the giant fov on the Index - I can't go back to the scuba gear, so I don't consider Reverb a true contender to Index. I also like the awesome super-crisp 3D-like sound on the Index - and tracking is the most perfect I've ever tried. 
 If you're happy with the CV1 fov and don't need the WMR controllers, I think Reverb may be an awesome choice. Also 120 Hz is so much better than 90 Hz, but I need a faster gpu for 120 Hz - I consider the option of 120+ Hz important, it's another level of presence. 


I don't mind Fov size the main things I don't like are glare, godrays and screen door. Once I pay off the HP Reverb, I plan on trying to hook up the HP Reverb to some light houses, but only if a better headset hasn't come out by then. Need the fricken HP Reverb to come out before all that though 😄


I also like to play in the dark, lol - having lights on for the tracking never was something I liked. Using Index I turn off all light in the room. Index does have some glare, but I don't notice it - my biggest problem is the lack of deep blacks, but neither Reverb, Cosmos nor Rift-S can fix that. 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RedRizla
Honored Visionary

RuneSR2 said:


RedRizla said:


RuneSR2 said:


RedRizla said:

@RuneSR2 - The problem with adding a load of Super Sampling is that it's a resource hog. Having a higher resolution would be less of a resource hog then 200% ss, so you might just as well have a better resolution headset. I saw that someone was playing No Mans Sky using a HP Reverb and they were getting good fps.


It's indeed a ressource hog - I'm at Index ss 100% using NMS, maybe I can go higher, but Shadowmask72 seems to max out at ss 150% using a 2080 Ti, and the jaggies not ss are my main problem in NMS. I don't like the WMR controllers, and I love the giant fov on the Index - I can't go back to the scuba gear, so I don't consider Reverb a true contender to Index. I also like the awesome super-crisp 3D-like sound on the Index - and tracking is the most perfect I've ever tried. 
 If you're happy with the CV1 fov and don't need the WMR controllers, I think Reverb may be an awesome choice. Also 120 Hz is so much better than 90 Hz, but I need a faster gpu for 120 Hz - I consider the option of 120+ Hz important, it's another level of presence. 


I don't mind Fov size the main things I don't like are glare, godrays and screen door. Once I pay off the HP Reverb, I plan on trying to hook up the HP Reverb to some light houses, but only if a better headset hasn't come out by then. Need the fricken HP Reverb to come out before all that though 😄


I also like to play in the dark, lol - having lights on for the tracking never was something I liked. Index does have some glare, but I don't notice it - my biggest problem is the lack of deep blacks, but neither Reverb nor Rift-S can fix that. 

You won't know the lights are on in the HP Reverb because the nose thing totally blocks the outside light out. Anyways, if I do get it then it can easily go back if it's crap.