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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

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

RedRizla said:


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.


Maybe it's the equivalent of discussing if Lamborghini is better than Ferrari, lol. I'm into all sorts of games, so controllers and tracking are really important to me. Also - and I know it's like some sort of gambling - I'm counting on Valve to deliver some truly spectacular VR content later this year. To me Index isn't all about what it's now, but what it may soon become, we'll see.  

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:


Maybe it's the equivalent of discussing if Lamborghini is better than Ferrari, lol. I'm into all sort of games, so controllers and tracking are really important to me. Also - and I know it's like some sort of gambling - I'm counting on Valve to deliver some truly spectacular VR content later this year. To me Index isn't all about what it's now, but what it may soon become, we'll see.  


Good point, but I have to be careful when spending £920 because it would have to last me 3 years at the very least. The rate VR headsets are changing now it wouldn't surprise me if all the current headsets are relics in just a years time due to better VR tech.

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
Just got the HP Reverb and have to say I'm blown away and there's no way this VR Headset is going back. They have fixed the flickering and blank displays at times and playing No Mans Sky at 180% SS in Steam VR looks as sharp as playing it on a 2D monitor. No way can I go lower resolution again now after seeing this.
I thought the controllers would be terrible and while there certainly not as good as Oculus Controllers they are still very workable and I have no problems with them. I certainly wasn't expecting the resolution to look this good. I'm really lost for words how good it looks.

Techy111
MVP
MVP
We did tell you  B) still no news from HP when I can purchase one at my discount offer. How much are they now ??
A PC with lots of gadgets inside and a thing to see in 3D that you put on your head.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

RedRizla said:

Just got the HP Reverb and have to say I'm blown away and there's no way this VR Headset is going back. They have fixed the flickering and blank displays at times and playing No Mans Sky at 180% SS in Steam VR looks as sharp as playing it on a 2D monitor. No way can I go lower resolution again now after seeing this.
I thought the controllers would be terrible and while there certainly not as good as Oculus Controllers they are still very workable and I have no problems with them. I certainly wasn't expecting the resolution to look this good. I'm really lost for words how good it looks.


Not many games support finger tracking, in many games like Moss, Trover, Beat Saber, NMS, Skyrim etc you'll probably be fine - looking forward to your impressions after 2+ weeks, but great with very positive first impressions! Congrats with a great purchase!

Btw, how is the fov and sound? Also I think HP mentioned to have improved the Bluetooth tracking in the Reverb compared to other WMR hmds, maybe that's what you're experiencing for tracking...

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
@Techy111 - I paid £564.86 because I got a 5% discount which HP does. That Sebastian guy that does YouTube videos did a video to say that HP had connected him about the HP Reverb and that it would be available all over Europe in the middle of Sept, so you shouldn't have long to wait. Maybe I got mine earlier because I complained.
@RuneSR2- I'll be honest with any questions asked. The Fov is more square and not large like the Vavle index, but Fov has never bothered me, so I wasn't paying that much attention to it. I did notice I can see the bottom of the display, but I was that in awe of the resolution it didn't bother me. I don't see it as a distraction when playing games because the resolution is so good.
I'll have another look at the Fov when I get home because I can't really compare it with CV1 yet. I think it might be slightly bigger then Rift S or the same though.

Techy111
MVP
MVP
Wait till you try a sim mate 😉
A PC with lots of gadgets inside and a thing to see in 3D that you put on your head.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

RedRizla said:

@Techy111 - I paid £564.86 because I got a 5% discount which HP does. That Sebastian guy that does YouTube videos did a video to say that HP had connected him about the HP Reverb and that it would be available all over Europe in the middle of Sept, so you shouldn't have long to wait. Maybe I got mine earlier because I complained.
@RuneSR2- I'll be honest with any questions asked. The Fov is more square and not large like the Vavle index, but Fov has never bothered me, so I wasn't paying that much attention to it. I did notice I can see the bottom of the display, but I was that in awe of the resolution it didn't bother me. I don't see it as a distraction when playing games because the resolution is so good.
I'll have another look at the Fov when I get home because I can't really compare it with CV1 yet. I think it might be slightly bigger then Rift S or the same though.


I think HP said 114 degrees for fov, so it should be at least similar to CV1. Some said it felt smaller than Rift, but that didn't make much sense to me. If you're not used to a bigger fov, I don't think fov will be an issue. Great that the 2080 Ti lets you push a lot of ss! 

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"

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

RedRizla said:

@Techy111 - I paid £564.86 because I got a 5% discount which HP does. That Sebastian guy that does YouTube videos did a video to say that HP had connected him about the HP Reverb and that it would be available all over Europe in the middle of Sept, so you shouldn't have long to wait. Maybe I got mine earlier because I complained.
@RuneSR2- I'll be honest with any questions asked. The Fov is more square and not large like the Vavle index, but Fov has never bothered me, so I wasn't paying that much attention to it. I did notice I can see the bottom of the display, but I was that in awe of the resolution it didn't bother me. I don't see it as a distraction when playing games because the resolution is so good.
I'll have another look at the Fov when I get home because I can't really compare it with CV1 yet. I think it might be slightly bigger then Rift S or the same though.


£565 is the same as $700, so it's not exactly inexpensive, but at least a lot cheaper than the $1250 I paid for the Index. Could be fun with the Reverb, but having 2 hmds in SteamVR probably won't go well, and I'm really happy for the Index. 
Try to use the Reverb for a week, and THEN try to wear the CV1 again  😄   

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"

Techy111
MVP
MVP
I will say from my early use of the reverb is it ain't comfortable like CV1 comfortable. It seems to me like it's a little smaller but the screens more than make up for it. When I get mine again I'll be looking to take off the headphones and replace them with something more on/in my ear.
A PC with lots of gadgets inside and a thing to see in 3D that you put on your head.