Oculus Link for Quest - Beta now available.

[dburne]

https://www.oculus.com/blog/play-rift-content-on-quest-with-oculus-link-available-now-in-beta/

[haltux]

Thanks for the news.

 

I am considering updating my Rift to a Rift S OR a Quest, now I am eagerly waiting for the first feedbacks on IL2 with Oculus Quest via Link. On paper, Quest should be better considering its higher resolution and lower frame rate (which is an advantage in the case of IL2 in my opinion).

 

 

 

 

 

[dburne]

20 minutes ago, haltux said:

Thanks for the news.

 

I am considering updating my Rift to a Rift S OR a Quest, now I am eagerly waiting for the first feedbacks on IL2 with Oculus Quest via Link. On paper, Quest should be better considering its higher resolution and lower frame rate (which is an advantage in the case of IL2 in my opinion).

 

 

I would think the Rift S would still be the better overall experience between the two, at least for what we do with flight sims.

I have a cable on order should be here in a day or two, hopefully I will get a chance to try it out before the end of the week.

 

 

She noted a slight loss in video quality on the games she tested, but may be attributed to the particular cable she used when testing.

[Starcos]

I can't wait to get home and find out, if my prepurchased usb-c cable is working

[dburne]

3 minutes ago, Starcos said:

I can't wait to get home and find out, if my prepurchased usb-c cable is working

 

Let us know - my cable from Amazon showing delivery between 20th and 23rd. Going to plug it into my C-Port on GPU.

One guy has posted a video over on DCS forums where he has his working.

Edited November 19, 2019 by dburne

[Starcos]

I had no luck. I think I wait a few days to have more data.

I saw a spreadsheet on reddit, I'll get something that was confirmed by multiple people.

 

(Oh, and this is my cable that DOESN'T work: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07Q8V9YXB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 )

[dburne]

2 hours ago, Starcos said:

I had no luck. I think I wait a few days to have more data.

I saw a spreadsheet on reddit, I'll get something that was confirmed by multiple people.

 

(Oh, and this is my cable that DOESN'T work: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07Q8V9YXB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 )

 

I ordered the one Oculus recommended from Amazon.

Will advise how it does when I get it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZIPYPY/

 

https://support.oculus.com/444256562873335/

Edited November 19, 2019 by dburne

[TAAC_Blue]

I'm excited to hear how it works for you guys! I've been on the fence about upgrading from the Rift to the Rift S. If this Oculus Link thing works well, I'll probably go the Quest route.

[Starcos]

Yeah, I just picked a seemingly adequate cable when I ordered the Quest a month ago, there wasn't too much info available then. (3.1, usb-c - well, we don't know too much more now either   ).

Now I ordered two other, altough it's not that easy to find the same stuff on amazon.de (and I didn't want to pay so much more for shipping  ),  I think both are equivalents of tested cables.

I will see next week, if I chose more wisely this time  

 

[dburne]

 My date keeps getting pushed back on Amazon, now showing expected on the 23rd.

Must have been a rush for the Oculus suggested cable...

[FTC_ChilliBalls]

Concerning the Quest's higher resolution, the PenTile layout of OLED displays reduces the Quests nominal 1440x1600 per eye to about 1175x1306 per eye when compared to traditional RGB layouts. So the Rift S' resolution of 1280x1440 per eye is actually higher than the nominally higher resolution of the Quest.

 

Add to that the reduced image quality due to encoding, the visual quality of the Quest should be worse for games with little to no blacks like IL-2 GB.

Edited November 21, 2019 by So_ein_Feuerball

[dburne]

My cable ( ordered a different one) is scheduled to arrive sometime tomorrow, so hopefully will be able to check this out here in the next 1-2 days.

I have no anticipation of this being any better experience than I get with my Rift S, and likely not as good. But I am curious - there may be some other Oculus games that it might shine with. For instance Vader Immortal looks better in my Quest than in Rift S.

Edited November 21, 2019 by dburne

[FTC_ChilliBalls]

1 hour ago, dburne said:

My cable ( ordered a different one) is scheduled to arrive sometime tomorrow, so hopefully will be able to check this out here in the next 1-2 days.

I have no anticipation of this being any better experience than I get with my Rift S, and likely not as good. But I am curious - there may be some other Oculus games that it might shine with. For instance Vader Immortal looks better in my Quest than in Rift S.

Would love your input on how it compares to the Rift S in aspects such as spotting and long distance visuals.

 

I‘ve pretty much decided to get myself a VR headset and am on the fence between the Rift S and Quest.

Edited November 21, 2019 by So_ein_Feuerball

[dburne]

6 hours ago, So_ein_Feuerball said:

Would love your input on how it compares to the Rift S in aspects such as spotting and long distance visuals.

 

I‘ve pretty much decided to get myself a VR headset and am on the fence between the Rift S and Quest.

 

Will be glad too - hopefully it will arrive earlier rather than later tomorrow.

[dburne]

Will be tomorrow before I get to check this out - waiting all day for the cable and it finally got here, only to find out

my Quest software is on an older version - 8 - and it needs to be on 11. Have to have it powered on and in standby, and wait for it to eventually update itself.

Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I will get some quality time in with it - assuming it will work with the cable I got.

[dburne]

Spent some time with it this evening, did not have much luck with it. Got into Oculus Home but the image just stuttered and froze.

Maybe work with it some more tomorrow - may be this cable I got. Have the Anker cable coming will be here soon too I guess to try.

It is definitely very much early Beta software.

 

Edit: Well decided to try plugging Link into my front panel USB 3 port, now it would seem Link is working fine. Quick test in Oculus Home and Vader Immortal, looking pretty good. Audio coming through my speakers though.

Will do some more with it tomorrow along with hopefully IL-2.

Edited November 23, 2019 by dburne

[dburne]

Ok got the audio worked out and it is coming through my Quest now with my earbuds. Sounding great.

Spent a few minutes in Vader Immortal this morning just for some quick testing, looking pretty darn good. Vader definitely looks better to me in 

Quest rather than Rift S, mainly due to it being such a dark game and the blacks looking better in the OLED display of the Quest.

I also tested the Oculus Tray Tool, and it appears to be working properly with the Quest Link.

Considering how the video has to be compressed/decompressed on the fly with Oculus Link for Quest, I am somewhat surprised by what I am seeing so far. 

Have errands have to run this morning, hopefully can get some time in with it in IL-2 a little later on in the day.

 

No doubt though this Quest Link software is in very early Beta. Not for the faint of heart lol.

Edited November 23, 2019 by dburne

[dburne]

Ok have tried out Oculus Link in IL-2 with my Quest.

 

First - the image was pretty darn good, and I noticed no lag at all. I was even maintaining max fps in a quick mission skirmish in Bodenplatte.

Quest is a 72 Hz device, so max fps was 72 and it was maintaining that, even flying low over the trees.

 

However I am not able to maintain a solid connection to the Link. The image eventually freezes in the HMD. Same thing happened in DCS also.

Obviously this is working with very early Beta software, and I am sure stability improvements will be coming. Could also be this 10 ft Joto cable I am using. I have the recommended Anker cable on order but it was not in stock, showing now I should have around 25th-27th. I will try again when I get the new Anker cable and see if that makes a difference. And of course Oculus is supposed to have their premium cable for Link available around end of the year.

 

So far though I have been fairly impressed by what I am seeing.  Vader Immortal seems to be working fine and looks great, however tried Apollo 11 VR and it did the same freezing up as the flight sims. 

I would suggest anyone on the fence between the Quest and Rift S , certainly go with Rift S at least for now. Rift S is just a solid and very good experience for the money spent. 

 

I will update again whenever I do receive that Anker cable and have a chance to try it out.

 

[FTC_ChilliBalls]

You have until the 29th to convinve me of Oculus Link ?

Otherwise I´ll go for the Rift S Black Friday deal

 

Concerning the instability, I think it has to do with the Cable you´re currently using.

It would be best to at least use a USB 3.1 cable and corresponding port if available.

If you don´t have a 3.1 port on your PC, I fear the Anker cable won´t be of much help, 

but that could be mitigated by a PCIE extension with USB 3.1.

[dburne]

2 minutes ago, So_ein_Feuerball said:

You have until the 29th to convinve me of Oculus Link ?

Otherwise I´ll go for the Rift S Black Friday deal

 

Concerning the instability, I think it has to do with the Cable you´re currently using.

It would be best to at least use a USB 3.1 cable and corresponding port if available.

If you don´t have a 3.1 port on your PC, I fear the Anker cable won´t be of much help, 

but that could be mitigated by a PCIE extension with USB 3.1.

 

Thanks, yes my ports are 3.1.

By Black Friday - I would definitely recommend Rift S over Quest, especially for what we do with flight sims.

Edited November 23, 2019 by dburne

[Vapour]

Keep us updated on this, I need the manual IPD adjustment (70mm IPD), currently have the Rift. If the Quest can save me close to £600 over the full index set up that'll be a no brainer.

[dburne]

1 hour ago, Vapour said:

Keep us updated on this, I need the manual IPD adjustment (70mm IPD), currently have the Rift. If the Quest can save me close to £600 over the full index set up that'll be a no brainer.

 

Will do -- when it works for me it is really nice, but it just ain't consistent at working for me yet.

Maybe I will have better luck with the new cable I have coming, likely will be next week after the holiday before I have it and able to give it a try. We have family coming in Wed. and will be here throughout the rest of the week.

[FTC_ChilliBalls]

17 hours ago, dburne said:

 

Thanks, yes my ports are 3.1.

By Black Friday - I would definitely recommend Rift S over Quest, especially for what we do with flight sims.

So, what‘s your opinion on long distance spotting with the Quest? Because I‘m really on the fence whether to get the quest or rift s.

 

The quest‘s lower resolution and possible instability vs the Rift S‘ lack of PC-less gaming, manual IPD adjustment and color fidelity

[dburne]

6 minutes ago, So_ein_Feuerball said:

So, what‘s your opinion on long distance spotting with the Quest? Because I‘m really on the fence whether to get the quest or rift s.

 

The quest‘s lower resolution and possible instability vs the Rift S‘ lack of PC-less gaming, manual IPD adjustment and color fidelity

 

Quest actually has a higher native resolution than Rift S.

I need more time to form an opinion on long distance spotting, will try and get some time with it later today or tomorrow.

If I can get it to remain stable for a while. Also going to try running it though a powered USB 3 hub by itself and see if that helps in stability. It is very finnicky about USB 3 ports, some of mine I can't even get an image to show in headset. Likely needs to be plugged into a port that is not sharing any other devices on it's hub.

 

This current cable I have though may just not be up to the task.

Also of note, the Quest is not as comfortable as the Rift S - at least for me.

Edited November 24, 2019 by dburne

[FTC_ChilliBalls]

4 hours ago, dburne said:

Quest actually has a higher native resolution than Rift S.

 

The PenTile layout reduces the Quests actual resolution from its nominal 1440x1600 per eye down to 1175x1306 when compared to the traditional RGB layout.

With the Rift S' 1280x1440 per eye and the reduced image quality of the Link connection, there should be a noticeable difference especially in long distances and SDE.

Edited November 24, 2019 by So_ein_Feuerball

[dburne]

2 hours ago, So_ein_Feuerball said:

The PenTile layout reduces the Quests actual resolution from its nominal 1440x1600 per eye down to 1175x1306 when compared to the traditional RGB layout.

With the Rift S' 1280x1440 per eye and the reduced image quality of the Link connection, there should be a noticeable difference especially in long distances and SDE.

 

Can't say I have noticed any image degradation, but need more time with it.

Also I have found Oculus Tray Tool is working with Quest through Link, so I am applying SS as well - same as I was applying in the Rift S.

[chiliwili69]

Last Friday I ordered a Quest and today arrived at home,  I have been just experimenting with it.

 

I am quite happy with the Index right now, but the reasons to buy the Quest were:

 

- As a VR freak, test myself the state-of-the art wireless VR technology (device, games, tracking, etc)

- See how good is to visualize movies or do office work when I am in planes or trains. Specially long trips on economy...

- Occasionally enjoy some of the games I purchased with the Rift in the oculus store, which will be valid for the Quest with the new link.

 

I am sure I will not use it for IL-2, but I would like to compare the performance of running at 72Hz and also the visual quality.

Probably I will wait for the optical cable from Oculus since there is no rush for me. But would like to hear how it run for you guys.

[dburne]

Ok so it seems I got this figured out today, just don't ask me how - but my Link connection is solid now.

Have spent some time in both IL-2 and DCS with it today, along with some other VR games as well.

I will say I am surprised, as I did not think either combat flight sim would run well in a tethered Quest with the image going through the pipeline along with the compression and decompression. I will say,  it ain't bad at all.

 

In both it is running quite well, performance is decent - really about on par with Rift S in performance, albeit at a little less fps due to lower Hz of the Quest.

I ran the same SS in the Quest Link as I run in the Rift S.

I would say from my initial testing image quality is slightly less than Rift S, but certainly better than Rift CV1.

I had slightly better clarity of the instruments with Rift S versus Quest Link.

SDE is slightly more apparent in Quest - not as bad as CV1.

Tracking is splendid. Everything was quite smooth, even running when ASW kicked in at 36 fps. Oculus has always done a good job in the tracking department.

 

Oculus has really pulled one off here I think - now when I say that, I mean for mainstream VR - not necessarily for serious combat flight sim folks., like what we do here.

To think all this data  being compressed, going through that pipeline via USB, decompressed on the fly in 1/3rd parts into the headset display, and providing

this smooth an experience that looks pretty darned good, is fairly spectacular. 

If one wants as good as they can get clarity wise, then of course they will go for their Indexes, Reverbs, etc. 

But it is kinda cool one can take a mobile VR device and quickly tether it to their PC and have access to all their PC VR content at the same time.

Pretty versatile.

 

I will be spending some more time with it over the next couple of days before our Thanksgiving company arrives and will update with any further info that might be helpful.

 

This is the cable I am currently using:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017COHTJ6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2019 by dburne

[Vapour]

Nice work, keep us posted on any tweaks.

 

I suppose this begs the question from a CV1 user (and it's probably too soon to answer and if it is take your time to answer), having the Index and the Quest with the link would you (if you were still a CV1 user but with the knowledge of both head sets) be satisfied with the Quest or would you fork out the extra money for the Index?

 

 

 

 

[dburne]

1 hour ago, Vapour said:

Nice work, keep us posted on any tweaks.

 

I suppose this begs the question from a CV1 user (and it's probably too soon to answer and if it is take your time to answer), having the Index and the Quest with the link would you (if you were still a CV1 user but with the knowledge of both head sets) be satisfied with the Quest or would you fork out the extra money for the Index?

 

 

 

 

 

Well I myself do not have the Index but the Rift S, I can say for me currently I would stick with dedicated PC-VR like Rift S, Index, Reverb, etc. Especially for flight sim enthusiasts. Whilst I am having fun playing around with the tethered Quest, I will be using my Rift S with my flight sims.

[dburne]

13 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

Last Friday I ordered a Quest and today arrived at home,  I have been just experimenting with it.

 

I am quite happy with the Index right now, but the reasons to buy the Quest were:

 

- As a VR freak, test myself the state-of-the art wireless VR technology (device, games, tracking, etc)

- See how good is to visualize movies or do office work when I am in planes or trains. Specially long trips on economy...

- Occasionally enjoy some of the games I purchased with the Rift in the oculus store, which will be valid for the Quest with the new link.

 

I am sure I will not use it for IL-2, but I would like to compare the performance of running at 72Hz and also the visual quality.

Probably I will wait for the optical cable from Oculus since there is no rush for me. But would like to hear how it run for you guys.

 

You fed the evil beast?

I am proud of ya!

 

I think you will like the Quest for it's mobility, I enjoy  playing Quest games and experiences from the comfort of my living room couch.

Be sure and check out the Beat Saber demo, great fun and good for the cardio.

If you have it, Vader Immortal looks great in the Quest.

Robo Recall - you will have also being a prior CV1 owner as long as you still have your account, however it is a cut down version for the Quest

and to me looks like poo nanny compared to the Rift version.

 

And also keep in mind, hand tracking is coming to Quest they say sometime in early 2020. I look forward to seeing how that progresses.

Also regarding Link, I read somewhere recently that they have hard coded it for lower resolution due to performance concerns initially, and they will likely be increasing it as the software improves which I guess could change the quality of the experience with Oculus Link.

[haltux]

Thanks for these feedbacks, so I forget the Quest. Not too sure what to do now. Buying a Rift S, a Reverb, or keeping my CV1 and waiting a little bit until something more convincing is released.

[FTC_ChilliBalls]

13 hours ago, dburne said:

This is the cable I am currently using:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017COHTJ6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

USB-C 3.1 Type-C to USB 3.0 Type A

That can´t be how this works, can it? It´s either one or the other, right?

Why would one side be another USB standard when the other can´t provide the same bandwidth?

[dburne]

32 minutes ago, So_ein_Feuerball said:

USB-C 3.1 Type-C to USB 3.0 Type A

That can´t be how this works, can it? It´s either one or the other, right?

Why would one side be another USB standard when the other can´t provide the same bandwidth?

 

The Quest uses USB-C.

You can use ether USB-C to USB-C, or USB-C to USB-A , depending on what you have available connection wise.

I could have used Type C to C also, but did not think about it at the time. Forgot I had a C-port available on my motherboard I/O panel.

 

But this works better for me anyway as I have a dedicated front panel USB 3.1 hub on MB with a connection on front of my case, so Quest Link is the only thing I have hooked into that Hub, and it needs all the power it can get. Plus very convenient for me to plug/unplug as needed.

 

 

48 minutes ago, haltux said:

Thanks for these feedbacks, so I forget the Quest. Not too sure what to do now. Buying a Rift S, a Reverb, or keeping my CV1 and waiting a little bit until something more convincing is released.

 

Any of the aforementioned VR devices would be a nice improvement over Rift CV1.

Depends mainly on what all you want to do with VR and the money willing to spend.

As far as waiting, it may be a while on further development. We have already had new devices by Oculus, Valve, HP, HTC, Pimax this year alone.

 

I went with Rift S mainly because I like the Oculus software, and enjoy several VR games/experiences with the Touch controllers. Plus I am intrigued by the direction they seem to be going.

If I only did flight sims and knew I would have no desire for anything else, then I would have gone Reverb.

 

Edited November 25, 2019 by dburne

[FTC_ChilliBalls]

48 minutes ago, dburne said:

The Quest uses USB-C.

You can use ether USB-C to USB-C, or USB-C to USB-A , depending on what you have available connection wise.

I could have used Type C to C also, but did not think about it at the time. Forgot I had a C-port available on my motherboard I/O panel.

 

But this works better for me anyway as I have a dedicated front panel USB 3.1 hub on MB with a connection on front of my case, so Quest Link is the only thing I have hooked into that Hub, and it needs all the power it can get. Plus very convenient for me to plug/unplug as needed.

I didn´t mean the A to C connection, I have one of those at home like for my phone.?

I meant the 3.1 to 3.0 connection. AFAIK it´s either 3.1 on both ends or 3.0, you won´t benefit from it if one end has the better standard.

 

 

[dburne]

11 minutes ago, So_ein_Feuerball said:

I didn´t mean the A to C connection, I have one of those at home like for my phone.?

I meant the 3.1 to 3.0 connection. AFAIK it´s either 3.1 on both ends or 3.0, you won´t benefit from it if one end has the better standard.

 

 

 

AFAIK the Link itself currently uses 3.0.

I think Carmack quoted over on Twitter he hopes to implement 3.1 down the road.

 

 

Edited November 25, 2019 by dburne

[chiliwili69]

On 11/25/2019 at 12:46 PM, dburne said:

You fed the evil beast?

I am proud of ya!

LOL! ???

 

Yes, with mixed feelings I took the order. I wanted to see how good it is.

 

Yes, I kept my Oculus account with some games which have been converted to Quest, so the game is valid in both environments (Rift and Quest), like Pirate Trainer, UltraWings, Roborecall

 

Yesterday my 12.5 year old son tested all episodes of Vader Inmortal, he was loving it!

Today I went through the Wader Inmortal Ep-I, it is a quite nice experience. Very well done for a mobile device!

Other games I had like "The Climb" or "Lone Echo" are going to be converted to Quest as well.

 

If just after 4 years of the birth of the Rift we have today the quality of the all-in-one Quest, I can not rally image what we would have in 5 or 10 years time.

 

But there are two aspects that I don´t really like of the Quest:

-Confort: It is really heavy for this type of fixing. For the original Rift is was quite OK, but for the Quest it is almost a non-go for more than one hour. The weight over the cheeks is really annoying.

- SDE: Being using LCD displays lately (Pimax, Reverb, Index) going now to an OLED with pentile arrangement the SDE is quite noticeable. But a bit better that original Rift.

On 11/25/2019 at 1:27 PM, haltux said:

Buying a Rift S, a Reverb, or keeping my CV1

 

If you are happy with the CV1 go to the Reverb. You will not regret it. There is 100$ discount right now on HP store.

Edited November 28, 2019 by chiliwili69

[dburne]

16 minutes ago, chiliwili69 said:

LOL! ???

 

Yes, with mixed feelings I took the order. I wanted to see how good it is.

 

Yes, I kept my Oculus account with some games which have been converted to Quest, so the game is valid in both environments (Rift and Quest), like Pirate Trainer, UltraWings, Roborecall

 

Yesterday my 12.5 year old son tested all episodes of Vader Inmortal, he was loving it!

Today I went through the Wader Inmortal Ep-I, it is a quite nice experience. Very well done for a mobile device!

Other games I had like "The Climb" or "Lone Echo" are going to be converted to Quest as well.

 

If just after 4 years of the birth of the Rift we have today the quality of the all-in-one Quest, I can not rally image what we would have in 5 or 10 years time.

 

But there are two aspects that I don´t really like of the Quest:

-Confort: It is really heavy for this type of fixing. For the original Rift is was quite OK, but for the Quest it is almost a non-go for more than one hour. The weight over the cheeks is really annoying.

- SDE: Being using LCD displays lately (Pimax, Reverb, Index) going now to an OLED with pentile arrangement the SDE is quite noticeable. But a bit better that original Rift.

 

If you are happy with the CV1 go to the Reverb. You will not regret it. There is 100$ discount right now on HP store.

 

Robo Recall for Quest is a "cut down" version for Quest graphics, I was not much impressed with it.

Did not know they had a Lone Echo for Quest.

I picked up Episode 2 and 3 of Vader, looking forward to trying them out in the Quest.

[chiliwili69]

15 minutes ago, dburne said:

Did not know they had a Lone Echo for Quest.

I picked up Episode 2 and 3 of Vader, looking forward to trying them out in the Quest

 

Sorry, It was not Lone Echo. It was Echo VR, which is Echo Arena. A very different thing. It will be for 2020.

My Quest came with the 3 episodes already. It is Black Friday offer.

 

But what I really want to try (If my son allows me) is how good it is for office work (just for a couple of hours) to connect to computers. Some people talked me quite well about Virtual Desktop. I have to test it.

 

[haltux]

10 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

If you are happy with the CV1 go to the Reverb. You will not regret it. There is 100$ discount right now on HP store.

 

Thanks for the advice. A little bit off topic but I wonder whether my GTX 1070 would not be an issue when moving from CV1 to Reverb. I know the game is CPU bounded (I have to update that too...) but still there are much more pixels to manage on the Reverb. If I have to buy a Reverb + a new CPU/MB/memory (which I will do anyway) + a 2080 ti that starts to be a little bit expensive for my taste.