1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:06,240 This incredibly tiny VR headset weighs a 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:12,240 fraction of the Valve Index, uses highresolution micro OLED displays, and 3 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:19,039 it ships with a face cushion that manufacturer Big Screen Inc. creates 4 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:22,480 specifically for you using a 3D scan of 5 00:00:19,039 --> 00:00:24,960 your face. And the craziest part is that 6 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:31,599 it's not an enterprise product that costs $3500 upfront plus an annual 7 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:36,880 subscription like the Vario VR3. I mean, it's not cheap either, coming in at 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:42,559 around the cost of a PSVR2 and a Valve Index combined. [music] But on the other 9 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:47,600 hand, it's also the reason that I am finally excited to talk about PC VR 10 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:52,640 again. I have a lot of thoughts to share on this one, but the Big Screen Beyond 11 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:54,320 is a legitimately nextgen VR headset, 12 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:57,199 guys. So, don't tell me you're not here for it. The very first thing you'll 13 00:00:55,680 --> 00:01:02,960 notice pulling the Beyond out of the box is how incredibly small and light it is. 14 00:01:00,260 --> 00:01:07,360 [music] They advertise it as being 16th the weight of the Valve Index. And while 15 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:11,520 I think that's a little disingenuous given that the Index has excellent 16 00:01:09,439 --> 00:01:16,720 headphones on board while the big screen requires you to uh be yo, I think it 17 00:01:14,799 --> 00:01:22,240 ends up feeling true because of the difference in weight distribution. You 18 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:25,200 see, most modern headsets stick so far 19 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:30,720 out that they end up feeling less like a pair of goggles and more like a monitor 20 00:01:28,159 --> 00:01:35,600 that's bolted to the front of your face. This this is something truly different. 21 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:40,720 And when you're moving around quickly, you don't feel that wobble, which almost 22 00:01:38,159 --> 00:01:46,320 manifests as a as a delay while the headset tries to catch up to you. The 23 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:50,479 next thing you'll notice is the strap. It's not the worst thing I've ever seen, 24 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:56,000 but between the clunky adjustments, the way that the back resize is always 25 00:01:53,280 --> 00:02:00,719 slipping for me, and this rear cable clip that gets torquked by the weight of 26 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:03,360 the tether cable, it is a real downer 27 00:02:00,719 --> 00:02:09,200 compared to the headset itself. The good news is that my impressions of the face 28 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:11,680 cushion were the polar opposite. I have, 29 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:16,480 plainly speaking, never [music] used a piece of consumer electronics that felt 30 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:20,560 this bespoke. As part of the purchase process, you borrow a friend's iPhone 31 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:26,560 and you upload a scan that you take of your face. They then use that to 3D 32 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:29,280 print a oneofa-kind silicone style 33 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:34,800 cushion. Then they take that a step further and they mate that cushion with 34 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:38,480 a set of goggles that perfectly matches 35 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:40,800 your interpupilary distance or IPD. And 36 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:44,879 then you can take it even a step further and equip it with prescription lenses so 37 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:51,120 that you never have to worry about fitting glasses under your headset ever 38 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:54,640 again or sharing your VR headset ever 39 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:56,400 again. This forever alone design 40 00:02:54,640 --> 00:03:01,680 philosophy ends up being one of the Beyond's biggest strengths. Uh the 41 00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:04,712 cushion really is incredibly comfortable 42 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:06,560 and manages literally zero light bleed 43 00:03:04,712 --> 00:03:12,319 [music] and apparently issuing adjustable IPD contributed to 44 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:13,840 significant weight savings. But it also 45 00:03:12,319 --> 00:03:20,319 ends up being one of the headset's greatest weaknesses in that for anyone 46 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:23,599 with a family or even an 47 00:03:20,319 --> 00:03:26,080 expensive investment will at best be 48 00:03:23,599 --> 00:03:31,680 mildly uncomfortable for anyone but you who uses it. And that's even if you pony 49 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:35,920 up for additional face cushions once those become available. Then again, if 50 00:03:34,159 --> 00:03:38,879 your layout children wanted to have a big screen beyond, they should have 51 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:41,120 thought about that before they didn't have jobs. Am I right? Yeah, it's out 52 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:46,879 later. Let's talk about the experience for you, 53 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:50,159 the alpha of the house. Having never 54 00:03:46,879 --> 00:03:53,120 seen a micro OLED display before, I was 55 00:03:50,159 --> 00:03:57,920 blown away immediately by multiple aspects of the Beyond's image quality. 56 00:03:55,440 --> 00:04:02,480 Okay, first of all, of course, you get the incredible contrast of OLED with 57 00:04:00,239 --> 00:04:09,280 blacks going from, you know, kind of gray in my Valve Index to actually 58 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:13,200 black. But what really got me here was 59 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:16,160 the finness of the image. I mean, 2560x 60 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:25,199 2560 doesn't sound like that much more than a PSVR2, but when you do the math, 61 00:04:19,280 --> 00:04:28,479 it is over 50% more pixels. It looks way 62 00:04:25,199 --> 00:04:31,040 better. But my screen door effect, like 63 00:04:28,479 --> 00:04:35,199 for real, guys, this is the first headset that I've used that makes even 64 00:04:33,199 --> 00:04:40,960 the high quality assets in a game like HalfLife Alex feel kind of cheap and low 65 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:45,759 res. It's kind of like when TV transitioned over to HD and we all went, 66 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:50,160 "H, special effects probably need to get a whole lot better, don't they?" The 67 00:04:47,759 --> 00:04:55,120 panels aren't particularly bright. Big Screen quoted me about 80 nits at their 68 00:04:52,639 --> 00:04:59,600 default 100% brightness, which is considerably less than the index and a 69 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:05,840 little over half of the Vive Pro, both of which are decidedly last gen products 70 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:11,360 at this point. But I got to confess that until I asked Big Screen about HDR 71 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:18,960 compatibility for watching movies and, you know, the grand cinema in VR, I had 72 00:05:15,280 --> 00:05:22,160 no idea that the Beyond was so dim. In 73 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:24,880 fact, you can increase the brightness to 74 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:29,759 about 200 nits in their driver utility. But with zero light coming into the 75 00:05:27,039 --> 00:05:34,240 headset, plus the reduced motion clarity that comes with a brighter display in 76 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:36,800 VR, I actually found that I preferred 77 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:41,039 the dimmer experience. Also, the Beyond's fan kicks into high gear to 78 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:44,960 protect the internal components and to keep the user's face from getting too 79 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:49,840 sweaty when you turn it up. Capturing that. Speaking of, time to get 80 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:53,840 sweaty here and actually fire up some games. Because of the bandwidth 81 00:05:51,360 --> 00:06:00,240 limitations of DisplayPort 1.4, for the Beyond can run either at 75 Hz at its 82 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:03,440 native resolution using DSC or display 83 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:08,560 stream compression or it can run at 90 84 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:11,759 Hz at 1920 by 1920 using DSC once again, 85 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:13,759 but also using Big Screen's own lossier 86 00:06:11,759 --> 00:06:18,000 compression that gets upscaled back to native once it passes through the 87 00:06:15,199 --> 00:06:22,479 optical cable back to the headset. And this has been a significant source of 88 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:27,120 controversy in the leadup to the launch of this product. But [music] now that I 89 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:33,280 have it in my hands, I got to say, guys, I really do think the whole thing's been 90 00:06:29,039 --> 00:06:34,880 kind of overblown. It is true there is a 91 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:38,560 difference in image clarity. And if I was planning to spend an extended amount 92 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:42,560 of time using a virtual desktop or watching movies, I would go to the 93 00:06:40,639 --> 00:06:48,080 trouble of adjusting the refresh rate in the driver and rebooting [music] Steam 94 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:50,319 VR. But for games, I found that any 95 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:55,120 difference was more than made up for by the Beyond's drastically reduced motion 96 00:06:52,479 --> 00:07:00,160 blur and edge fringing compared to LCD type displays. Now, Big Screen has their 97 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:05,360 own workound. They suggest manually setting render resolution to 3600 by 98 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:11,199 3600, so you're effectively using super sampling to overcome this. But they also 99 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:14,560 recommend an RTX 4080 or greater for 100 00:07:11,199 --> 00:07:16,400 this technique. So bottom line, if a 101 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:20,479 future headset comes along that supports DisplayPort 2.0 and we don't need these 102 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:25,199 compression tricks, then I'm never going to say no to a visual fidelity boost. 103 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:29,680 But for now, that doesn't exist. And this trade-off is one that I would 104 00:07:27,039 --> 00:07:34,400 happily make. Though even characterizing it as a trade-off feels a little unfair 105 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:39,840 to the Beyond. This is the kind of upgrade where every game you play feels 106 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:44,319 new and exciting again. Like for kicks, I fired up Ly's Tail, which as it turns 107 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:49,840 out is available on Steam now. I found myself once again marveling at the fun, 108 00:07:47,599 --> 00:07:54,240 beautiful environments and just taking joy in the sheer immersiveness of the 109 00:07:52,319 --> 00:07:57,840 experience. And I've already touched on HalfLife Alex a little bit, but to 110 00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:03,440 expand on that, you're [music] still just a disembodied pair of hands, but it 111 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:09,199 felt less like being in the game and more like being Alex. Um, I found myself 112 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:13,199 getting distracted just looking at things and and marveling at the artwork 113 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:17,919 as though I was putting on prescription lenses for the first time in my life and 114 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:22,240 I could finally truly see it. One valid complaint I've seen about the Beyond 115 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:26,879 though is that its non-porous silicone type cushion can lead to some pretty 116 00:08:24,479 --> 00:08:31,199 unpleasant experiences in workout games like BeatSaber [music] and Dance Dash. 117 00:08:29,199 --> 00:08:36,880 For my part though, I found that the effect I'm going to call swamp eyes was 118 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:41,680 less noticeable when I was already kind of damp all over anyway and more 119 00:08:38,959 --> 00:08:46,640 noticeable when I wasn't doing anything. For example, I was sitting on the couch 120 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:52,000 watching Encanto in the giant theater environment in big screens Steam app. 121 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:55,839 And as amazing as it looked with the 4K copy that I ripped from Blu-ray, by the 122 00:08:54,080 --> 00:09:00,320 way, the all streaming future going to kind of suck for experiences like this. 123 00:08:58,399 --> 00:09:03,839 After 20 minutes or so, I felt like I needed to air the headset out. Big 124 00:09:02,346 --> 00:09:08,240 [music] screen apparently does have plans for a future cloth cushion, but 125 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:13,680 personally, I plan to stick with this one. Oh, did I mention yet that I'm 126 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:17,760 sticking with the Beyond? I am, but it actually wasn't as simple a decision as 127 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:22,320 I've made it sound like so far. The thing is, as much as I talk about 128 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:26,720 watching movies or playing Alex or whatever, the only thing I regularly do 129 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:33,200 in VR is play BeatSaber. And the difference between 90 Hz and the 144 130 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:37,680 hertz of the index is pretty significant at a high level of play. After some 131 00:09:35,279 --> 00:09:41,680 longer sessions, however, I feel that the reduced motion blur is worth it 132 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:46,900 along with the better overall image quality. Another thing I do from time to 133 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:51,600 time though is stream. And I got to tell [music] you guys, whatever Valve did 134 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:55,120 with the onboard audio system on the Index [music] is the kind of science 135 00:09:53,360 --> 00:10:00,160 that is so advanced that it is in disccernible from magic. Because these 136 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:03,839 near field speakers are perfect for listening to music. And the built-in 137 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:07,839 mics often get comments from viewers asking what the heck I'm using and why 138 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:12,240 my voice sounds so good. Thankfully, the mic on the Beyond seems to be made of 139 00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:16,240 the same kind of magic. and if their upcoming audio strap is any good, that 140 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:20,959 should hopefully resolve both my issue with cable riding my headphones and my 141 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:24,560 issue with strap comfort. However, there's one more thing that cannot be 142 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:30,480 overcome with a future update, and it's this kind of lens flare effect that 143 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:35,200 blooms out of bright objects. As my understanding goes, this is a side 144 00:10:32,399 --> 00:10:39,920 effect of the extraordinarily thin and light pancake lens assembly that Big 145 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:45,440 Screen is using. There are advantages like the aforementioned lightness and 146 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:48,320 thinness, but this blur flare is a major 147 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:52,880 and distracting drawback, at least when you're noticing it. Here's the thing, 148 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:59,440 though. I remember buying my first high-end display. It was a P95F plusb 149 00:10:55,680 --> 00:11:02,560 CRT. It was 19 in and ran at 1600 x 1200 150 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:04,560 of 85 Hz glory. And I know what you guys 151 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:09,200 are thinking. Where you going with this old man? But please stick with me, okay? 152 00:11:06,959 --> 00:11:13,440 My point is that monitor used a technology called aperture grill to 153 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:18,959 achieve a sharper image. And one of the complaints about aperture grill displays 154 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:21,279 was that you could actually see two fine 155 00:11:18,959 --> 00:11:25,600 wires running across the screen where the horizontal damping wires were welded 156 00:11:23,839 --> 00:11:28,880 to the vertical wires that make up the grill. [music] 157 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:33,440 They're pretty noticeable, and I was on the verge of returning mine until I 158 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:36,079 fired up one of my favorite games and promptly forgot that they were there. 159 00:11:34,959 --> 00:11:41,279 Say I told you I was going somewhere with this. I wouldn't say that the blur 160 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:45,920 flares are as forgettable as my damping wires. In darker games like Beat Saber 161 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:51,040 or HalfLife Alex, they stopped bothering me altogether. But that wasn't the case 162 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:54,880 all the time. While playing Ly's Tail, for example, which is a bright game that 163 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:59,279 puts the user in a fixed position where they look around a lot. I was often 164 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:04,438 distracted by the perceived lower contrast in these flare areas or flare 165 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:09,920 areas as I've taken to calling them. [music] And I felt the same way using the Big 166 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:15,440 Screen Beyond as a virtual monitor. If I'm a man of culture and dark mode all 167 00:12:12,399 --> 00:12:17,600 my things, honestly, it's all good. But 168 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:21,760 as soon as some bright notification or app pops up, it's like someone threw 169 00:12:19,519 --> 00:12:26,079 Vaseline in my eyes and then shone a flashlight at me. I do appreciate a lot 170 00:12:24,399 --> 00:12:29,920 of the transparency and product education that Big Screen does on their 171 00:12:27,839 --> 00:12:34,240 product page, especially with respect to the compression that they're doing on 172 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:37,279 the image, but these blur flares are conspicuously absent from their 173 00:12:35,839 --> 00:12:41,279 literature. And it's something that I think they should be meeting headon in 174 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:48,079 order to ensure that would be buyers understand why this design choice was 175 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:51,120 made. Because now that I do, I'm okay 176 00:12:48,079 --> 00:12:53,120 with it. There's just so much to love 177 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:56,880 here. Um, for example, I really appreciate the fact that it's USB 178 00:12:55,200 --> 00:13:01,360 powered rather than requiring a wall plug, it makes it so much easier to pack 179 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:06,959 it up and take it with you if you wanted to do that for whatever reason. And 180 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:09,200 while their no frills approach means no 181 00:13:06,959 --> 00:13:15,200 frrills, you know, integrated processing for standalone operation like Quest, no 182 00:13:11,279 --> 00:13:16,959 gaze tracking like the PSVR2, no. But 183 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:20,880 believe it or not, that's actually something I like about their design 184 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:27,200 philosophy. They did what they set out to do. Build a smaller, lighter, more 185 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:31,440 immersive VR headset. A true upgrade for people like me who already wired up 186 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:37,519 their living rooms with tracking base stations and don't want the compromises 187 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:43,040 of inside out tracking. It did result in some questionable choices, like for 188 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:45,120 example, the inability to pop out of VR 189 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:49,360 and talk to someone, like where am I where am I supposed to put this thing? 190 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:53,519 Um, and not to mention the inability to share your headset. Like I mentioned 191 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:58,959 before, your Beyond is yours and yours alone. But then, come to think of it, 192 00:13:57,199 --> 00:14:02,240 that's probably fine given what I know you people are using this thing for. So, 193 00:14:00,560 --> 00:14:07,040 why do you only have one wand? What do you think I'm doing with the other hand? 194 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:10,880 Just don't use this segue for that. 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Oh, and of course, you can 203 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:51,600 customize the RGB lighting and all of your Corsair devices with their IQ 204 00:14:49,519 --> 00:14:56,880 software. You're a gamer, aren't you? Check out Corsair's IQ Link smart 205 00:14:53,920 --> 00:15:00,560 ecosystem at the link, no pun intended, down below. Okay, [laughter] 206 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:05,600 if you guys enjoyed this video, maybe check out my review of the Valve Index. 207 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:10,920 It's over four years old, but uh hey, so is the index. And somehow it has 208 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:10,920 remained relevant.