WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:06.240 This incredibly tiny VR headset weighs a 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:12.240 fraction of the Valve Index, uses highresolution micro OLED displays, and 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:19.039 it ships with a face cushion that manufacturer Big Screen Inc. creates 00:00:15.120 --> 00:00:22.480 specifically for you using a 3D scan of 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:24.960 your face. And the craziest part is that 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:31.599 it's not an enterprise product that costs $3500 upfront plus an annual 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:36.880 subscription like the Vario VR3. I mean, it's not cheap either, coming in at 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:42.559 around the cost of a PSVR2 and a Valve Index combined. [music] But on the other 00:00:39.680 --> 00:00:47.600 hand, it's also the reason that I am finally excited to talk about PC VR 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 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:54.320 is a legitimately nextgen VR headset, 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 00:00:55.680 --> 00:01:02.960 notice pulling the Beyond out of the box is how incredibly small and light it is. 00:01:00.260 --> 00:01:07.360 [music] They advertise it as being 16th the weight of the Valve Index. And while 00:01:05.360 --> 00:01:11.520 I think that's a little disingenuous given that the Index has excellent 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:16.720 headphones on board while the big screen requires you to uh be yo, I think it 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:22.240 ends up feeling true because of the difference in weight distribution. You 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:25.200 see, most modern headsets stick so far 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 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:35.600 that's bolted to the front of your face. This this is something truly different. 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:40.720 And when you're moving around quickly, you don't feel that wobble, which almost 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:46.320 manifests as a as a delay while the headset tries to catch up to you. The 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, 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:56.000 but between the clunky adjustments, the way that the back resize is always 00:01:53.280 --> 00:02:00.719 slipping for me, and this rear cable clip that gets torquked by the weight of 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:03.360 the tether cable, it is a real downer 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:09.200 compared to the headset itself. The good news is that my impressions of the face 00:02:05.360 --> 00:02:11.680 cushion were the polar opposite. I have, 00:02:09.200 --> 00:02:16.480 plainly speaking, never [music] used a piece of consumer electronics that felt 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:20.560 this bespoke. As part of the purchase process, you borrow a friend's iPhone 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 00:02:23.440 --> 00:02:29.280 print a oneofa-kind silicone style 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:34.800 cushion. Then they take that a step further and they mate that cushion with 00:02:31.760 --> 00:02:38.480 a set of goggles that perfectly matches 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:40.800 your interpupilary distance or IPD. And 00:02:38.480 --> 00:02:44.879 then you can take it even a step further and equip it with prescription lenses so 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:51.120 that you never have to worry about fitting glasses under your headset ever 00:02:47.040 --> 00:02:54.640 again or sharing your VR headset ever 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:56.400 again. This forever alone design 00:02:54.640 --> 00:03:01.680 philosophy ends up being one of the Beyond's biggest strengths. Uh the 00:02:58.640 --> 00:03:04.712 cushion really is incredibly comfortable 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:06.560 and manages literally zero light bleed 00:03:04.712 --> 00:03:12.319 [music] and apparently issuing adjustable IPD contributed to 00:03:08.640 --> 00:03:13.840 significant weight savings. But it also 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:20.319 ends up being one of the headset's greatest weaknesses in that for anyone 00:03:16.640 --> 00:03:23.599 with a family or even an 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:26.080 expensive investment will at best be 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:31.680 mildly uncomfortable for anyone but you who uses it. And that's even if you pony 00:03:29.200 --> 00:03:35.920 up for additional face cushions once those become available. Then again, if 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:38.879 your layout children wanted to have a big screen beyond, they should have 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:41.120 thought about that before they didn't have jobs. Am I right? Yeah, it's out 00:03:40.640 --> 00:03:46.879 later. Let's talk about the experience for you, 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:50.159 the alpha of the house. Having never 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:53.120 seen a micro OLED display before, I was 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:57.920 blown away immediately by multiple aspects of the Beyond's image quality. 00:03:55.440 --> 00:04:02.480 Okay, first of all, of course, you get the incredible contrast of OLED with 00:04:00.239 --> 00:04:09.280 blacks going from, you know, kind of gray in my Valve Index to actually 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:13.200 black. But what really got me here was 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:16.160 the finness of the image. I mean, 2560x 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, 00:04:19.280 --> 00:04:28.479 it is over 50% more pixels. It looks way 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:31.040 better. But my screen door effect, like 00:04:28.479 --> 00:04:35.199 for real, guys, this is the first headset that I've used that makes even 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:40.960 the high quality assets in a game like HalfLife Alex feel kind of cheap and low 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:45.759 res. It's kind of like when TV transitioned over to HD and we all went, 00:04:42.960 --> 00:04:50.160 "H, special effects probably need to get a whole lot better, don't they?" The 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:55.120 panels aren't particularly bright. Big Screen quoted me about 80 nits at their 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:59.600 default 100% brightness, which is considerably less than the index and a 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:05.840 little over half of the Vive Pro, both of which are decidedly last gen products 00:05:02.880 --> 00:05:11.360 at this point. But I got to confess that until I asked Big Screen about HDR 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:18.960 compatibility for watching movies and, you know, the grand cinema in VR, I had 00:05:15.280 --> 00:05:22.160 no idea that the Beyond was so dim. In 00:05:18.960 --> 00:05:24.880 fact, you can increase the brightness to 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:29.759 about 200 nits in their driver utility. But with zero light coming into the 00:05:27.039 --> 00:05:34.240 headset, plus the reduced motion clarity that comes with a brighter display in 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:36.800 VR, I actually found that I preferred 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:41.039 the dimmer experience. Also, the Beyond's fan kicks into high gear to 00:05:38.960 --> 00:05:44.960 protect the internal components and to keep the user's face from getting too 00:05:42.880 --> 00:05:49.840 sweaty when you turn it up. Capturing that. Speaking of, time to get 00:05:47.520 --> 00:05:53.840 sweaty here and actually fire up some games. Because of the bandwidth 00:05:51.360 --> 00:06:00.240 limitations of DisplayPort 1.4, for the Beyond can run either at 75 Hz at its 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:03.440 native resolution using DSC or display 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:08.560 stream compression or it can run at 90 00:06:03.440 --> 00:06:11.759 Hz at 1920 by 1920 using DSC once again, 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:13.759 but also using Big Screen's own lossier 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:18.000 compression that gets upscaled back to native once it passes through the 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:22.479 optical cable back to the headset. And this has been a significant source of 00:06:20.400 --> 00:06:27.120 controversy in the leadup to the launch of this product. But [music] now that I 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 00:06:29.039 --> 00:06:34.880 kind of overblown. It is true there is a 00:06:33.280 --> 00:06:38.560 difference in image clarity. And if I was planning to spend an extended amount 00:06:36.400 --> 00:06:42.560 of time using a virtual desktop or watching movies, I would go to the 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:48.080 trouble of adjusting the refresh rate in the driver and rebooting [music] Steam 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:50.319 VR. But for games, I found that any 00:06:48.080 --> 00:06:55.120 difference was more than made up for by the Beyond's drastically reduced motion 00:06:52.479 --> 00:07:00.160 blur and edge fringing compared to LCD type displays. Now, Big Screen has their 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:05.360 own workound. They suggest manually setting render resolution to 3600 by 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:11.199 3600, so you're effectively using super sampling to overcome this. But they also 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:14.560 recommend an RTX 4080 or greater for 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:16.400 this technique. So bottom line, if a 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:20.479 future headset comes along that supports DisplayPort 2.0 and we don't need these 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:25.199 compression tricks, then I'm never going to say no to a visual fidelity boost. 00:07:22.880 --> 00:07:29.680 But for now, that doesn't exist. And this trade-off is one that I would 00:07:27.039 --> 00:07:34.400 happily make. Though even characterizing it as a trade-off feels a little unfair 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:39.840 to the Beyond. This is the kind of upgrade where every game you play feels 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 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:49.840 out is available on Steam now. I found myself once again marveling at the fun, 00:07:47.599 --> 00:07:54.240 beautiful environments and just taking joy in the sheer immersiveness of the 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:57.840 experience. And I've already touched on HalfLife Alex a little bit, but to 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:03.440 expand on that, you're [music] still just a disembodied pair of hands, but it 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:09.199 felt less like being in the game and more like being Alex. Um, I found myself 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:13.199 getting distracted just looking at things and and marveling at the artwork 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:17.919 as though I was putting on prescription lenses for the first time in my life and 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:22.240 I could finally truly see it. One valid complaint I've seen about the Beyond 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:26.879 though is that its non-porous silicone type cushion can lead to some pretty 00:08:24.479 --> 00:08:31.199 unpleasant experiences in workout games like BeatSaber [music] and Dance Dash. 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 00:08:34.560 --> 00:08:41.680 less noticeable when I was already kind of damp all over anyway and more 00:08:38.959 --> 00:08:46.640 noticeable when I wasn't doing anything. For example, I was sitting on the couch 00:08:43.760 --> 00:08:52.000 watching Encanto in the giant theater environment in big screens Steam app. 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 00:08:54.080 --> 00:09:00.320 way, the all streaming future going to kind of suck for experiences like this. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:03.839 After 20 minutes or so, I felt like I needed to air the headset out. Big 00:09:02.346 --> 00:09:08.240 [music] screen apparently does have plans for a future cloth cushion, but 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:13.680 personally, I plan to stick with this one. Oh, did I mention yet that I'm 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:17.760 sticking with the Beyond? I am, but it actually wasn't as simple a decision as 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 00:09:20.160 --> 00:09:26.720 watching movies or playing Alex or whatever, the only thing I regularly do 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:33.200 in VR is play BeatSaber. And the difference between 90 Hz and the 144 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:37.680 hertz of the index is pretty significant at a high level of play. After some 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:41.680 longer sessions, however, I feel that the reduced motion blur is worth it 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:46.900 along with the better overall image quality. Another thing I do from time to 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:51.600 time though is stream. And I got to tell [music] you guys, whatever Valve did 00:09:49.680 --> 00:09:55.120 with the onboard audio system on the Index [music] is the kind of science 00:09:53.360 --> 00:10:00.160 that is so advanced that it is in disccernible from magic. Because these 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:03.839 near field speakers are perfect for listening to music. And the built-in 00:10:01.920 --> 00:10:07.839 mics often get comments from viewers asking what the heck I'm using and why 00:10:05.680 --> 00:10:12.240 my voice sounds so good. Thankfully, the mic on the Beyond seems to be made of 00:10:09.680 --> 00:10:16.240 the same kind of magic. and if their upcoming audio strap is any good, that 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:20.959 should hopefully resolve both my issue with cable riding my headphones and my 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:24.560 issue with strap comfort. However, there's one more thing that cannot be 00:10:22.880 --> 00:10:30.480 overcome with a future update, and it's this kind of lens flare effect that 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:35.200 blooms out of bright objects. As my understanding goes, this is a side 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:39.920 effect of the extraordinarily thin and light pancake lens assembly that Big 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:45.440 Screen is using. There are advantages like the aforementioned lightness and 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:48.320 thinness, but this blur flare is a major 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:52.880 and distracting drawback, at least when you're noticing it. Here's the thing, 00:10:50.640 --> 00:10:59.440 though. I remember buying my first high-end display. It was a P95F plusb 00:10:55.680 --> 00:11:02.560 CRT. It was 19 in and ran at 1600 x 1200 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:04.560 of 85 Hz glory. And I know what you guys 00:11:02.560 --> 00:11:09.200 are thinking. Where you going with this old man? But please stick with me, okay? 00:11:06.959 --> 00:11:13.440 My point is that monitor used a technology called aperture grill to 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:18.959 achieve a sharper image. And one of the complaints about aperture grill displays 00:11:15.680 --> 00:11:21.279 was that you could actually see two fine 00:11:18.959 --> 00:11:25.600 wires running across the screen where the horizontal damping wires were welded 00:11:23.839 --> 00:11:28.880 to the vertical wires that make up the grill. [music] 00:11:26.880 --> 00:11:33.440 They're pretty noticeable, and I was on the verge of returning mine until I 00:11:30.880 --> 00:11:36.079 fired up one of my favorite games and promptly forgot that they were there. 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 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:45.920 flares are as forgettable as my damping wires. In darker games like Beat Saber 00:11:43.760 --> 00:11:51.040 or HalfLife Alex, they stopped bothering me altogether. But that wasn't the case 00:11:48.640 --> 00:11:54.880 all the time. While playing Ly's Tail, for example, which is a bright game that 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:59.279 puts the user in a fixed position where they look around a lot. I was often 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:04.438 distracted by the perceived lower contrast in these flare areas or flare 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 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 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:17.600 my things, honestly, it's all good. But 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:21.760 as soon as some bright notification or app pops up, it's like someone threw 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:26.079 Vaseline in my eyes and then shone a flashlight at me. I do appreciate a lot 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:29.920 of the transparency and product education that Big Screen does on their 00:12:27.839 --> 00:12:34.240 product page, especially with respect to the compression that they're doing on 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:37.279 the image, but these blur flares are conspicuously absent from their 00:12:35.839 --> 00:12:41.279 literature. And it's something that I think they should be meeting headon in 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:48.079 order to ensure that would be buyers understand why this design choice was 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:51.120 made. Because now that I do, I'm okay 00:12:48.079 --> 00:12:53.120 with it. There's just so much to love 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:56.880 here. Um, for example, I really appreciate the fact that it's USB 00:12:55.200 --> 00:13:01.360 powered rather than requiring a wall plug, it makes it so much easier to pack 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 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:09.200 while their no frills approach means no 00:13:06.959 --> 00:13:15.200 frrills, you know, integrated processing for standalone operation like Quest, no 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:16.959 gaze tracking like the PSVR2, no. But 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:20.880 believe it or not, that's actually something I like about their design 00:13:18.880 --> 00:13:27.200 philosophy. They did what they set out to do. Build a smaller, lighter, more 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:31.440 immersive VR headset. A true upgrade for people like me who already wired up 00:13:29.760 --> 00:13:37.519 their living rooms with tracking base stations and don't want the compromises 00:13:34.560 --> 00:13:43.040 of inside out tracking. It did result in some questionable choices, like for 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:45.120 example, the inability to pop out of VR 00:13:43.040 --> 00:13:49.360 and talk to someone, like where am I where am I supposed to put this thing? 00:13:46.800 --> 00:13:53.519 Um, and not to mention the inability to share your headset. Like I mentioned 00:13:50.880 --> 00:13:58.959 before, your Beyond is yours and yours alone. But then, come to think of it, 00:13:57.199 --> 00:14:02.240 that's probably fine given what I know you people are using this thing for. So, 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? 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:10.880 Just don't use this segue for that. To our sponsor, Corsair. Are you looking to 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:16.079 build a PC, but don't know the difference between a 12 pin and a bowling pin? Or maybe you just want to 00:14:14.079 --> 00:14:20.639 reduce clutter with one standardized cable connecting everything. Well, 00:14:17.680 --> 00:14:25.600 Corsair's IQ Link ecosystem could be the answer. Create a chain of devices using 00:14:23.680 --> 00:14:30.079 the same simple connector, all leading to a single IQ link system hub that can 00:14:28.160 --> 00:14:34.480 be magnetically attached to the PC frame. Each of the hubs two ports can 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:38.480 handle up to seven connected devices, reducing cabling complexity. With a 00:14:36.560 --> 00:14:43.519 range of products in the ecosystem, such as fans, coolers, and power supplies, 00:14:40.880 --> 00:14:47.519 building a fully connected PC is a breeze. Oh, and of course, you can 00:14:45.680 --> 00:14:51.600 customize the RGB lighting and all of your Corsair devices with their IQ 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:56.880 software. You're a gamer, aren't you? Check out Corsair's IQ Link smart 00:14:53.920 --> 00:15:00.560 ecosystem at the link, no pun intended, down below. Okay, [laughter] 00:14:58.880 --> 00:15:05.600 if you guys enjoyed this video, maybe check out my review of the Valve Index. 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 00:15:07.680 --> 00:15:10.920 remained relevant.