@stekusteku Thank you for your view on this!
I already ordered the Crystal light having a 5800x3D and RTX4090. I hope this setup with the light will work for me as well - not missing MR to much!
Since Microsoft is discontinuing Mixed Reality, it would be great if they made the algorithm for Motion Reprojection available for other companies/the community! (@mbucchia maybe?)
Does anyone know if Pimax is actively working on improving Smart Smoothing or if there have been noticeable improvements recently?
@stekusteku
Pimax Crystal light,
I am on a 7800x3d/4090, using Pimax Open XR and OpenXR toolkit, 90HZ, half refresh rate, no SS, Maximum, Turbo Mode on, 46xx Resolution in OXRtoolKit with DLSS Quality, FFR preset, MSFS with high/ultra, TLOD 130.
Sharpness and colours are amazing but when i move my head a little bit or the plane itself, the Cockpit and the landscape become blurry and some stutters too.
I tried different settings, nothing helped.
Any idea, what i am missing or doing wrong?
Any help appreciatedā¦.
Solid locked 45 FPS/90 HZ or 36 FPS/72 HZ, no problems there.
Are you using DLSS? With my G2/rtx 3080 ti I use a 45 fps frame limit along with MSFS Reprojection Mode Depth. Iāve tuned all my settings so MSFS always pegs 45 fps and the VR smoothness is excellent. Any idea if this frame limited āspatial reprojectionā works well with the Crystal running at 90 htz?
I agree that the jiggly motion reprojection artifacts are unacceptable, but for my style of GA flying Iām completely satisfied with spatial reprojection using my settings.
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Hi,
Both Steam / MS version are the same, itās simply the way the game launch itself, but once the game/sim is launched, by enabling āVR modeā it will call the OPEN XR VR API by default.
Yes for both Steam/MS version you could also tell the default VR api to be āSteamVRā (less performance). Thatās the confusing part, the SteamVR API is not only for the Steam verison of the game, but also for the MS Store.
It is better to use Open XR by default for both distributions
and then inside the game when VR is enabled, OpenXR will call the correct runtime
For the Crystal Light, it will send the VR image to the Pimax Open XR application you had to install from pimax
For the Quest 3 it will send the VR image to the Oculus Open XR runtime through the application from META you had to install
For the HP Reverb G2 it will send the VR image to the Windows Mixed Reality Open XR (until Windows 11 23H2 and then discontinued)
VD is for autonomous headset such as Quest 3, pico etcā¦ itās an app installed on your headset that will get the VR image compressed through the network (wifi) from the VD server app installed on your computer.
Now VD can transfert the signal from OpenXR or SteamVR APIs
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Sorry to hijack donāt want to start another post.
Is it just me or is there really not much out there in terms of opinions on the Crystal light?
Is it just too early or not enough market saturation due to supply and demand?
Of course i have read what is out there and watched the videos Flight Sim Guy is a nice watch and has some helpful tips but he does seem to excited about most headsets and uses similar comments to big them up which becomes a bit confusing. I know all these onliners say their reviews are genuine but when your given a free headset, well there is no such thing as āfreeā reallyā¦
I didnāt quite get on with VR after the āWOWā factor wore off, i started zoning in on the visuals in the distance and i was always a bit meh. I tried the Q2 then the Q3 which was a miles better experience over the Q2 but i was still a bit meh in terms of the view distance. I had no complaints with things up close, could read all the gauges etc but anything in the distance seemed to turn to mush. There was also an awful shimmer effect on near and distant trees and i personally found the colours overly bright. I did mess about with OXR and it did make a difference compared to quest stock app but it still felt overly bright. I remember testing it coming into Skiathos and it was just one big bright mess coming in over the sea.
Kinda hoping the light would help with some of this but not sure, i know VR is very subjective and the best way is to just test the headset etc
I agree about view distance and overly bright. I usually fly at near dusk or at least early morning/late afternoon. Things are crisper then and more realistic. Night lights - ehā¦?
Mine came in today. with local dimming, but no controllers. I got it setup just fine without local controllers using Pimax XR Control Center (a separate app to set the āfloorā, the space, the room, or whatever itās called.
I had a Reverb G2 which was great. This one is better. More comfortable (slightly), better colors (a lot better), darker black for great contrast, better definition in the far distance in front of you. Smooth no stutters. I did not use the tools to tune it yet and left resolution on max.
4070, 5800X3D.
A better headset than the HP Reverb G2 for sure. Clarity on the edges. Easy to get close to the glass screens Garmin 1000.
Very pleased. Ordered from their China website. It was shipped from their associates in Los Angeles, Calif. (actually the City of Industry suburb of L.A.).
Ordered June 4, it arrived July 11. (They shipped it UPS. UPS does good tracking).
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It uses a halo head mount with a good quality clicking tightener / loosener. Also a head strap too.
The head mount:
The āroom settingā is what I meant above. I used Pimax XR Control Center (a.k.a. Pimax XR Runtime) to do that with a mouse and keyboard (I have no controllers). I just typed in 2 meters in both room size boxes and it works perfect.
This is an important question:
I have the light on order, should arrive August. I too have the 7800x3d and 4090.
Ive never been able to run the quest 3 headset without ASW (motion repro). If i dont use it, it ghosts, like a laggy blur. Especially when looking out left and right on takeoff, and when flapping the wings in air. Even at 45 frames, my quest 3 with ASW off, does this.
I am just hoping i can fly the neo and other complex aircraft at at least 40fps with the P-Light. I havnt seen to many videos of the light showing the left or right view upon takeoff or close to the ground. This is my main concern, whether or not it is a smooth headset. If i see juddering/stuttering/microstutters, it totally ruins the vr experience for me. With the quest 3 at a locked 40fps (half 80hz) and at 1.4 supersample via oculus tray tool, its been very smooth. The only things that bugs me is the compression, jelly beaning and shimmering trees. There is just not enough pixels to create a super sharp image, even at 3808 resolution.
VDXR never did it for me, i could never get better visuals with wireless vs link. And that was with a 6e archer router.
I just hope the pimax is stable,
Got my Crystal Light. In MSFS I get a strange āartifactā. Itās a white band, almost from left edge to the right edge, slightly above the middle of the VR image, about 10-15% of the total image height. If I move my head all the way to the right, it goes away. It doesnāt go away if I move it po the left. It happens with all planes that I tried. In the āexternal cameraā mode, there is no artifact. Have any of you users encountered this? Of course, I filed a ticket with Pimax, 2 days ago. No response, yet. Any help is greatly appreciated.
" This is my main concern, whether or not it is a smooth headset. If i see juddering/stuttering/microstutters, it totally ruins the vr experience for me "
Not all is ideal with my Crystal light. for instance fps:
this is at Orlando on the tarmac and just after takeoff with the relatively dense scenery. Of course there are tougher tests.
4070 5800X3D (not the 7800X3D):
render preset Ultra but both LODās reduced to 160.
full resolution the headset can provide. 72hz
DLSS QUALITY 24
DLSS BALANCED 28
DLSS PERFORMANCE 34
DLSS ULTRA PERFORMANCE 43 fps
My old Reverb G2 gave higher fps then the above, maybe 20% higher.
smoothness, micro stutters, shimming trees. looking out and down from the right window: No issues! Perfect !
The best thing about this headset is smoothness in the images while they move and it connects and works everytime.
I donāt have any issues like the white line mentioned above.
Better than G2 a lot: Colors, especially deep rich blues. The far distance out in front doesnāt look painted on. Image is wide and sharp.
But it canāt deliver fps like the G2 when both headsets are at full resolution and have equal settings in MSFS turned on.
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Or in two words: Smooth video and the colors !
Oh, one other negative. I have to turn on a little LED desk lamp to keep the tracking completely stable. The G2 could track well in a very dark room. But not an issue if there is a fair amount of light.
EDIT: Crystal LIght: you can set a keystroke shortcut to turn cycle on / off āpass throughā (to see a Saitec panel or switches on a quad, or even find the arrow keys on the keyboard. Itās not a good picture (the pass through) but you cans see your hands move to a mouse or something).
Figured it out. Itās the Shift+ZStats from flightsim.to Just remove it from the Community Folder.
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To be honest, what your getting at full res in the light is very good, considering your implementing a 4070 and 5800x3d.
So are you getting smooth flight at all graphic presets? even 24fps?
You need to use an app, which i cannot mention on this forum. It will boost fps very nicely.
Really pleased to hear its smooth for you, thatās promising information, thank you.
Well I was mistaken in my report yesterday. Itās all correct except I was in what Pimax Play resolution setting called Balanced, not Maximum. There is also a Minimum . 3 choices I was in the middle choice. They donāt list the resolution numbers, the pixels.
At 24 fps, if I look out left there isnāt jitter unless I also look straight down at the ground. Then I can see it slightly. It goes away at 28 fps.
I took a flight tonight late a few minutes ago at the payware edition of London City Airport where the runway is about a half mile from skyscrapers and you fly straight at and through them. Dense graphics.
Pimax resolution set at the middle of the three Balanced. DLLS turned one notch down from Quality to Balanced. MSFS Render preset turned down from Ultra to High End.
fps from runway to dodging through the skyscrapers ranged from 27 to 31. Absolutely beautiful and stable.
Itās still going to look great and with better performance, if I turn down some individual items further like Occult Occlusion and Volumetric Clouds and so foroth.
Bad things about the Light: It wonāt track in as dark a room as my old Reberb G2 would do. I have to turn on a little 40 watt bulb on the ceiling above my desktop at night or it looses tracking.
I have to only have one monitor on when using the headset. It makes a huge difference. If I have two monitors on it tanks the fps by about 10-12 fps which is terrible.
My G2 would perform a little better if I only had one monitor on, but the difference was only 2 or 3 fps.
If anyone has trouble waking up a Crystal Light:
only have one monitor connected to windows.
move the USB plug to another socket on back of the computer.
Turn off ālet windows turn off this deviceā in device manager for every thing listed under USB and under Human Interface Devices in Windows Control Panel Device Monitor. (thereās a lot of them, so cycle through them all. Itās under Power Management ^
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After trying things and tuning my new Crystal Light with a 4070 5800X3D, Iām using these settings. Getting about 35 fps looking straight ahead. And about 34 fps if I look out the left window and straight down at the ground. No little jitters anywhere in sight.
Now, Iām using the Open XRToolKit which is not the (Pimax XR runtime switcher). And cheating by using CAS in that app. The pic shows: Upscaling OFF FSR NIS CAS. I use CAS.
Pimax Play: I use Render Quality Balanced. ( a lower pixel density than Maximum).
Image settings:
FPS above are at EGLC the ORBX London City Airport V.1 and ORBX London Landmarks packs. This is very dense scenery and fps is taking off default runway and flying barely on top and even through of all the London Landmark skyscrapers.
so thatās a tuned by me 4070, 5800X3D system Crystal Light
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I am crossposting this from r/pimax in a hope someone here can enlighten me. :).
Just got my Crystal Light and everything is working fine from hardware and software point of view. But there is one thing that bothers me. When I sit in a virtual cockpit and look around the whole picture tilts slightly in the direction where I am looking. So, if I rotate my head left the cockpit also moves to the left. For example, I sit in A-10 and there is APU fire handle right in front of me. When I rotate my head, I can see this handle is also moving slightly. Itās nothing big like when headset tracking is messed up and the whole scene is moving with your head, but itās something I noticed straight away when I put this headset on first time. I tried MSFS and get the same issue so itās not game related.
I hope you can understand what I am talking about :). I tried to capture a video footage, but everything looks different on 2D image.
Iāve been using Reverb G2 for the past 3 or 4 years and had Rift CV1 before. Iāve never experienced anything like this with those two headsets. I still have G2 so I put it on and all my head movements feel natural again. This bloody APU handle stays in place when I look around the cockpit :).
I tried playing with IPD and vertical/horizontal offsets in Pimax app but the strange effect is still there.
I got some responses saying they experience similar distortion and one guy saying this is typical for aspheric lenses! I read so many positive reviews about this headset I canāt believe people are ok with this issue.
Youāre not alone, I returned the Crystal (not Crystal light) because of issues which included image distortion. G2 to Crystal Transition - #42 by Greytop538
The best way to describe what I saw through the lenses was fisheye distortion, which was particularly nauseating for me when I rotated my head, left right and up and down. The cockpit essentially got distorted as my view panned.
I continue to use my Reverb G2 which in this regard is perfect. I too had a Oculus CV1 and Oculus rift s prior to my Reverb G2 and they were also spot on with no image distortions unlike the Pimax Crystal.
Sadly itās once bitten twice shy for me with Pimax so Iāll be looking at a non Pimax headset to eventually replace my Reverb G2, current favourite is the Big screen beyond but Iām keeping my powder dry for a while longer 
I hope you find a satisfactory solution with your Crystal Light.
Iām also waiting to replace my Reverb G2 (once Microsoft bricks it 
)
Iād get a Quest 3, but DisplayPort is a must for me, and the Q3 doesnāt have it.
Itās good to hear the negatives about the Crystal Light, because I was strongly considering that headset. Iāll keep my powder dry as well. 
I donāt think there is any solution. Iāve already packed the headset and itās going back to Amazon.
Also, the headset is very heavy on my nose. I canāt wear it for more than 10min. I canāt imagine playing combat sims with it where you move your head constantly, especially in close dogfights. Putting back G2 feels like it was built for my head :). I know there are alternative straps for Pimax but I am not willing to invest more into it with this awful barrel distortion.
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