How to know if my Reverb G2 is bad? Should I send back?

User Support Hub Virtual Reality (VR)
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How much visual “clarity” should I expect from this headset?

I’ve had my Reverb G2, purchased from HP, for 1 week, during which I’ve spent hours researching and applying the currently-recommended graphics settings for my rig.

I bought the Reverb based on aggregate user reviews highlighting the “clarity” of the visuals from this headset.

I get great performance and visuals from the sim in 1080p, but while using the Reverb, despite lots of tweaking, everything still looks “blurry” to me as compared to my 1080p display.

This isn’t about the frame rates, I’m happy with those. It’s about the visual clarity, in the UI, in the cockpit, and “out the window”.

I have my OpenXR and in-sim rendering resolutions set as high as I am able, and am getting 30-45FPS in flat panel and around 30 in the headset. I have terrain detail and object detail set over 100 and trees and buildings on ULTRA, and I can see the details on the buildings and trees, but I still perceive the visuals as “blurry” as compared to on my flat panel.

This “blurriness” is also present in the UI. When I look at the “floor” (the grey floor that has the rectangles outlined in black) the black lines don’t look crisp. The text on the UI screens looks a little fuzzy as compared to on my monitor. And in the sim, the cockpit instruments and text are readable, though slightly blurry. But it’s while on the runway (for example) while looking out at airport buildings and trees, that I notice that, although the detail level is there, the edges of everything just look blurry.

Is it possible my headset has some defect? How would I know?

Thanks in advance,
Waxer

Summary system info:
Windows 10 Home - Intel i5 11400F - GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB - 16GB DDR4 3000MHz - 1TB Intel M.2 NVMe SSD

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Yes throw that ■■■■ away and buy a real headset :slight_smile:

HTC VIVE PRO 2 ftw :slight_smile:

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Hey! While it might be very possible there is a hardware issue lets check a few things.

G2 Sweet spot

Having your headset adjusted correctly on your head is key to this. The back of the strap should sit relatively low on the back of your head. I made a mistake by having it up high for a long time until someone pointed that out to me.

IPD.

It is important you match the IPD to the best of your abilities. Every little bit helps when it comes to zeroing into that sweet spot. Now the sweet spot isnt super small or anything crazy but again, if your IPD is set incorrectly and your headset is not properly on your face your most likely going to be off as far as visuals.

Render Scale.

You can adjust the render scale for the G2 in 2 locations. Within the sim and through an extra downloadable software (not required to run the sim so you wont have it unless you download it) called the Open XR Developer tools available in the Microsoft Store. I would dare say you might have a hard time running a render scale of 100% in VR within the sim as we are highly GPU limited, meaning even my 3090 is often the limit for performance and while I can run at 100% render scale, I often do not.

So 100% render scale is ultimate clarity in MSFS and very sharp but most folks run msfs render scale for the G2 at 75-85% to help improve smoothness, especially if you do not want motion reprojection on (enabled through open xr dev tool app mentioned above)

Performance and Clarity in other VR sims -

Have you tried Xp11, DCS, or any other VR title? How is the clarity over there? Understand MSFS and DCS are the two most demanding VR titles I think out to date and MSFS is the only one that challenges my 12900k + 3090 + DDR5 build. but, is the clarity else where good? Maybe have someone else try the headset see how they feel about the clarity overall.

Settings

Clarity is improved by bumping up Antialiasing to TAA (taxing on performance) and Antialiasing to x16 (also taxing) but give it a try. If you find its clear but stutters a bit, again your hitting your GPU/CPU performance limit.

Perspective

Where are you coming from in VR? is this your FIRST VR headset, have you done VR for a long time and tried other VR headsets? Understanding the limits of the hardware and having other prior experience will def. help you understand a bit how this clarity compares to say and Oculus Rift, or Oculus Quest 2.

I have been flying in VR since 2014, I have owned the first Oculus DK1, DK2, Rift S, about 12 VR headsets in total and Currently am using the Reverb G2 V2 (slight improvements over the V1) and plan to do a comparison video on it later. I have also had the opportunity fly MSFS in the new Varjo Aero and I have used the XR-3 in other flying sims proprietary to Boeing. I say this to give you some perspective on my background and to say that the G2 although NOT PERFECT, and not quite like your 4k monitor, it is a very clear image with minimal screen door effect achieved by its high resolution panels of 2160x2160 per eye, but it should be a very clear image and experience.

Now with your specs, I suggest you run a slightly lower render scale for a smooth experience so say 75% and go up 5% from there as you test fly in your home airport.

Hope this helps!!!

Jose / theVRpilot

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I would start by getting out of MSFS and look at the WMR store. How are the visuals, outside the sim? If those are still blurry then maybe you have an issue.

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Thanks for replying, I’ve watched most of your vids. These are excellent suggestions, all of which I’ve implemented for MSFS. I am still testing different render scales (testing them at two airports, on the runway to give me a static scene to look at: Lukla (where the buildings and terrain are pretty close to the a/c), and Innsbrook (where the tower and houses are in the further distance).

I haven’t tried the headset in any other sims yet, and will do so.

However: how can one take a true “through the lens” photo or video with the G2? I’ve seen a few posted showing various artifacts and shimmer. It would be great to see/show what I am experiencing (and make sure my mark 1 eyeballs aren’t the source of the problem).

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Will do, and thank you for your suggestion.

I am also trying to see if it would be possible for me to get a true “through the lens” picture or video…I don’t know if it’s possible in the G2 but I am starting to look for info

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LOL okaaay.

(I did go check the prices on the alternative models though. I got my G2 for $399 from HP at Black Friday - that’s hard to compete with, but the pursuit of excellence has never been for the faint-hearted, he said while eyeing his wallet).

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Through the lens photos are tough, if you try I suggest do it with a newer phone that has a good camera, or a good camera point and shoot or dslr i guess lol if you can manage it.

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It’s not what you want to hear, but using a 3060 in VR with MSFS will be a challenge. Not saying that it’s easy or cheap to get something faster, but I have a 3080, and feel like it’s at the bottom bend half of acceptable performance in VR. It’s fine, but can’t imagine using VR with a lessor GPU, although plenty of folks do. Telling is that with a 2080ti, I enjoyed VR, but probably only spent about a third of the time flying in that mode. After getting the 3080, I pretty much am always in VR. I also spend about 60-70% of the time in DCS. You are using an entry level GPU with one of the highest resolution headsets. So, yes, it probably doesn’t look that great with the G2 on.

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Silly question but just in case. You took out the protective membranes from the lenses right?

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SU5 made everything blurrier/less clear in VR. SU4 was pretty crisp in comparison.

Are other VR apps also blurry for you or just FS?

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There’s nothing wrong with your G2, its just not as good a visual display as a decent monitor. If you want that you’ll need a varjo aero.

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I agree with most of what has been said. Just wanted to add that you were disappointed when people spoke about the amazing clarify in reviews.

Now, when you read something like this, you must understand most people (like myself) were coming from an old Oculus when we wrote this. And compared to this, it is a huge improvement. The biggest issue/limitation with the G2 is the narrow focus-point of the lenses. I’d say 60% away from the centre is very much blurred. This is normal behaviour. There are now better alternatives, but also more expensive.

I’m probably going to be happy for a year, before I want to upgrade to a better lens and most importantly OLED, which gives stunning black levels and colours. But then it’s probably also time for a new PC and graphics card. I’m on a RTX 3080 right now. Works reasonably well since the latest Nvidia and OpenXR updates, actually better than ever.

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Final update: thank you everyone for the helpful POVs and advice.

I got everything adjusted to my satisfaction and I am loving my G2. The “lack of clarity” I was experiencing (perhaps a poor choice of words on my part) was due 80% to the lowered resolutions I was getting from OXR and the slider in the sim, and 20% due to just getting used to how the headset fit on my head to get the sweet spots centered on my eyeballs, and the IPD adjustment and the right thickness of pad.

However, the biggest improvement came with the OXR NIS upscaling software add-on that mbucchia has created, that is in open Beta, and can be found here

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/openxr-nis-upscaling-software-release-thread/482927/49

It is, in a word, amazing, in the increase in sharpness it provides! And the increase in headroom.

Both the panel and the view out the window are now crisp and clear for me, and I am running all the settings that I want to on Ultra. I am a happy camper, and mbucchia is a golden god.

If you haven’t already and you use any VR headset (the add-on works universally) – you must check it out that topic. My experience is detailed therein, and post #1 has the info on the add-on. Happy flying!

Cheers all,
Waxer

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