cheapest and best looking way to play?

[oChalko]

I just got this game on sale but i dont have a VR headset.

What do people recommend to get started with a good quality headset?

The index looks nice but extremely expensive. I do wear glasses so if i end up keeping my headset for awhile itd be nice if they were comfortable too.

[TheMicroMechanic]

i use pico 4, works great on PCVR, its price at around 460€ i think!
Standalone wise it still lacks some things but it came a long way since it came out, new features being constantly added!
it has pancake lens instead of the fresnel(i used fresnel 2 times before and honestly i prefer pancake)

[TheMicroMechanic]

but keep in mind, you need a decent processor and a beefy GPU, i have a 1660 dual fan by zotac, i can slightly clock it and after messing around in the settings of nvidia control panel and get locked 72fps but i still enjoy the game quite well despite not being visually perfect

[necrophonic]

The Index is still a great headset that obviously plays Alyx well as it's what it was designed for.

That said, it is an older headset now and there are newer headsets that do individual things better - but none I know of that don't lose out in other categories. It is also, as you say, pretty pricey, but you get what you pay for.

As long as your glasses aren't huge, they'll work with the Index. I initially used to wear mine with the headset if I wasn't wearing contact lenses, but I've since bought prescription lens inserts that mean I don't need to anymore. Similar third party lenses are available for other headsets.

If you're on a budget though and can live with the Meta'ness then the Quest 2 is still a capable headset that many here own and play Alyx with.

Other options exist now though and I'm sure others will be able to share their experiences.

Echoing Estevacio though, make sure you have a capable PC, as games like Alyx can't be played on things like the Quest standalone.
That said, the required specs for Alyx aren't huge (it's an older game now) and I played fine with a 1070ti and AMD Ryzen 5.

[oChalko]

Originally posted by necrophonic:

The Index is still a great headset that obviously plays Alyx well as it's what it was designed for.

That said, it is an older headset now and there are newer headsets that do individual things better - but none I know of that don't lose out in other categories. It is also, as you say, pretty pricey, but you get what you pay for.

As long as your glasses aren't huge, they'll work with the Index. I initially used to wear mine with the headset if I wasn't wearing contact lenses, but I've since bought prescription lens inserts that mean I don't need to anymore. Similar third party lenses are available for other headsets.

If you're on a budget though and can live with the Meta'ness then the Quest 2 is still a capable headset that many here own and play Alyx with.

Other options exist now though and I'm sure others will be able to share their experiences.

Echoing Estevacio though, make sure you have a capable PC, as games like Alyx can't be played on things like the Quest standalone.
That said, the required specs for Alyx aren't huge (it's an older game now) and I played fine with a 1070ti and AMD Ryzen 5.

with the quest 2 dont you need a separate cord as well?

[Regnrock]

PICO 4 and Quest 2 offers most bang for the buck at the moment.

Both comes with spacers if you wear glasses, there also third-party prescription lenses that can be fitted over the regular lenses if you don’t want to wear glasses while gaming.
You might not even need glasses for VR.

Both have the option of wireless connection which is great from a perspective of not having to bother or worry about cables.

Both can play games in the headset without the need of a PC, not PC games though.
Both have a lot of third-party accessories for customization.

One thing with Quest 2 is the access to the Oculus store that have some very good exclusive games easily at the same quality as HLA, there are workarounds to get these to work on other headsets.

[scollay]

Second hand Rift s, tethered only. you'll pick one up for around €230.

[SkacikPL]

I own Quest 2 and would advise against it, streaming video via USB is a horrible experience. It's not really worth it, especially after the price increase.

Get yourself any kit that actually does have a proper video interface, be it HDMI or Display Port. It will save you a lot of head aches.

Also forget about it if you're wearing glasses, majority of frames wouldn't fit in. You either have to resort to contacts or order pricey custom made corrective lenses.

It's not an impossible experience but there were plenty of reasons why quest was the cheapest entry into VR.

[castaneda.r07]

Hp Reverb G2 overall has the best clarity for the price. They are usually on-sale for 350.

[Marmarmar34]

I highly recommend looking into getting lense inserts for whatever headset you plan on getting. I got mine from vroptometrist for my index and it's been a godsend. I don't have to worry about scratching my lenses on my headset or glasses anymore, and it's way more comfortable.

[PaldinoX]

Originally posted by SkacikPL:

I own Quest 2 and would advise against it, streaming video via USB is a horrible experience. It's not really worth it, especially after the price increase.

Get yourself any kit that actually does have a proper video interface, be it HDMI or Display Port. It will save you a lot of head aches.

Also forget about it if you're wearing glasses, majority of frames wouldn't fit in. You either have to resort to contacts or order pricey custom made corrective lenses.

It's not an impossible experience but there were plenty of reasons why quest was the cheapest entry into VR.

Not sure why you got clowned, streaming video to the Quest looks horrid compared to dedicated PCVR headsets.

[SkacikPL]

Originally posted by Spewa2233:

Originally posted by SkacikPL:

I own Quest 2 and would advise against it, streaming video via USB is a horrible experience. It's not really worth it, especially after the price increase.

Get yourself any kit that actually does have a proper video interface, be it HDMI or Display Port. It will save you a lot of head aches.

Also forget about it if you're wearing glasses, majority of frames wouldn't fit in. You either have to resort to contacts or order pricey custom made corrective lenses.

It's not an impossible experience but there were plenty of reasons why quest was the cheapest entry into VR.

Not sure why you got clowned, streaming video to the Quest looks horrid compared to dedicated PCVR headsets.

Don't particularly care but it is what it is. Streaming video via USB is essentially having a youtube video live streamed to your headset.

It can look "good enough" but it has a LOT of issues and will never good properly sharp/crisp no matter what. I've spent hours with the oculus debug panel to tweak settings/resolutions/bitrates and sure, you can improve the video quality by a lot compared to default settings but if you're sensitive to image quality, you'll always notice that it's compressed and blurry.

And that's just image quality. There's a lot of headaches and overhead with cable bandwidth and compressing the video, where GPU has to do extra legwork compressing the video on the fly and depending on the resolution/refresh rate/bitrate it can cause random failures that are an absolute nightmare to debug. Airlink is no better really as it's same but over wifi so it introduces extra points of failure, i tried it when Windows 11 was new and back then it just plain didn't work on that system.

TL;DR is that Quest 2 is cheapest for a reason, using it for PC VR has a lot of quirks and issues that require jumping through hoops and in the end you'll simply have to come to terms with image quality being subpar but that's what should be expected for the price.
Before they increased the price it might've been worth it but now i'd say just save up extra and get HP Reverb G2.

[IanL]

I agree, and there is no way given the available bandwidth that the image via the WiFi connection on a Quest2 is not degraded as a result of the compression that's used, which cannot be lossless given the amount of compression required. There will also be a certain amount of lag introduced as a result of the compression/decompression process. I'm not saying this is not acceptable to some people and running cable free is a huge plus, but a direct A-B comparison with a non wireless image would show big differences.

[STARCORE]

Pico 4. Rtx 2060 Super. Wifi 5G (wireless)
The game was excellent.. Played it on Normal, stood up .. really immersive I thought

[Jackets #FreeUkraine]

I got myself a quest 2, you get 2 free games most of the time and it's on sale sometimes. I have a friend with an index and i tried that out earlier this year. I have to say i was REALLY impressed with the quallity of the quest 2. Also i am playing half life alyx in my living room right now, wireless. good stuff

[oChalko]

Originally posted by Jackets #freeUkraine:

I got myself a quest 2, you get 2 free games most of the time and it's on sale sometimes. I have a friend with an index and i tried that out earlier this year. I have to say i was REALLY impressed with the quallity of the quest 2. Also i am playing half life alyx in my living room right now, wireless. good stuff

How do you play steam games wireless with quest 2