Building the community pimax manual

Topic to collect useful tips

In this topic we will collect and organize:

  • Getting Started (Setup, ipd etc…)
  • Comfort Guides
  • Troubleshooting & workarounds

IPD setup Guide

1. Mixreality tv - No more Eyestrain!

Hardware IPD

The manual IPD dial/wheel on the headset itself and that sets the distance of the lenses so it’s optimal for your IPD.

Software IPD

These settings are found & set in Pimax Play (in Device Settings, under Advanced tab). This sets the image of the left and right eyeballs to be the correct distance. Horizontally & Vertically.

Software Ipd offsets can be customized individually for each eye. The only problem there is no guidance or tutorial on how to set the IPD offsets. In either Pimax Play or SteamVR.

will do this too soon. I’ve got a feeling that it is my right eye which is defective on hardware side :smile: but maybe this helps a bit to get rid of the vertical “nebula sections” and blurred barrels I have. I hope it’s not the lense itself…

Indeed that would suck. Though maybe reseating the lense may help as well.

I remember trying that, it was one of Sebastians later posts trying to help people with the eye strain. Man I had high hopes that it would help. Sadly didnt do much for me ;(

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Indeed. I remember your XP as well. It was ashame to learn it is a general issue of WFoV hmds as I recall you had the same XP with Xtal. Hopefully we have a breakthrough with future designs.

Perhaps maybe Hypervision’s hybrid pancakes might solve this issue for more people or maybe just maybe the 12k might also have this issue worked out. So more people can enjoy WFoV hmds.

Yes this might be key, I still think your theory on canted lenses is the issue. Are the newest Pimax OLED and LCD interchangable display engine headsets canted?? Also I wonder if the 12K will be canted. I think I read that some were having eye strain with the Crystal, thats why I never bought it.

I don’t know to be honest. If they are likely more like Index so very minor. Though focal distance is reported to be lower on current Crystal models iirc 1m?

@calvinyau would likely have better details to share on this.


How are you finding the interface etc… so far?

I wear reading glasses for my iPhone and just reading in general, the only headset I have ever had to wear reading glasses was the Pimax 4k, I guess they are going back to basics with the focal distance??

I remember my Index experience and I was really ok with the FOV, sure it could have been more but I was pleased and didnt have eye strain. Im looking forward to real world reviews in the Somnium VR1, they tout 120 HFOV. I may have to try it.

Interface… One thing I noticed is that when replying to a message, I would like to be able to scroll and see your last post and other posts before, maybe Im “doing it wrong” lol. Other then that so far so good :slight_smile:

One other thing, after my experience with the Bigscreen Beyond, Samsung Odyssey+, Reverb G2, PSVR2, Index, the list goes on, Most of the time all those headsets were plug and play, no fiddle farting around to get it up and running.

Man I think Im done with Pimax. Seemed like I was always spending 5 to 30 minutes just to get it up and running. I barely have time for VR much less fighting with Pimax HW and SW. I still have a 5K+ just to be able to expreience great HFOV, so I tried to fire it up the other day and of course I had issues, I gave up UUUuuugh!! LOL

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Yes that is indeed an issue. Though while I will not say to buy a Crystal. As it is using a more traditional VR hmd design it might work better in terms of the eye strain issue due to either very low canting or none.

There are users out there that do seem to be getting a plug n play experience (well some had good fortune with the Wfov hmds too) some do seem to have the hit n miss.

With pimax being more experimental at times and still struggle with ideas of creating release branches like Stable, Tests-passed, beta. Best to keep an eye out until they have a stronger unified XP among consumers.

They do seem to be trying harder but are not there yet. But will one day do all us old backers proud before the end of days. :wink:

I do know our earlier Wfov hmds are at times temperamental that once we have it working. Stop do not dive into playing.

STOP

  • Audit how everything is setup.
  • What USB port & do is used by hmd.
  • What peripherals are plugged in(photos are great)

And maybe next time if everything matches it might just work as expected. If an update is qued for pimax. If it is working maybe say nah. :joy:

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Come to think of it, the last I I had an issue with 5K+, it was plugged into wrong USB port :roll_eyes:. They do seem to be making some progress, and thats great.

Maybe I could give the Crystal a chance, I said that with all the Pimax headsets before I got them LOL. You cant argue with the price. The Crystal and VR1 have close to same WFOV, I think the Crystal has a little more VHOV and the VR1 has a little more HFOV. However theres a few factors ,(for myself) that would steer me towards the VR1.

  1. Hopefully no eye strain like in Pimax, however the Crystal does look to be a new design and would be a cheap enough to purchase to find out.
  2. Hopefully much less piddling around with the VR1 than the Pimax beta headsets
  3. A little better HFOV
  4. reviews show the VR1 has a more sharp image

As for the newest Super Pimax with interchangeable panel engines, I dont think my current HW would support them

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The only thing that may still be factor for potential Eye strain on the Crystal is I believe they are using a shorter focal distance of 1m.

The Super tbh should be fine in theory as you can downsample/upscale. However until this hmd is released all things are speculation.

The Optic engine in one regard at first glance could be called a gimmick as most people are not very likely to swap from one engine to another.

However that would only be taking a very narrow minded view on what this actually adds to the real value.

Having the Optic engine module swappabikity. Actually adds a number of real pluses. Presuming pimax also keeps this to also include easy to swap lenses independently.

  • Easy to swap lenses if damaged or improved lenses are released at a later date.
  • Display panel gets damaged or fails. Easy to swap without needing to send the headset in for repair of the panel.
  • Provides a potential upgrade path for both lenses & display panel.

Adding these more modular concepts can also be good for the company as they could focus more on selling upgrades vs marketing a new hmd every couple of years. Which if done right is what OSVR could have been with the a la cart idea.

All very good points.

I do have to wonder what Pimaxs real reason for the interchangeable optical engines.

PCL Troubleshooting Experiences: (focus, local Dimming, Sound, Cable Length)

By: paradox_delta on r/pimax


So I received my PCL with lighthouse faceplate 3 weeks ago after applying for preorder in July. While I higly appreciate the visual upgrade over my trusty Valve Index, there was a lot of troubleshooting ahead as many reviews indicated. Feel free to add your own suggestions :slight_smile:

First try:

The display didn’t turn on after first install.
Fix: I rebooted my PC.
The display appeared foggy.
Fix: I cleaned the smudge from the protective films with a lens pen or lens cleaning solution.
I almost got motion sick with the initial amount of warping.
Fix: Turns out the IPD wheel was set to 72mm and in contrast to my previous headsets, the right IPD matters a lot with the PCL.

After the first try:

The display gets more out of focus the closer you move your eyes torwards the edges.
It doesn’t really bother me in game.
There is chromatic aberation even in the middle of the screen.
This becomes very apparent with straight edges with a sharp contrast like text or window overlays.
Fix: I focus on text in the middle of the screen to find the sweetspot (I use the Pimax menu). If there is a red outline on one side or a blue on the opposing side, I slightly move the headset up / down / left / right on my face, until the outline disappears. Then I fix the positioning as good as possible with the top strap.
Apart from the center, the abaration is only noticable in game when I’m looking for it.
Standing in front of a text wall, it seems to have a curvarture upwards above the middle lane and downwards below it.
Fix: My face is 2-3mm too close to the lenses. Applying 2 layers of the studioform gasket fixed this issue.
The image appears more rectangular and less oval than I’ve seen on other headsets.
Fix: Again, my face is too close to the lenses and I see reflections on the side of the case that disappear with 2 layers of studioform gaskets.
The local dimming causes a lot of circular blooming on a dark background with bright details.
Fix: I set the local dimming to 0.996 in the newest driver.
The default audio solution is very thin sounding (remembered me of my old Rift S).
Fix: I ordered the DMAS speakers and use my wired Bose QC35 in the meantime. But…
Wired headphones have so much bass EQ that I can barely hear anything else.
Fix: I reduced the amount of bass with EqualizerApo.
The headset is front heavy and becomes wobbly if you don’t want to put too much pressure on your face.
I ordered the upgrade facepad and top strap from Pimax and hope they will help.
The cable is too short.
Originally I thought the 4.5m Pimax cable is just half a meter shorter than my Valve Index cable, but it’s actually 1.2 meters shorter.
Fix: I bought an active 5m USB 3.0 extension and a 3m DP 1.4 cable alongside the Cable Matters DP repeater and located the power supply along the cable path. It would only work with active repeaters for DP and USB (otherwise DP wouldn’t connect and USB would have a frozen local dimming after a few seconds). It works up to 90Hz but 120Hz freezes my PC (supposedly because the DP repeater can’t handle the inline compression). I’m hoping there will be a 6m fiber optical cable in the future.


:reddit: r/pimax

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