They've done very well!
I still remain very suspicious of Kickstarter (why couldn't they have just taken pre-orders direct and enabled all punters credit card protections?) but, though I didn't pledge, I feel good about this and think it will all work out well.
Can't wait to be one of the first who pre-order and can't wait to hear the thoughts of those who get their's early next year.
I'm hoping they don't go back on what they promised. I'm still a bit sceptical about some of the details. And whether the Vive controllers will bind wirelessly to this thing (they haven't shown or even mentioned it would - it's all been assumption till now).
Actually Kikckstarter has some rather intense clauses for meeting expectations and honoring claims.
Far exceeding Mastercard or Paypal.
A bit of an extreme, but some indie dev somewhere had a kickstarter to do a certain game, collected about 100k or something, but fudgeed off and partied with the money.
Got taken to court på Ks and have to pay back every cent.
Kickstarter themselves refunded all pledges directly.
The biggest question is over the 75hz issue. Will they push the panel to 85-90hz in time?
honestly...... having come from a DK2 @75hz and going to a CV1 at 90hz...
when both were running at full frame rate in low persistance mode i personally could not tell them apart - not in that sense anyway.
75hz low persistance i personally think will be ok so long as it is a steady 75hz (and are they not talking of doubling that to an effective 150hz anyway using their "brainwarp" (i do not claim to be an expert so sorry if talking rubbish)
i think those sensitive to vr sickness may notice the drop to 75, but not me.
dropping to 72 or 60 however (the other 2 modes on DK2) was horrible.
@TorTorden I think your example was absolutely a scam and that's why Kickstarter acted. If a start-up give their best effort but ultimately fail to deliver, as many Kickstarters have, the backers will get nothing. Had a backer pre-ordered with their credit card they would be protected, your credit card company is also liable if items don't turn up. I'm generally suspicious of Kickstarters, especially of any businesses that shouldn't need to raise capital*, for this reason.
That said, don't want to be a naysayer. I'm suspicious of some of the stretch goals but generally I'm feeling good about this and reckon most will be happy with their gamble... and I'll be extremely envious!
I found the 90Hz a huge improvement over 75Hz and couldn't now go back. If only 75Hz, I think that might be a deal breaker for me. Not completely clued up on this issue but isn't it to do with changing from HDMI to DisplayPort? And only DisplayPort 1.2, not 1.4, as only the Nvidia 10x series use 1.4?
*and by this, I mean reports of Redditors claiming Pimax have a proven track record of delivery of the 4k headset, that this isn't a couple of guys working out of their basement, so there is no risk here. If there was no risk there should be no Kickstarter and we should just be pre-ordering, and only paying money when the item is dispatched.
Well, this is what I'm wondering about too. They can't be going far beyond using HD resolutions at 90Hz per eye before they bump into the limits of HDMI 2.0 and DP 1.2. If they move to DisplayPort 1.4, that should give them enough bandwidth, but would it require an active tether cable for a decent length?
Ah well...we'll see where this hype train ends up soon enough data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Someone has to start pushing the limits of VR if the big boys are dragging their heels.
From what I read on the KS comment about the frequency he managed to get them to admit it was the internal upscaler in the hmd that couldn't keep up with the 90hz refresh.
The pc for this version is not tasked with rendering 3840×2160 * 2 but 2560×1440 * 2.
Not quite 4k. But still about 2.844x the pixel count of a rift or vive.
Per eye.
I'm seriously starting to doubt if my pc can push that at what I consider playable frame rates.
I don't think the big boys are dragging their heels, they are just playing for a different market. It would be nice if they had another tier above the standard rift/vive as a sort of early proof of concept for what's to come for those willing to spend the money but I actually think that would work against them.
Right now things need to be kept as simple as possible, showing much better future prototypes when they want to sell what they can currently manufacture would only cause a large percentage of people to wait it out.
I'll be amazed if this now free eye tracking add-on is good enough for foveated rendering which is really the main thing you'd want it for. I'm very interested to see how it turns out, I'm happy enough with my rift for now and my next purchase will be a Fanatec DD wheel whenever that drops early next year so won't be too jealous if it ends up being amazing.
Apology Letter, project status and risks
so it seems like 90hz is only ever going to be an "at your risk" kind of thing, with it only officially being 80hz.
imo its not a big thing, or wouldnt be for me at least but i can imagine it being something they may take flak for and it is only fair and balanced if people are going to use lower FOV and resolution as a stick against the vive and rift vs the "8k" to also accept that it is at the cost of screen refresh rate and game frame rate.
it more confirms to me that the "5k" level of screens but set to a 150FOV but at a solid 90hz may be the better compromise of features....
but then i would say that as that is what i thought before i knew about this issue with the 8K so i am biased.