Former Oculus CTO John Carmack Reviews Bigscreen Beyond

传奇程序员、前Oculus首席技术官约翰·卡马克（John Carmack）以对XR行业几乎每个方面的独特见解而闻名。尽管他在去年12月离开了Meta，结束了他在VR领域的“十年之旅”，但卡马克仍对这个媒介非常感兴趣，因为最近他亲自体验了最新的PC VR头显之一——轻巧的Bigscreen Beyond。

Bigscreen Beyondis a Valve-basedSteamVRTracks a standard wired PC VR headset. The headset, which starts at $1,000, has an interesting value proposition for users already in the SteamVR hardware ecosystem. It's been highly praised, with a thin and light profile thanks to a Pancake lens and Micro-OLEDs that display 2560 x 2560 pixels per eye at a 70 to 90Hz refresh rate.

We've probably heard our take on it. Now let's see what the experts have to say:

"Bigscreen Beyond feels like a prop from a futuristic movie, but it works!" Carmack saidtwitter postsaid in. "The smallest and lightest PC VR headset to date."

This is from id Software, one of the founders of Oculus, not to mention the studio behind pioneering 90s 3D games Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake Highly commended by one of its co-founders and lead programmers.

To hear all of Carmack's insights on Bigscreen Beyond, we've formatted his tweet as follows for easy reading:

Bigscreen Beyond feels like a prop from a future movie, but it works! The smallest and lightest PC VR headset to date.

Thanks to an iPhone-based facial scan prior to placing the order, the fit was perfect without any light leakage. The custom facial interface is comfortable, but not breathable, so not suitable for fitness activities.

The magnet-attached prescription lens inserts work great. Picture quality is a bit of a compromise compared to the Quest Pro. Resolution is significantly higher, but in flat-thin optics there are more internal reflections and quality drops more towards the edges. At some viewing angles, the screen looked excellent, good enough for real production work, but couldn't maintain that quality across the entire field of view.

I miss integrated audio so much. Playing around with the headset took a serious toll on the minimalist feel of the headset. I know some people disagree, but I still think the Quest made the right decision when it comes to audio.

The cable connecting to the PC and tracking the base station is the biggest disadvantage compared to the PC. The magic of standalone VR is real, and while some will happily forego standalone VR for powerful and flexible PC performance, I wouldn't recommend any PC VR setup as an option for getting started with VR.

For anyone considering an upgrade to a PC VR system, Bigscreen Beyond should be one of the options. I'm really excited to see the extreme focus on lightweighting and hope it influences Meta's future designs.

In a subsequent tweet, Carmack pointed toAdam Savage's Tested, which he said "discusses my point in greater depth."

In this review,TestedNorman Chan of . Chan shows off the lens images and discusses "the good, bad, and oddities of coming out in this unique way of high-end custom VR," reads the video's description.