UPDATE: Quest 3S is here! Quest 3 has had a couple of updates to *slightly* improve passthrough quality (colors are more natural, pixels seem a bit tighter, there's less blowout/exposure and voids), but it's still very grainy and not what you see in recordings - so keep that expectation in mind. - 🛒 *Buy the Meta Quest 3*: Quest 3: geni.us/BvJOl (512GB is now only $499!!! 128gb model no longer exists) Quest 3S: amzn.to/3BEqdzC BoboVR M3 Max Head Strap + Battery Pack: geni.us/EQk6 PCVR Link Cable: amzn.to/3NnQdlB 👌 Get 25% OFF **ALL** these games by using these referral links Assassin's Creed Nexus: ocul.us/4adp4vE Demeo: ocul.us/46Qtciw Contractors: ocul.us/4abxO5B Dungeons of Eternity: ocul.us/487suOP Bonelab: ocul.us/3RjIfLE Virtual Desktop: ocul.us/3uOLtiF Beat Saber: ocul.us/49m2Pmw Pavlov Shack: ocul.us/3NnaMyK Blade and Sorcery: ocul.us/4ackSwh Superhot: ocul.us/3uZGAmV Walkabout Mini Golf: shorturl.at/FHNR1
Regarding the Bobovr M3 pro. I ended dropping a 'undred quid on the M2 pro with dual battery's and 3d printed a conversion kit so it fits the Quest3. Works a treat. I couldn't wait for the M3 as it's release kept slipping and the few that became available flew off the shelves faster than toilet paper during lockdown 😊
@@srgpip5620 - That's legit a smart idea - I was debating doing the same. I couldn't catch a M3 from Amazon and their website claimed 3-4 week shipping times and had weird charges added so I didn't follow through. I might follow your footsteps since the batteries seem to be the same - and then just upgrade the batteries whenever they make a better version of those.
I took my Quest 3 back for a refund. There was this issue. Passthrough looked like sh1t. There is also the terrible battery life, and adding an external battery pack barely helps. I predict a lot of headsets with dead batteries after the one year warranty has expired. If you buy this headset prior to a revised version of it, with a better battery pack, you may be wasting your money IMHO.
Definitely was overhyped. It is a significant improvement from the Quest 2, but looking at all the early reviews saying the pass through is so crisp and clear is a lie. I thought I had a defective device, so I got a replacement and still got the same grainy, unclear pass through experience.
100% agreed. It's definitely still usable, but I feel the overhype did a disservice to the community and caused panic + confusion instead of enjoyment of the new tech we have access to. Also just FYI in case you haven't yet seen, Meta announced yesterday they are going to be able to improve the passthrough experience quality via software improvements as they get more data from people's cameras.
The update a few days ago did absolutely nothing to improve such. It really is one of the biggest marketing cons I’ve seen. Sure, it’s great as a stand-alone VR device. But for mixed reality is an absolutely gimmick and has me questioning the veracity of some reviewers !! It’s rife in the e sim racing community.
Ehi same here i ve never experienced vr so was my first headset i bought yesterday, apart passthrough barely usable i didnt find the movies or home windows to be so crisp and sharp i thought i had a defective one returned it today got the new one but it s the same. So is it normal that in the home or the movies or txt in general are not so crisp or sharp? It s somewhat pixelated edges and bit blurriness
The best way I can describe the quality that you see is old webcam, that's how it feels. It does feel like a 1st gen kind of feature and I am sure that it will be greatly improved in Quest 4
Perfect…just the answers I’m after. Exactly what I’m seeing in my Quest 3. So glad I found your channel…you have put my mind to rest. Thought my Quest 3 was bust 😂
I just got my Quest 3 today and set it up and i also thought the noise and fuzzyness was i that i got defected item. So now im here finding some answers! I'm guessing this is just normal then, i felt abit let down, but the menus and everything else are clean and nice.
@jaycartell254 - Yea, it's normal! We have enough evidence now to confirm it's just the default experience. You can try to improve the lighting in your area which will give you a slightly better experience (I found that lights at 6000k or above work best.. the more blue the better things look). Essentially, more light = better visibility, up to a point (and you have to be careful not to create too many hot spots with your lights which will cause the cameras to fluctuate too much).
This is easily the best and most detailed review on the pass through on the quest 3 I have seen so far. And from what I understand is that people aren’t lying that the pasthrough is good, it just looks much clearer if it’s recorded compared to the somewhat cruddy irl passthrough. I am actually gonna test that now! Thank you again for answering every question I had about it!
Thank you for taking the time to watch! And yes, fun playing tip if you use your finger to cover the camera, you will be able to confirm that the passthrough is using the same camera you're recording from.
Haha, I really appreciate that! I think it's because I'm new to this.. regardless, I will continue to put out quality content and hope we make some big moves in 2024.
I did the same thing you did, after being shocked at the graininess, and exclaiming to my wife "something's wrong!" I tried to pick a the front of the camera on my Quest 3 to see if there were hard to see plastic film protectors over the cameras for shipping purposes (there weren't). I've now pretty much accepted that certain things look very grainy in my apartment, and have come to enjoy the passthrough after my initial disappointment. It actually helps me accept it that I learned it's not a defect on my headset but a general problem. But I never had plans to use it for virtual monitors like you did, just for fun.
Hahaha, glad to know I'm not alone on that one! =) I agree with you there, I am enjoying passthrough still. The virtual monitors even work super well; it's just the little window to see your keyboard is a bit too blurry. Meta says they are going to be pushing software updates to make it better for us, though, so fingers crossed! What have been your favorite mixed reality experiences or games thus far? I'm finally about to get into the gaming side of things now that I've finished this video.
Agreed. It felt disappointing to see the below par pass through, it definitely bordered on false advertising from Meta. Glad to see it is a general problem and not just my unit 😅
That was a very thoughtful and well done review! You answered all of the questions I had and more. Now that I am able to move past my initial disappointment, I'm beginning to feel that with the crisp graphics that are overelayed onto the grainy background for mixed games at least, whether it will become less of an issue in my peripheral vision. No doubt this will continue to plague for virtual offices. Here's hoping that Meta,s software will be up to the challenge! Thanks again!
I'm glad it was helpful! Thanks for taking the time to watch. And agreed - the MR experience works because of the overlay graphics.. even in an office setting because once you are in a flow state, you don't really notice your surroundings anyway because you're working on the screens. I have a full review coming where I share my thoughts on mixed reality as a whole. It will probably take me a couple weeks to get it out because it will be somewhat long.
@@flashpunk7333 Those are different technologies, no camera uses that kind of tech, even smartphones. You can filter grain but there is no reconstruction because it needs more info about the scene: depth, motion vectors, ID, and so on
@@TheDigitalGuerrillawell according to Meta's CTO,Andrew Bosworth:"Yes,it will continue to improve as we continue to get real world lightning conditions and information from the headsets that have been picked up, we start to tune the algorithms that drive it more effectively. And so i do think it will continue to improve - modestly - from here for a little while as we do a better job depth estimating with where your hands and working with the distortion around that, and things like that. So yeah, we're gonna continue to work on it as we have with the quest pro." So if u trust what he say then the answer will be yes , the pass through will improve.
Hands down your video is the best description regarding the Quest3 passthrough quality. I am experiencing exactly as you described and was thinking I may have a defective unit but it appears not. Hopefully software updates will improve this feature. Thanks for the clip buddy.
Appreciate that! Meta just announced yesterday (10/24) that they are confirming future updates will make the quality better - once they have more user data from the cameras for their AI to process and improve upon. I would expect we'll be seeing fairly regular updates until they hit a ceiling.
Just got one Meta 3 512. I would hope more youtubers would speak about this as I feel I was mislead. I appreciate you being honest Aline Tech. I'll like and subscribe.
I bought three of the Quest 3's and I noticed my daughter's is noticably more clear than mine in pass-through and some apps. There's definitely an inconsistency in these headsets that I hope software will fix soon. Might get myself a replacement before the return window closes
@@aline.tech.reviews gonna check the actual version number, but they both said they were updated fully. My mom's is closer to mine, but her's is the 128gb edition.
@aline.tech.reviews ok typing this on my phone from her device, it's system version 49743630046900510 Version 59.0.0.172.706.535429038 Runtime version 59.0.0.171.706.535429024 Os version SQ3A.220605.009.A1 Yes, my device has the same software version. Both 512gb. Rebooted. Charged fully and drained fully, and with and without the Binbok extra batteries too. I have noticed on mine that there are some instances I notice an improvement on mine un different apps, so I'm leaning towards a bug fix Or quite possibly inconsistency in the pancake lenses and refraction of light by different apps in certain areas of the screen
I too am a first time buyer for vr. You spoke my mind exactly, from a technology progession standard it is much better, or so I hear, but to us people watching the ads and glowing reviews from previous vr enthusiasts, it seemed to alter our expectations to something a little more, refined. Like the video said, it's passable. But but I would imagine VR is easier than AR since there are unlimited variables. @danbarb9728
I think it has todo with the mounting of the screens inside the headset. The quest 2 using once screen made this a non problem, while Quest 3 have 2 screens, that are aligned at 45 degrees. But it looks like these panels are cut.. so one screen maybe is 44.5degee, and the other 45degree, making hte pixels not align up, and giving you a fuzzy look?. just a guess from me. If it was software, the video you record would not look good.
I got the quest 3 because of videos that I saw of people playing in mixed reality and the recording looked so crisp. I was sorely disappointed in the lack of quality of the passthrough camera. But I’m not disappointed in my quest 3 experience thus far. Even just popping out a RUclips screen in mixed reality is amazing. I hope the quality can be improved though.
@@Trooper501st oh man yeah I can see how that would be insane help. Hands free manuals and access to quick references. I wonder if you’ll be able to do that with the Apple Vision Pro instead. That sounds crazy. What app would that be in?
@appache28 Well, if you want it for that I wouldn't count on the Vision Pro since it's apples first headset and probably more for standalone stuff and integrating with other apple products. Would go with the Varjo XR 4, they specifically make there headsets for commercial use purpose. I could test the XR 3 shortly last year and it works amazing for stuff like that
Sure thing! And yea, it's still an extremely valuable feature to have, as long as you have that expectation set. =) I think a lot of viewers took this video to the extreme with the conclusion that it "sucks and is a worthless feature" - which is far from what I intended to put off. Meta has made a handful of updates to the cameras over the past year - I plan to make an updated video about it. It's all minor quality improvements (there's only so much they can do), but they corrected the colors and exposure, improved the quality a bit in certain lighting conditions, and reduced a lot of the "warping" that used to exist when things move around. Their most recent update matches the framerate of the cameras to the panels which should get rid of some of the wonkiness when moving or faffing about - I can't tell if I've gotten that specific update yet, I haven't noticed a difference at least.
I just got the Quest 3 today, and like you said, it was a blurry mess. The only thing nice about it is that it was emitting images in colors versus the ones I used in the past which were black and white. Also, I noticed the virtual objects that I played with during the setup, the image quality is slightly better than previous gen. For anyone new user, keep your expectation low, the pass through world through the quest 3 lens seems like you are wondering in the dream, like that unclear dark fuzzy world that you often witness yourself in your dream. Other than that games are better looking than previous gen, at the moment, I am checking out videos and tips n tricks to optimize my experience.
Appreciate you sharing your experience! I like your dark fuzzy world dream comparison. RE: optimizing your experience, if you haven't yet check out the Quest Games Optimizer. It's $10, but allows you to force increased resolution for games that run (and they have a ton of pre-built profiles for all the popular games so you don't have to fiddle around with settings much). This boost to the cpu/gpu and redering resolution will come at the cost of decreased playtime as it will suck up battery. I'm compary batteries for a video now but so far the BoboVR S3 is coming out on top with nearly 5 hours of play time.
Dude, this is the type of video RUclips needs. Straight to the point but so well structured. Editing so good. Keep it up man don’t change too much this style. You’ll blow up.
I appreciate that, thank you! I'm definitely trying to keep this style (but have also gotten some nice camera + audio upgrades for quality). I'm finally back home and starting to make videos again. I hope to start dropping again soon!
Wish I watched this before I bought it! Had exactly the same expectations from other reviews and I checked for protective films too 😂. Great review dude please keep it up!! 👍
Thank you very much for this most excellent video, possibly preventing me from returning the device thinking I had a defective unit. You've definitely earned a new subscriber. The passthrough camera footage from other reviewers is HUGELY misleading. Bottom line, glad I bought the cheaper version (128 GB for $429) and here's hoping Quest 4 will be GREATLY improved.
You're very welcome! Thank you for taking the time to watch. =) And agreed. I also got the 128GB version and I've only managed to max out the storage a couple times.. at which point I just deleted some old movies and was good to go. I'm hoping by time the Quest 4 is around that 4k micro OLED screens will be much cheaper - seems like we're heading in that direction fast. I'd imagine they could give us full 4k resolution for work and PCVR applications, and just downscale it a bit for standalone games since the hardware probably couldn't keep up (but it'd still look more crisp).
Thank you for this video! You approached the subject/problem absolutely perfectly and described it honestly in very useful detailed clear way. Well done! I look forward to more of your reviews of VR tech.
You just got a new subscriber. Thank you so much for your honesty. I'm still thinking about buying Quest 3. MR was one of the reasons. Thanks to you, I know what to expect. I still think it will be a huge improvement to my current headset (Rift S).
Welcome board!! And thank you for taking the time to watch. MR has a ways to go in my opinion, but if you want to be there at the ground floor then this is the time. Otherwise, I'd wait a bit to see if more experiences get released! I'm on the developer newsletter list and Meta pushed out occlusion updates to developers with a bunch of new SDK features a couple months back.. so I presume we'll have some awesome experiences on the way. Currently, it still feels like a bit of a gimmick.. and the long-awaited augments was only just released like recently (so recently I don't even have the update on my device yet) but we already know it's going to be a bit gimmicky as well.
Sure thing, and hope you enjoy it! Be sure to update to the latest version when you get it (if it doesn't do that automatically). They've made a handful of changes that have improved the quality a bit (not a ton, but it's definitely better than it was when I made this video - better colors, a slightly cleaner image).
I had only ever used wired VR headsets for my PC, so I was super excited to finally try out a wireless standalone headset for the first time! I got the Quest 3 yesterday for Christmas, and my dad and me have been bringing it around to show to friends and family the cool mixed reality features (first encounter) during my experience with it, I was actually able to read my phone and computer screen/keyboard pretty well. Of course, it did strain my eyes a bit, so I eventually just opted to remove the headset to see. As for other things not so small, I didn't really have much issue other than the blurry edges when moving around a lot. I personally thought it was extremely cool to use, however I do agree that the ads do not show a true depiction of what it actually looks like inside the headset. I love my headset, and I plan to continue using it
Love to hear it! Able to see your computer screen seems like major clarity; any idea what type of display/panel you have (OLED, LED : IPS / VA / TN)? Even after I got to a point where I could read my OLED phone, I still can't read my IPS computer displays (unless I scale the UI/fonts up a lot). Also love mine! Excited to see what new stuff comes in the future now that they have mixed reality occlusion ready for developers to take advantage of and full upper body tracking. Should be a fun couple years.
This was the first time I've ever used a vr, and i was very underwhelmed by what i saw in reviews, at first i thought my was just broken, thank you for this video
The quality on the camera is good, so it’s a shame you just don’t get that crispness when you’re in passthrough. Hopefully future software updates will fix this, as it seems to not be a hardware problem.
This is the most honest review! I used to develop on magic leap and thought pass through reality would be somewhat similar to real hologram AR! I was so disappointed that I thought I got a defective device. For pass through to look better we’d need better cameras and much better AI. But I’m still very doubtful whether this can be ever used for work and daily life. Maybe we need a lightweight hologram glasses that only do the certain things, and a pass through reality glasses for playing games.
As a returning customer, the quality that was promised vs what was given was slightly disappointing, but the quality I was used to with Quest 2 vs the quality I‘m getting with the Quest 3, I‘m still super happy with the result, for my personal application (DJing in Passthrough and recording POV) it is a gamechanger and works well enough - not as great as I had hoped for, but good enough to where it works and makes me happy with my purchase.
Agreed, and good to hear it served your purpose. That's an awesome use case that I hadn't considered - do you upload your sets anywhere I can see the POV for fun? Also, if you were new to DJing and didn't know where all the buttons were, would you be able to read all the levels and dials?
To echo everyone else, I thought I had a broken headset. My wife had me try it out before it gets wrapped up for Christmas. My heart sank when I saw the pass through. The VR was really awesome though. This is my first time using/playing VR. Got slightly dizzy lol
I thought i had a problem with my passthrough view too. thank you for explaining it. But everything else is awesome. i will keep this and will continue to use it. This is my first vr headset. if i had the money, i would have gotten the apple VIsion one.
I just got mine today and I to was surprised how grainy and blurry pass through was compared to what youtube videos show... But the in game graphics are great!
From looking at my hand inside the VR headset i notice in close range it captures my hands in beautiful detail and just moving it further out as we normally see things in there it becomes distorted and weird and blurry But with the fact that placing my hand up close to the camera captures my hand in good detail is for hope that it can be improved as they say it can trough software udpates which is very exciting
I want to comment to say your reviews were the most reliable when it comes to the actual reality of the device. For those who are wanting to get one and unsure with so many differing opinions, I can attest to this viewpoint as it was also my experience.
Really appreciate that! I'm doing my best to bring level-headed reviews; the platform felt saturated with overly-hyped reviews of folks trying to get affiliated and sponsored with brands. The outcome of that is actually pretty rough, because viewers can't get an honest review of the product because all the creators are incentivized to say positive things and downplay the negatives. I'm talking with a lawyer to ensure I can make a full video about this, but Meta's partners offered me an affiliate deal.. and the stipulations were insane.. it was basically an attempt to silence me via a contract and they hid it in the fine print and tried to play coy when I called it out.
Right! I feel the marketing + VR reviewers did the community a disservice by not setting clear expectations of the difference.. and spun the community into confusion/panic instead of enjoyment of the new tech we have access to.
I have a 2nd hand Q2 and I'm literally PM-ing someone right now to get a 2nd hand Q3 just for the pass through for work/play purposes. Thanks for the in depth video. I'll probably hold off for a while and maybe look into 49-inch monitors instead. Thanks.
You're very welcome! I'd argue it's AMAZING for play and goofing around, but NOT AT ALL beneficial for work. If your focus is productivity then you should wait for the Immersed Visor or the next iteration of the Apple Vision Pro (this first one is excellent so far, but not worth $3,500). IMO, for work, a 49-inch display is going to benefit you much more.
Very solid and honest review, this was exactly my experience. The passthrough is probably not a reason to upgrade, but the other features like the pancake lenses and better resolution make it worth it.
Thanks bro, I'm new to Quest 3 and when I tested passthrogh for the first time, I was very disappointed. I wanted to take my device for warranty when I saw your clip and regretted it. However, like you, I don't use passthrough freely. Anyway, I'm very happy that I'm not alone in encountering this problem and I hope Meta will solve this problem in the next quest
Sure thing, man! Thanks for watching. Even though it was overhyped, it's still good enough for using - you don't really notice how poor quality it is when you're focused on a movie/browser/window/game in your space, and even if you simply leave it in MR freely to do something your brain gets used to it.
Might it be that parts have different levels of quality? My passthrough srsly isn't much better than my quest 2,just coloured. Even the distortions are there as much as on my quest 2. Even though they don't show as much in most reviews. My passthrough isn't usable for a good mixed reality experience. It's nice for the original uses tho. The pancake lenses are by faaaaaar the best upgrade. And what will they remove on the quest 3 light? The pancake lenses😢.
Yeah I can see my surroundings okay. It's grainy as all get out. And anything bright like my phone is impossible to see unless I turn the brightness all the way down. Even then it's rough. But weirdly enough, I can mostly see my 4000ansi lumen projector screen? What's weird is watching the dirty dirty using AR. 8k resolution ultra clear people in a grainy background. It's trippy.
@@omoributadonliner2173 not at all!! It's one blurry mess. I've returned my Quest 3 and am back on my quest 2. The money just isn't worth the upgrade with the very short battery life, that will only degrade.
Once more a well researched, calmly and likeable presented video. Lots of facts, and opinions are clealry marked as such. What blessed relief in comparison to all those overly-loud, pretentious, "personal opinions are facts" channels. Thank you, sir!! PS. I share the same experience with my Q3 - thanks for confirming that that´s the current state and not my noobish attempts to find the right settings. ;)
Appreciate that! Thank you for taking the time to watch and leave a thoughtful comment. =) And haha, hope I was able to save you some time looking said settings and missed plastic. I think I spent like 2-3 weeks trying to "fix" it - which was the primary driver for making this video.
@@aline.tech.reviews Thanks for your reply, and thanks again for your videos. I have to say, that Virtual Desktop makes it possible for me to actually read something on the screen, but I also know that this is not really pass-through/mixed reality. However it does look good. :) Unfortunately, it also means I have to upgrade my Wifi network at home, as 5G provides me only with 40Mps, so 6E or even 7 it is....eventually. ;) I would REALLY appreciate your thoughts, experiences and hints for setting up a usable VD environment. Any chance? ;) Keep up the good work!! Ps. the link to view your gear does not work for me
This is the best video I've seen explaining the passthrough and I've seen dozens of them. Great job! Based on what you have said, my experience has been about the same but maybe I find the quality slightly better than you do. I have pretty good led white lights in my home that really brighten it up. When they are turned on the quality is pretty good even if still a little grainy but it doesn't really bother me that much after you get used to it. When they lights are off the quality is definitely terrible. I agree, the quality that is recorded in the headset is way better than what you actually see but none of the reviewers/marketing mentioned that. However, I think some people were expecting this to be 1080p to 4k quality so of course they will be disappointed. Some people think anything under 4k quality is bad, lol. Anyway, overall the experience with this headset has been amazing and I absolutely love it. Maybe those that hate it and can't live with it will be more satisfied with the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro headset. I'll stick with the $500 headset with a few shortcoming that I can easily live with. The technology will improve we just have to be patient. The Quest 3 is definitely a huge step forward in my opinion.
Apologies for only just seeing this - your comment got caught in YT's "offensive" filter that I just found for the first time. I really appreciate that - thanks for taking the time to watch and leave a comment! There seems to be a pretty big difference in yellow (warm) vs white (cool) lights that I've noticed. White/cool = much better; but, even in full daylight with all the windows open and about as bright as my house can possibly get, it's very much still a bad visual experience.. but, it's good enough for what it needs to be and that is letting me walk around to get a drink or check my phone without having to take off the headset. And haha, yea - I think so many people's expectations were set at a clear 1080p experience (x2) based on Meta's marketing and review captures. I can definitely see why there was such an uproar. Definitely agree that for the $500 you really can't beat the experience. I legitimately don't know what else I could buy for $500 (or even $750 including all the add-ons I had to buy) that is capable of providing this much value and array of experiences. It seems insane.
To be honest, I wasn't expecting a stellar experience with the Quest 3 pass-through. I'm not using the headset for mixed reality anyway. Most disconcerting was the frequent warping. I didn't realize my new iPhone 16 was foldable until after I looked at it while wearing the Quest 3 headset!
😆😆. That got me good! Also, are you on the latest software? I had very bad warping out of the box (over a year ago), but once they started pushing software updates the warping was greatly reduced. Also, in one of the recent updates (v66 - which would have been during the Summer 2024) they made another push that reduced warping by a lot. I still have warping on the very edges of the screens or when things get too close to the headset, but outside that the warping has been excellent (non-existent). Meta has done a great job at making regular updates and improving things over time.
I might be the most earliest reviewer here so let me help out who ever coming after me..... i just bought the Quest 3 and immediate after i statt it up the pass through was hella ugly as this reviewer explains but.... when i set up the device insaw there was an update after updating the quess 3 i saw a complete different experience with the pass through because i was honestly worried wbfire the update thinking how bad it was but after the update inwas happy. In conclusion... it seems the pass through clarity and experience will get better via updates in the future but the current update now as of January 28, 2024 i can say its very clear.... One more thing when first booted the quest 3 looking at my phone was completely blurry like he discribed but after the update i was able to see the images on my phone but detail words are still unreadable hopefully future update will resolve this that way ill never need to remove my quest 3 unless its to stack it away afyer use. Thank you guys and sorry for my bad typing.
You're very welcome! And yea, it's normal - make sure you have updated your headset to the latest firmware as they have made some minor software/etc. improvements that makes the colors a bit better and reduces light blowouts/etc.
@@independentscrambler - Still very grainy and noisy! I don't know that they can fix that through software at this stage, we just have to deal with it - they did fix the coloring and blow-outs a lot, though. I saw you posted in another comment thread as well, try turning the brightness down on your phone so that your headset can read it (and so that you can read it through the headset) - 100% brightness seems to blow out the cameras too much because the light is too intense.
@@aline.tech.reviews hey one more thing. I was using a 3rd party charging station for charging the headset and controller, today I noticed when I place the headset it will turn off automatically (the whole dock) like dead. And if I remove the headset it will turn on and charge the controller, again if I place the headset it will turn off the whole station. Is this a charging station problem or is it with a headset, any suggestions. I don't have any option to check the headset. Headset charges with the included power brick and cable.
@indipendentscrambler - More difficult for me to trouble-shoot, but I'd make sure that you have the headset docked in properly, you might have it so its only partially in the correct spot. Wiggle it around a bit or check the instructions to make sure you've got it seated properly. And then yea, if that doesn't work and you're using a proper charging brick with enough wattage, I'd return it
It seems like it wasn't initially intended to be a standout feature but rather just a helpful little feature like it was in the quest 2. In the quest 2 it was initially used as a way of staying aware of your surroundings. With the quest 3 however they pushed this helpful little feature beyond what it was capable of just to add another selling point.
I'm not sure I agree with that - I feel like the Mixed Reality experience was a massive part of all their external comms and one of the largest draws for consumers. It was a big focus of their product launch. My guess is that development just wasn't moving quickly enough after they had the final hardware locked it. What we got on launch day was the working passthrough and a handful of tech demos, suggesting it was effectively a beta test to get this in front of developers so they, too, could start building on it. A good example of this is that we STILL don't have augments that were back in those launch keynotes and it's been 7 months. I'm not complaining about that, by any means, I understand these things take time.. and it's not like its "oh why didn't they just add this UI element", Meta is literally pioneering a new realm of XR experiences for the entire world. I'm super excited for the future updates and am glad I got to experience the "before" so that I can make solid comparisons in the future. Developers have built some pretty fun experiences already and I've seen some independent Reddit programmers also building crazy teleports and stuff in their free time with MR.. so feels like we're right on the cusp of some awesome experiences incoming.
Apps as in the virtual menus / apps screens / settings /etc.? If so, that sounds like a different issue and one you can likely fix with either changing your IPD setting, adjusting the headset on your face, or checking your vision. If all 3 are good, then I would suggest you exchange for a new one - because all the virtual aspects should be pretty crispy and clear. This video is only commenting on the passthrough cameras, where you see your real world environment through the cameras.. not the menus/etc.
The passthrough experience 5 months after this review still sucks big time. Here where I live I guess is a combination of poor light as well. This video was great. Good job dude. This is the first time I ever congratulate anyone online, so be proud.
lolol, I appreciate that and will wear the proud badge. And I can confirm, the passthrough experience has not improved in the slightest since this review. In fact, the only change related to passthrough I've noticed is they've now updated the privacy policy to confirm they're collecting our passthrough visual data from the headset.
Great video. I was Meta-disappointed in the quality of pass-thru. It was basically awful!! I had nothing to compare with, coming from Vive Pro 2, but I was expecting better. I think a lot of peeps are going to be pretty pissed at the quality. All hype, no substance!
Thank you! And yea - I'm still keeping up with the complaints/confusion across many forums, and there are literally thousands with the same experience and disappointment.
Thanks so much for this, I just got my quest 3 and thought it was broken and was going to return it, but your video makes it appear that what I see is the expectation
It’s best to think of the pass through as a good way to avoid collisions. It’s a VR headset first and foremost. Lots of tiktokers are taking advantage of the fact it looks so clear when recorded.
Agreed! I've also found it's good for checking notifications/controlling your smart home from your phone once you've dialed in your set and setting a bit. Meta announced yesterday that they will be able to improve passthrough quality via software updates as they are collecting more and more user data - so hoping they can clean up the VR passthrough window for virtual environments so that I can read my Loupdeck/Streamdeck on my desk.
Great video! The passthrough thing, I think, was deliberately overhyped by all those "influencers" who got the headset free from Meta. That being said, the human brain is a wonderful thing and it does over time adjust and compensate for the poor passthrough quality. i got used to it at least. What I did not get used to was how damned uncomfortable that head strap is! Maybe it is because I don't have much hair but really I think they made it to be replaced, preferably by Meta but also with a licensed third-party version.
Thank you! I agree with your assessment there regarding influencers. I feel they're incentivized too heavily to keep getting sent units for free by selling units (and wearing the badge of the # QuestAffiliate tag). Fun fact: Meta sent me an offer to become a "creator partner", their glorified affiliate program, and inside was a hidden clause that I couldn't feature any other headsets or VR logos in any of my videos or social media posts for the duration of the agreement and 1 year after (from there, they attempted to gaslight me into signing anyways because "we don't enforce it, trust me bro"). It has opened my eyes to a whole new level of distrust within the influencer and "reviewer" ecosystem. I didn't sign and haven't heard from them since. You're spot on with how remarkable our brains our! It's similar to the screen door effect, which effectively vanishes because my brain fills in all the gaps. I don't notice it once I'm immersed in an experience.. the same way you've noted we don't really notice the quality of the passthrough because it renders a "familiar enough" version of reality (this becomes especially true when you have a game or window in front of you, as the mixed reality falls into your peripheral). There's a lot of magic like this that seems to happen within the VR experience. The passthrough of the Quest 3 is more than viable for having the intended experience, IMO. And haha, I don't think you're alone on the headstrap - it's definitely rough after an extended period of time of moving around (something I needed to retract from my primary review because I switched it out pretty quickly by habit). From my experience with all the other headsets I've had, including the Vision Pro where Apple claims to have spent a wild amount of time, effort, and money designing their straps, it seems pretty impossible to make a strap that is comfortable for the majority. It makes a lot of sense that they're saving that expense by delivering a MVP and encouraging a third-party market for accessories (I think we'd be equally annoyed if the headset was $100 more and still uncomfortable and if they'd decided to use some proprietary connector to prevent customized solutions).
I think this is where apple did it right, Added a seperate chip that does all of the heavy lifting for the passthrough. Then it gives the usable image to the other chip. So the other chip literally has to put it in place and let it play. Hopefully they end up doing this later, I'd love to see some higher quality Cameras in other versions too. Most phones now days have a minimum of 12MP, because cameras are pretty cheap now days. So why didn't meta do this? Well, as stated above, the overhead of the cameras on the single chip. If we had those two 12MP that's 24MP of cameras, opposed to the 8 for the current two. Hopefully they can toss in a cheaper lighter weight chip to handle these video feeds in future iterations.
Yea, and as far as I'm aware, the Quest 3 cameras are 16MP each - they are simply 'binned down' to 4MP by averaging 4x blocks of pixels. My hope was they would be able to optimize their passthrough processing code to utilize more of the original data, but a 400% improvement seems unlikely and I don't know that you can bin to a 2:1 ratio.. so I think it will have to be a future headset. I'm curious if the Quest 2 Pro on the horizon with the LG build will aim to get better passthrough quality or if we'll have to wait for a Quest 4.
@aline.tech.reviews @aline.tech.reviews hmm, i wonder if thats software or hardware control doing that. I dont believe the performance would really differ much if its software. I also think the Q3 Anti-ailiasing is doing to much work, on passthrough some objects glisten. Same with older titles, its super distracting.
Great vid. Ty. A word about using them outdoors. Security cameras mechanically move an infrared filter in front of the lens in the daytime cause these sensors are sensitive to infrared. That's how security cameras survive outside without flooding the signal and/or slowly burning up the sensor. The infrared filter is just a thin piece of glass (very thin). Meta says that tracking gets flooded outside due to excess infrared. That's cause it has no infrared filter. You can by security camera IR filters for in a pack of 5 for $8 and can probably buy it in film form for pennies. But don't take them outside, as this voids your warranty.
Feels like it's still a coin flip at this point! I can imagine the price of the Apple being so hefty due to all the custom components / laptop build into the headset and seeing them drop the ball on pass-through still. Apple devices typically feel overpriced for what they offer.
Varjo XR-4. While not standalone, even XR-3 has good enough passthrough to code through with visual studio. (And of course virtual display is far superior again.) Varjo is not perfect, but it's passthrough is levels superior.
I've noticed that if I get within 10 or so inches from whatever I am looking at, I can read relatively small text. Phone, Keyboard, written notes, etc.. That is with a very well lit room. If I dim my room lights to around say, 50% at night in the same room, things become so pixelated I have to get within a few inches of the Q3 cameras to make any sense of it. The passthrough is most definitely a way overhyped feature. Great vid.. Subscribed.
Your description is spot on and is the same experience that I am having. I also have to turn down my phone's brightness to better read text in that 10 inches, otherwise white text (dark mode) gets super washed out. I truly appreciate that - thank you for taking the time to watch and leave a thoughtful comment.
I think you're pretty much spot on here. I was initially disappointed with the passthrough quality, I kept waiting for it to focus but it never did 😅 Lighting does make a big difference though. After the initial disappointment, I've gotta say I still really enjoy using the passthrough for MR, especially doing things like watching videos while cooking etc. If it is in fact possible to improve it over time with AI learning, then that's a bonus!
1:20 THIS right here. All of the footage made me think that's what I would see! I thought my headset was defective. It's terrible that all of the footage made me think that's what it would look like. This is the first video review I've found that has discussed this and has shown an idea of what we see
I’ve tried three different Quest 3 VR headsets. The passthrough quality was mostly the same on all of them. The 512GB model I tried last had a slight improvement in passthrough quality over the previous 128GB models I tried. However, I come to the same conclusion that it’s still meh. A definite upgrade from the Quest 2. Hopefully a future update will help with the passthrough quality.
Appreciate you sharing that experience! It helps add to the data pool. I may venture to try a 512GB model just to see if I can spot a difference. I think any updates they can make are likely going to be minor improvements. I don't have my hopes up for any major quality increase.
Great Video The PassTrough Quality is lit. from a phone from 2002 And i dont even wanna talk abbt RUclips 360..... which isnt working ..... well it is but u see a total of 5 pixels
Thanks for all the info. Have you ever checked the XReal glasses? Some people say they work fine and are much cheaper! Looking forward to the full review 👍
Thanks for your continued support!! I have them in my wishlist, but I haven't purchased yet! I will probably cop a pair here for black friday / cyber monday online sales. I'm excited to try them out
Crazy coincidence but the XReal Air 2 had just gone on sale and had their influencer early reviews launched yesterday - I preordered a pair so that I can review.
@aline.tech.reviews What a coincidence! I look forward to that review. I'm a trader, and just like you I spend all day at home staring at the screens, so if the XReal glasses are any good, I will be buying them 🤞
Another great video on what for me is one of the most important features for AR applications. Currently in my opinion only Varjo headsets do an excellent job regarding passthrough, but they cost a lot, are not standalone and are really for professional use. I have the pico 4 and its not worth replacing with a Quest 3. I think when the XR3 chip comes out, hopefully later this year, it will be the real game changer for standalone headsets - true 4K and more per eye, 35 ppd, eye tracking etc…👍
Appreciate that! I haven't gotten to test one of the higher-end Varjos (XR-3 + 4), unfortunately. However, I did just snag an Apple Vision Pro and its passthrough is better quality than the Quest 3's; I wouldn't claim that it's miles ahead, but it is surely a decent step up. I believe SadlyItsBradley compared it to the quality of XR-3 passthrough. I hope that I get a chance to look through an XR-4 once they get it fully settled! But yes, the 4k screens + higher PPD + eye tracking will hopefully become the new standard. I'm super impressed with the AVP so far + the OS with ability to overlay apps has restored faith that we're heading in the right direction. I'm with you there and super stoked for the next-gen devices with XR3 + Samsung's incoming refreshed micro OLEDs.
MR graininess is not so significant a problem for me as the distortions caused by nearby objects, such as your hands. I could read the Wi-Fi password from the screen of my iPhone through the Q3, I can see my keyboard, and even read most of the text on the monitor while wearing Q3.... but those distortions are bugging me.
Yea, I can definitely see that! I luckily dont put my hands close often, but when I do, the warping is intense. Meta just released an official statement, yesterday, saying that the passthrough quality will improve and they should be able to reduce warping as their software improves and AI has more user camera data to process for all lighting conditions.
Brother. Haha Everything you said is my thoughts exactly. When I got my first headset the lock mechanism on the facepad was broken, so I went and got it replaced same day. When I booted the new headset, the passthrough seemed noticably worse, but I wasnt sure if I was tweaking/imagineing it or was it actually worse. So it might be a case of bad hardware ? Nevertheless, great headset. Got it for my sim rig, dont really use the passthrough, but it would be less annoying if I didnt have to take it off so often, since the passthrough is ass. Youve touched on what people dont really talk about. Good stuff.
Haha, great minds! Is it possible that your new headset needed to be updated? I've had 2x Quest 3's and the second one, when I turned it on, was terrible at first - but once it got through all the subsequent software updates over a couple hours it was the same. Same with my Quest 3S. I believe the firmware/software on the headsets is at version 1 out of the box and once it updates you get all the camera upgrades they've made over time. Otherwise, there could be some variance in camera quality; I'd be interested to hear more. And definitely agreed - great all-around headset. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it still. I think a lot of people go a bit too far thinking my video means I hate the headset, but it's quite the opposite! I love this thing, even with its flaws.
@aline.tech.reviews Hard to say now... I cant tell you with 100% certainty that that is the case.... had I seen this video first, got my "broken" headset and then replaced it with a new one, I would most definitely have been intentionally trying to compare the qualitys... whatever I tell you now is based purely of memory and feeling. Best thing to do would be to get 10-20 headsets and compare one to another... but whos got the money 🤣 My Quest is fully updated 🫡
I initially used the Quest 3 at night with just the room lights on, so I thought the bad video quality was understandable. But then I tried it the next morning, and it was almost equally as grainy in a pretty well lit room. Like you say, the video output is so much different from the quality through the lenses, so it's almost impossible to get an accurate representation of what the quality is really like.
Excellent video - Don't know if I agree with "40 years" as its own been 10 years since the Oculus DK2. Progress has been made swiftly and likely would be another 5 to 10 years before improvements to the hardware and camera minimize such issues.
Appreciate that! And haha, same page. More of a cheeky dark joke than a real sentiment. We're seemingly only a few only a few steps away with the Apple Vision Pro. Feels like another decade or so and we'll be close.
Haha, appreciate that! Yea I think many were comparing it to older generations of passthrough and forgot about the audience that has never tried VR before.
So than how do you actually fix the blurriness? I put the headset on and right off the bat it’s exactly as you’ve described. The background is pixelated just like you said, and I do have proper lighting but I can’t seem to configure to make it more crisp/sharp.
I think it just "is what it is", in that there's no magical fix outside getting as much light as you can - once you've hit that point, it's the limits of the camera. What you're seeing is likely just normal! I've heard people saying they've used the SideQuest app to change the settings of their camera to make it more to their liking, but there's not much you can actually alter in there to improve quality much.
@ ahhh thank you for clarifying, I thought I got a faulty one but I guess it does make sense for the pass through to be a little blurry. Hopefully within a few updates they can improve it and fast it drains battery but in the meantime I’ll try some outside apps and see what I can tweak and I’ll get back to you on it 👌🙌
For 500 bucks i did not expect wonders. Its crap, yeah. But if you want to work with mixed reality you should get a Apple vision pro. I only do gaming so it doesnt bother me.
Bought it too and it was horrible felt like my old Rift S in color that I sold 4 years ago. But its cool for browsing the web and do simple stuff. My Q3 is mostly on Link anyway pcvr works but only simple stuff like vrchat, the problem is that most of the body tracking that will come with it is only working on standalone mode but not on Link, also 120 hz is non existent ..
Agreed; I still find it useful for the virtual desktops, too.. and the games/experiences are awesome tech demos for what is possible for mapping virtual objects to real spaces. The walls/desktop stuff is particularly interactive IMOP. And interesting.. I haven't gotten that deep with mine yet (lol I've spent the past 2 weeks testing the passthrough in lighting and reading conditions).. but I wouldn't have imagined 120hz wasn't supported via link. I wonder if that's a limitation they will release with software updates (I recall there were people wondering if it was going to ship with 120hz mode available at launch, and it did). I got my link cable so I hope to spend some time with PCVR in the next week or so!
@@aline.tech.reviews "I recall there were people wondering if it was going to ship with 120hz mode available at launch, and it did" But it isn't only 90 Hz many people complaining right now in forums. it should be 120 but the Oculus software doesn't show it, atleast for me.
Thank you for this video! I was wondering how the heck some people are getting good clarity on their videos. I totally agree when viewing through the headset, its not that clear and did a test and recorded my session and the recording i saw was exactly what ive been seeing on youtube channels just as you mentioned. Its pretty clear and its not what you actually see when youre wearing the headsets. I think a lot of content creators fail to mention this. Its true, there's no way to actually record what the user really sees through the headsets. It is passable and not a deal killer.
Another possible solution would be to position a window with the raw camera output somewhere in your field of vision and look at that when you need to discern fine details. Not sure if this is possible at the moment.
Interesting idea I hadn't considered! I don't believe that's natively possible but I will try to see if I can't load the camera app view at the same time
I use nreal airs all the time for work and entertainment, no passthrough needed. I can carry them with me and use them out and about since they are super light and thin (just about same size as regular glasses), nice for working at coffee shops etc. I have quest 1,2,3 and still use my nreal airs for work and entertainment, and use quest 3 for gaming.
That's awesome to hear! The Xreal Airs are on my shopping list to try and review after I get my Quest 3 review out of the way. Do you also have the beam?
@@aline.tech.reviews I do, I use it at home when working since I can pin the screen to a wall and resize the screen. But when out and about I leave it at home and just use the glasses, less to carry.
I use my phone as my main machine (Samsung s23+) including for software engineering. I use dex and termux, so I can have a full Linux desktop with full chrome, Firefox, developer tools, vscode, postgresql server, redis, rails, node, c++ tooling, all local on phone.
When out and about I take just the glasses, my phone, and a folding buetooth keyboard when I go out and about. When at home I use my phone, glasses, beam, keychron k6 pro keyboard, and logitech mx mouse.
@@nightshade427 - I find it awesome that it allows you to use your phone as your main workstation when traveling. What you've described is a future I've been looking forward to (considering we're carrying a computer around with us all day) and sounds like you have a perfect scenario set up. I haven't quite gotten DeX to seamlessly fit into my workflow the same - I've tried gadgets like the "NexDock" / small travel screens. I don't have to commute to work anymore, so that use case of not carrying a laptop is now gone and makes it difficult for me to transition. But, the Xreal sound like they might be perfect for occasional outings where I might still want to get some work done in the park/whatever but don't want to lug around a laptop and its charging brick. I'm assuming it must drain your phone's battery quickly? Are you powering it at the same time with a USB-C power split cable?
Your pass through is so much better quality than mine it’s crazy. Mine just looks like if the quest 2s pass through had colour. When I make the quest 3s pass through black and white using post effects, both the cameras are indistinguishable.
Reminder: mine is likely the same as yours - this is how the confusion started. What you see in this video is recorded directly from the camera and is NOT what I see inside my headset.
Great video. And I totally agree with you. If you expect clarity, you will be disappointed by the super grainy passthrough, that it really is. I tried snapping photos with the camera and the image is better than what I see in the headset. So maybe Meta can improve the passthrough over time. Who knows.
just processed a return for mine, i saw the clear high res passthrough vids posted online and like a fish i was hooked, oh well guess ill wait until it gets better, at least i learned a bit from this
Really disappointed with quest 3! I have already quest 2, i was expecting superior quality of pass through based on youtube videos… thank you for this video, it answers many questions
After experiencing psvr2 pass through I can say that the meta quest 3 is actually impressive right now. It’s not as crisp as I thought it would be. However, I can see in COLOR and walk around the house with out having to take the headset off
Agreed - it's a tough ecosystem out here and is why I ended up making a RUclips channel. However, I'm also running into the issue where, if I want to do this as a full-time career, then I need to be able to take free products from companies.. but then everyone sees it as an ad/selling out. It's difficult to find a middle ground and I'm still trying to figure that out.
This is very helpful! I had no expectations when I got the Q3, so I just thought "ok, this kind of sucks, but whatever." When people started saying the quality was actually good, I started to suspect I had a defective unit. It sounds like you've had about the same experience as I have, so at least I know I didn't get a bad unit, they're all kind of bad.
One reason I think that reports are mixed. For users in Europe, you either have to choose ( via settings>headset tracking ) between syncing the headset to your lighting (50hz) or to your monitor frequency (60hz). The former will give you good tracking, and stop lights from flickering, the latter will allow you to see your mobile or computer screens clearly. If you are lucky you have a display or mobile that can do 120hz+ since that will give you the best of both worlds
UPDATE: Quest 3S is here! Quest 3 has had a couple of updates to *slightly* improve passthrough quality (colors are more natural, pixels seem a bit tighter, there's less blowout/exposure and voids), but it's still very grainy and not what you see in recordings - so keep that expectation in mind.
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Regarding the Bobovr M3 pro. I ended dropping a 'undred quid on the M2 pro with dual battery's and 3d printed a conversion kit so it fits the Quest3. Works a treat. I couldn't wait for the M3 as it's release kept slipping and the few that became available flew off the shelves faster than toilet paper during lockdown 😊
@@srgpip5620 - That's legit a smart idea - I was debating doing the same. I couldn't catch a M3 from Amazon and their website claimed 3-4 week shipping times and had weird charges added so I didn't follow through.
I might follow your footsteps since the batteries seem to be the same - and then just upgrade the batteries whenever they make a better version of those.
Nice
I took my Quest 3 back for a refund. There was this issue. Passthrough looked like sh1t. There is also the terrible battery life, and adding an external battery pack barely helps. I predict a lot of headsets with dead batteries after the one year warranty has expired. If you buy this headset prior to a revised version of it, with a better battery pack, you may be wasting your money IMHO.
They say this, yet advertise crisp pass through. It’s quest 2 pass through with color.
It really was a bit of a disappointment when I used the Quest 3 for the first time... I thought my unit had a problem, thanks for the explanation.
Same! I almost returned it, still may. I feel like I have a blurry spot in my lenses but it may be mura.
Same for me, but apart from that im really enjoying the thing, cool gadget
@@y_zass I notice that the lenses on mine are REALLY reflective. It's very noticeable when there's certain lightings going on in game
@@Parcily noticed that too, especially when watching movies it can be really bad
Whats latest update on mr? Has there been improvements?
Definitely was overhyped. It is a significant improvement from the Quest 2, but looking at all the early reviews saying the pass through is so crisp and clear is a lie. I thought I had a defective device, so I got a replacement and still got the same grainy, unclear pass through experience.
100% agreed. It's definitely still usable, but I feel the overhype did a disservice to the community and caused panic + confusion instead of enjoyment of the new tech we have access to.
Also just FYI in case you haven't yet seen, Meta announced yesterday they are going to be able to improve the passthrough experience quality via software improvements as they get more data from people's cameras.
The overhype was from Meta's content creators that weren't allowed to say anything negative about it. We know who you are!!
I got it today and i have the same feeling
The update a few days ago did absolutely nothing to improve such. It really is one of the biggest marketing cons I’ve seen. Sure, it’s great as a stand-alone VR device. But for mixed reality is an absolutely gimmick and has me questioning the veracity of some reviewers !! It’s rife in the e sim racing community.
Ehi same here i ve never experienced vr so was my first headset i bought yesterday, apart passthrough barely usable i didnt find the movies or home windows to be so crisp and sharp i thought i had a defective one returned it today got the new one but it s the same. So is it normal that in the home or the movies or txt in general are not so crisp or sharp? It s somewhat pixelated edges and bit blurriness
The best way I can describe the quality that you see is old webcam, that's how it feels.
It does feel like a 1st gen kind of feature and I am sure that it will be greatly improved in Quest 4
That's an accurate description!
And agreed. I'm looking forward to the improvements
Probably not lmao
Perfect…just the answers I’m after. Exactly what I’m seeing in my Quest 3. So glad I found your channel…you have put my mind to rest. Thought my Quest 3 was bust 😂
I'm glad it helped! And 🤣.. you, me, and thousands of others had the same worry.
it was exactly what im looking for
I thought I had a lemon too, it was grainy as hell lol.
I just got my Quest 3 today and set it up and i also thought the noise and fuzzyness was i that i got defected item. So now im here finding some answers! I'm guessing this is just normal then, i felt abit let down, but the menus and everything else are clean and nice.
@jaycartell254 - Yea, it's normal! We have enough evidence now to confirm it's just the default experience. You can try to improve the lighting in your area which will give you a slightly better experience (I found that lights at 6000k or above work best.. the more blue the better things look). Essentially, more light = better visibility, up to a point (and you have to be careful not to create too many hot spots with your lights which will cause the cameras to fluctuate too much).
This is easily the best and most detailed review on the pass through on the quest 3 I have seen so far. And from what I understand is that people aren’t lying that the pasthrough is good, it just looks much clearer if it’s recorded compared to the somewhat cruddy irl passthrough. I am actually gonna test that now! Thank you again for answering every question I had about it!
Thank you for taking the time to watch!
And yes, fun playing tip if you use your finger to cover the camera, you will be able to confirm that the passthrough is using the same camera you're recording from.
Dude how do you not have more subscribers?? Such a high quality video
Haha, I really appreciate that! I think it's because I'm new to this.. regardless, I will continue to put out quality content and hope we make some big moves in 2024.
@@aline.tech.reviewsI agree with OP. You’re underrated. Keep it up man. Best wishes.
@@kaiser4ya - Appreciate that, thank you! I'm finally back in the cockpit - more videos being editing now.
Thank You for the brutally honest explanation of the passthrough. I have the headset already so can now relax knowing its normal. Cheers.
Same here, just got my quest 3 today and I could barely read the phone which is supposed to be part of the setup. Glad to know it's "normal"
Same got mine today had same issue
Great information and very helpful. Thanks.
Appreciate the support! Thank you.
I did the same thing you did, after being shocked at the graininess, and exclaiming to my wife "something's wrong!" I tried to pick a the front of the camera on my Quest 3 to see if there were hard to see plastic film protectors over the cameras for shipping purposes (there weren't). I've now pretty much accepted that certain things look very grainy in my apartment, and have come to enjoy the passthrough after my initial disappointment. It actually helps me accept it that I learned it's not a defect on my headset but a general problem. But I never had plans to use it for virtual monitors like you did, just for fun.
Hahaha, glad to know I'm not alone on that one! =)
I agree with you there, I am enjoying passthrough still. The virtual monitors even work super well; it's just the little window to see your keyboard is a bit too blurry. Meta says they are going to be pushing software updates to make it better for us, though, so fingers crossed!
What have been your favorite mixed reality experiences or games thus far? I'm finally about to get into the gaming side of things now that I've finished this video.
+1
Same like mine
Same feelings
Agreed. It felt disappointing to see the below par pass through, it definitely bordered on false advertising from Meta.
Glad to see it is a general problem and not just my unit 😅
That was a very thoughtful and well done review! You answered all of the questions I had and more. Now that I am able to move past my initial disappointment, I'm beginning to feel that with the crisp graphics that are overelayed onto the grainy background for mixed games at least, whether it will become less of an issue in my peripheral vision. No doubt this will continue to plague for virtual offices. Here's hoping that Meta,s software will be up to the challenge! Thanks again!
I'm glad it was helpful! Thanks for taking the time to watch.
And agreed - the MR experience works because of the overlay graphics.. even in an office setting because once you are in a flow state, you don't really notice your surroundings anyway because you're working on the screens.
I have a full review coming where I share my thoughts on mixed reality as a whole. It will probably take me a couple weeks to get it out because it will be somewhat long.
If the passthrough's graininess is a software issue, then there is hope it will improve. Waiting on those updates 🙏
It won't, it's like asking that your digital camera will gain one or two stops through firmware. It won't happen
@@TheDigitalGuerrilla It might though. I mean look at DLSS with the use of AI. I'm sure something similar can be done with this too.
@@flashpunk7333 Those are different technologies, no camera uses that kind of tech, even smartphones. You can filter grain but there is no reconstruction because it needs more info about the scene: depth, motion vectors, ID, and so on
@@TheDigitalGuerrillawell according to Meta's CTO,Andrew Bosworth:"Yes,it will continue to improve as we continue to get real world lightning conditions and information from the headsets that have been picked up, we start to tune the algorithms that drive it more effectively.
And so i do think it will continue to improve - modestly - from here for a little while as we do a better job depth estimating with where your hands and working with the distortion around that, and things like that.
So yeah, we're gonna continue to work on it as we have with the quest pro."
So if u trust what he say then the answer will be yes , the pass through will improve.
@@ketchai995 trust them as you trusted the promotional material, breath in that sweet sweet copium 😁
Hands down your video is the best description regarding the Quest3 passthrough quality. I am experiencing exactly as you described and was thinking I may have a defective unit but it appears not. Hopefully software updates will improve this feature. Thanks for the clip buddy.
Appreciate that! Meta just announced yesterday (10/24) that they are confirming future updates will make the quality better - once they have more user data from the cameras for their AI to process and improve upon. I would expect we'll be seeing fairly regular updates until they hit a ceiling.
Just got one Meta 3 512. I would hope more youtubers would speak about this as I feel I was mislead. I appreciate you being honest Aline Tech. I'll like and subscribe.
Thank you! Hearing that recorded headset footage is better quality than what is shown in the headset is a relief! Was worried my pass through was bad
I bought three of the Quest 3's and I noticed my daughter's is noticably more clear than mine in pass-through and some apps. There's definitely an inconsistency in these headsets that I hope software will fix soon. Might get myself a replacement before the return window closes
Interesting! Are both headsets on the same software version / have you rebooted both and still seeing a noticeable difference?
@@aline.tech.reviews gonna check the actual version number, but they both said they were updated fully. My mom's is closer to mine, but her's is the 128gb edition.
@aline.tech.reviews ok typing this on my phone from her device, it's system version 49743630046900510
Version 59.0.0.172.706.535429038
Runtime version 59.0.0.171.706.535429024
Os version SQ3A.220605.009.A1
Yes, my device has the same software version. Both 512gb. Rebooted. Charged fully and drained fully, and with and without the Binbok extra batteries too. I have noticed on mine that there are some instances I notice an improvement on mine un different apps, so I'm leaning towards a bug fix
Or quite possibly inconsistency in the pancake lenses and refraction of light by different apps in certain areas of the screen
I too am a first time buyer for vr. You spoke my mind exactly, from a technology progession standard it is much better, or so I hear, but to us people watching the ads and glowing reviews from previous vr enthusiasts, it seemed to alter our expectations to something a little more, refined. Like the video said, it's passable. But but I would imagine VR is easier than AR since there are unlimited variables.
@danbarb9728
I think it has todo with the mounting of the screens inside the headset. The quest 2 using once screen made this a non problem, while Quest 3 have 2 screens, that are aligned at 45 degrees. But it looks like these panels are cut.. so one screen maybe is 44.5degee, and the other 45degree, making hte pixels not align up, and giving you a fuzzy look?. just a guess from me. If it was software, the video you record would not look good.
I got the quest 3 because of videos that I saw of people playing in mixed reality and the recording looked so crisp. I was sorely disappointed in the lack of quality of the passthrough camera. But I’m not disappointed in my quest 3 experience thus far. Even just popping out a RUclips screen in mixed reality is amazing. I hope the quality can be improved though.
@@Trooper501st oh man yeah I can see how that would be insane help. Hands free manuals and access to quick references. I wonder if you’ll be able to do that with the Apple Vision Pro instead.
That sounds crazy. What app would that be in?
@appache28 Well, if you want it for that I wouldn't count on the Vision Pro since it's apples first headset and probably more for standalone stuff and integrating with other apple products. Would go with the Varjo XR 4, they specifically make there headsets for commercial use purpose. I could test the XR 3 shortly last year and it works amazing for stuff like that
I love how real you are. Most youtubers are reviewing in a bubble. Subbed ❤
Really appreciate that, thanks for taking the time to watch. =)
Thanks for the realistic expectaions. Needed it. People were overhyping that aspect. Still gonna get one, but now I won't be disappointed!
Sure thing! And yea, it's still an extremely valuable feature to have, as long as you have that expectation set. =) I think a lot of viewers took this video to the extreme with the conclusion that it "sucks and is a worthless feature" - which is far from what I intended to put off.
Meta has made a handful of updates to the cameras over the past year - I plan to make an updated video about it. It's all minor quality improvements (there's only so much they can do), but they corrected the colors and exposure, improved the quality a bit in certain lighting conditions, and reduced a lot of the "warping" that used to exist when things move around. Their most recent update matches the framerate of the cameras to the panels which should get rid of some of the wonkiness when moving or faffing about - I can't tell if I've gotten that specific update yet, I haven't noticed a difference at least.
I just got the Quest 3 today, and like you said, it was a blurry mess. The only thing nice about it is that it was emitting images in colors versus the ones I used in the past which were black and white. Also, I noticed the virtual objects that I played with during the setup, the image quality is slightly better than previous gen. For anyone new user, keep your expectation low, the pass through world through the quest 3 lens seems like you are wondering in the dream, like that unclear dark fuzzy world that you often witness yourself in your dream. Other than that games are better looking than previous gen, at the moment, I am checking out videos and tips n tricks to optimize my experience.
Appreciate you sharing your experience! I like your dark fuzzy world dream comparison.
RE: optimizing your experience, if you haven't yet check out the Quest Games Optimizer. It's $10, but allows you to force increased resolution for games that run (and they have a ton of pre-built profiles for all the popular games so you don't have to fiddle around with settings much). This boost to the cpu/gpu and redering resolution will come at the cost of decreased playtime as it will suck up battery. I'm compary batteries for a video now but so far the BoboVR S3 is coming out on top with nearly 5 hours of play time.
@@aline.tech.reviews Just in time, I bought this today and noticed that battery was running out way sooner than it's supposed to. :)
This is the most honest review i have ever watched on any video, thank you man.
Appreciate that - and thanks for taking the time to watch!
Excellent honest review. Very refreshing and given me a realistic expectation.
Truly appreciate that, thank you; and glad it helped!
Thank you for this. I saw another commenter say their pass through was like an webcam and that’s about my experience. I’m glad I’m not the only one.
half way through the video , i knew i wont need to research anymore .... thank you bro
Amytime fam, glad it was helpful!
Dude, this is the type of video RUclips needs. Straight to the point but so well structured. Editing so good. Keep it up man don’t change too much this style. You’ll blow up.
I appreciate that, thank you! I'm definitely trying to keep this style (but have also gotten some nice camera + audio upgrades for quality).
I'm finally back home and starting to make videos again. I hope to start dropping again soon!
Wish I watched this before I bought it! Had exactly the same expectations from other reviews and I checked for protective films too 😂. Great review dude please keep it up!! 👍
😂 - they bamboozled us good. And I really appreciate that, thanks for taking the time to watch!
Thank you very much for this most excellent video, possibly preventing me from returning the device thinking I had a defective unit. You've definitely earned a new subscriber. The passthrough camera footage from other reviewers is HUGELY misleading. Bottom line, glad I bought the cheaper version (128 GB for $429) and here's hoping Quest 4 will be GREATLY improved.
You're very welcome! Thank you for taking the time to watch. =)
And agreed. I also got the 128GB version and I've only managed to max out the storage a couple times.. at which point I just deleted some old movies and was good to go.
I'm hoping by time the Quest 4 is around that 4k micro OLED screens will be much cheaper - seems like we're heading in that direction fast. I'd imagine they could give us full 4k resolution for work and PCVR applications, and just downscale it a bit for standalone games since the hardware probably couldn't keep up (but it'd still look more crisp).
Thank you for this video! You approached the subject/problem absolutely perfectly and described it honestly in very useful detailed clear way. Well done!
I look forward to more of your reviews of VR tech.
I've seen so many videos about passthrough, and you are first honest one. I thought my set was damaged.
You just got a new subscriber. Thank you so much for your honesty. I'm still thinking about buying Quest 3. MR was one of the reasons. Thanks to you, I know what to expect. I still think it will be a huge improvement to my current headset (Rift S).
Welcome board!! And thank you for taking the time to watch.
MR has a ways to go in my opinion, but if you want to be there at the ground floor then this is the time. Otherwise, I'd wait a bit to see if more experiences get released! I'm on the developer newsletter list and Meta pushed out occlusion updates to developers with a bunch of new SDK features a couple months back.. so I presume we'll have some awesome experiences on the way. Currently, it still feels like a bit of a gimmick.. and the long-awaited augments was only just released like recently (so recently I don't even have the update on my device yet) but we already know it's going to be a bit gimmicky as well.
QUALITY ASS VIDEO. Suprised you don’t have millions of subs yet. You’re Easy to understand and straight to the point. Well done.
I appreciate that! Thanks for taking the time to watch =)
I also thought my camera lens had some protective film sticker because the passthrough was so blurry
I’m literally waiting for my headset to arrive Tomorrow. Thank you for the realistic review
Sure thing, and hope you enjoy it! Be sure to update to the latest version when you get it (if it doesn't do that automatically). They've made a handful of changes that have improved the quality a bit (not a ton, but it's definitely better than it was when I made this video - better colors, a slightly cleaner image).
I had only ever used wired VR headsets for my PC, so I was super excited to finally try out a wireless standalone headset for the first time! I got the Quest 3 yesterday for Christmas, and my dad and me have been bringing it around to show to friends and family the cool mixed reality features (first encounter) during my experience with it, I was actually able to read my phone and computer screen/keyboard pretty well. Of course, it did strain my eyes a bit, so I eventually just opted to remove the headset to see. As for other things not so small, I didn't really have much issue other than the blurry edges when moving around a lot. I personally thought it was extremely cool to use, however I do agree that the ads do not show a true depiction of what it actually looks like inside the headset.
I love my headset, and I plan to continue using it
Love to hear it!
Able to see your computer screen seems like major clarity; any idea what type of display/panel you have (OLED, LED : IPS / VA / TN)? Even after I got to a point where I could read my OLED phone, I still can't read my IPS computer displays (unless I scale the UI/fonts up a lot).
Also love mine! Excited to see what new stuff comes in the future now that they have mixed reality occlusion ready for developers to take advantage of and full upper body tracking. Should be a fun couple years.
This was the first time I've ever used a vr, and i was very underwhelmed by what i saw in reviews, at first i thought my was just broken, thank you for this video
Glad it was helpful! And yea, they're a bit tricky lol
The quality on the camera is good, so it’s a shame you just don’t get that crispness when you’re in passthrough. Hopefully future software updates will fix this, as it seems to not be a hardware problem.
This is the most honest review! I used to develop on magic leap and thought pass through reality would be somewhat similar to real hologram AR! I was so disappointed that I thought I got a defective device. For pass through to look better we’d need better cameras and much better AI. But I’m still very doubtful whether this can be ever used for work and daily life. Maybe we need a lightweight hologram glasses that only do the certain things, and a pass through reality glasses for playing games.
As a returning customer, the quality that was promised vs what was given was slightly disappointing, but the quality I was used to with Quest 2 vs the quality I‘m getting with the Quest 3, I‘m still super happy with the result, for my personal application (DJing in Passthrough and recording POV) it is a gamechanger and works well enough - not as great as I had hoped for, but good enough to where it works and makes me happy with my purchase.
Agreed, and good to hear it served your purpose. That's an awesome use case that I hadn't considered - do you upload your sets anywhere I can see the POV for fun?
Also, if you were new to DJing and didn't know where all the buttons were, would you be able to read all the levels and dials?
The most accurate video about passthrough. I really started thiniking that my headset have any kind of issue. Thanks for clarifying this topic
Really appreciate that, and of course, thanks for watching!
To echo everyone else, I thought I had a broken headset. My wife had me try it out before it gets wrapped up for Christmas. My heart sank when I saw the pass through. The VR was really awesome though. This is my first time using/playing VR. Got slightly dizzy lol
This is the most spot on take on the situaltion I have seen. Great work on the video. Listen to this guy!
Truly appreciate that, thanks for watching!!
Best description for the Meta 3 pass through 👍🏻
Woot! Glad to hear it. =)
I thought i had a problem with my passthrough view too. thank you for explaining it. But everything else is awesome. i will keep this and will continue to use it. This is my first vr headset. if i had the money, i would have gotten the apple VIsion one.
I just got mine today and I to was surprised how grainy and blurry pass through was compared to what youtube videos show... But the in game graphics are great!
From looking at my hand inside the VR headset i notice in close range it captures my hands in beautiful detail and just moving it further out as we normally see things in there it becomes distorted and weird and blurry
But with the fact that placing my hand up close to the camera captures my hand in good detail is for hope that it can be improved as they say it can trough software udpates which is very exciting
To me the passthrough feels like 720p vision. Its neither good or bad, i just like that i have access to AR.
Mine is 360p at most. There must be a difference between headsets. Mine was also brand-new from the box.
@benjaamon-_- Maybe parts from China
I want to comment to say your reviews were the most reliable when it comes to the actual reality of the device. For those who are wanting to get one and unsure with so many differing opinions, I can attest to this viewpoint as it was also my experience.
Really appreciate that! I'm doing my best to bring level-headed reviews; the platform felt saturated with overly-hyped reviews of folks trying to get affiliated and sponsored with brands. The outcome of that is actually pretty rough, because viewers can't get an honest review of the product because all the creators are incentivized to say positive things and downplay the negatives.
I'm talking with a lawyer to ensure I can make a full video about this, but Meta's partners offered me an affiliate deal.. and the stipulations were insane.. it was basically an attempt to silence me via a contract and they hid it in the fine print and tried to play coy when I called it out.
Is it better now after updates? Please reply 🙏 😭. should i buy it for 700$ India. I want a vr 😭😭
100%!!! The build up from what I saw and what I experienced is 180 degrees.
Right! I feel the marketing + VR reviewers did the community a disservice by not setting clear expectations of the difference.. and spun the community into confusion/panic instead of enjoyment of the new tech we have access to.
Definitely an OVER HYPED product by meta and some reviewers. I’m very disappointed with my Q3 experience.
I have a 2nd hand Q2 and I'm literally PM-ing someone right now to get a 2nd hand Q3 just for the pass through for work/play purposes. Thanks for the in depth video. I'll probably hold off for a while and maybe look into 49-inch monitors instead. Thanks.
You're very welcome! I'd argue it's AMAZING for play and goofing around, but NOT AT ALL beneficial for work. If your focus is productivity then you should wait for the Immersed Visor or the next iteration of the Apple Vision Pro (this first one is excellent so far, but not worth $3,500). IMO, for work, a 49-inch display is going to benefit you much more.
We all paid 200 dollars more for something we will rarely use due to its quality. Good video!
And for controllers without that stupid ring around it, plus smaller headset
Im glad someone is saying this, the way people go on about this I thought my headset was faulty
Very solid and honest review, this was exactly my experience. The passthrough is probably not a reason to upgrade, but the other features like the pancake lenses and better resolution make it worth it.
Appreciate that, and thanks for taking the time to watch!
And most definitely agreed.
Thanks bro, I'm new to Quest 3 and when I tested passthrogh for the first time, I was very disappointed. I wanted to take my device for warranty when I saw your clip and regretted it. However, like you, I don't use passthrough freely. Anyway, I'm very happy that I'm not alone in encountering this problem and I hope Meta will solve this problem in the next quest
Sure thing, man! Thanks for watching.
Even though it was overhyped, it's still good enough for using - you don't really notice how poor quality it is when you're focused on a movie/browser/window/game in your space, and even if you simply leave it in MR freely to do something your brain gets used to it.
Yeah you know what, this is a huge L . I kinda feel used and lied to by reviewers. I’m going to return it .
Might it be that parts have different levels of quality? My passthrough srsly isn't much better than my quest 2,just coloured. Even the distortions are there as much as on my quest 2. Even though they don't show as much in most reviews. My passthrough isn't usable for a good mixed reality experience. It's nice for the original uses tho. The pancake lenses are by faaaaaar the best upgrade. And what will they remove on the quest 3 light? The pancake lenses😢.
@@DeltaNovumcan you read your phone through pass through? Mine cannot, maybe couple lines of text, rest of them are blurry
@@omoributadonliner2173I can if I close one eye and get very close
Yeah I can see my surroundings okay. It's grainy as all get out. And anything bright like my phone is impossible to see unless I turn the brightness all the way down. Even then it's rough. But weirdly enough, I can mostly see my 4000ansi lumen projector screen?
What's weird is watching the dirty dirty using AR. 8k resolution ultra clear people in a grainy background. It's trippy.
@@omoributadonliner2173 not at all!! It's one blurry mess. I've returned my Quest 3 and am back on my quest 2. The money just isn't worth the upgrade with the very short battery life, that will only degrade.
Once more a well researched, calmly and likeable presented video. Lots of facts, and opinions are clealry marked as such. What blessed relief in comparison to all those overly-loud, pretentious, "personal opinions are facts" channels. Thank you, sir!!
PS. I share the same experience with my Q3 - thanks for confirming that that´s the current state and not my noobish attempts to find the right settings. ;)
Appreciate that! Thank you for taking the time to watch and leave a thoughtful comment. =)
And haha, hope I was able to save you some time looking said settings and missed plastic. I think I spent like 2-3 weeks trying to "fix" it - which was the primary driver for making this video.
@@aline.tech.reviews Thanks for your reply, and thanks again for your videos. I have to say, that Virtual Desktop makes it possible for me to actually read something on the screen, but I also know that this is not really pass-through/mixed reality. However it does look good. :) Unfortunately, it also means I have to upgrade my Wifi network at home, as 5G provides me only with 40Mps, so 6E or even 7 it is....eventually. ;)
I would REALLY appreciate your thoughts, experiences and hints for setting up a usable VD environment. Any chance? ;)
Keep up the good work!!
Ps. the link to view your gear does not work for me
This is the best video I've seen explaining the passthrough and I've seen dozens of them. Great job!
Based on what you have said, my experience has been about the same but maybe I find the quality slightly better than you do. I have pretty good led white lights in my home that really brighten it up. When they are turned on the quality is pretty good even if still a little grainy but it doesn't really bother me that much after you get used to it. When they lights are off the quality is definitely terrible. I agree, the quality that is recorded in the headset is way better than what you actually see but none of the reviewers/marketing mentioned that.
However, I think some people were expecting this to be 1080p to 4k quality so of course they will be disappointed. Some people think anything under 4k quality is bad, lol. Anyway, overall the experience with this headset has been amazing and I absolutely love it. Maybe those that hate it and can't live with it will be more satisfied with the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro headset. I'll stick with the $500 headset with a few shortcoming that I can easily live with. The technology will improve we just have to be patient. The Quest 3 is definitely a huge step forward in my opinion.
Apologies for only just seeing this - your comment got caught in YT's "offensive" filter that I just found for the first time.
I really appreciate that - thanks for taking the time to watch and leave a comment!
There seems to be a pretty big difference in yellow (warm) vs white (cool) lights that I've noticed. White/cool = much better; but, even in full daylight with all the windows open and about as bright as my house can possibly get, it's very much still a bad visual experience.. but, it's good enough for what it needs to be and that is letting me walk around to get a drink or check my phone without having to take off the headset.
And haha, yea - I think so many people's expectations were set at a clear 1080p experience (x2) based on Meta's marketing and review captures. I can definitely see why there was such an uproar.
Definitely agree that for the $500 you really can't beat the experience. I legitimately don't know what else I could buy for $500 (or even $750 including all the add-ons I had to buy) that is capable of providing this much value and array of experiences. It seems insane.
To be honest, I wasn't expecting a stellar experience with the Quest 3 pass-through. I'm not using the headset for mixed reality anyway. Most disconcerting was the frequent warping. I didn't realize my new iPhone 16 was foldable until after I looked at it while wearing the Quest 3 headset!
😆😆. That got me good!
Also, are you on the latest software? I had very bad warping out of the box (over a year ago), but once they started pushing software updates the warping was greatly reduced. Also, in one of the recent updates (v66 - which would have been during the Summer 2024) they made another push that reduced warping by a lot.
I still have warping on the very edges of the screens or when things get too close to the headset, but outside that the warping has been excellent (non-existent). Meta has done a great job at making regular updates and improving things over time.
I might be the most earliest reviewer here so let me help out who ever coming after me..... i just bought the Quest 3 and immediate after i statt it up the pass through was hella ugly as this reviewer explains but.... when i set up the device insaw there was an update after updating the quess 3 i saw a complete different experience with the pass through because i was honestly worried wbfire the update thinking how bad it was but after the update inwas happy. In conclusion... it seems the pass through clarity and experience will get better via updates in the future but the current update now as of January 28, 2024 i can say its very clear....
One more thing when first booted the quest 3 looking at my phone was completely blurry like he discribed but after the update i was able to see the images on my phone but detail words are still unreadable hopefully future update will resolve this that way ill never need to remove my quest 3 unless its to stack it away afyer use. Thank you guys and sorry for my bad typing.
At first I thought that my headset had some kind of problem . Thank you so much for the review. Now I know
You're very welcome! And yea, it's normal - make sure you have updated your headset to the latest firmware as they have made some minor software/etc. improvements that makes the colors a bit better and reduces light blowouts/etc.
@@aline.tech.reviewsstill grainy screen or clear image's?
@@independentscrambler - Still very grainy and noisy! I don't know that they can fix that through software at this stage, we just have to deal with it - they did fix the coloring and blow-outs a lot, though.
I saw you posted in another comment thread as well, try turning the brightness down on your phone so that your headset can read it (and so that you can read it through the headset) - 100% brightness seems to blow out the cameras too much because the light is too intense.
@@aline.tech.reviews hey one more thing. I was using a 3rd party charging station for charging the headset and controller, today I noticed when I place the headset it will turn off automatically (the whole dock) like dead. And if I remove the headset it will turn on and charge the controller, again if I place the headset it will turn off the whole station. Is this a charging station problem or is it with a headset, any suggestions. I don't have any option to check the headset. Headset charges with the included power brick and cable.
@indipendentscrambler - More difficult for me to trouble-shoot, but I'd make sure that you have the headset docked in properly, you might have it so its only partially in the correct spot. Wiggle it around a bit or check the instructions to make sure you've got it seated properly.
And then yea, if that doesn't work and you're using a proper charging brick with enough wattage, I'd return it
It seems like it wasn't initially intended to be a standout feature but rather just a helpful little feature like it was in the quest 2. In the quest 2 it was initially used as a way of staying aware of your surroundings. With the quest 3 however they pushed this helpful little feature beyond what it was capable of just to add another selling point.
I'm not sure I agree with that - I feel like the Mixed Reality experience was a massive part of all their external comms and one of the largest draws for consumers. It was a big focus of their product launch.
My guess is that development just wasn't moving quickly enough after they had the final hardware locked it. What we got on launch day was the working passthrough and a handful of tech demos, suggesting it was effectively a beta test to get this in front of developers so they, too, could start building on it.
A good example of this is that we STILL don't have augments that were back in those launch keynotes and it's been 7 months. I'm not complaining about that, by any means, I understand these things take time.. and it's not like its "oh why didn't they just add this UI element", Meta is literally pioneering a new realm of XR experiences for the entire world. I'm super excited for the future updates and am glad I got to experience the "before" so that I can make solid comparisons in the future.
Developers have built some pretty fun experiences already and I've seen some independent Reddit programmers also building crazy teleports and stuff in their free time with MR.. so feels like we're right on the cusp of some awesome experiences incoming.
When I got my quest 3 for the first time I was sad because of the passtrough but its still cool that you can play games in your own room
Man I was hoping I could fix it. Everything is blurry to me including the apps
Apps as in the virtual menus / apps screens / settings /etc.? If so, that sounds like a different issue and one you can likely fix with either changing your IPD setting, adjusting the headset on your face, or checking your vision. If all 3 are good, then I would suggest you exchange for a new one - because all the virtual aspects should be pretty crispy and clear.
This video is only commenting on the passthrough cameras, where you see your real world environment through the cameras.. not the menus/etc.
The passthrough experience 5 months after this review still sucks big time. Here where I live I guess is a combination of poor light as well. This video was great. Good job dude. This is the first time I ever congratulate anyone online, so be proud.
lolol, I appreciate that and will wear the proud badge. And I can confirm, the passthrough experience has not improved in the slightest since this review.
In fact, the only change related to passthrough I've noticed is they've now updated the privacy policy to confirm they're collecting our passthrough visual data from the headset.
Great video. I was Meta-disappointed in the quality of pass-thru. It was basically awful!! I had nothing to compare with, coming from Vive Pro 2, but I was expecting better. I think a lot of peeps are going to be pretty pissed at the quality. All hype, no substance!
Thank you! And yea - I'm still keeping up with the complaints/confusion across many forums, and there are literally thousands with the same experience and disappointment.
Thanks so much for this, I just got my quest 3 and thought it was broken and was going to return it, but your video makes it appear that what I see is the expectation
Of course, thank you for watching! I have thousands of user comments now and can confirm this is normal.
It’s best to think of the pass through as a good way to avoid collisions. It’s a VR headset first and foremost. Lots of tiktokers are taking advantage of the fact it looks so clear when recorded.
Agreed! I've also found it's good for checking notifications/controlling your smart home from your phone once you've dialed in your set and setting a bit.
Meta announced yesterday that they will be able to improve passthrough quality via software updates as they are collecting more and more user data - so hoping they can clean up the VR passthrough window for virtual environments so that I can read my Loupdeck/Streamdeck on my desk.
Great video! The passthrough thing, I think, was deliberately overhyped by all those "influencers" who got the headset free from Meta. That being said, the human brain is a wonderful thing and it does over time adjust and compensate for the poor passthrough quality. i got used to it at least. What I did not get used to was how damned uncomfortable that head strap is! Maybe it is because I don't have much hair but really I think they made it to be replaced, preferably by Meta but also with a licensed third-party version.
Thank you! I agree with your assessment there regarding influencers. I feel they're incentivized too heavily to keep getting sent units for free by selling units (and wearing the badge of the # QuestAffiliate tag). Fun fact: Meta sent me an offer to become a "creator partner", their glorified affiliate program, and inside was a hidden clause that I couldn't feature any other headsets or VR logos in any of my videos or social media posts for the duration of the agreement and 1 year after (from there, they attempted to gaslight me into signing anyways because "we don't enforce it, trust me bro"). It has opened my eyes to a whole new level of distrust within the influencer and "reviewer" ecosystem. I didn't sign and haven't heard from them since.
You're spot on with how remarkable our brains our! It's similar to the screen door effect, which effectively vanishes because my brain fills in all the gaps. I don't notice it once I'm immersed in an experience.. the same way you've noted we don't really notice the quality of the passthrough because it renders a "familiar enough" version of reality (this becomes especially true when you have a game or window in front of you, as the mixed reality falls into your peripheral). There's a lot of magic like this that seems to happen within the VR experience. The passthrough of the Quest 3 is more than viable for having the intended experience, IMO.
And haha, I don't think you're alone on the headstrap - it's definitely rough after an extended period of time of moving around (something I needed to retract from my primary review because I switched it out pretty quickly by habit). From my experience with all the other headsets I've had, including the Vision Pro where Apple claims to have spent a wild amount of time, effort, and money designing their straps, it seems pretty impossible to make a strap that is comfortable for the majority. It makes a lot of sense that they're saving that expense by delivering a MVP and encouraging a third-party market for accessories (I think we'd be equally annoyed if the headset was $100 more and still uncomfortable and if they'd decided to use some proprietary connector to prevent customized solutions).
I think this is where apple did it right, Added a seperate chip that does all of the heavy lifting for the passthrough. Then it gives the usable image to the other chip. So the other chip literally has to put it in place and let it play. Hopefully they end up doing this later, I'd love to see some higher quality Cameras in other versions too.
Most phones now days have a minimum of 12MP, because cameras are pretty cheap now days. So why didn't meta do this? Well, as stated above, the overhead of the cameras on the single chip. If we had those two 12MP that's 24MP of cameras, opposed to the 8 for the current two. Hopefully they can toss in a cheaper lighter weight chip to handle these video feeds in future iterations.
Yea, and as far as I'm aware, the Quest 3 cameras are 16MP each - they are simply 'binned down' to 4MP by averaging 4x blocks of pixels. My hope was they would be able to optimize their passthrough processing code to utilize more of the original data, but a 400% improvement seems unlikely and I don't know that you can bin to a 2:1 ratio.. so I think it will have to be a future headset. I'm curious if the Quest 2 Pro on the horizon with the LG build will aim to get better passthrough quality or if we'll have to wait for a Quest 4.
@aline.tech.reviews @aline.tech.reviews hmm, i wonder if thats software or hardware control doing that. I dont believe the performance would really differ much if its software.
I also think the Q3 Anti-ailiasing is doing to much work, on passthrough some objects glisten. Same with older titles, its super distracting.
Great vid. Ty.
A word about using them outdoors. Security cameras mechanically move an infrared filter in front of the lens in the daytime cause these sensors are sensitive to infrared. That's how security cameras survive outside without flooding the signal and/or slowly burning up the sensor. The infrared filter is just a thin piece of glass (very thin). Meta says that tracking gets flooded outside due to excess infrared. That's cause it has no infrared filter. You can by security camera IR filters for in a pack of 5 for $8 and can probably buy it in film form for pennies. But don't take them outside, as this voids your warranty.
do we need to wait 40 yrs, or just until we can afford an apple vision pro?
Feels like it's still a coin flip at this point! I can imagine the price of the Apple being so hefty due to all the custom components / laptop build into the headset and seeing them drop the ball on pass-through still. Apple devices typically feel overpriced for what they offer.
Varjo XR-4.
While not standalone, even XR-3 has good enough passthrough to code through with visual studio. (And of course virtual display is far superior again.) Varjo is not perfect, but it's passthrough is levels superior.
I've noticed that if I get within 10 or so inches from whatever I am looking at, I can read relatively small text. Phone, Keyboard, written notes, etc.. That is with a very well lit room. If I dim my room lights to around say, 50% at night in the same room, things become so pixelated I have to get within a few inches of the Q3 cameras to make any sense of it. The passthrough is most definitely a way overhyped feature. Great vid.. Subscribed.
Your description is spot on and is the same experience that I am having. I also have to turn down my phone's brightness to better read text in that 10 inches, otherwise white text (dark mode) gets super washed out.
I truly appreciate that - thank you for taking the time to watch and leave a thoughtful comment.
I think you're pretty much spot on here. I was initially disappointed with the passthrough quality, I kept waiting for it to focus but it never did 😅
Lighting does make a big difference though.
After the initial disappointment, I've gotta say I still really enjoy using the passthrough for MR, especially doing things like watching videos while cooking etc.
If it is in fact possible to improve it over time with AI learning, then that's a bonus!
1:20 THIS right here. All of the footage made me think that's what I would see! I thought my headset was defective. It's terrible that all of the footage made me think that's what it would look like.
This is the first video review I've found that has discussed this and has shown an idea of what we see
Yea, the footage showed pre-sale was definitely misleading 😔
I’ve tried three different Quest 3 VR headsets. The passthrough quality was mostly the same on all of them. The 512GB model I tried last had a slight improvement in passthrough quality over the previous 128GB models I tried. However, I come to the same conclusion that it’s still meh. A definite upgrade from the Quest 2. Hopefully a future update will help with the passthrough quality.
Appreciate you sharing that experience! It helps add to the data pool.
I may venture to try a 512GB model just to see if I can spot a difference.
I think any updates they can make are likely going to be minor improvements. I don't have my hopes up for any major quality increase.
Great Video
The PassTrough Quality is lit. from a phone from 2002
And i dont even wanna talk abbt RUclips 360..... which isnt working ..... well it is but u see a total of 5 pixels
Thanks for all the info.
Have you ever checked the XReal glasses? Some people say they work fine and are much cheaper!
Looking forward to the full review 👍
Thanks for your continued support!!
I have them in my wishlist, but I haven't purchased yet! I will probably cop a pair here for black friday / cyber monday online sales. I'm excited to try them out
Crazy coincidence but the XReal Air 2 had just gone on sale and had their influencer early reviews launched yesterday - I preordered a pair so that I can review.
@aline.tech.reviews
What a coincidence!
I look forward to that review. I'm a trader, and just like you I spend all day at home staring at the screens, so if the XReal glasses are any good, I will be buying them 🤞
Another great video on what for me is one of the most important features for AR applications. Currently in my opinion only Varjo headsets do an excellent job regarding passthrough, but they cost a lot, are not standalone and are really for professional use. I have the pico 4 and its not worth replacing with a Quest 3. I think when the XR3 chip comes out, hopefully later this year, it will be the real game changer for standalone headsets - true 4K and more per eye, 35 ppd, eye tracking etc…👍
Appreciate that! I haven't gotten to test one of the higher-end Varjos (XR-3 + 4), unfortunately. However, I did just snag an Apple Vision Pro and its passthrough is better quality than the Quest 3's; I wouldn't claim that it's miles ahead, but it is surely a decent step up. I believe SadlyItsBradley compared it to the quality of XR-3 passthrough.
I hope that I get a chance to look through an XR-4 once they get it fully settled! But yes, the 4k screens + higher PPD + eye tracking will hopefully become the new standard. I'm super impressed with the AVP so far + the OS with ability to overlay apps has restored faith that we're heading in the right direction.
I'm with you there and super stoked for the next-gen devices with XR3 + Samsung's incoming refreshed micro OLEDs.
MR graininess is not so significant a problem for me as the distortions caused by nearby objects, such as your hands. I could read the Wi-Fi password from the screen of my iPhone through the Q3, I can see my keyboard, and even read most of the text on the monitor while wearing Q3.... but those distortions are bugging me.
Yea, I can definitely see that! I luckily dont put my hands close often, but when I do, the warping is intense.
Meta just released an official statement, yesterday, saying that the passthrough quality will improve and they should be able to reduce warping as their software improves and AI has more user camera data to process for all lighting conditions.
Brother. Haha
Everything you said is my thoughts exactly.
When I got my first headset the lock mechanism on the facepad was broken, so I went and got it replaced same day. When I booted the new headset, the passthrough seemed noticably worse, but I wasnt sure if I was tweaking/imagineing it or was it actually worse. So it might be a case of bad hardware ?
Nevertheless, great headset. Got it for my sim rig, dont really use the passthrough, but it would be less annoying if I didnt have to take it off so often, since the passthrough is ass.
Youve touched on what people dont really talk about. Good stuff.
Haha, great minds!
Is it possible that your new headset needed to be updated? I've had 2x Quest 3's and the second one, when I turned it on, was terrible at first - but once it got through all the subsequent software updates over a couple hours it was the same. Same with my Quest 3S. I believe the firmware/software on the headsets is at version 1 out of the box and once it updates you get all the camera upgrades they've made over time. Otherwise, there could be some variance in camera quality; I'd be interested to hear more.
And definitely agreed - great all-around headset. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it still. I think a lot of people go a bit too far thinking my video means I hate the headset, but it's quite the opposite! I love this thing, even with its flaws.
@aline.tech.reviews Hard to say now... I cant tell you with 100% certainty that that is the case.... had I seen this video first, got my "broken" headset and then replaced it with a new one, I would most definitely have been intentionally trying to compare the qualitys... whatever I tell you now is based purely of memory and feeling.
Best thing to do would be to get 10-20 headsets and compare one to another... but whos got the money 🤣
My Quest is fully updated 🫡
I initially used the Quest 3 at night with just the room lights on, so I thought the bad video quality was understandable.
But then I tried it the next morning, and it was almost equally as grainy in a pretty well lit room.
Like you say, the video output is so much different from the quality through the lenses, so it's almost impossible to get an accurate representation of what the quality is really like.
Excellent video - Don't know if I agree with "40 years" as its own been 10 years since the Oculus DK2. Progress has been made swiftly and likely would be another 5 to 10 years before improvements to the hardware and camera minimize such issues.
Appreciate that!
And haha, same page. More of a cheeky dark joke than a real sentiment. We're seemingly only a few only a few steps away with the Apple Vision Pro. Feels like another decade or so and we'll be close.
So glad you are the only honest reviewer. Feel like everyone straight lied about passthrough instead of state the elephant in the room 😂
Haha, appreciate that! Yea I think many were comparing it to older generations of passthrough and forgot about the audience that has never tried VR before.
Yeah, most of them are paid reviews
So than how do you actually fix the blurriness? I put the headset on and right off the bat it’s exactly as you’ve described. The background is pixelated just like you said, and I do have proper lighting but I can’t seem to configure to make it more crisp/sharp.
I think it just "is what it is", in that there's no magical fix outside getting as much light as you can - once you've hit that point, it's the limits of the camera. What you're seeing is likely just normal!
I've heard people saying they've used the SideQuest app to change the settings of their camera to make it more to their liking, but there's not much you can actually alter in there to improve quality much.
@ ahhh thank you for clarifying, I thought I got a faulty one but I guess it does make sense for the pass through to be a little blurry. Hopefully within a few updates they can improve it and fast it drains battery but in the meantime I’ll try some outside apps and see what I can tweak and I’ll get back to you on it 👌🙌
For 500 bucks i did not expect wonders. Its crap, yeah. But if you want to work with mixed reality you should get a Apple vision pro. I only do gaming so it doesnt bother me.
I thought you were i justine from thumbnail. 😂😂 great video, though.
😂 Sorry to disappoint! And I appreciate that; thanks for taking the time to watch!
Bought it too and it was horrible felt like my old Rift S in color that I sold 4 years ago. But its cool for browsing the web and do simple stuff.
My Q3 is mostly on Link anyway pcvr works but only simple stuff like vrchat, the problem is that most of the body tracking that will come with it is only working on standalone mode but not on Link, also 120 hz is non existent ..
Agreed; I still find it useful for the virtual desktops, too.. and the games/experiences are awesome tech demos for what is possible for mapping virtual objects to real spaces. The walls/desktop stuff is particularly interactive IMOP.
And interesting.. I haven't gotten that deep with mine yet (lol I've spent the past 2 weeks testing the passthrough in lighting and reading conditions).. but I wouldn't have imagined 120hz wasn't supported via link. I wonder if that's a limitation they will release with software updates (I recall there were people wondering if it was going to ship with 120hz mode available at launch, and it did).
I got my link cable so I hope to spend some time with PCVR in the next week or so!
@@aline.tech.reviews "I recall there were people wondering if it was going to ship with 120hz mode available at launch, and it did"
But it isn't only 90 Hz many people complaining right now in forums.
it should be 120 but the Oculus software doesn't show it, atleast for me.
Thank you for this video! I was wondering how the heck some people are getting good clarity on their videos. I totally agree when viewing through the headset, its not that clear and did a test and recorded my session and the recording i saw was exactly what ive been seeing on youtube channels just as you mentioned. Its pretty clear and its not what you actually see when youre wearing the headsets. I think a lot of content creators fail to mention this. Its true, there's no way to actually record what the user really sees through the headsets. It is passable and not a deal killer.
Thank you for watching! And yes, that about sums up my experience as well. =)
Another possible solution would be to position a window with the raw camera output somewhere in your field of vision and look at that when you need to discern fine details. Not sure if this is possible at the moment.
Interesting idea I hadn't considered! I don't believe that's natively possible but I will try to see if I can't load the camera app view at the same time
I use nreal airs all the time for work and entertainment, no passthrough needed. I can carry them with me and use them out and about since they are super light and thin (just about same size as regular glasses), nice for working at coffee shops etc. I have quest 1,2,3 and still use my nreal airs for work and entertainment, and use quest 3 for gaming.
That's awesome to hear! The Xreal Airs are on my shopping list to try and review after I get my Quest 3 review out of the way.
Do you also have the beam?
@@aline.tech.reviews I do, I use it at home when working since I can pin the screen to a wall and resize the screen. But when out and about I leave it at home and just use the glasses, less to carry.
I use my phone as my main machine (Samsung s23+) including for software engineering. I use dex and termux, so I can have a full Linux desktop with full chrome, Firefox, developer tools, vscode, postgresql server, redis, rails, node, c++ tooling, all local on phone.
When out and about I take just the glasses, my phone, and a folding buetooth keyboard when I go out and about.
When at home I use my phone, glasses, beam, keychron k6 pro keyboard, and logitech mx mouse.
@@nightshade427 - I find it awesome that it allows you to use your phone as your main workstation when traveling. What you've described is a future I've been looking forward to (considering we're carrying a computer around with us all day) and sounds like you have a perfect scenario set up. I haven't quite gotten DeX to seamlessly fit into my workflow the same - I've tried gadgets like the "NexDock" / small travel screens. I don't have to commute to work anymore, so that use case of not carrying a laptop is now gone and makes it difficult for me to transition. But, the Xreal sound like they might be perfect for occasional outings where I might still want to get some work done in the park/whatever but don't want to lug around a laptop and its charging brick.
I'm assuming it must drain your phone's battery quickly? Are you powering it at the same time with a USB-C power split cable?
Your pass through is so much better quality than mine it’s crazy. Mine just looks like if the quest 2s pass through had colour. When I make the quest 3s pass through black and white using post effects, both the cameras are indistinguishable.
Reminder: mine is likely the same as yours - this is how the confusion started. What you see in this video is recorded directly from the camera and is NOT what I see inside my headset.
Great video. And I totally agree with you. If you expect clarity, you will be disappointed by the super grainy passthrough, that it really is. I tried snapping photos with the camera and the image is better than what I see in the headset. So maybe Meta can improve the passthrough over time. Who knows.
Mines not grainy at all
just processed a return for mine, i saw the clear high res passthrough vids posted online and like a fish i was hooked, oh well guess ill wait until it gets better, at least i learned a bit from this
Sorry to hear that =( Yea, I think the next generation will have better passthrough now that Meta will want to top/match the AVP offering
Really disappointed with quest 3! I have already quest 2, i was expecting superior quality of pass through based on youtube videos… thank you for this video, it answers many questions
After experiencing psvr2 pass through I can say that the meta quest 3 is actually impressive right now. It’s not as crisp as I thought it would be. However, I can see in COLOR and walk around the house with out having to take the headset off
Have to be careful. RUclips is not full of real reviews anymore . Their all bought off
Agreed - it's a tough ecosystem out here and is why I ended up making a RUclips channel.
However, I'm also running into the issue where, if I want to do this as a full-time career, then I need to be able to take free products from companies.. but then everyone sees it as an ad/selling out. It's difficult to find a middle ground and I'm still trying to figure that out.
This is very helpful! I had no expectations when I got the Q3, so I just thought "ok, this kind of sucks, but whatever." When people started saying the quality was actually good, I started to suspect I had a defective unit. It sounds like you've had about the same experience as I have, so at least I know I didn't get a bad unit, they're all kind of bad.
Yea, based on the 1,000s of accounts now this level of quality is confirmed the norm!
Glad it was helpful!
Finally a RUclipsr tell the truth of passthrough on quest3 🎉
if you adjust the eye spacer with eye distance on quest 2. middle is clearer. depends if your gaming or watching movie and. need passthru
Yeah the pass through on the Q3 is garbage
Yea, the recent update helped a lot with saturation and color science, but didn't improve any of the grainy/blurry noise for me.
@@aline.tech.reviews Passthrough just got updated again, would be cool if you did a video on it!
One reason I think that reports are mixed. For users in Europe, you either have to choose ( via settings>headset tracking ) between syncing the headset to your lighting (50hz) or to your monitor frequency (60hz). The former will give you good tracking, and stop lights from flickering, the latter will allow you to see your mobile or computer screens clearly. If you are lucky you have a display or mobile that can do 120hz+ since that will give you the best of both worlds