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
@@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.
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 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 😅
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).
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
probably they have the same focus issues like action cameras. Since the the focus is fixed on those cameras the quality control is important. If the focus wasnt set right, the camera will be blurred on near objectfor example, others go Pros have the sweet spot in the distance and so on. If that is the case with the Quest3 you can not change it with software. The passtrough on mine looks like like a 2006 webcam. I feel only the VR fanatics scream "amazing" because they are used to low standards i guess, For me as VR beginner it looks terrible.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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 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!
I bought a quest 3 a few days ago but one of the controllers came defective, I went back to Best Buy and they gave me a new one, unfortunately my new quest the passthrough is significantly worse then the first one I bought. I will now be returning it again, if I don’t get a good unit this time I am getting a full refund and not touching it again. What a shame because I really do like them
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!
Idk if it’s just me but when I first was setting up the quest 3 the passthrough was horrible where as you said I couldn’t even read my phone. After downloading all the updates finishing the setup and restarting the passthrough did get a lot better. In terms of reading my phone I was finally able to actually read most things in my phone including text and other things around my house. The quality and grainy were somewhat the same but visibility got a lot better with text and such. Maybe just me tho.
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!! 👍
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 actually had to replace my Quest 3 because I noticed it had some dead pixels, and I feel as if that one had much better MR passthrough quality in comparison to the one I'm using now.
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.
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 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!
i think its down to past experiences. for those who used the passthrough a lot on the quest pro or quest 2, yeah its absurdly good which is where i beleive a lot of the reviewers are coming from. for newcomers, they often expect something that is a mobile chip with medicre performance to punch above its pricepoint (in which if you have seen passthrough of other headsets that are worth more, i still believe it does at a mere 500 dollars)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
There are some people saying, and some proof, that some people do in fact get a better pass through experience. It seems to be related to your quest being stuck in power saving mode for the pass through. In theory you could check if this is the case, by toggling battery saving mode on and off and seeing if you notice a difference in your pass through. I cannot confirm this to be true, but there is video footage taken through a headset of incredibly crisp and clear footage, on RUclips and on reddit. Some people say a factory reset has fixed their pass through
I've seen all those as well - unfortunately, nothing has seemed to help. I am not a believer of the factory reset method as I don't find any logical pathway that would change the state (especially considering it wasn't until the 7th try or whatever) - I think that user changed another setting or variable with his lighting, screen brightness, and camera settings in that time.
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.
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 was also confused, every video I see shows the passthrough as super clear and mine is pretty grainy. The mixed reality is clear but the background of my room is grainy. I couldn't tell if I have a broken system or the videos online were misleading. It is WAAAAAY better than the 2 and Mixed reality is playable but was disappointed as it feels like false advertising. It does make me excited for say the Quest 5 or 6 as it is headed into a cool direction.
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.
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I had photo as a hobby before and took what is called "photospheres", like you turn around and take several photos that is stitched to a 360 image, this work well if you are in an area where objects are far away, like you strand in a field in a rural landscape, but when object come closer and have a background a bit away it became almost impossible to stitch the images together, and that on a powerful PC that spent up to 10 minutes try to warp each image to get a perfect fit, that headset try to do the same thing in real time with a weaker CPU, and even more amazing if it can do so with a phone on a half arm length away when it is in an area between the lenses in a spot where optics always get a bit blurry and distorted. I do not have that headset, but you need to get the camera in a straight line in front of one of the lenses, and my guess is that those lenses is sat to have a perfect focus around 170 to 200 cm, onder that and things will start to get out of focus and need sharpening.
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 🤞
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
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.
I think the instant processing may need some improvement. It strongly depends where you are! I live at two places and one of them makes the camera look really bad and the other makes it really really good!!! But the lighting conditions are pretty much the same
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.
As someone who is upgrading from quest 2, 3 packs a punch and as a standalone VR with MR capability in that form factor, I ll happily take it even if it is grainy.
Likewise! It's impressive that they fit this much tech into a headset and controls for only $500 - it seems like an excellent representation of where the consumer tech is at and what we can expect in the future. I've been having a blast working in VR and having passthrough for my keyboard or when I need to stretch my legs is invaluable.
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.
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 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?
I picked up my headset back in October, hadn't seen any marketing "hype" for it and my only other exposure to VR was via WMR. Honestly didn't know there was any controversy regarding the passthrough because it was just miles ahead of what I'd experienced with WMR. Could it be better? Of course, everything could be better. Is it a dealbeaker because the passthough experience isn't like wearing nothing at all? I don't think so.
@@aline.tech.reviews I quickly grew into it, but it started to feel boring after a month, but they have consistently improved the headset to make it feel brand new every couple of months
What? It must be a setting thing, I dunno, but I was able to see my phone's display just fine with the passthrough on my Q3 and I did the entire initial setup on my phone with the headset on. I was blown away by the clarity of it, although to be fair, I was coming from 6 years of using an Odyssey+, which has black & white passthrough cameras that don't even measure up to bank security cameras from the 1990's.
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.
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.
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
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.
My house looks terrible in the passthrough but when i took it to my friends it looked great in comparison the lighting was white lights but i didnt think it would be such an improvement. Still if people are looking for a good AR headset wait a few generations.
Expectation and frame of reference is likely the reason behind the disparity of opinions. I came from using the quest 2 and when compared to that the quest 3 passthrough is really good. If you are comparing it to what you see on your phone when it’s a viewfinder for the camera then it sucks.
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
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.
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.
Mine works just fine when close it looks really blurry but the farther away you get it looks way from a arm length away it works just fine even with pretty bad lighting
I watched a very interesting video by Bringhurst VR yesterday - he reset his headset 6-8 times and on the last factory reset - BOOM! - the passthorugh was crisp and clear. He had no explanation and he has been highly critical of the passthrough quality, trying desperately to get it to improve. Somehow, after multiple resets, he got it! His passthrough is so clear, people on Reddit thought he was trolling with his through-lens filming with a phone - they accused him of actually removing the internals and shooting through the headset through plain glass! I don't know, but mine is grainy as well and I'm quite tempted to do a few resets to see if I can get that kind of clarity.
Interesting. That definitely sounds wild and implausible, but I will hold reservations until I watch the video and try it! Resetting the device should be easy enough because you dont need to log in before you can see the passthrough quality (if I remember correctly, the setup process was happening in passthrough).
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.
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.
I got TWO Quest 3 at launch and I can tell you they looked the same via passthrough. I ended up returning one because I didn't feel like the tech is there yet. Again I bought the Quest 3 for the Mix Reality aspect of it, I also owned a Quest 2. So expectation was already low and I still IMHO the Quest 3 passthrough feature is bad.... barely useable bad.
Sucks to hear that you were still disappointed even after having had a Quest 2. Appreciate you sharing your experience - the 2x units being the same helps me pool more user stories as data. I'm super confident, based on user accounts that I've collected, that there's no separate camera manufacturers or QC issues - they're all just the same quality of badness.
It’s super grainy for me. Adjusted ALL settings. It’s NOTHING like RUclips videos portray. It’s simply grey scale pass through from quest 2 with color.
Yeah, I think that all the pre-tests with recorded footage might have affected the expetetaions slighlty 😀. SO I am happy with it. In mixed reality games it´s imersive enough for me. Sure it can be better (a lot), but can it be done to an affordable price tag? For me, I can read text on my monitor in normal font size. It´s a bit wobbly sometime and grainy of course. But it works.
Still feels exactly as you described, fuzzy and just not good enough to be able to see things clearly. I too was sold on the promise of passthrough being this idea of looking like what I see without the headset on. The ads from Meta play up the quality beyond what it actually looks like during real world use. Bottom line seems to be that passthrough works to make mixed reality games a thing but other than that it's not practical to use in any other way. I hope they can continue to improve this but I can't see that happening without them improving the specs on the headset itself. I am curious to see what the Apple Vision Pro does with passthrough to get a comparison on both, I believe that would be a much clearer indication of if the components inside the Meta Quest are the limiting factor here.
Yea agreed - and the lack of Mixed Reality games is another pain point.. it launched with 1 new "game" that was really just 90-second tech demo masked as a new game; the other MR experience that was there at launch didn't work at all for me. We're coming up on a year post-launch, and they still don't have any new experiences.. all the cheap, low-movement games (like the boxing one) that already existed have simply removed their backgrounds to show your environment instead. We need more experiences and I'm confused as to why this was launched without any. I have the Apple Vision Pro and am working on a review to launch this fall! The AVP's passthrough is undeniably 'better', but it also has more motion blur when you move and still isn't great like you'd expect (I'll go more in-depth in my review). However, there aren't any experiences for it that really make it worth using outside having your virtual screens/windows around you. I managed to come across a mixed reality drawing app that lets you draw on a canvas, but that was about it and the rest were cheap/bad games. I haven't even found a great app that just lets me plop in even a 3D model and have fun with it. The F1 racing app just released and is the only real implementation I've seen to date - it's actually pretty awesome; the issue is simply I don't really have an interest in F1 racing to that degree outside maybe wanting to see it for a few minutes.
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.
Agreed. In the workspace option it would be far better if the passthrough was ditched in that area in favour of an overlaid a keyboard and mouse on the actual board. Sadly they only have a few boards as part of the recognition software. You could map in the various %age versions of the various boards though. It's certainly not usable as it is. They've effectively wasted an option to create a really good office screen environment. They should look to apply the overlay for the keeb to make is usable whilst they perfect the tech.
Yea, I'm not sure how well the tracked keyboard functionality works as I haven't tested it directly yet. I did just get a Apple Magic Keyboard to use with the Apple Vision Pro and that is on the Quest 3 tracked keyboard support list.. so I'll definitely try it for my 6-month review coming up. I'm also a bigger fan of how ImmersedVR does the passthrough windows. If you haven't tried that then it's worth a download - it's the same concept, but you can set the size and location of your keyboard area + can create other windows (for instance, I like to a window where I sit my drinks so I can see myself reaching out for them). The passthrough quality isn't improved any, though. Even if they had little markers or stickers we could place on our keyboards to help it track - that seems like it could work based on general layouts (even if it wasn't 100% aligned it seems like it could be close enough to trick your brain).
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.
Thanks for the video. I got this for my 11 year old daughter and thought it was defective when I was setting it up. Like you, I had to remove the headset to do anything on the phone while setting it up. The cameras video quality is so poor that even if someone told me in advance how bad it was I still couldn’t have lowered my expectations enough for actually using it. It’s passable for not running into furniture but that’s about it. I wouldn’t use it for any type of mixed or augmented reality. Just playing games that don’t utilize the cameras is fine and my daughter does love playing games on it. If it was me I’d return it, but it’s fine for an 11 year old who doesn’t care for mixed reality.
Thanks for taking the time to watch! Definitely agreed. The headset is fully capable for VR and still worth the $$. They just went overboard in pushing the Mixed Reality as a "primary feature" instead of a "extra feature". Definitely think your daughter will love it, regardless! You can try the reducing brightness on phone screens/etc. in the future if you ever need to.
![Ice On My Teeth - ATEEZ エイティーズ 에이티즈 [Music Bank] | KBS WORLD TV 241115](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/c-n92OgbbwA/mqdefault.jpg)
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
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 😁
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 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 😅
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).
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
probably they have the same focus issues like action cameras. Since the the focus is fixed on those cameras the quality control is important. If the focus wasnt set right, the camera will be blurred on near objectfor example, others go Pros have the sweet spot in the distance and so on. If that is the case with the Quest3 you can not change it with software. The passtrough on mine looks like like a 2006 webcam. I feel only the VR fanatics scream "amazing" because they are used to low standards i guess, For me as VR beginner it looks terrible.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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. :)
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.
To me the passthrough feels like 720p vision. Its neither good or bad, i just like that i have access to AR.
Excellent honest review. Very refreshing and given me a realistic expectation.
Truly appreciate that, thank you; and glad it helped!
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 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!
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
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!
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
I love how real you are. Most youtubers are reviewing in a bubble. Subbed ❤
Really appreciate that, thanks for taking the time to watch. =)
I bought a quest 3 a few days ago but one of the controllers came defective, I went back to Best Buy and they gave me a new one, unfortunately my new quest the passthrough is significantly worse then the first one I bought. I will now be returning it again, if I don’t get a good unit this time I am getting a full refund and not touching it again. What a shame because I really do like them
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!
Idk if it’s just me but when I first was setting up the quest 3 the passthrough was horrible where as you said I couldn’t even read my phone. After downloading all the updates finishing the setup and restarting the passthrough did get a lot better. In terms of reading my phone I was finally able to actually read most things in my phone including text and other things around my house. The quality and grainy were somewhat the same but visibility got a lot better with text and such. Maybe just me tho.
Best description for the Meta 3 pass through 👍🏻
Woot! Glad to hear it. =)
I also thought my camera lens had some protective film sticker because the passthrough was so blurry
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!
Im glad someone is saying this, the way people go on about this I thought my headset was faulty
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 actually had to replace my Quest 3 because I noticed it had some dead pixels, and I feel as if that one had much better MR passthrough quality in comparison to the one I'm using now.
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
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’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.
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.
Coming from quest 2. Quest 3 pass-through looks amazing. I can read my phone and pc monitor just fine
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!
i think its down to past experiences. for those who used the passthrough a lot on the quest pro or quest 2, yeah its absurdly good which is where i beleive a lot of the reviewers are coming from. for newcomers, they often expect something that is a mobile chip with medicre performance to punch above its pricepoint (in which if you have seen passthrough of other headsets that are worth more, i still believe it does at a mere 500 dollars)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 😔
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.
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.
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.
There are some people saying, and some proof, that some people do in fact get a better pass through experience. It seems to be related to your quest being stuck in power saving mode for the pass through. In theory you could check if this is the case, by toggling battery saving mode on and off and seeing if you notice a difference in your pass through. I cannot confirm this to be true, but there is video footage taken through a headset of incredibly crisp and clear footage, on RUclips and on reddit. Some people say a factory reset has fixed their pass through
I've seen all those as well - unfortunately, nothing has seemed to help. I am not a believer of the factory reset method as I don't find any logical pathway that would change the state (especially considering it wasn't until the 7th try or whatever) - I think that user changed another setting or variable with his lighting, screen brightness, and camera settings in that time.
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.
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 was also confused, every video I see shows the passthrough as super clear and mine is pretty grainy. The mixed reality is clear but the background of my room is grainy. I couldn't tell if I have a broken system or the videos online were misleading. It is WAAAAAY better than the 2 and Mixed reality is playable but was disappointed as it feels like false advertising. It does make me excited for say the Quest 5 or 6 as it is headed into a cool direction.
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.
I had photo as a hobby before and took what is called "photospheres", like you turn around and take several photos that is stitched to a 360 image, this work well if you are in an area where objects are far away, like you strand in a field in a rural landscape, but when object come closer and have a background a bit away it became almost impossible to stitch the images together, and that on a powerful PC that spent up to 10 minutes try to warp each image to get a perfect fit, that headset try to do the same thing in real time with a weaker CPU, and even more amazing if it can do so with a phone on a half arm length away when it is in an area between the lenses in a spot where optics always get a bit blurry and distorted. I do not have that headset, but you need to get the camera in a straight line in front of one of the lenses, and my guess is that those lenses is sat to have a perfect focus around 170 to 200 cm, onder that and things will start to get out of focus and need sharpening.
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 🤞
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
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
I think the instant processing may need some improvement. It strongly depends where you are! I live at two places and one of them makes the camera look really bad and the other makes it really really good!!! But the lighting conditions are pretty much the same
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.
As someone who is upgrading from quest 2, 3 packs a punch and as a standalone VR with MR capability in that form factor, I ll happily take it even if it is grainy.
Likewise! It's impressive that they fit this much tech into a headset and controls for only $500 - it seems like an excellent representation of where the consumer tech is at and what we can expect in the future.
I've been having a blast working in VR and having passthrough for my keyboard or when I need to stretch my legs is invaluable.
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.
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 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?
I picked up my headset back in October, hadn't seen any marketing "hype" for it and my only other exposure to VR was via WMR. Honestly didn't know there was any controversy regarding the passthrough because it was just miles ahead of what I'd experienced with WMR. Could it be better? Of course, everything could be better. Is it a dealbeaker because the passthough experience isn't like wearing nothing at all? I don't think so.
Don’t worry it’s just meta being meta, everything improves over time, like the quest 2
How much do you feel the Quest 2 improved over time vs. how much you grew into it?
@@aline.tech.reviews I quickly grew into it, but it started to feel boring after a month, but they have consistently improved the headset to make it feel brand new every couple of months
What? It must be a setting thing, I dunno, but I was able to see my phone's display just fine with the passthrough on my Q3 and I did the entire initial setup on my phone with the headset on. I was blown away by the clarity of it, although to be fair, I was coming from 6 years of using an Odyssey+, which has black & white passthrough cameras that don't even measure up to bank security cameras from the 1990's.
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
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.
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
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.
Finally a RUclipsr tell the truth of passthrough on quest3 🎉
My house looks terrible in the passthrough but when i took it to my friends it looked great in comparison the lighting was white lights but i didnt think it would be such an improvement. Still if people are looking for a good AR headset wait a few generations.
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!
Expectation and frame of reference is likely the reason behind the disparity of opinions.
I came from using the quest 2 and when compared to that the quest 3 passthrough is really good.
If you are comparing it to what you see on your phone when it’s a viewfinder for the camera then it sucks.
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
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!
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 😭😭
Mine works just fine when close it looks really blurry but the farther away you get it looks way from a arm length away it works just fine even with pretty bad lighting
The best buy display model looks so clear compared to my grainy passthrough i was shocked i think im going to try and exchange it
I watched a very interesting video by Bringhurst VR yesterday - he reset his headset 6-8 times and on the last factory reset - BOOM! - the passthorugh was crisp and clear. He had no explanation and he has been highly critical of the passthrough quality, trying desperately to get it to improve. Somehow, after multiple resets, he got it! His passthrough is so clear, people on Reddit thought he was trolling with his through-lens filming with a phone - they accused him of actually removing the internals and shooting through the headset through plain glass! I don't know, but mine is grainy as well and I'm quite tempted to do a few resets to see if I can get that kind of clarity.
Interesting. That definitely sounds wild and implausible, but I will hold reservations until I watch the video and try it!
Resetting the device should be easy enough because you dont need to log in before you can see the passthrough quality (if I remember correctly, the setup process was happening in passthrough).
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
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.
My passthrough works kickass right now.. but the next moments aren't up to me 🙄
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.
I got TWO Quest 3 at launch and I can tell you they looked the same via passthrough. I ended up returning one because I didn't feel like the tech is there yet. Again I bought the Quest 3 for the Mix Reality aspect of it, I also owned a Quest 2. So expectation was already low and I still IMHO the Quest 3 passthrough feature is bad.... barely useable bad.
Sucks to hear that you were still disappointed even after having had a Quest 2.
Appreciate you sharing your experience - the 2x units being the same helps me pool more user stories as data. I'm super confident, based on user accounts that I've collected, that there's no separate camera manufacturers or QC issues - they're all just the same quality of badness.
It’s super grainy for me. Adjusted ALL settings. It’s NOTHING like RUclips videos portray. It’s simply grey scale pass through from quest 2 with color.
Same
Yeah, I think that all the pre-tests with recorded footage might have affected the expetetaions slighlty 😀. SO I am happy with it. In mixed reality games it´s imersive enough for me. Sure it can be better (a lot), but can it be done to an affordable price tag? For me, I can read text on my monitor in normal font size. It´s a bit wobbly sometime and grainy of course. But it works.
Still feels exactly as you described, fuzzy and just not good enough to be able to see things clearly. I too was sold on the promise of passthrough being this idea of looking like what I see without the headset on. The ads from Meta play up the quality beyond what it actually looks like during real world use.
Bottom line seems to be that passthrough works to make mixed reality games a thing but other than that it's not practical to use in any other way. I hope they can continue to improve this but I can't see that happening without them improving the specs on the headset itself. I am curious to see what the Apple Vision Pro does with passthrough to get a comparison on both, I believe that would be a much clearer indication of if the components inside the Meta Quest are the limiting factor here.
Yea agreed - and the lack of Mixed Reality games is another pain point.. it launched with 1 new "game" that was really just 90-second tech demo masked as a new game; the other MR experience that was there at launch didn't work at all for me. We're coming up on a year post-launch, and they still don't have any new experiences.. all the cheap, low-movement games (like the boxing one) that already existed have simply removed their backgrounds to show your environment instead. We need more experiences and I'm confused as to why this was launched without any.
I have the Apple Vision Pro and am working on a review to launch this fall! The AVP's passthrough is undeniably 'better', but it also has more motion blur when you move and still isn't great like you'd expect (I'll go more in-depth in my review). However, there aren't any experiences for it that really make it worth using outside having your virtual screens/windows around you. I managed to come across a mixed reality drawing app that lets you draw on a canvas, but that was about it and the rest were cheap/bad games. I haven't even found a great app that just lets me plop in even a 3D model and have fun with it. The F1 racing app just released and is the only real implementation I've seen to date - it's actually pretty awesome; the issue is simply I don't really have an interest in F1 racing to that degree outside maybe wanting to see it for a few minutes.
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!
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.
Lighting makes a MASSIVE difference, I used my phone light on objects and all the crispiness went away, sad thing is my room isn't that well-lit :(
Agreed. In the workspace option it would be far better if the passthrough was ditched in that area in favour of an overlaid a keyboard and mouse on the actual board. Sadly they only have a few boards as part of the recognition software. You could map in the various %age versions of the various boards though. It's certainly not usable as it is. They've effectively wasted an option to create a really good office screen environment. They should look to apply the overlay for the keeb to make is usable whilst they perfect the tech.
Yea, I'm not sure how well the tracked keyboard functionality works as I haven't tested it directly yet. I did just get a Apple Magic Keyboard to use with the Apple Vision Pro and that is on the Quest 3 tracked keyboard support list.. so I'll definitely try it for my 6-month review coming up.
I'm also a bigger fan of how ImmersedVR does the passthrough windows. If you haven't tried that then it's worth a download - it's the same concept, but you can set the size and location of your keyboard area + can create other windows (for instance, I like to a window where I sit my drinks so I can see myself reaching out for them). The passthrough quality isn't improved any, though.
Even if they had little markers or stickers we could place on our keyboards to help it track - that seems like it could work based on general layouts (even if it wasn't 100% aligned it seems like it could be close enough to trick your brain).
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.
What application were you using for productivity in the video? Was that Immersed?
It was Immersed!
I've been using it for years now. I also have a video dropping this week on their own VR headset, the Visor.
Thanks for the video. I got this for my 11 year old daughter and thought it was defective when I was setting it up. Like you, I had to remove the headset to do anything on the phone while setting it up. The cameras video quality is so poor that even if someone told me in advance how bad it was I still couldn’t have lowered my expectations enough for actually using it. It’s passable for not running into furniture but that’s about it. I wouldn’t use it for any type of mixed or augmented reality. Just playing games that don’t utilize the cameras is fine and my daughter does love playing games on it. If it was me I’d return it, but it’s fine for an 11 year old who doesn’t care for mixed reality.
Thanks for taking the time to watch! Definitely agreed. The headset is fully capable for VR and still worth the $$. They just went overboard in pushing the Mixed Reality as a "primary feature" instead of a "extra feature".
Definitely think your daughter will love it, regardless! You can try the reducing brightness on phone screens/etc. in the future if you ever need to.