The ambitious VR headset ARPARA VR that realizes 200g and 5K resolution and gathers hot gaze from alpha VR users. Experience and reviews have already been published in many media, but in this article, we will take a step further, comparison with the developers, comparison with Meta QUETST2, which became the de facto of the VR headset, We will deliver reviews with the latest actual machines, including the questions and sales schedule information.
- For those who seek further VR experiences
- Spec difference that is a big difference in experience
- Outside-in ARPARA VR and Inside Out Meta Quest2
- Is there an outside-in even in a small house in Japan?
- attractiveness as a video viewer for smartphones
- Secret of both high image quality and lightweight and compact
- Is the replacement of HTC Vive and Valve Index targeted?
For those who seek further VR experiences
ARPARA VR is a VR headset developed and sold by Chinese ARPARA GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY. The biggest feature is a high-resolution display of 5120 x 2560 dots with a lightweight compact body of 200g and both eyes.
In more detail, two 1.03-inch Micro OLEDs with 2560 x 2560 dots are installed in one eye, and a lightweight and compact 3D VR is realized by combining a single focus pancake lens.
Currently, Meta Quest2 is attractive with the simplicity and cost performance unique to all-in-one, but once you get used to VR, you will want to seek a better experience. ARPARA VR may be a VR headset that should be considered as the next step of Meta Quest2. However, it is true that there are still some hurdles at present. Let’s check that.
ARPARA VR has two product lineups. ARPARA TETHERD 5K and ARPARA GAMING KIT. Tethered means connected, probably from the usage form that connects with a PC or smartphone.
Tetherd 5K consists of four ARPARA VR headsets, standard masks (cushions that hit the eyes around the eyes), headband (soft strap), and Type C cable. The tracking surface is a form that uses a built-in tracker of the 3Dof (3 degree of freedom) of the ARPARA VR itself. Detects only before and after, left and right and rotation of the face. The retail price is 108,999 yen.
Gaming Kit includes headset body and upgrade mask, head strap (hard type), external 6Dof tracker, Display Port cable, and Type-C cable. The Display Port cable is a special cable that seems to be exclusively for ARPARA VR, with the headset side, the PC connection side, the Display Port 1.4 × 1, and the USB 2.0 Type-A × 2. The retail price is 158,800 yen.
There are plans to sell trackers and upgrade masks separately for Tether 5K buyers.
In order to play VR games with ARPARA VR, in addition to Gaming Kit, you also need a base station x 2 for SteamVR and 2 controller x 2. This time, I lent a base station and controller for Gaming Kit and HTC Vive, and a tripod for the base station, and played some SteamVR games in my home living room.
Spec difference that is a big difference in experience
The resolution of ARPARA VR is 5120 x 2560 dots. The QUEST2 to be compared this time is 3664 x 1920 dots. The total number of drawings is 13,107,200 dots to 7,034,880 dots, which is almost doubled.
(Currently, if you use ARAPRA VR in 5120 x 2560 dots, the refresh rate will be fixed to 70Hz. In Quest2, it will be 3664 x 1920 dots for 90Hz and 120Hz with the test function).
If you try Half-Life Alyx, which is considered to be the monitor of the VR adventure game, the virtual world with CG that you felt beautiful in QUEST2 spreads in front of you with a crisp texture.
It is also said that the viewing angle is 95 degrees of ARPARA VR, and QUEST2 is actually about 87 degrees. This difference feels like a certain difference in the actual game experience. In my sense, when I changed it from ARPARA VR to Quest2, I felt that the impression of looking into the binoculars was more emphasized more than usual.
I felt the weight difference of the headset was bigger than expected. Attach an external 6dof tracker, an upgrade mask and a hard strap to the ARPARA VR will weigh 443g. On the other hand, the personal QUEST2 is 689g with a 3rd party hard strap (all measured).
The difference is only 246g, and QUEST2 can be wireless using Virtual Desktop, while Arpara VR is connected to a PC with a thick Display Port 1.4 cable. I anticipated that the experience of the deduction would not change much, but when I actually played with a VR headset for a long time, I felt that Arpara VR had less burden on my body.
Outside-in ARPARA VR and Inside Out Meta Quest2
The ARAPARA VR uses an outside-in tracking of the Lighthouse method, which is formulated and published by Valve, the operator of Steam. This reflects the user’s operation in the VR space by receiving the laser rays transmitted from the two base stations placed on the headset or tracker mounted on the controller.
On the other hand, QUEST2 is an inside-out method that tracks users and hand movements with four cameras mounted on the headset. Comparing both sides is attractive that the outside-in is highly accurate and flexible, but it requires an expensive base station, and there is a restriction on the installation space. Inside out is difficult to achieve high accuracy, but the system is compact and low.
In Quest2, the external appearance is projected in the headset while using a tracking camera, and the hand tracking that does not require controller is also being realized, but it is being realized.
What is the actual game experience of ## Arpara VR?
This time, the following four games were used for comparison.
・ Half-Life Alyx
・ VR JAPAN
・ VR SUPER SPORTS
・ Rocket Skates VR
Half-Life Alyx and VR JAPAN are to verify the beauty of the 5K resolution display. As mentioned above, ARPARA VR is excellent in the beauty and viewing angle of the image. In Half-Life Alyx, you can freely lift objects such as books and bags in the game by hand. There was no big difference between Arpara VR and QUEST2.
VR Super Sports and Rocket Skates VR were used to verify the operation of the action game. VR Super Sports is a set of sports mini-games reminiscent of Wii Sports and Swicth Sports, where you can enjoy boxing, bowling, batting practice, clay shooting, archery, etc.
In the archery, the bow has a bow, the arrow is taken from the arrow with the right hand, and the arrow is squeezed, but in QUEST2, the arrow can not be brought up well from the arrow and dropped it frequently. Was the movement of lifting your hand on your right shoulder, or was it not good in QUEST2, or was it a tuning problem for QUEST2?
In the clay shooting, ARPARA VR was able to shoot down some clays, but in QUEST2, there was only one hit that hit by chance. It may happen, but the difference in the viewing angle may have been affected.
On the other hand, Rocket Skates VR, which runs through the winding road with a rocket engine and skating, it is necessary to change the body direction frequently and sometimes turn one rotation. In ARPARA VR, which is connected to a PC with a cable, it was a little inconvenient to move consciously so that the cable does not wrap around the body.
Is there an outside-in even in a small house in Japan?
What I struggled with this time was to secure a space to play VR. SteamVR requires at least 2m square play area.
Since my home is a small house in Tokyo, only the living room has a wired LAN that can secure a space of 2m square and connect a PC. A stand rented was installed on the diagonal of a not wide living room, and a play area was drawn with the controller, but it was difficult to exceed the lower limit of 2m square, so I retried several times while adjusting the position of the base station.
This is because the Lighthouse method, which is an outside-in, cannot be recognized as not within the range of the laser rays that the base station sends.
With QUEST2, even without setting the play area in SteamVR, the insid out settings with QUEST2 alone seemed to be used as they were, and there was no trouble.
attractiveness as a video viewer for smartphones
The main uses of the VR headset are VR games and VRSNS, but another important purpose is to watch video. In the case of Quest2, you can enjoy videos and movies using apps such as YouTube, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu by itself.
ARPARA VR can also be used as a video viewer by connecting the smartphone with a Type-C cable. If you just lie down and watch a movie, you don’t need an external tracker or a hard strap. A standard mask is 274g, and even if you attach an upgrade mask, it will be much lighter than 282g and QUEST2.
Watching a movie in QUEST2 is certainly immersive, but the headset is too heavy, and the long-term appreciation will hurt your face even if you have an elite strap.
In that regard, the appreciation of the ARPARA VR to the smartphone was quite comfortable. I felt it was more difficult to change to an upgrade mask than the standard mask.
This time, I tried Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5g with a Type-C cable. The viewers of YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and DMM videos were able to play video without any problems, but the AMAZON Prime app stopped due to an error when trying to play ARPARA VR.
The Netflix app was particularly comfortable because when the smartphone was connected by connecting ARPARA VR and playing the movie, the smartphone was automatically played on the horizontal screen.
The YouTube app also supports VR videos, but the viewpoint does not change even if you move the headset. Conversely, I was able to change the viewpoint by moving the smartph1. I installed the VR player of the DMM video and played the adult VR videos, but from the VR perspective, the same video was not played and only played it back and right side by side (a little disappointing).
Secret of both high image quality and lightweight and compact
The SoC used in the ARPARA VR is Snapdragon XR2 in Quarcom, the same as many headsets such as QUEST2. Why did the same SoC achieve higher resolution?
According to Arpara, Snapdragon XR2 has a performance that can handle up to 8K in the first place. It was reported that the resolution of 3000 x 3000 was 3000 x 3000 when the XR2 was announced, but it seems that the performance of the reference model of the headset prepared by Qualcom is not the performance of the XR2.
VR headsets such as QUEST2 adopt a frennel lens that realizes the same refractive index as well as thick lenses, but ARPARA VR is even lighter and compact by adopting a thinner pancake lens in the eyepiece. Is possible.
ARPARA originally has been working on video viewers for a long time, and in response to the recent metaberse boom, he plans to provide a unique metaarth service called ARPARALAND, and plans to develop and sell ARPARA VR as a device for that purpose. is.
It was said that ARPARA VR was able to evolve the contradictory conditions of high-quality and lightweight compact while using the same SoC as other companies, because there is the know-how of Arpara’s past video equipment development. 。
The ARPARA VR has a 95-degree viewing angle and a 2560 x 2560 dot micro OLED, just one year ago, P95 ALL-PLASTIC PANCAKE Optics announced by Kopin, a display maker in June 2021. It seems that it is used, but in the press at the time, it was pointed out that it is difficult to balance the brightness of the display and the battery consumption due to the low optical efficiency, and the know-how of Arpara is used to solve that. maybe.
ARPARA is the first step in spreading headsets for SteamVR, the VR market’s de facto standard, and will later provide its own service for that headset. ARPARA VR has a 3Dof tracking function by itself, but to make use of this, it is necessary to wait for the unique app Arparahome to be provided.
ARPARAHOME seems to have iOS, Android, and Windows versions overseas, but none of Japan is not offered in Japan.
Is the replacement of HTC Vive and Valve Index targeted?
ARPARA VR has an attractive point, such as the beauty of the display, the lightness and compact headset, and the comfort of a smartphone movie viewer, so I personally liked it.
However, at present, there are several problems, and it seems that it is a product that is suitable for those who have experienced VR headset and advanced digital gadgets for beginners in VR headset.
One of the problems is the price, it is necessary to prepare a base station x 2 and a controller x 2 in addition to GAMING KIT of 155,800 yen to enjoy SteamVR with ARPARA VR, and the total amount may be around 250,000 yen. I have.
HTC Vive Pro 2, which can be said to be the current standard machine when using Lighthouse VR in SteamVR, has a base station and controller for 178,990 yen. Vive Pro 2 has a resolution of 4896 x 2448 dots and 91%of the ARPARA VR, but the viewing angle is 120 degrees and the refresh rate is 120Hz.
The headset weight of Vive Pro 2 is 815g, which is quite heavy and large, and a separate power adapter is required for the headset even when connecting to a PC, and a link box for connecting multiple cables (this is also Yozo in the main unit). It is more complicated than ARPARA VR, but the cost hurdle is lower.
It already owns the HTC VIVE series and Valve Index, and the need for headset to be upgraded to a lighter and high-quality thing seems to be the most reliable ARPARA VR market.
Is ## Arpara VR for advanced users?
In addition, there is a problem that the current ARPARA VR is somewhat unstable. Review articles and videos published ahead of this article pointed out the problem of blacking out during use. This time, the first borrowed individual had the same problem, and I blacked out in a few minutes using SteamVR, but the other one I borrowed later was stable for 1-2 hours (). More than that, I have no physical strength.)
In addition, both of the problems that one eye suddenly blurred and invisible when using the VR. This time, this time, the Game on the SteamVR side (Half-Life Alyx) was resolved, but the cause is unknown.
In addition, when it moved violently in the boxing of VR Super Sports and Rocket Skates VR, the connection of the Type-C cable may be loosened and the inside of the headset suddenly darkened. It may be the cause of being affected by gravity with a structure that inserts a cable from under the headset.
With the resolution switching switch for 3D and 2D, each resolution can be switched to about 4 steps, but when switching the resolution for 3D, the headset will not be recognized by the SteamVR side unless the resolution of the external tracker is switched. 。 The tracker resolution is available on the ARPARA website for 5K and 4K batch programs. I want you to provide this in the GUI app in the future.
When connecting to a smartphone, the resolution is switched with a 2D switch, but the response that switches after pressing the button is slow, and depending on the resolution setting, the smartphone side may not be compatible and the screen may not be displayed in a darkness.
These problems are that gadget enthusiasts with some experience can solve them themselves, but those who are not may think that it is a device failure.
Is ## Arpara VR the gospel for heavy users?
If you have two APARA VR and QUEST2 as a single VR user, I want to use Arpara VR. Even if there are some inconveniences, I think there is a high quality of experiences that are difficult to express in numbers and letters.
However, it is almost impossible to spend nearly 300,000 yen by family. If you are a VR crock that can live in a VR space, the lightweight compactness of nearly half of HTC Vive Pro 2 may be worthwhile.
ARPARA VR will be sold on Amazon from early June to mid-June.
ARPARA TETHERD 5K 108,999 yen Released in early to mid-middle
ARPARA GAMING KIT 158,800 yen Released in early to mid-middle