OTG USB Minimum Specs?

nok

Hi, a few questions about the new OTG USB support:

1) What are the minimum performance speed requirements for an external drive in an enclosure or a flash drive to play VR content smoothly? I have some 8k VR videos with a bitrate of around 90-100mb/s that stutter like crazy over SMB or DLNA. They play smoothly from local storage on the Quest 3, but they take up too much space to make that a feasible playback option.

2) I tried a 2.5in SSD in a cheap USB 3.0 enclosure and the files showed up and played correctly. However the larger bitrate files stutter ever few seconds. Is this normal or would a better enclosure/cable help at all? Would a flash drive perform any better for some reason?

3) What is the max supported drive size limit for OTG USB playback? Are 4tb or 6tb drives supported?

4) It would be very useful to be able to delete files from the external drive from within Skybox on the headset. Would this be a difficult feature to add?

5) Is there any way to play OTG USB while still delivering power to the headset? Maybe a powered enclosure would allow this? Probably asking too much, but I was curious.

Thanks!

nok

Still no reply to my comment? I upgraded the enclosure to the newest 3.2 gen 2 version with a better cable. I can report no noticeable improvement. The drive is a Sandisk SSD Plus. Should be plenty fast enough, but 6k/7k/8k videos all stutter badly. It is about the same or worse performance as SMB streaming on the Quest 3. Every video I tried plays perfectly in Skybox from local storage drive, would be a real game changer if OTG USB playback worked, but currently it is not really useful. Hopefully that can be fixed though!

Lucy

nok
Hi there,

I'm so sorry for the late reply!

About the first question, we're testing. I will get back to you with more info later. This is the first version that we added USB support, we prioritize compatibility issues and we will keep optimizing the performance in the future.

About the second question, the answer is yes, it is normal. We will try to optimize the performance later. What's more, insufficient power supply of Quest 3 Type C may also lead to poor hard disk performance. We recommend you to use a USB flash drive.

Regarding the third question, we have tested 4TB drives without problems.

About the fourth question, sorry that we can't support it temporarily.

And there's no way to play USB files while delivering power to the headset.

If possible, we hope you can tell us the file system of your usb drive and share with us the video info or video file for testing and optimizing.

Btw, restricted by the computing power of VR headset, USB may not be faster than local network. Thanks for your understanding.

dhimanghosh

Lucy I am using a 256 mb drive with ₅₀₀ mb/s read speed. I am trying to view spatial videos (converted to 3d) around 600 mb. They are not able to be played and some are stuttering. Anything I can change with the usb drive file format?

Lucy

dhimanghosh
Hi there,

Thanks for your feedback.

Could you please tell us the model and file system format of your USB?

It would be better if you could send us the Info level logs. Logs will help us further investigate the issue.

To send logs, please click SKYBOX's Global Settings, change the Logging Levels to "Info", reproduce the issue, then click the BUG icon in the upper-right corner of Global Settings, and send us a bug report attached with logs(tick the "upload logs" box).

About the unplayable issue, please change the file/folder name to pure letters or numbers and see if it works. If the file/folder name contains special symbols like "#", "+", "/", "% and etc, the file may be unplayable. We'll try to fix this issue later.

Lucy

dhimanghosh
Hello,

Hope you're doing well!

We released a new version v1.1.7(2550) in the beta channel. This version optimize the USB performance.

If you have USB related issues, you can switch to "v1.1.7 Release: 1.1.7" and have a try.

Here are the steps to switch channel:

On Quest store, login your Meta account, find SKYBOX VR Player, scroll down the page, then you will find "Version", please click the dropdown menu to select "v1.1.7 Release: 1.1.7".
On your Quest, find SKYBOX VR Player in your App Library, click the three dots on the upper-right corner of SKYBOX. Then you will find the Update button. Just click it and wait for the installation.

After the update, you can click SKYBOX's Global Settings, turn on "Show Stats" to check the version number.

If you still have USB problems, we hope you can change the Logging Levels to "Info", reproduce the error and send us the "Info" level logs.

Best regards,
Lucy

PeteRepeat

I just downloaded and paid for this. Sorry away from the headset so unsure the version. I downloaded it from meta store only 2 days ago though so it's current.

I have noticed usb read is far slower than another similar app (leaving app name out unless requested) on the same usb drive and same video files. Also occasionally skybox won't open if the usb drive is plugged in. Reboot and no problems. Or unplug usb, and plug in again and it works. No problems with the other player. Exfat format.

Will the current beta be an improvement on drive performance? Or is this old now as the standard store version has the improvements already?

Edit: Seems current version for both channels is 1.1.8? So no current option to improve drive speed? I stress that another app plays the same drive and files fine.

Lucy

PeteRepeat
Hello,

Thank you for your feedback.

You can switch to beta version, click SKYBOX's Global Settings, turn on/off the "Concurrent Loading" setting to see if it helps.

To switch to beta version, please open Quest store via webpage, login your Meta account, find SKYBOX VR Player, scroll down the page, click the dropdown menu next to "Version" to change to "v1.1.8 Release: 1.1.8".

Then update or reinstall the app on your Quest. Reach out to contact@skybox.xyz if you have any problems.