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  • 8k video playback support for the Oculus Quest 2?

According to Oculus Quest 2's cpu and gpu hardware the upcoming headset can playback up to 8k video. Currently the Skybox app can only support up to 4k video (max of 4096 x 4096 pixels). Will the Skybox app be able to play 8k resolutions that are supported on the Quest 2?

    9 days later

    According to this TechCrunch reviewer (which has had a review unit since the Quest 2 was announced), 8K videos play perfectly on the Quest 2. I suppose it's only a matter of time before Skybox supports 8K on Quest 2 if it's not already the case on launch just with the upgraded CPU kicking in.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/ivce1j/ive_got_a_quest_2_questions/g5vfk4l?context=3

    EDIT: FWIW I'd also be interested in getting an official comment about this from the Skybox devs.

      6 days later

      I got my Oculus Quest 2 a few minutes ago and this was one of the first things I've tried. I've got good news for my fellow Skyboxers:

      I was able to play a 7K 10bit 60 FPS HEVC (Bitrate: 35 Mbit) video on Quest 2 with Skybox running at a buttersmooth 60 FPS the whole time. Loading times have also improved a lot thanks to the XR2-Chip.

      The same video runs at around 3 FPS on my old Quest 1. 🤯

        LordMiG That is amazing news LordMiG, thanks for sharing! Can I have your honest opinion on the LCD screen in the Quest 2? Seeing so many differing opinions on Reddit, the majority are saying that black levels are awful compared to the Quest 1.

          mark1234 I only ever used a Rift and a Go but I personally think that for most uses after a short while you won't notice the black levels all that much, unless you're playing very dark games or videos all the time.

          I received my Quest 2 yesterday and I must say that overall the colors are nice and the black levels are OK. I didn't notice them being too washed out to my taste. However if you compare the Quest 1 with the Quest 2 back-to-back I suppose you will see a big difference and it will bother you more, mostly in darker scenes.

          One thing to keep in mind is that glare / lens flare is worse with very bright colors beside very dark colors. So maybe (?) it's less pronounced on an LCD than on an OLED in dark scenes?

          One other thing I kept hearing that bothered me was that on the 3rd IPD setting (which I need to use) you can see the screen edges at the edges of your field of vision. It's true, but it's not as in-your-face as I thought and you quickly forget it.

          Quest 2 is my first 6DOF w/ controllers and I'm blown away. I've watched a lot of videos on the subject but using it is another matter entirely. I'm super satisfied so far.

            mark1234 The black levels are worse on Quest 2 compared to the Quest 1's OLED screen. There is no denying it. I've owned an Oculus Rift S, a Valve Index and a Quest 1 in the past. In my opinion the Quest 1 has better black levels than the Rift S and the Index. And both are great VR headsets. Once you are in-game you won't notice it as much.

            The Quest 2 has practically no screendoor effect, less glare, better colors (IMO). I've played a bit of Half-Life Alyx wirelessly with Virtual Desktop and it was a phenomenal experience.

            Like fortinmike said: The only downsides so far (for me) are the crappy IDP-settings, the crappy headband (my Elite Strap has not arrived yet) and the need for a facebook account.

            Other than that I'm very happy with the Quest 2 so far.

              I'm pretty sure Skybox on the Quest 2 is still only rendering at native Quest 1 resolution, not native Quest 2 resolution. It feels blurry and I'm pretty sure the devs have to update it manually anyway, and there was no update.

              Still by far my favorite video player, so I can't wait for it to actually support Quest 2 resolution and 90Hz properly. The experience will be out of this world !

                theFrenchDutch True, I hadn't noticed that during my (super-brief) testing. It will indeed be awesome when the Skybox Quest 2 update drops!

                I think we can safely assume that once Skybox renders at native resolution it should indeed play 8K without any issues, as most of the work resides in decoding the video (which we confirmed the XR2 does well) rather than rendering it on a 3D plane or sphere.

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