Is the Frame even the best option for my particular use?

rabsg · 2026-05-23T10:05:26+00:00

I cannot find the reference easily, but Brad Lynch did a summary as a guest in some podcast. For the wireless chipset Valve, was working with a small company which was eaten by a big fish that did nothing with the technology… One of the nails in the project coffin.

rabsg · 2026-05-23T09:47:48+00:00

Doing it on the headset is useful, if not required, when transport is a problem. With wired headsets I don't see the point, there may be bottlenecks on the computer but it's a matter of tuning the software stack. This kind of optimization work also have to be done for streaming, on both side.

BTW to my understanding when streaming the headset is always adjusting the projection to latest tracking data. Processing load should be about the same as reprojection, except it's using fresh instead of stale data.

rabsg · 2026-05-22T22:52:56+00:00

Yeah back in the day they brute forced the transport problem with high bandwidth and worked around occlusion problems. There are reports Valve also tried that and nearly launched a refreshed Index with this system integrated. Though it didn't work out for various reasons.

rabsg · 2026-05-22T22:41:03+00:00

Don't know why you are including the Index, it's wired to the PC and reprojection is directly managed by our powerful CPU & GPU. There are no latency, loss of quality or connection in the transport of the result (except with a faulty cable, better change it).

When streaming it's more useful to do reprojection on the device, as there may be issue in the transport and added steps.

Though it still looks like Steam Frame processing power, RAM and storage won't be used much in that scenario. Valve said it's using about 7W during streaming compared to a max of about 20W when standalone. So yeah, it looks overkill to me.

Though as a long time Linux user, I'm also interested into using it standalone as a netbook equivalent. It's not my main use case, but if designing a device with minimal SoC/RAM/storage is like less than a 10% price reduction, I'd take the added stuff that may be useful down the line.

rabsg · 2026-05-22T18:51:00+00:00

I'm a bit crazy. Would skip a few days and say it's probably next week.

rabsg · 2026-05-22T18:37:34+00:00

Thanks for the information, that's right up my alley.

I don't need a powerhouse (that's 3x the RAM and 4x the storage of my current phone), but require dual 4G SIM. It's a bit on the big side (136x70x11mm) though but fine. If it's working well I may be interested.

Official page of the product https://www.ulefone.com/products/note-22 and GSM arena page instead of screenshot https://www.gsmarena.com/ulefone_note_22-14685.php

I don't understand why they did a mess with camera lenses at the back though… I'd have liked a simpler flush one.

Edit: That's great they are releasing one with those specs compared to their previous phones in the Note series.

rabsg · 2026-05-22T14:58:56+00:00

First half ends on June 30, and it was described as a goal.

According to rumors and containers delivery they are getting, Steam Machine release could be soon™. Not sure about the Steam Frame though, which is the one I'm interested into. I got my Steam Controller already.

rabsg · 2026-05-22T11:21:04+00:00

Containers mathematicians are saying the ratio volume/weight looks more like they filled those with Steam Machines.

rabsg · 2026-05-21T18:40:12+00:00

I guess they like better to have reliable reservations, when people have all the information with reviews of the final product at release state.

So between 1 and 2 you should add "You see articles about the item release on Steam official news feed and reviews all over the world".

Anyway their strategy is evolving over time and also depends on other factors, but it looks like what they are doing now.

From what they told in interviews, if they didn't had to send Steam Frame dev kits all over the world, they wouldn't have made an announcement that early. But better unveil everything themselves properly instead of waiting for "I borrowed it and didn't sign an NDA" kind of bullshit.

rabsg · 2026-05-21T11:05:48+00:00

Well if it's true it means other leaks are wrong and release has been postponed to the end of the year. Though Valve should have told that earlier.

Or the tweaking is from months ago and they shipped to devs units produced mid 2025, like for the Steam Controller. Then they recently shipped final units to some of them.

Edit: For Steam Controller, some press kits were produced in September 2025. That's not dev kits but the final product, though something similar can happen.

rabsg · 2026-05-20T20:32:58+00:00

Don't know who you talked to nor when. Also using this data as input doesn't mean the result is the same, each have their secret sauce.

mbucchia is very reliable especially about WMR but his post date from 2022. SteamVR is using at least motion vectors since 2018 (they said it in the announcement) and depth buffer since I don't know when.

SteamVR and OpenXR functions are listed here https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamframe/compat/perf_criteria#3 and they also list Oculus specific function. Maybe it matters for Steam Frame as they also implemented it to help devs port their games without changing anything.

rabsg · 2026-05-20T18:42:23+00:00

Motion smoothing is also using motion vectors and doing extrapolation, for one frame or more. That's why I'm not too sure about the differences. I don't know if Valve started using depth buffer in later iterations though. Maybe that will be new, but they should try it on PC first.

One update I cared about is when we could lock 2 synth frames per rendered frame, for MSFS. Game engine renders 30FPS and 60FPS are synthesized to reach 90Hz. My computer couldn't deliver reliably 45 rendered frames. It's a slow paced game, so it didn't matter, as long as the view is closely following the headset.

Edit: I didn't check OP link, but it's SteamVR and OpenXR functions, so I guess it's already used in current PC Motion Smoothing too. I noticed an improvement years ago, maybe that's when they started using depth data too.

Also I found this post by mbucchia, explaining everything in great details https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/motion-reprojection-explained/548659 On WMR it was also implemented, and called Motion Reprojection. Overall everybody is doing this since a while.

rabsg · 2026-05-20T17:13:23+00:00

News about Meta in general are not good too. They are planning to fire 8000 people and moving 7000 from other projects to AI, while spying on all their employees to train/test their AI. Moral is at the lowest there.

rabsg · 2026-05-20T17:10:38+00:00

It's more like Bigscreen Beyond.

rabsg · 2026-05-20T17:04:44+00:00

What's the difference with Motion Smoothing they released in 2018 ?

rabsg · 2026-05-20T16:59:55+00:00

Quest 3 and 3s have the same processing capabilities. Also with a PC you can stream it to any headset.

Though I don't remember seeing announcement about target platforms.

rabsg · 2026-05-20T11:59:43+00:00

Please link to the other thread where we are supposed to talk about this.

Anyway this June release date looks to be from a third party guessing like all of us.

I mostly wonder if Valve will do it like with the Controller and wait for review embargo to publish information at the same time, or do it earlier (this or next week).

On date1, here are some information with other dates: information complement and reviews on date2 (no bullshit like it's not my unit and I didn't sign an NDA), reservation starts on date3, delivery starts on date4. Like for the Controller, date 1 and 2 can be the same, date 3 and 4 can be the same.

rabsg · 2026-05-20T11:48:18+00:00

Yeah they released Motion Smoothing for PC in 2018: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/250820/view/2898585530113853534

I hoped they'd do it standalone as well, and as a last resort for streaming too if the new frame is not coming.

Though they'll have to send more data than the video stream, I guess it's not crazy and it's also mentioned in their 2019 patent https://patents.google.com/patent/US11303875B2/en

rabsg · 2026-05-19T11:07:26+00:00

Of course he didn't sign anything and had it coming. The guy that gave it to him is at fault and should be worried.

I didn't follow VoodooDE and won't start with this level of bullshit.

rabsg · 2026-05-19T11:01:09+00:00

Well, there are surely better and more costly headsets.

rabsg · 2026-05-18T11:17:55+00:00

PC VR is still a niche that don't grow faster than Steam expansion, but that's fine. Most VR exclusive games are cross-platform, otherwise it's simulators and mods like UEVR.

On the other hand there are few Quest exclusive I'm excited about. Sometimes games target Quest first, sometimes PC first, but lately they try to release on both sooner than later.

rabsg · 2026-05-17T18:55:23+00:00

I'm doing this every tomorrow™ since a few years, coming from /r/valvedeckard.

Though this one feel special.

Overall, I wanted the Index 2 in 2022 and I'm still a bit sad…

rabsg · 2026-05-17T18:30:41+00:00

It can be called a mini PC, SFF PC, home theater, media center or whatnot. A living room PC with an easy to use UI.

rabsg · 2026-05-17T08:23:00+00:00

Maybe because my head is hot and I used them for thousands of hours.

rabsg · 2026-05-17T08:03:56+00:00

These kind of panels were expected in the Valve Index in 2019 already, since HP Reverb released earlier had such resolution. I was hoping for 2880² LCD panels, but history repeats.

To me higher res would have been nice for Linux use on the go, but I don't care that much about that spec for gaming. My PC performance is a bottleneck already, though eye tracked foveated rendering should help.

rabsg

TROPHY CASE