VR Download – Details, episodes & analysis

Ian Hamilton and David Heaney discuss Quest 3 now being used more on Steam than Valve Index, Pico 4 Ultra impressions and much more. 

Ian Hamilton and David Heaney discuss Meta's changing plans for future next-generation VR headset, the merger of Horizon store with App Lab and much more.

Ian Hamilton and David Heaney discuss Quest 2 going out of stock in the United States, LIV becoming the official third-person capture tool for Quest, Palmer Luckey's military headset, and much much more in this mega episode that's nearly four hours long.

We discuss the story behind Apple's mixed reality headset development and how the effort stacks up against Meta. We also dive into: 

• A new Quest 2 experimental room setup feature
• Valve Index replacement parts coming to iFixit
• New details on Quest 2's display tech
• A new Qualcomm wireless AR reference design
• Zero Latency replacing backpacks with Vive Focus 3

We've gotten a look at some next generation VR display technologies from TCL, JDI, and eMagin with the mysterious "STEAMBOAT" board potentially hinting at some big things. We also discuss updates from Meta, with the v40 update for Quest adding new tracked keyboards, fresh statements about a Facebook-free Quest login experience, R&D spending news, and the new Horizon Worlds asset library.

Lastly, we dive into the latest we've learned about Project Cambria and its passthrough mixed reality functionality.

We talk about UploadVR's correspondents going inside the very first Meta Store In Burlingame, California, venues moving inside Horizon Worlds, codec avatars and the chips being built to drive them, new ultra thin holographic glasses research, and Meta's neural wristband input for future glasses.

Note there's some echoing in this week's audio, sorry about that and we will try to get it fixed next week. 

We discuss new research into using VR controllers to track body movements and the latest look at Meta's 'Codec' avatars as well as the prospect of VR calling. We also talk about Meta's growing expenses and the details we learned about Project Cambria and the company's next VR headsets. 

We discuss Amazon's AR/VR hiring, VRChat's new Avatar Dynamics, Meta's first physical store to sell Quests, glasses, and Portals, and the leak of a manual to Meta's reported Air Bridge accessory for wireless PC VR.  We also consider the question: What would happen if Meta pulled out of consumer VR? 

We discuss the dramatic upgrade to Quest 2's hand tracking, Vive Focus 3 OpenXR Beta support, and an analyst's claim that Apple's headset as well as Sony's PSVR 2 are coming in 2023. We also dive into Meta's tease that Horizon Worlds is getting a web version and a report from The Verge about Meta's AR glasses, plus Pico Neo 3 Link.

We discuss the recent leak which revealed an 'Air Bridge' USB dongle which might improve wireless PC VR on Quest 2, Quest software update v39, Meta moving to pay creators for their work in Horizon Worlds, F8 getting cancelled, the latest information surrounding Meta's forthcoming "pro" headset, iOS 16 references to an Apple headset, the future of glasses versus headsets, and Pico's teases.