samsung odyssey vr headset windows mixed reality (1) — Image courtesy Samsung

Samsung Odyssey Windows VR Headset Now Available – Everything You Need to Know

Nov 7, 2017

The Samsung Odyssey, the company’s first PC VR headset, is available starting today in several countries, sold via Samsung and Microsoft stores. The $500 VR headset and controllers, part of the ‘Windows Mixed Reality’ platform, is described as the “most immersive,” and leads on specs (and top price) compared to the other Windows VR headsets.

Samsung Odyssey Specs and Minimum Requirements

Samsung has positioned the Odyssey VR headset as the premium offering among the Windows VR headsets, a handful of which launched initially last month.

The device lays claim to the highest resolution among the Windows VR headsets, with a pair of 1,440 × 1,600 displays (capable of up to 90Hz) which are OLED (compared to the LCD screen of the others), which typically means richer colors, greater contrast, and potentially less ghosting. The Odyssey is also the only one of the Windows VR headsets (so far) with integrated headphones and a microphone, which gives the headset a leg up in usability. Unfortunately it lacks the flip-up visor hinge that the other Windows VR headsets share.

Equipped with Fresnel lenses, Samsung claims the quoted 110 degree field of view is “one of the widest available on the market.” The Odyssey is also the only Windows VR headset to offer an IPD adjustment to let you dial in the sweet-spot by changing the distance between the lenses, from 60 to 72 mm.

Like all the Windows VR headsets to date, the Odyssey includes two front-facing cameras for inside-out tracking, which means you don’t need any external sensors or beacons for head and controller tracking. Despite Microsoft calling the Odyssey (and other Windows VR headsets) “Mixed Reality,” there is no pass-through video or augmented reality functionality from the cameras.

The headset itself weighs a hefty 1.42 pounds (644 grams), which makes it one of the heaviest consumer headsets out there. The cable is 13.1 feet (4 meters) long, and terminates in USB 3.0 and HDMI 2.0 plugs.

Need to know if you computer specs can handle the Odyssey? Download the Windows Mixed Reality PC Check app from Microsoft to make sure your system is up to par.

Our Thoughts on the Samsung Odyssey VR Headset

We haven’t had a chance to do a full review of the Samsung Odyssey headset yet, but I did get to spent a fair bit of time with the near-final headset at its unveiling last month. You can find my detailed hands-on impressions here, though here’s the short of it:

The ergonomics didn’t quite agree with my head; I found it hard to find a spot where the headset was comfortable, in the sweet spot of the lenses, and the headphones were placed optimally on my ears.
The lack of a hinge to flip up the visor (like the other Windows VR headsets) is a shame, and seems to also contribute to the ergonomic issue (since the visor can’t rotate from its fixed position).
The Odyssey appears to have a wider field of view than the other Windows VR headsets, falling into the same class as the Rift and Vive.
The hardware IPD adjustment is a nice benefit, allowing you to dial in the sweet spot of the lenses more precisely (especially useful for those with IPDs outside of the average)
There’s a marked increase in screen sharpness over the Rift and Vive; individual pixels and the screen door effect are reduced but still visible.
The Odyssey controllers are almost identical to the basic Windows Mixed Reality controllers, but they have a slightly more ergonomic handle shape. Otherwise they work identically well, though that does mean some jumpiness from time to time.

Additionally, our review of the Acer Windows VR headset informs some of the common elements of the underlying Windows Mixed Reality platform, like how the headset interacts with Windows, as well as the inside-out tracking tech which handles head and controller tracking.

It’s also worth noting that at present, the Windows VR headsets can only access VR content from the Windows store, which offers only a handful of apps. All of the Windows VR headsets, including the Odyssey, will eventually be able to play SteamVR content, but that functionality isn’t expected to be released until December.

Samsung Odyssey Deals and Where to Buy

Interested in picking up the Odyssey? Samsung has confirmed to Road to VR that the headset is initially available in the US, China, Korea, Brazil, and Hong Kong, via the Samsung and Microsoft stores.

At the time of writing, the Samsung.com option estimates the headset will ship in 7–10 business days, suggesting that stock there is a bit tight. The Samsung page also indicates that Rock and Rails, previously developed as a Gear VR title, will be included with the purchase.

Over at Microsoft, the current estimate is 3–7 business days, though you may also be able to find the headset in Microsoft’s brick and mortar stores (you can check inventory through the website). There’s no mention of Rock and Rails being included as a freebie when purchase from Microsoft, but the company is offering a $100 discount on a bundle including the Odyssey headset and a Samsung laptop for a hefty $2,000.

Jean-Sebastien Perron

100$ more than the oculus! It’s expensive for a VR that has no games yet and poor hand tracking (no hand tracking behind your back). The bump in resolution is nice, maybe we will see what it can do when computers can actually render at that resolution in 3 years from now. Keyword : Upscale to 1600×1200
- ibuprofène
  
  you must have a shitty computer..
- kontis
  
  I didn’t know that all these people who use supersampling have PCs from the future.
- Peter Hansen
  
  2 times GTX 1060 in VR SLI should do the trick. NVidia VR Works is available in more and more 3D engines like Unity and Unreal.
  - Jeremiah
    
    The GTX1060 doesn’t support SLI.
    - Peter Hansen
      
      VR SLI is a software solution. It does not require a physical SLI bridge.
      - Jeremiah
        
        Yeah that’s not official and I bet it’s terrible, there are only a handful of games that support it as well afaik.
      - Peter Hansen
        
        What do you mean by “not official”? It is part of NVidia VR Works. And it is working fine.
        
        There are only a handful of titles, because it is additional effort, Unreal and Unity just recently added this to their engines, and there are not so many people out there with SLI systems. So the benefit for the market is not so high.
      - Jeremiah
        
        Fair enough, still, if it’s barely supported, then why are recommending that setup?
      - Peter Hansen
        
        1. It is coming.
        2. I want to stress, that it is achievable. Granted, VR is highly expensive. And paying another 450 bucks for a second GPU is not for most of current gamers or VR enthusiasts. But it is not so far out of this world.
        
        But I am not recommending to anyone to buy such a setup. I am stressing the benefits of VR SLI in public because I am hoping that more and more studios incorporate this feature.
      - Jeremiah
        
        OK but I’d still recommend people buy a GTX1070, that would be the much wiser decision, surely you agree.
      - Peter Hansen
        
        Definitely, I agree. And you can upgrade to (VR) SLI any time, if that seams reasonable to you at any point in the future.
      - Jeremiah
        
        Certainly SLIi and VR seems like it would make a good fit, one card for each eye. Maybe they’ll eventually build graphics cards specifically for VR though, optimising for it in software only is holding things back I bet. That might take a while though considering how niche VR still is.
        
        Heck I’m not convinced the whole strapping a couple screens and lenses to your head is any kind of long term solution (having used a Rift and PSVR, it was fun but deeply flawed).
        
        The sooner they can beam the images straight to our brains the better, beaming the image directly to our eyes is already a thing, albeit not quite there either. Sigh, I’ve been waiting for viable VR for a few decades and still feel were a few decades away from a polished and mainstream product…
      - Peter Hansen
        
        Current NVidia cards have lots of features directly addressing the VR rendering pipeline – hard- as well as software-wise.
      - Jeremiah
        
        Yeah my 1060 does have a bit of that, I’m talking bespoke and custom built from the ground up for VR, not some minor optimisations. It’s like how all VR headsets use phone screens not designed with VR in mind (and many other parts), what we need are screens built from the ground up for the needs of VR, again VR is too niche for that to happen any time soon, but one can dream!
        
        Also they need to stop using fresnel lenses and pentile based OLED/LCD screens, Sony’s use of rbg AMOLED screens meant they had minimal SDE and could use clear lenses with no glare, the fact Sony build there own optics probably had something to do with the fact their lenses seemed far better optimised for VR than the Rift’s that I used.
        
        Sony’s HMD was lower res with a lower fov and yet felt better over all. Their headset was also far more comfortable, albeit too heavy and their tracking solution was utter crap, their use of a last gen camera and controllers is unforgivable.
        
        Sorry about the verbal diarrhea, I have to share these things with someone that will understand them :p
      - Peter Hansen
        
        I am not an expert in GPU design. So what features would you expect of screens built from the ground up for VR?
        
        The impact of matrix types on SDE will soon vanish, with increasing resolutions. Low-persistance in OLEDS is near perfect, no? A refresh rate of >120 Hz for VR is overkill, I think. Head movement is by far slower than mouse-based turns in 2D-projection gaming. What are you hoping for? (earnest question)
      - Jeremiah
        
        First of all screens that are shaped to the average fov, which would look nothing like a square or rectangle obviously, not just curved on a 2d plain either, but three dimensionally, so it’s wrapped to our field of view far more naturally.
        
        The upshot of which would mean the lenses wouldn’t need to do as much work to stretch the image to fit our fov and the GFX card wouldn’t need to do so much to uncontort the twisted image the lenses send us. The downside is that lenses that would have to cover so much real estate currently don’t exist.
        
        Also it isn’t just about resolution, they need to eradicate the space between the pixels. Even the new Pimax VR headset has 4K per eye and yet still has some noticeable SDE. Sony’s RGB AMOLED is a step in the right direction.
        
        Also in lots of other ways that only someone as smart as Carmack could explain.
        
        Lastly and this is only slightly related, they need to make eye tracking and foveated rendering a standard feature asap, that way the GFX card can focus a more detailed image only where we look, thus making for a far more efficient system and is more in line with how our eyes/brain currently work anyway.
        
        This might be the solution https://uploadvr.com/adhawks-tiny-sensors-could-enable-much-smaller-vr-headsets-and-ar-glasses/ It also predicts where you will look next as well!
        
        I still think a better solution is to send the image directly into our eyes, now that is already a technology that exists, but it’s currently low resolution and doesn’t fill our fov, so it needs some work also…
      - Peter Hansen
        
        Well, a display shaped like some skiing glasses would be interesting, but I dare not imagine how lenses could actually cope with that. Besides, lens work does not cost anything performance-wise, and the final image distortion also not really. It seems tempting to go that way, but I remain skeptical for now.
        
        And isn’t it the case that “the space between pixels” currently is used for the supporting circuits?
        
        Yep, foveated rendering would be a HUGE gain. I read that article. I really hope this tech works well in headsets and is actually fast enough for not killing the immersion!
        
        Retinal display like in Avegant’s Glyph, you mean? I love that idea, supposed to offer a great image! I am wondering, though, how many of our current problems would actually be solved by that tech.
      - Jeremiah
        
        Yeah I know lenses don’t cost any performance, but the current lenses do a pretty poor job of wrapping the image around our fov, the edges look awful, it’s difficult to find the sweet spot and you can see a lot of black still.
        
        I’ve heard it said it does cost a fair amount processing wise to contort the image before it goes through the lenses, so as to appear unwarped. I’ve not confirmed that though.
        
        I did mean the AG yes, I appreciate it’s a baby step, but if done well, then it would bypass the need for screens, lenses and bulky headsets, ideally they could reduce them to a pair of shades, eventually, they do require projectors though, not sure how developed that kind of tech is compared to smartphone screens, which are a massive industry obviously.
        
        One of the biggest issues I have with the current HMD types is that they get far too hot, far too quickly. It just isn’t comfortable for more than 20 minutes or so. I don’t think they can eliminate that problem with a screen and lens system, tis all. Unless they plan on incorporating internal air conditioning or some kind of refrigeration unit haha.
      - Peter Hansen
        
        One could imagine some shades where the actual “glass” merely consists of concave, flexible (form-wise, electrically stimulated) micro-cushions that can go from (semi-) transparent (AR/MR) to completely reflectant (VR), receiving the image (light source) from a pair of projectors sitting in the periphery. DLP-like, that’s how the AG works, right? Is that it?
        
        That would also require precise eye-tracking, though.
        
        I must say, I seldom have issues with heat in my HMDs. And I tend to use them for longer than 1h.
      - Jeremiah
        
        Yeah I’d buy those shades in your first paragraph, I have no idea how they work, as long as they work!
        
        The eye tracking part at least looks feasible.
        
        I have always had a hot face mind, I don’t mean that pridefully! Even shades can steam up on my face, I’m slim as well, not sure what the story is there.
        
        One thing I know, is that I’m not in a rush to let anyone implant anything into my head, so full immersion isn’t happening any time soon unfortunately, maybe I need to get out more…
      - Peter Hansen
        
        How they work? That’s the “easy” part. :)
        
        The cushions are filled with a gel that contains electrically charged particles. The cushions are partitioned, however, so that the particles remain equally distributed. Or it is a solid gel. Then there are two sets of electrodes: one set vertically and one horizontally attached to the cushion. Apply voltage to one axis and the cushion will “turn” in that direction. The concave part of the cushion is rigid, so that it will always remain a “dish”. This micro-adjustment is used to accommodate the shifting of the pupil location during eye movement. You could do this with DLP-like mirrors, but I expect “solid” bodies to be more robust in every-day use. The “dish” is adjusted in a way that it spreads out light beams to cover a small area in order to get rid of any SDE. Finally, the surface of the dish/cushion has to respond to the overall voltage on all 4 electrodes relative to a common ground. There are already materials for windows that can render opaque in response to electricity in order to block sunlight. We only need a highly reflecting surface instead.
        
        Now this is just a fantasy and could be complete bullshit. But I like the idea. And I think this kind of precision in eye tracking must not be underestimated.
      - Jeremiah
        
        You sound like you designed them! That stuff is way over my head…like a head mounted display, sorry about that.
        
        I’m positive they will get a VR/AR unit into a contact lens before long, nano tech and all that. Not that I like contact lenses…
        
        Part of me thinks I was born 50 years too early, actually it’s a great time to be born, so many great breakthroughs and innovations and many on the horizon that will astound us I’m sure.
        
        I’ve wanted VR since the 80’s, at least I can say I played Job Simulator, Diner Duo, The Arkham Batman mini game and others and loved them, so much more potential though!
      - Peter Hansen
        
        It’s my idea, but now it is out there. Hope somebody builds it! :)
        
        Contact lenses would be the non-plus-ultra of the non-invasive, of course. It is a fascinating time to live in. It’s the best of all possible worlds, after all. ;)
      - Peter Hansen
        
        “Sorry about the verbal diarrhea, I have to share these things with someone that will understand them :p”
        
        Very welcome, likewise!
        
        However, I have heard that PSVR uses a diffusor foil that additionally reduces the SDE. Sometimes my impression is this is similar with Oculus.
      - NooYawker
        
        I thought oculus or steam didn’t support VR SLI yet.
      - Peter Hansen
        
        It’s not about them. It’s about the titles, and effectively about the game engine’s capabilities.
      - Peter Hansen
        
        Sorry, I was wrong. SLI bridge is actually required. Then it is 1070 in SLI, I’m afraid.
Luke

is it confirmed that it’s not coming to Europe? thx
- ForMiSoft
  
  Yeah, Europe is for Samsung poor third world. And because I am from Czech republic I bought it from eBay for US $650. With VAT and mailing costs it was total US $1008. :p
  - Laurence Nairne
    
    Ouch.
Lumia920

Samsung mixed reality headset just released yesterday (November 06, 2017), you do not even have access to it and are sharing your feedback based on the experience you had a month before with the demo version?
- benz145
  
  When it comes to mass produced electronics, little can change in one month; I wouldn’t be surprised if the headset presented at Microsoft’s press event last month (where we got to try it) was a production unit. At the briefing, neither company labeled the headset as a prototype or work in progress, they held it out as a faithful representation of the product that consumers would get their hands on.
  
  Furthermore, we make no effort to hide the fact that the impressions were from last month, it’s spelled out clearly and we even link to the original article for anyone who wants to read our detailed hands-on with the headset. It’s also stated specifically that we haven’t had a chance to do our typical in-depth review of the headset.
  
  So yes, we’re sharing our feedback from our time with the headset from last month because we believe it’s valid and useful information and provided with appropriate context.
  - beestee
    
    I have the headset and I can confirm that the previous findings are all still valid.
    
    Rest easy @Lumia920 .
    
    My biggest gripe is no flip-up hinge. A close second would be lack of content. Oculus has spoiled me in that regard. I hope Re-Vive works on this thing, and that this headset will work on Xbox One X VR whenever they get around to doing something with that.
- Peter Hansen
  
  Sadly, it’s the pressure of providing (one of) the first reviews. Better you write something, even if it is old, than nothing at all.
dexkz

I pre-ordered it on the first few days and recently had an email telling me that it will be available only in December
- benz145
  
  Interesting. Can you forward the email to tips@roadtovr.com so we can take a look?
Michael Franco

I can’t understand how this is going to sell. am i missing something?
- flamaest
  
  I agree, this headset is 3 months too late given the recent Oculus Rift sale, and with no Xbox compatibility inside, I don’t see how any of this is a good purchase. What the hell is wrong with Microsoft? It’s like they’re trying to kill VR on purpose.
  - Peter Hansen
    
    I think it’ll get a little cheaper, soon, due to the competition. And people who are curious for VR will buy it, because they love the hassle-free installation and handling of the device.
  - Arkadius Brand
    
    Oculus = low resolution, low build quality device. Can’t compare it with Odyssey.
    - Evgeni Zharsky
      
      lulz
    - NooYawker
      
      I’m no fan of Facebook but let’s not just make things up.
- Raphael
  
  Will sell to people who want slight jump in res and inside put tracking and don’t mind uncomfortable heads. Entering at 500 doesn’t seem like a smart move so octopusvr doesn’t have top much to worry about yet.
Wrinkly

It’s not for gamers so the devs tell me, which does make sense as a gamer would be handicapping them self with a systems where the controllers only work 90% of the time compared to the Rift/Vive. It’s not really for productivity as who would replace their panel with a headset?

All I can imagine is that it is Microsoft’s answer to PSVR. Yep, this is the XBox VR option released early to get the ignorant PC users on board before they announce it as console VR.
- Mythos88
  
  I think the devs you were talking to must have confused it with HoloLens. WMR is great for gaming though SteamVR needs to open for everyone. There are lots of YouTube videos showing that WMR is handling games beyond what most expected. The developer of Climby says WMR tracks Climby better than the Rift.
  
  I think we better hope WMR really takes off so we can have a premium VR experience to counter PSVR before it completely dominates because the Rift and the Vive are just not catching on enough
  - Wrinkly
    
    Most are ignorant of the tech hence they were surprised how good tracking is. That does not mean the tracking is as good as Rift/Vive, hence I consider it to be a step backwards, a dumbed down experience.
    
    The Rift is doing fantastic since it’s price drop to £400/$400.
    - Mythos88
      
      True, the Rift price drop should be having an affect. I suspect the WRM headsets will be in for some good drops too after they are done milking the early adopters…like me–I have one on the way.
  - Peter Hansen
    
    We already do, it’s called Oculus Rift. But there are far more Playstations out there than gaming capable PCs.
Duane Locsin

Microsoft’s attempt at VR is reminiscent of Windows mobile.

A rush, late to the market, half assed job with no vision (no pun intended)
- Henk Janssens
  
  No, it isn’t. It’s not even comparable. Let it go.
gothicvillas

Lets be honest Microsoft dropped a ball with their go at VR.
- Henk Janssens
  
  Explain.
  - Raphael
    
    let’s be honest… i’m a vive user and I don’t feel sad there’s a “better headset”. Let’s be honest… this headset has good and bad points. Being heavier and more uncomfortable is not better… let’s be honest. Jump in pixel res is good. Tracking not as good. Let’s be honest… i’m staying with vive until pie max is fully operational.
    
    Let’s be honest.. octopus rift is still a good buy at 399.
Smokey_the_Bear

I got mine yesterday, so I’ll chime in.
A year and a half ago I bought a Vive, loved it at first, but after just 3 months, I sold it. The lack on content is what made me sell it. I semi regretted it, since I missed using VR. But I didn’t want to re-buy the same thing, so I waited until a better HMD was available. Which is why I bought the Samsung WMR HMD. My impression is overall positive, and I think it’s a little better then the Vive. Tracking is not as good, I expect it’ll get some updates in the future to polish it a bit more, but the reality is, future inside-out models will have to have more cameras. Doesn’t matter where, IE: back of the unit, sides, on the controller, it just needs more of them to eliminate 99.9% of the tracking issues. The Vive is not perfect of course, but was/is superior.
The good things: I love that I can just grab it, put it on, and it loads up…I don’t have to load a certain program, or even push a single button. Setup was very easy, took like 5 minutes. It’s comfortable, feels less front heavy then the Vive, and the face cushion is a lot better then that crap foam on the Vive. Love the built in headphones, honestly, at this point no one should sell VR without that. Screens are nice and sharp, didn’t notice any god rays, and light seeping in was virtually non-existent.
Funny enough, as I said, the reason I sold my Vive was lack of content…and that’s still a problem. I’m really looking forward to December, when they add Steam VR.
The cord shorter then the Vive…but it’s nothing proprietary, so I picked up a 10′ (HDMI & USB3) extension yesterday.
So overall it’s a nice unit…but I really can’t wait for these things to be wireless, I’m hoping some 3rd party comes out with a wireless add-on.
- benz145
  
  Thanks for your impressions. What games (of the limited amount available) have you played so far? Give Racket: Nx a go if you haven’t already!
  
  How do you find the ergonomics?
  - Smokey_the_Bear
    
    I’ve only bought/played SuperHot. I don’t want to have a library of games in the windows store, and a library of games in Steam…I want them to be in 1 location…so I’m not getting any more until Steam comes out on it. But I’ll keep that game in mind.
    ergonomics: The HMD is nice & comfortable, and the controllers are decent. I wish the placement of the trackpad was 1/2 inch lower…as I don’t have a freakishly long thumb.
- NooYawker
  
  Nice write up. Thanks
- Lucidfeuer
  
  Would you say the FOV is on par with the Vive, slightly above, or on par with the Rift (slightly below the rift)?
  
  Also the things you mention about tracking are not really problems or hardware or cameras but rather of sensors and software ambiguation and precisions.
  - Smokey_the_Bear
    
    Never tried a Rift, But Yes, the FOV looks the same as the Vive.
    Also, Camera’s are sensors.
    - Lucidfeuer
      
      Good to know, Vive has an okay FOV, Rift has become unbearable. By sensors I meant additional sensors beside cameras, which alone will never cut it for tracking.
      - Mk.82
        
        The FOV one experience with Rift is personal question how deep your eyes are. For some the Rift offers wider FOV than Vive, for some it is opposite. But Rift benefit is that you can get easily replacement for facepad that increase the FOV even more than Vive has, around maybe 115 degree or 117 degree (diagonal as these are measured).
        
        I bought both, Rift and Vive and tested both for two weeks. After two weeks Vive was that what went back. Rift was superior by almost every way from comfort, screens/optics, audio, controllers. The only thing that really Vive has going is that when you have two VR sets in same room (how many is going to have that?) is that you can have just a two lighthouses (laser beacons) mounted and then both vive works with them and you don’t need to pull USB cable around.
        
        My Rift was from start a 3 sensor package with Oculus Touch controllers. My game area is extremely large, larger than majority, 7×4.5m and Rift three sensor setup has no problems what so ever in accuracy for tracking when they are all positioned to three corners.
        
        I do miss the Vive by one thing, the front camera to show you the keyboard and mouse, as my main game is a simulator where sometimes keyboard is required, but not so much in the other VR games.
        
        But still the main problem with every VR system is that 4m cable! Like how difficult to make it 6m? How difficult to offer the extended cables for very cheap (like 30€) officially?
        Once the wireless HMD comes out, maybe in 4-5 years just before VR is dead (again), it will have enough comfort once supports 3h with swappable battery and adds just a 200-300g weight on waist.
      - Lucidfeuer
        
        VR won’t wait 4-5 years to be dead, but hopefully wireless won’t wait either and it’s integration is on the horizon.
        
        For the Rift, the small FOV, the constant blur despite any IPD adjustment, the godrays and the lack of ventilations make it a not o great headset. The Vive is not that much better, but at least the FOV is slightly bigger (for me), clearly more crips, and breathes a little more.
- Raphael
  
  I got vive at launch and although titles weren’t many at that time there is plenty to do on it now. Neoprene is the worst material to be pressed up against your face. As soon as I replaced the facepad with shiny faux leather my face no longer got hot.
  
  I never regret buying VR although Vive was the first unit I bought new instead of used.
mellott124

I bought one as well. Resolution is notably better. Still a screen door but it’s getting better. Probably the thing that gives the screen door away the most is those color edges that you see shift color due to the Pentile pixel arrangement. Display smear seems OK. FOV is good and what I expect from my Vive. Tracking is pretty good given the inside-out design. Not as good as Vive or Rift but close enough for most people. Not sure I like the clamp headset fit though. Doesn’t feel as comfortable as my Vive or Rift. The simple setup is definitely a plus. I can see much easier demos with this and better portability. Cord seems short. More limited space wise than Vive and Rift. Overall I’m pretty impressed. I didn’t think the tracking would work this well. I’d say their biggest issue right now is content. And I really don’t like having to repurchase all the same games across different hardware.
- Walextheone
  
  What about text? How much of an improvement do you see, compared to Rift and Vive if any?
  - mellott124
    
    The first thing you notice is the resolution is better. Text will depend on font size and distance. It’s still not high enough to be reading documents like on your laptop. Resolution needs to be much higher than we have now. It will look better than Rift or Vive for the same scene setup and text.
- Peter Hansen
  
  The clamp thing might be optimized to Asien head shapes…
  - David Herrington
    
    So are they going to come out with an American/European head adapter? ;)
    - Peter Hansen
      
      +1
Peter Hansen

Finally a decent WMR headset. And what does the author? Puts his individual head shape as the foremost criterion for judging the product. That is not helping the market.
- Lucidfeuer
  
  That his actually the most helping thing that the market needs. Ergonomics is a ridiculous crap problem that VR is held back by.
Henk Janssens

Checkout https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsMR/ for quit some user reviews.
It seems to be the current best VR headset of all.
Lucidfeuer

So the price is a bit of a failure, Samsung can do way better in terms of cost, margin thus price optimisation, especially with the recent Oculus/Vive cuts.

Tracking seems okay (according to reviews, didn’t order yet), since they didn’t do their job with the GearVR and have to start with the Odyssey, but maybe if they don’t abandon this product it’ll get way better pretty rapidly.
Richard Feilden

I want to love this, but Microsoft deliberately hamstringing users on what they can do depending on spec is a real problem. I want to use it to demo VR is my class (soooo much easier to set up than anything else), but I need to mirror the image to the screen for others to see what the student wearing it can see. Because my laptop has a 7th gen dual core i7 in it (along with a gtx 1080 in a egpu box) which has two physical cores, they’ve disabled the mirror screen option. It’s more than capable, but nope, and so it’s useless to me.
Chanhu

When are you going to interview someone at Samsung about this headset? you should get some exclusive
Too Many Passwords

Still not available on Amazon in Japan.

Not listing whatsoever.
Ray Perry

What is mixed reality? I don’t understand…

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Samsung Odyssey Specs and Minimum Requirements

Our Thoughts on the Samsung Odyssey VR Headset

Samsung Odyssey Deals and Where to Buy

Latest Headlines

New Mode in ‘Gorilla Tag’ & $2.6M Investment in ‘Digigods’ Cements UGC as Crucial Social VR Feature

Microsoft is Launching Automatic Quest 3 Pairing on Windows 11 PCs in December

‘SUPERHOT’ Spiritual Successor ‘Action Hero’ Launches on Quest Next Month

Features & Reviews

Augmented World Expo Has Become the Must-go Event for the XR Industry

‘Batman: Arkham Shadow’ Behind-the-scenes – Insights & Artwork from Camouflaj

‘Metro Awakening’ Review – Atmospheric, Claustrophobic, and Eventually Monotonic