Bigscreen announced it’s now shipping Beyond, the company’s thin and light PC VR headset unveiled earlier this year.

Created by the same team behind the Bigscreen Beta VR app, Bigscreen Beyond is a tethered PC VR headset that uses Valve’s SteamVR tracking standard. Priced at $1,000, the headset makes for an interesting value proposition for users already hooked into the SteamVR hardware ecosystem, offering up a slim design thanks to the inclusion of pancake lenses and micro-OLEDs. Check out the specs at the end of the article.

Now Bigscreen says it’s started shipping Beyond, with packages going out daily to customers in the United States; international shipments are said to begin in “mid to late Q4.”

“Since launching in February, demand was stronger than expected and we’ve got an overwhelming amount of headsets to build! We’ve spent the past few months ramping up production in order to ship tens of thousands of units in the coming months ahead,” the company says.

To meet demand, Bigscreen says it’s hiring more engineering and production staff for its LA-based factory, and meeting with overseas manufacturing partners in China to ensure production proceeds “without a hitch.”

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There’s also a bigger international expansion on the horizon. In addition to taking preorders from customers in the US, UK, most of Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, the company is also set to expand preorders to Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The company says it also plans to sell in South Korea, Israel, “and more soon.”

Check out our hands-on with Beyond back in March, where we tested out every aspect of the headset, including its display clarity, brightness, custom ergonomics, and got to grips with its next-gen form-factor.

Bigscreen Beyond Specs
Resolution 2,560 × 2,560 (6.5MP) per-eye
microOLED (2x, RGB stripe)
Pixels Per-degree (claimed) 28
Refresh Rate 75Hz, 90Hz
Lenses Tri-element pancake
Field-of-view (claimed) 102°H × 90°V
Optical Adjustments IPD (fixed, customized per customer)
eye-relief (fixed, customized per facepad)
IPD Adjustment Range 55–72mm (fixed, single IPD value per device)
Connectors DisplayPort 1.4, USB 3.0 (2x)
Accessory Ports USB-C (1x)
Cable Length 5m
Tracking SteamVR Tracking 1.0 or 2.0 (external beacons)
On-board Cameras None
Input SteamVR Tracking controllers
On-board Audio None
Optional Audio Audio Strap accessory, USB-C audio output
Microphone Yes (2x)
Pass-through view No
Weight 170–185g
MSRP $1,000
MSRP (with tracking & controllers) $1,580
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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • ViRGiN

    PCVR, lighthouse tracking, bbbrrrr…

    • GunnyNinja

      Get a life. People want this.

      • ViRGiN

        Ignorant troll alert!!!

        • GunnyNinja

          Yeah, you repeat that a lot. But I like PCVR so I have a reason to be here…

          • GunnyNinja

            Say it quick, I think I need to block you again…

          • ViRGiNCRUSHER

            He blocked me because of my User name.. It worked! Got sick of that person.

          • xyzs

            At this stage, I also blame r2vr for letting this moron around with no action.

          • ViRGiN

            Ignorant PCVR enthusiast alert!!!!

          • Exactly – he is truly poisoning the well here and should be banned. You only need a few trolls to completely destroy conversation. He makes a horrible impression of the VR community.

          • ViRGiN

            Shill harder.

        • ViRGiN

          pcvr no-life threathening to block me?
          yeah you definietly need to do that, before facts settle in in your little mind. don’t forget to replay half life alyx on your next pcvr headset! maybe bigscreen beyond, maybe pimax crystal, or maybe even cryptoscam somnium space! i bet you are #1 patreon of mrtv!

      • Guest

        Expensive custom VR dead end. History repeating itself!

        • MeowMix

          Yup. I can buy this, but why would I ? So i can play SkyrimVR ?

          ok ok ok; of course I like SkyrimVR but I’m not buying an expensive headset just so I can play old STEAMVR games.

          I’m way more likely to buy a PSVR2 for my PS5, and right now I don’t have any interest in a PSVR2 until the games library improves. Ditto goes for any STEAMVR only headset.

          • Cless

            Going to be honest… sounds like a you problem. Plenty of people are finding many excuses to buy it or similar HMDs..

          • MeowMix

            Plenty of people are finding many excuses to buy it or similar HMDs..

            there fixed that for ya

          • Cless

            Again, the number of people is irrelevant, just because average Joe doesn’t know shit about how to mod stuff, doesn’t make it less enjoyable for the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands that do.

          • ViRGiN

            PCVR is not dead as long as there is still 1 person connected was your way of thinking, so your opinion is not only bad, or a bad take, its completly irrelevant.

          • Cless

            I never said that, so put your words right where they came from.
            What I said is that as long as something is not losing users, and is in fact gaining them, is far dying.

          • ViRGiN

            “Steam users with VR Headsets 1.92% -0.01%”
            and thats just compared to previous month.

            There are less people now than there were in December 2019, 6 months after Quest 1 launch. So yeah, it’s not dying, it’s dead.

          • Cless

            Yeah, and if you look at the trend instead of fixed points like a moron, you will see its trending upwards, just like I told you the last time. Jesus, you just see what you want to see, right?

          • ViRGiN

            The trend isn’t upwards. Are you effing insane? We are where we were around Q1 release in 2019.

            You all pcvr fanboys really live in reality distortion field.

          • Cless

            Oh SHIT, YOU ARE RIGHT!

            I just checked and added the negative % of the last couple summer months and… SteamVR usage has gone down this year by 0.23%!!! OMG ITS DYING OMG, EVERYONE LEAVE THE BOAT!! ITS DEAD!!

            Which won’t be totally compensated in just a couple months and made into a positive trend when sales on black Friday and Christmas are added up, like every fucking year. Making it so 2023 will have more SteamVR users than 2022 by the end of it.

            But no, THIS YEAR will be different! THIS YEAR is the one SteamVR REALLY dies!! VIRGIN SAID SO!!

          • ViRGiN

            Insane troll alert!

            Where did “millions” of pcvr went to? Even beat saber is a ghost town compared to what it was in 2021.

            You wouldn’t consider official valve announcement as confirmation cause HEY LEGACY VERSION STILL WORKS

          • Cl

            People who still use vr want a better pcvr headset. If you don’t use vr then obviously you wouldn’t buy it. Not sure where your going with this. New games come out all the time. Of course not as frequent or big games as PC. Old games can be replayed with the better resolution, contrast and comfort. Sim games have alot of replayability.

            Other than games I’m hoping this will be good enough to watch movies in it and maybe regular pc use. Hopefully the reported glare isn’t too bad.

          • wheeler

            Yeah I don’t get all of the hate. There are about 2.7 million active PCVR users on steam. They don’t just play VR Only games but also simulators, flat to VR ports, flat to VR mods, and social VR stuff (actually the latter 4 categories may have always been the majority of actual activity going by reported numbers). 20% or 0.55 million are Index owners that spent $1000 on the base VR system alone, many spending much more on trackers and other peripherals. Bigscreen apparently has tens of thousands of orders for the Beyond and that’s fine for a small company selling hardware at a profit.

            Compared to the 6.25 million monthly active users on the quest platform, that’s pretty good for a much less accessible platform that has received very little in the way of software subsidies. That about 1.35 million of that 6.25 million (about half of Steam VR active users are quest hardware users) are also spending time on the “dead” PCVR platform is also significant.

            Not everything has to be about the mainstream. There’s a real market here that doesn’t require mass subsidization or accessibility to stay afloat. PCVR users may not buy many VR Only games, but they’re clearly using their headsets–just not necessarily for what some want them to use their headsets for.

          • ViRGiN

            Why are you so jaded? All the shilltubers already confirmed that playing half life alyx on bigscreen beyond with lighthouse tracking made them rediscover their love and passion for vr, as a true steamvr enthusiast! you dont need new games to be a game changer! i think you’re hating cause you can’t afford it! you lowkey wished alyx could run on your outdated low-end quest 2, but truth to be told high end vr experiences can only be experienced on high end pcs tethered (none of that commie-pression and latency from virtual desktop) to a high end vr headset like valve index or bigscreen beyond.

          • Cless

            Nah, Alyx runs perfectly well on the Quest 2, it just looks better on anything else ;)

      • CrusaderCaracal

        Why though. There’s no point making it small if you’re still tethered to wires and forced to stand inbetween cameras.

        • GunnyNinja

          If I wanted to dance around the cockpit, you might have a point…

      • Nelson Tutorials

        I want one but definitely not at that price range. Hard pass.

        I noticed now that it don´t have any AR capabilities, what a shame for that price tag.

      • Arno van Wingerde

        I hope so for the developer and to each their own, but I agree with ViRGiN’s sentiments on this one. Make it wireless and with inside out tracking and I would be interested.

        • GunnyNinja

          Look at the size. If you did that, it wouldn’t be what it is. He just hates PCVR. Maybe he doesn’t own a PC.

    • CrusaderCaracal

      Lighthouse tracking is so old, inside out is the way of the future

      • ViRGiN

        Someone who thinks he is smarter than you will probably point out that lighthouse is “aCtUaLlY” inside out tracking, but yeah, lighthouse is obsolete, and the very few times we actually see it used in more products is always the case of companies not being able to develop anything themselves. Same stuff with eye tracking and hand tracking. Tobii, Ultraleap, these are slapped on “solutions” that to this day haven’t seen any real adoption among developers.

      • Cl

        I only use vr in one room and never take it anywhere. Alot of people are like this.

        Unlike what that other comment says, more likely due to wanting to make a really light headset for pcvr users. I don’t get why he’s always salty and hostile towards anything that’s not quest.

        • ViRGiN

          Why are you salty about someone having different opinion? Millions of people play in multiple rooms, and take their vr headsets, not only quests, on trips, to family and friends. You want to feel superior, feel free to stick to lighthouse tracking.

          Removing everything except for the display is exactly what allowed big screen to be small. That doesn’t make it super interesting, since you are forced to use steamvr, and pcvr platform as a whole is dead.

          • Cl

            I’m getting a quest3 also. Even with my quest I mainly just stream steamvr to it, so not dead. Idk why you think that when just about every game that comes out releases to pcvr and quest.

            Small, light, custom facial interface, oled rgb stripe panels.

          • ViRGiN

            Why do you want to argue with facts?
            Are you in some sort of reality distortion field?
            What is the last game that wasn’t released super early on on PCVR gets any player base?
            I can only think of Ghost of Tabor and Boneworks.

            Where is Vertigo 2? Where is Yupitergrad 2? Where is Crossfire? LONN? WTF IS GOING ON!?
            Everyone continues to spend time exclusively in Gorilla Tag and Beat Saber. WAKE UP!!!
            PCVR users collectively agreed to not go beyond their comfort zone of games released during 2016-2019 era. You can not fight that.

          • Cl

            Idc what other people do. All those games are on steam. I said most games that come out for quest also come out for steam. Of course games that have 10 hours of content won’t have a concurrent playerbase.

          • ViRGiN

            Half Life Alyx is still topping the charts, so your theory is invalid.

          • Cl

            Better mod support adds replayability

          • ViRGiN

            most subscribed mod has 171k subscribers; fith one barely has more than launch numbers
            no data how many actually play mods.
            public youtube uploads, twitch streams and stuff nearly exclusively covers original alyx.

            it’s not the length of game.
            it’s just not half life, therefore it’s irrelevant. crossfire has 3 players online right now. people need to play the game to have their own opinion, and actually nobody plays it.

          • Cl

            I already said idc what other people do. Most games come out for both pcvr and quest. Each has games that the other doesn’t. I like all vr, but prefer to play on pc because it’s better. Argue all you want on what other people do, but it doesn’t matter to me.

          • CrusaderCaracal

            I’m not hating on the bigscreen, I think it’s a sick headset and I really like the idea of a custom facial interface. I just think they should work on making it portable. Imagine having a bigscreen but with inside out tracking

          • shadow9d9

            Every game? This isn’t even remotely true if you actually keep up to date with games released and reviewed.

          • Cl

            “Just about every game” is what I said. Most games

        • CrusaderCaracal

          I’m not hostile or taking sides, I’m just giving my opinion. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to permanently mount their basestations, and people want the ability to bring their headset to somewhere else like a mates house or a family gathering. That’s why the future of VR is portable. Look at ready player 1, you don’t see any tracking cameras in that.

          • Holger Fischer

            The portable treadmill will be next then?
            I don’t see, why there can be only one true way for VR? Let there be quality and practicality side by side for those who want it.
            Btw modded non VR games can be a ton of fun. Anyone tried Valheim in VR? It’s just perfect.

          • CrusaderCaracal

            Yeah, but the majority of VR users will want something they can just setup on the spot and bring around. treadmills are sick but not everyone has the space or money for one, and at the end of the day it doesn’t change a whole lot

          • John Grimoldy

            It’d honestly be nice to have both. I fully agree with your point about ultimate portability. I’m not packing up my base stations to take on vacation. Mounting, power, space — tons of challenges on porting base stations. HOWEVER, when at home in a dedicated space, base stations are the best possible tracking. Where is the future? I have to agree with you on inside out.

        • shadow9d9

          Using vr in one room with breakable objects is not ideal.

          • Cl

            What are you talking about breakable objects? Since I play vr in one room I obviously have a space cleared.

  • silvaring

    An affordable wearable media device that can replace a 75″ screen for movies / tv / youtube?

    Its a big potential market, which noone has been able to crack yet. Will this device be the first? Not at $1000 unfortunately. Will need to hit the sub $400 mark.

  • Richard R Garabedian

    really..1,000 dollars for the same resolution as the quest 2…i dont get it

    • Chris Meeks

      More for comfort I assume. The Quest 2 gets very front heavy after watching a two hour film. I would enjoy using something lighter for movies… but not for $1,000.

    • kraeuterbutter

      same resolution ?
      the Quest2 has 3.517 Megapixel
      the BEyond has 6.553 Megapixel

      so nearly double as many pixels..
      AND: it has 2 dispalys whereas the Quest2 has only one dispaly, which costs also pixels because of the way IPD-setup works ont he quest2
      so in reality: there are (more) then double the pixels (in regards of SDE important)
      yes – in 90Hz mode there is a lower resolution sent to the bigscreen, but it still looks way better than the Quest2
      and: the SDE is not effected by that as well

      • ViRGiN

        bruh relax with that mrtv propaganda.
        you haven’t even worn the headset.

        • kraeuterbutter

          what?
          what has that to do with MRTV ?
          the Beyond has not the same resolution as the Quest2, by far not
          and the Quest2 has a reduced resolution because of the 1-display-solution it is using

          Besides: you are BY FAR the most toxic person here in this forum – i even would say the only toxic one
          whats that with you? have you some big problems in your life? you are so hostile against nearly everybody around here..
          why is that? has it maybe come to your attention, that not every body else here is the problem, but you ?

          • ViRGiN

            Sounds like a you problem.

          • kraeuterbutter

            with all the dislikes you got so far and people blocking you: really, it came never to your mind, to selfreflect if maybe there is problem with your appearance here?
            maybe in real life you are a nice guy… sometimes people show lack of social competence onyl when writing online

    • kraeuterbutter

      and the colors: compard to the washed-out colors of the Quest2 – specially when watching a movie – the Beyond looks way better with that contrast and deep blacks

    • xyzs

      2x more pixels, OLED pure black level, 2.5 time lighter.
      That’s what you buy.

  • namekuseijin

    so much pointless discussion at a time when Quest is about as dead as pcvr, aside from brainless brats in crappy sandboxes

    • shadow9d9

      It is quite alive if you play more than one genre.