HP's Reverb VR Pro Headset

Sadly my experience with the HP Reverb was one of utter disappointment with its performance and with a list of 5 defects (as I see it) I complained to HP and now I'm returning it. I had the random disconnect, flickering on the right screen, very hot HMD, Dimming and audio issues with the mic.

 

This was interesting, I have been offered a no obligation first refusal on the next batch of "tested" (HP's words not mine) Reverbs and a £50 ($64 approx.) discount if I want to buy again. They will contact me when they are available.

 

 

Decision, decisions!

 

 

Waistcat

Actually that is good they are supporting it right, they are going to offer you an updated next batch, that is a good sign that perhaps they have identified and fixed the issue.

I'd take the deal - why not - if it fails a second time, sure, be done, but I'd at least validate the next batch solves and fixes these issues!

Sorry to hear you had problems too. I never bothered calling HP, I just sent it back to B&H but I'm done giving HP another chance. I'll wait for Acer to give them a shot and in the mean time, I'm going to wait for my Index preorder.

Acer has been mums the word unfortunately. I'm intrigued by their offering of an adjustable IPD , however, no information at all forthcoming.

That's also why I'm just waiting for the newly updated units, if they are indeed fixed. The issues people are describing is exactly what I want to avoid.

I just chatted with HP support here in the US and they are very responsive which is good news in and of itself. I mentioned that I did cause a USB error (basically lost contact) by touching the USB plug on the MB side yesterday and the USB is pretty loose in the socket. I reinserted it and it was fine after that. They said they would send a new cable out with a confirmation email today which I have not yet seen. The person seemed knowledgeable of the issues and said they think many are cable/connector related. He mentioned they sometimes don't occur until things warm up a bit but things like blacking out, dimming, sound going off or hissing, disconnect, flickering seem to all be related to cable/connector/USB plug. If you post on the HP community forum the QA manager for the Reverb is responding to many of posts (same guy who posts on Reddit as IMAXX or VOODOOIMAX). They seem pretty concerned about making them right.

Speaking of warranty - on an unrelated story my Logitech gaming mouse died (second one) and they [Logitech] basically are now unresponsive to their warranty once the 30 day return is past from the retailer where you purchased (luckily the first mouse was DOA so I returned it to Micro Center for an exchange). The second one lasted about 100 days. After no response from Logitech on trying to get a warranty replacement in two weeks and half a dozen contacts I finally filed a formal BBB complaint and magically they contacted me the next day to replace the 602 wireless gaming mouse. I am done with Logitech and went to a Razor Mamba wireless for better or worse that matches my gaming Razor keyboard. :mad:

Sadly my experience with the HP Reverb was one of utter disappointment with its performance and with a list of 5 defects (as I see it) I complained to HP and now I'm returning it. I had the random disconnect, flickering on the right screen, very hot HMD, Dimming and audio issues with the mic.

 

This was interesting, I have been offered a no obligation first refusal on the next batch of "tested" (HP's words not mine) Reverbs and a £50 ($64 approx.) discount if I want to buy again. They will contact me when they are available.

 

 

Decision, decisions!

 

 

Waistcat

I just chatted with HP support here in the US and they are very responsive which is good news in and of itself. I mentioned that I did cause a USB error (basically lost contact) by touching the USB plug on the MB side yesterday and the USB is pretty loose in the socket. I reinserted it and it was fine after that. They said they would send a new cable out with a confirmation email today which I have not yet seen. The person seemed knowledgeable of the issues and said they think many are cable/connector related. He mentioned they sometimes don't occur until things warm up a bit but things like blacking out, dimming, sound going off or hissing, disconnect, flickering seem to all be related to cable/connector/USB plug. If you post on the HP community forum the QA manager for the Reverb is responding to many of posts (same guy who posts on Reddit as IMAXX or VOODOOIMAX). They seem pretty concerned about making them right.

 

 

 

Speaking of warranty - on an unrelated story my Logitech gaming mouse died (second one) and they [Logitech] basically are now unresponsive to their warranty once the 30 day return is past from the retailer where you purchased (luckily the first mouse was DOA so I returned it to Micro Center for an exchange). The second one lasted about 100 days. After no response from Logitech on trying to get a warranty replacement in two weeks and half a dozen contacts I finally filed a formal BBB complaint and magically they contacted me the next day to replace the 602 wireless gaming mouse. I am done with Logitech and went to a Razor Mamba wireless for better or worse that matches my gaming Razor keyboard. :mad:

Come to think of it I can't think of a time when hp released something that didn't have issues and they needed to recall it. At least that didn't happen in this case. I just hope they actually have fixed the units.

Acer has been mums the word unfortunately. I'm intrigued by their offering of an adjustable IPD , however, no information at all forthcoming.

My biggest issue with HP for example is I think they did a cheap design that's not worth almost $700 after taxes. The two pointed screws that holds the headphone base to the housing literally looked like it barely has one thread of insertion to connect the base into the housing. That just reeks of being cheap. I would have lived with zip tying the cable to the head strap to keep the bad portion of my cable complexity straight but that put the cable to the other side of the HMD with the big connector box now sitting where the headphone use to be, which prevent me from using my over the ear headphone since it now had to go over the connector box too. So no functioning HP headphones and no personal headphones and I didn't want use speakers with the HMD. Also with the single cable zip tied strapped straight, that left the double cable hang down at a angle and not the single cable which made it even less comfortable because the double cable is meant to hang straight down vertically and not bend 90 degrees downward. I really hope those with good unit the best of luck with their HMDs.

No fan of HP here but I have had even more problems with Lenovo (had to return my first Lenovo headset for a USB short. It nearly fried my PC.) and Dell in the past few years. The entire industry is a bit sad IMO.

I heard that the 2160 x 2160 panels are currently very costly for any manufacturers. It will be interesting to see where the Acer Ojo VR headset is priced which seems to be the only other headset at the moment that can hold a candle next to the Reverb clarity once it is released (Acer PCs used to be the bottom of the barrel). I read in several reviews that there is a struggle to keep the unit price from getting too high. Not sure if that is related. I would have rather paid $800 and have it built to be bullet proof. That said I am not that keen with the USB standard, hardware design, and versioning. It is a flimsy port IMO.

I may consider ordering from HP USA but I've known in the past I've always had issues with their products. I am kind of waiting for Amazon but it looks like it won't be coming there. It's good to know they are responding and attempting to make the situation better. Something tells me even with the delay they have not fully fixed all the issues.

 

Come to think of it I can't think of a time when hp released something that didn't have issues and they needed to recall it. At least that didn't happen in this case. I just hope they actually have fixed the units.

At the moment SteamVR seems to be crashing constantly. Is anyone else experiencing this?

 

I would have rather paid $800 and have it built to be bullet proof. That said I am not that keen with the USB standard, hardware design, and versioning. It is a flimsy port IMO.

Agreed about design, build quality and esp the USB. Even more so when they are using the same USB to carry audio input and output. It kills every other audio option.

Aside from the really poor WMR software, my main struggle was getting audio working. I have tried every suggestion and spent many hours trying to get audio to mirror between earphones and buttkicker amplifier. Tried mirroring setting in WMR, tried mirroring just about everything in steam VR, tried unsuccessfully with my previously working voicemeeter banana setup and even tried the "use built in audio" in DCS.

I did get it working once, but the latency was shocking, the buttkicker was maybe lagging by over half a second, no good at all.

The Reverb phones are not the best, certainly not as good as Rift, so my solution was to remove them, plug in a splitter and use earbuds with buttkicker cable plugged into the other side. This works quite well, but bass is a little flat when buttkicker is plugged in. Again, that usb setup. I guess the current is just not there to drive both. This is why it needs a dedicated audio option.

I do have a Fiio headphone amp that I used to use with my Sennheisers, but it's ridiculous having to use one to get decent response out of a set of earbuds...

With all the stuff lashed onto the headset, I am starting to look like a Borg drone from star trek.

Other than that, no problems so far now I have pretty much addressed everything else. Only thing I eventually did to finally get butter smooth performance with high settings was to have motion reprojection on permanently rather than on auto.

As for someone sending theirs back, I have decided to wait and send it back under warranty when the updated reverb makes an appearance. I have three years warranty, so may as well keep it and use it for now.

No problems today. An update just came out a few minutes ago and I have not tried it since that.

It may sound like a lot of complaining but in reality my Reverb has been up 99.9% of the time. For a few minutes the sound reverted back to the PC when I touched the USB.

At the moment SteamVR seems to be crashing constantly. Is anyone else experiencing this?

Sadly my experience with the HP Reverb was one of utter disappointment with its performance and with a list of 5 defects (as I see it) I complained to HP and now I'm returning it. I had the random disconnect, flickering on the right screen, very hot HMD, Dimming and audio issues with the mic.

 

This was interesting, I have been offered a no obligation first refusal on the next batch of "tested" (HP's words not mine) Reverbs and a £50 ($64 approx.) discount if I want to buy again. They will contact me when they are available.

 

 

Decision, decisions!

 

 

Waistcat

Never offered me anything when I returned mine! Going to have to work on my charm a bit, obviously!

No problems today. An update just came out a few minutes ago and I have not tried it since that.

Ah OK, I tried it last night and it was a nightmare. I'll have a go when I get home.

I just received an email from HP for the replacement Reverb cable (the tech guy said redesigned). That was fast. One day turnaround and one day shipping. HP's repair center is relatively close to me. Nearly like Amazon Prime. Now I am setup in their system. :)

I ran the Reverb for about an hour this morning with no issues.

Your HP Service Order has been created

A part will be shipped to you, please replace the defective part with this part.

HP is providing the following service for your product.

CUSTOMER REPLACEABLE PART, 1 DAY SHIP

Total Charges (including tax, if applicable):

Part: $.00

Shipping: $.00

Tax: $.00

Total: $.00

This quote is valid for 30 days from the date shown above.

Warranty Status: IN WARRANTY

Payment Method: NO PAYMENT METHOD

HP Repair Center: 4600 COMMERCE CROSSINGS DR.

LOUISVILLE, KY 40229

If it is running at 90 FPS or less than 45 FPS I don't want re-projection on. I really never see it drop below 45 FPS (red indicator) but it does hit 90 FPS (green indicator) when there is only sky being rendered on in menus or just SteamVR. (90 real frames per second are better than 45 real plus 45 virtual per second).

@secoda will give this all a proper test at the weekend - but are you suggesting the "auto" selection will mean reprojection is not enabled if it hits 90 or below 45 fps where as the "motionvector" line will also work but will have the reprojection on all the time?

also frustratingly struggling to get the indicator to work (even though have enabled the option in the VRsettings .txt file (removed "//") - assume it appears right at the top centre of the screen - but is there anyway to move it around/change the size?

I just received an email from HP for the replacement Reverb cable (the tech guy said redesigned). That was fast. One day turnaround and one day shipping. HP's repair center is relatively close to me. Nearly like Amazon Prime. Now I am setup in their system. :)

 

I ran the Reverb for about an hour this morning with no issues.

 

 

Your HP Service Order has been created

 

A part will be shipped to you, please replace the defective part with this part.

 

HP is providing the following service for your product.

CUSTOMER REPLACEABLE PART, 1 DAY SHIP

 

 

Total Charges (including tax, if applicable):

Part:$.00

Shipping:$.00

Tax:$.00

Total:$.00

 

This quote is valid for 30 days from the date shown above.

 

Warranty Status:IN WARRANTY

Payment Method:NO PAYMENT METHOD

HP Repair Center:4600 COMMERCE CROSSINGS DR.

LOUISVILLE, KY 40229

To be honest, all these problems people reporting not just for HP Reverb but for other VR as for example SO+ or Rift S too are similar and they are related more to the DP, HDMI, and USB connector design which is not designed for the constant moving of the cable.

Some similar DIY modification like one made on the head connection which will secure that cable is not moving on the sensitive connector spot so all this is fixable at your own simple DIY. One zip tie on the back of the PC case will do miracles and to be sure will prevent any possible accidental damage made by pulling the cable too hard.

I will do that anyway even if I don't have any of this problem just to protect my hardware from accidentally made damage.

I guess I would use whatever works best for your configuration. I don't know of a way to move the indicator.

There used to be another parameter called "motionReprojectionTemporalEnabled"

Temporal Motion Reprojection tracks the motion vectors over many frames to eliminate classes of artifacts that occur by only considering two frames. I think it is always on now and explains why we see few artifacts with Reprojection on.

@secoda will give this all a proper test at the weekend - but are you suggesting the "auto" selection will mean reprojection is not enabled if it hits 90 or below 45 fps where as the "motionvector" line will also work but will have the reprojection on all the time?

also frustratingly struggling to get the indicator to work (even though have enabled the option in the VRsettings .txt file (removed "//") - assume it appears right at the top centre of the screen - but is there anyway to move it around/change the size?

The connector by the headset on the Reverb for the backpack is a good idea badly implemented IMO. It introduced a point of failure with a flimsy connector.

To be honest, all these problems people reporting not just for HP Reverb but for other VR as for example SO+ or Rift S too are similar and they are related more to the DP, HDMI, and USB connector design which is not designed for the constant moving of the cable.

 

Some similar DIY modification like one made on the head connection which will secure that cable is not moving on the sensitive connector spot so all this is fixable at your own simple DIY. One zip tie on the back of the PC case will do miracles and to be sure will prevent any possible accidental damage made by pulling the cable too hard.

 

I will do that anyway even if I don't have any of this problem just to protect my hardware from accidentally made damage.

Not to mention that you are paying $6-700 for this headset and people are reporting it as a bad design and cheaply built (according to what I'm reading on Reddit user impressions). If it's $2-300 sure I can live with a ziptie that I may need to place on there myself but a consumer should not have to modify the end product for it to work properly. Sure enough not if you are paying the price they are selling it for.

HP Canada rep just called me back today, and let me know that the Reverb will be available in 3 to 4 weeks, as they are correcting issues with every Reverb that was selected to be shipped to Canadian resellers. I asked her if she knew if it was replacing the cable/whatever, but she didn't know specifics, just that they had to pull the entire shipment for Canada and replace/fix problems with each unit.

So, we'll see I guess. She's going to call and notify me as soon as she knows they are on the way to their HP store warehouse and the resellers like BestBuy and Amazon.

Not to mention that you are paying $6-700 for this headset and people are reporting it as a bad design and cheaply built (according to what I'm reading on Reddit user impressions). If it's $2-300 sure I can live with a ziptie that I may need to place on there myself but a consumer should not have to modify the end product for it to work properly. Sure enough not if you are paying the price they are selling it for.

It's a bad design. But cheaply built? It's no more or less cheap than Rift. But it's a bad design. No doubt about it.

It's a bad design. But cheaply built? It's no more or less cheap than Rift. But it's a bad design. No doubt about it.

I think it is cheaply built, certainly is comparison to the Vive Pro. It is significantly more expensive than the Rift, and I would say the Rift was better.

From the minute I took my Reverb out of the box several weeks ago, I was disappointed, and the first thing that struck me was the build quality. I mean, those headphones are really poorly constructed. I felt they were going to break each time I pushed them off ear and heard that click!

Just my opinion.

I think it is cheaply built, certainly is comparison to the Vive Pro. It is significantly more expensive than the Rift, and I would say the Rift was better.

From the minute I took my Reverb out of the box several weeks ago, I was disappointed, and the first thing that struck me was the build quality. I mean, those headphones are really poorly constructed. I felt they were going to break each time I pushed them off ear and heard that click!

Just my opinion.

Basically the same headphone as the Rift, no?

Basically the same headphone as the Rift, no?

Been a while since I had my Rift, but my recollection is that it has better headphones, and it certainly has much better sound quality.

Well I'm getting LOTS of SteamVR crashes. It was all running fine and then for the last few days it's been a massive pain the arse. I'll try a reinstall of SteamVR to see if that helps. I pulled this from the logs if it inspires anyone in any way. There seem to be assorted errors relating to various drivers. It's odd as it's mainly DCS where I encounter the problem. Running other Steam apps seems more stable but still not perfect. Oh well, the woes of the early adopter etc.

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.499 - Steam.exe 1.5.15 startup with PID=12848, config=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config, runtime=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.500 - vrclient type=VRApplication_SteamWatchdog

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.505 - [settings] Load Default Json Settings from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\htc\resources\settings\default.vrsettings

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.505 - [settings] Load Default Json Settings from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\lighthouse\resources\settings\default.vrsettings

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.505 - [settings] Load Default Json Settings from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\null\resources\settings\default.vrsettings

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.505 - [settings] Load Default Json Settings from F:\steam\steamapps\common\MixedRealityVRDriver\resources\settings\default.vrsettings

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.506 - [settings] Load Default Json Settings from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\resources\settings\default.vrsettings

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.507 - [settings] Load Json Settings from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config\steamvr.vrsettings

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.508 - [settings] Load Default Json Settings from F:\steam\steamapps\common\MixedRealityVRDriver\resources\settings\default.vrsettings

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.508 - [settings] Load Default Json Settings from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\htc\resources\settings\default.vrsettings

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.509 - [settings] Load Default Json Settings from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\lighthouse\resources\settings\default.vrsettings

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.509 - [settings] Load Default Json Settings from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\null\resources\settings\default.vrsettings

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.509 - [settings] Load Default Json Settings from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\resources\settings\default.vrsettings

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.510 - [settings] Load Json Settings from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config\steamvr.vrsettings

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.522 - Could not create interface in driver gamepad from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\gamepad\bin\win32\driver_gamepad.dll.

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.522 - Unable to init watchdog mode for driver gamepad: VRInitError_Init_InterfaceNotFound

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.525 - Could not create interface in driver holographic from F:\steam\steamapps\common\MixedRealityVRDriver\bin\win32\driver_holographic.dll.

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.525 - Unable to init watchdog mode for driver holographic: VRInitError_Init_InterfaceNotFound

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.536 - error VRInitError_Init_LowPowerWatchdogNotSupported when initing driver lighthouse from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\lighthouse\bin\win32\driver_lighthouse.dll.

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.536 - Unable to init watchdog mode for driver lighthouse: VRInitError_Init_LowPowerWatchdogNotSupported

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.537 - Could not create interface in driver oculus from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\oculus\bin\win32\driver_oculus.dll.

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.537 - Unable to init watchdog mode for driver oculus: VRInitError_Init_InterfaceNotFound

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.539 - Could not create interface in driver oculus_legacy from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\oculus_legacy\bin\win32\driver_oculus_legacy.dll.

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.539 - Unable to init watchdog mode for driver oculus_legacy: VRInitError_Init_InterfaceNotFound

Thu Jun 27 2019 00:12:16.539 - No drivers were capable of being watchdogs. Failing init.