I have been using this for about 6 days now and have well over 30 hours in wearing it- figured it was time to share the making/impressions.
Prologue
I got my Note 4 on release day and immediately set about trying to make a VR enclosure for it. I first used the box that originally came with my Note 2 using my DK1 lenses, cutting holes and using duct tape and foam board to position everything. The experience was shockingly good. I failed in making a strap system to attach it to my face for prolonged used.
At that point I ordered an oversized cardboard thinking it would be easier to modify. However, in my impatience I decided to gut my DK1 and use its shell to hold the Note.
DK1 gearvr mashup
My dremel tool is broken so I did all modifications with a very sharp paring knife and a drill for the cuts through the very thick material on the sides.
I popped the back piece off the DK1 and removed all electronics. I cut off all the little nubs and any piece that stuck up from the backplate. I began testing to see how well the phone would fit and suprisingly it was VERY close to perfect from the get-go.
The divider pushing so far forward was the biggest obstacle. I cut it down about 1/2 to 3/4" then built it back up with duct tape until perfect. If you look at picture #5 you will see I added a strip of duct tape the length of the back to give a bit of stickiness and added a nub about 1/4" tall at the same height as the old glue pads on the bottom(one of which I removed for the cut-out to control volume).
I then made cut-outs for the headphone jack, volume, and a very hard to do cutout on the right side of the actual goggles to reach the back button.
Impressions
Amazing. Ridiculously Amazing. I was pretty much set on getting the GearVR but now I will pre-order and be giddy waiting for it to show up. The screen on this damn phone is amazing. Watching 3d movies is amazing and 2d is not far behind. I have watched ~6 hours of SouthPark, 3 of the Harry Potter movies, the newest Thor, some 3d documentaries, and some other 3d movies that escape my memory right now.
By far the biggest downfall at this moment is drift and black crush/smearing. I predominantly use Cmoar Cinema and the drift in that, and most other apps, is insane. I am sure the GearVR will massively improve on this- but until then I simply use the lock-screen option in Cmoar.
As for the odd performance of dark colors- it can range from barely noticeable to extremely annoying. Very dark movies, like some of the Harry Potters and Thor the dark world it is very noticeable and immersion breaking to have the broken dark banding and black crush effects everywhere. I broke Thor up into 2 sittings because the effect was annoying as hell.
With all that said, I believe I have spent more time in this rigged together VR headset in 6 days than I did in 6 months of owning DK1. The experience is extremely enjoyable overall.
Future
I am currently struggling to get a streaming set-up where I can play desktop games using this as basically a flat screen. I have a very nice 5ghz router and have great luck with streaming over splashtop, limelight, and to a lesser degree Trinus Gyre. The wall I have run into is getting something like deskope or virtual desktop to create a side-by-side version of my desktop that can stream. Any ides would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for writing a novel, and happy to answer any questions
Submitted October 27, 2014 at 11:39AM by p90xeto http://ift.tt/1oR0nga
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