Valve's New VR Streaming Trick Isn't Exclusive to Its Own Headset, Developers Reveal
A new streaming trick used in Valve's Steam Frame VR headset will not only be limited to its own device. The "foveated streaming" technology, designed to reduce latency and improve gaming performance, can also work with any headset that supports eye-tracking and is compatible with the company's Steam Link app.
The Steam Frame uses a dedicated wireless streaming adapter and a pair of cameras inside the headset to track users' gaze and adjust the quality of the image displayed accordingly. This technology takes advantage of the fact that humans have a blind spot directly in front of them, and by focusing more processing power on the area being viewed, foveated streaming reduces bandwidth and processing demands.
While Valve has optimized this feature for its own headset, it plans to make foveated streaming available on other compatible devices. According to hardware engineer Jeremy Selan, any headset that supports eye tracking can use the technology with Steam Link.
However, there's a catch. The wireless adapter won't work without lower-level OS support, which is currently only available on Valve's own SteamOS operating system. This means users of other VR headsets will need their devices to run a compatible version of SteamOS in order to take advantage of the feature.
Despite this limitation, the technology has already impressed those who have seen it in action. In testing, foveated streaming enabled seamless gameplay on a Steam Frame connected to a nearby PC with a dedicated wireless adapter. The result was nearly indistinguishable from playing locally on the headset itself.
A new streaming trick used in Valve's Steam Frame VR headset will not only be limited to its own device. The "foveated streaming" technology, designed to reduce latency and improve gaming performance, can also work with any headset that supports eye-tracking and is compatible with the company's Steam Link app.
The Steam Frame uses a dedicated wireless streaming adapter and a pair of cameras inside the headset to track users' gaze and adjust the quality of the image displayed accordingly. This technology takes advantage of the fact that humans have a blind spot directly in front of them, and by focusing more processing power on the area being viewed, foveated streaming reduces bandwidth and processing demands.
While Valve has optimized this feature for its own headset, it plans to make foveated streaming available on other compatible devices. According to hardware engineer Jeremy Selan, any headset that supports eye tracking can use the technology with Steam Link.
However, there's a catch. The wireless adapter won't work without lower-level OS support, which is currently only available on Valve's own SteamOS operating system. This means users of other VR headsets will need their devices to run a compatible version of SteamOS in order to take advantage of the feature.
Despite this limitation, the technology has already impressed those who have seen it in action. In testing, foveated streaming enabled seamless gameplay on a Steam Frame connected to a nearby PC with a dedicated wireless adapter. The result was nearly indistinguishable from playing locally on the headset itself.
so like valve's new vr streamin trick isnt exclusive 2 its own headset lol! its actually compatible w/ other headsets that got eye-tracking & use steam link app 
but theres a lil catch tho... u gotta have lower-level os support which is only avaiable on valve's own steamos operatin system 
so if ur usin some other headset, u gotta run steamos 2 use it. still pretty cool tho! foveated streamin reducin latency & improvin gaming perfomance... thats def a game changer for vr gamers 
yeah because who needs compatibility, right? anyway, it's cool that devs can finally share this tech without having to reinvent the wheel. just a shame about the adapter not working on non-valve devices... guess we gotta wait for them to get their act together 
! I mean, who needs that much control over what we're seeing? It's like they're trying to make us all play catch-up again. And now they're gonna make it work on other headsets too? That's just crazy talk! But seriously, if this tech can really reduce latency and improve performance, more power to 'em I guess 
. The fact that we have to use SteamOS on other devices is a bit of a bummer, but I'm sure the devs will figure something out eventually 
.
and i'm low-key hyped about it 
but yeah, the catch is that the wireless adapter won't work without steam os... thats a bit of a bummer lol. still tho its awesome that they're sharin this tech w/ other devs and it sounds like its gonna be super smooth for gameplay 
but yeah, the wireless adapter might have some compatibility issues w/ lower-level os, so not everyone's gonna be able to use it right away. still, this tech has some serious potential and i'm hyped 2 see where they take it 
so like valve just dropped a crazy new tech feature in their steam frame vr headset and its not even exclusive to that device lol! they say it can work w/ other headsets that have eye-tracking & are compatible w/ their steam link app. thats wild right? 
just when u thought valve's steam frame had all the features 
its new foveated streaming tech is literally available on other headsets too 
thats right, no more being stuck in a proprietary valley 
but on the down low, there's that one major issue 
like, what kinda move is that?
just heard about Valve's new VR streaming trick and I'm already feeling anxious 
and we all know how addictive that can get 