The Oculus Quest 2 has already added much needed momentum to the VR porn market. It’s easy to see why. A standalone headset (no cables or smartphone required), lighter and cheaper than its predecessor (the Oculus Quest), and with an updated resolution that is comparable to the most expensive headsets available. But it might not have its own way for long, because the HP Reverb G2 has also started shipping (although apparently if you place an order now, you wont receive it until 2021). Although tethered to a PC, the Reverb has an even sharper screen resolution, as well as a slightly wider field of view. It is also twice as expensive, although still cheaper at $600 than most premium VR headsets – which the Reverb G2 certainly is. You can view a detailed spec comparison between the two here.
Prospective buyers of either headset should also consider that a likely far greater number of people will be watching their VR porn in the Oculus Quest 2 headset, rather than the Reverb. This means that not only will the pay sites be tailoring their videos primarily for the latter, but also you will find it easier to share information and advice on viewing VR porn with others online, such as subreddits. The HP Reverb 2 also runs on the Windows Mixed Reality system.
However, this week somebody on the r/OculusNSFW subreddit, did post a very interesting review of the Reverb G2, with the focus of it obviously being on the VR porn viewing experience it provides, comparing it directly to the Oculus Quest 2.
HP Reverb G2 VR Porn review with compares to Quest 2, 8KX, and G1
For those of you who haven’t read my previous VR hardware review posts. A quick overview: I work in the industry, have access (and have had access) to pretty much every VR headset, I don’t have a particular fanboy attachment to any platform. In these reviews I work hard to remove any bias. I still believe there is no ‘perfect’ headset for VR porn–that remains the case up to date–it depends on what characteristics you value over others.
The HP Reverb G2 has an outstanding picture quality and is, flatly, the best consumer available headset in terms of picture quality and lenses. If you are looking for the headset that will provide the most clarity to go along with your 8k, 7k, etc. porn videos this headset is (currently) the one. But by how much when compared to the other headsets?
From G1 to G2 you gain overall clarity (mura is completely gone in G2), and the G2 is brighter, with the colors popping more. SDE seems a little reduced. The G1 already had a lot of clarity and the G2 does not increase pixel count so this is not a surprise. For VR porn viewing alone G1 to G2 is probably the hardest sell. There are other reasons, such as comfort, controllers, and cable (single on G2 rather than the bulky G1 cable) which might recommend an upgrade outside of very minor upgrade in picture quality for porn viewing.
I imagine most people are interested in how the G2 compares to the Quest 2. The most notable difference between the two is the FOV. The Quest 2 FOV seems circular whereas the Reverb G2 appears to be more of an oval with the longer sides on the horizontal. The Reverb has a larger horizontal FOV when compare to the Q2. In terms of picture quality: when looking at a variety of videos from 5k to 8k videos, the Reverb 2 looked slightly sharper, brighter, and slightly less SDE. In dark pictures and menus Quest 2 shows some fresnel blur that Reverb G2 doesn’t have. However, the difference in picture quality itself wasn’t all that much. I spent a good deal of time switching back and forth on recent VR Bangers 8k video to confirm this. I felt like the sweet spot is bigger in the Quest 2, so there is more clarity within the picture. There are of course, a variety of other aspects to consider between the two including the wireless convenience of the Quest 2, the inconvenience of the Facebook lockdown of the platform, etc.
The difference in picture quality between the Reverb G2 and Pimax 8KX is more obvious. UPDATE: The 8KX has a recent firmware upgrade that adds a backlight slider. Although it doesn’t quit make the image quality up to the G2, it does improve significantly the brightness and color for the headset setting the picture quality somewhere between the Q2 and G2. Nevertheless, the 8KX has the most fresnel blur of the four headsets I did for this compare. There’s no question the advantage of the 8KX is simply the distinctly wider FOV than the Reverb G2. The 8KX has enough pixel density to do quite well with SDE, but clarity is an issue… Some of it has to do with the lenses which frankly are addressing an engineering challenge that the smaller FOV lenses don’t have to attend. When playing a VR games like Virt-A-Mate you really notice the painful trade off here: the G2 gives you immersion from a deep, colorful, and sharp environment, one in which you can appreciate the textures all the creators have put into their models. The Pimax 8KX’s wide FOV gives you immersion moving and acting in that virtual space, realizing much more of the models and action at once. Today in November of 2020 it’s a trade-off, you can’t have both. There is no perfect VR porn headset.
While doing this compare I thought of my experience recently shopping for a TV. When you see the different TVs side-by-side in the store you can tell the difference–how some panels you lose detail in the blacks, and others seem to have color a little off. It’s very hard to compare if you have to run from store to store to see the different TVs. My analogy would be the Quest 2 is like a QLED or MicroLED mid range picture, but 50” and at a bargain price. The Reverb G2 is like a 65” OLED, and the Pimax 8KX is like a 90” TV with QLED panel. All of them 4k. Like any TV, each of them you’d be happy with in your home if you didn’t have to see the others all the time to compare.
On the whole this is a definitely a good (legitimately 2nd) generation of VR headsets, a distinct improvement and upgrade from original Vive/Rift/GearVR. There is no perfect headset, some will prefer the portability of Quest 2 despite the Facebook log on and locked-down environment, some the sweetspot of the Reverb G2, and others can’t go back from wide FOV offered from Pimax.
You can also read a (somewhat negative) review of the HP Reverb G2 at Tom’s Hardware.
A good list of the best VR porn sites for the Oculus Quest 2, or a similarly high end headset such as the HP Reverb G2, can be found here.
The official HP Reverb G2 homepage.
A nice comparison site of just about every virtual reality headset you can buy is at vr-compare.com.