Do I need an Oculus Link cable to run the SLR app on the desktop?

manthoney

Or will a regular USB cable like the one I used to sideload SLR onto my Quest 2 work?

If I don't need the Link, is there any advantage to doing so, just for watching videos? (not games)

(I would just try it instead of asking, but my Mac is too old - soon to be replaced with an M1 superMac - too old for the min specs for DeoVR while in BootCamp running Windows. I plan to probably build the minimum windows box I can in order to run Half Life Alyx, which will of course then run SLR fine, and I'm trying to figure whether I need a super long Link cable, or not)

Samsonite121

You don't need the official link cable to use link. Many good USB3 cables are capable to run link but you have to try the cables with your specific hardware setup because not all cables work with all hardware combinations. I use a 1.8m Anker cable together with a 5m active extender cable from cable creation and have 1.9Gbit/s connection bandwidth in the Oculus Software USB-Test for the Quest 2 and 1.5Gbit/s for the Quest 1.

Your other question: There is no advantage to use the SLR app via link over the sideloaded app on your Quest 2. But there is one big disadvantage: You're tethered to a PC/Laptop/Mac and cannot choose free where to watch.

If you want to try out link to test for HalfLife Alyx you can perhaps install the oculus app (https://www.oculus.com/setup/) in windows and check some of the free tutorials and also run the USB-Test to check out your cable.

manthoney

Hey, thanks a lot for the reply. That's great specific info that I will definitely check out, probably wind up doing the same thing as you.

My reason for building the current spec/cheap as I can vr pc is actually twofold. I wanna Half Life it up, but also I have to assume that when watching vr videos, having the desktop do the heavy lifting instead of the headset, will be a better experience (except for mobility).

[TLDR just ignore everything below, or read if you want. I'll be back later if I need to be]

Right now with my new Quest 2, coming from a PSVR - I'm getting crazy amounts (to me) of "reprojection", which I believe Oculus calls ASW (asynchronous time warp). It's not a lower framerate, exactly, but rather that frames are duplicated when the headset can't keep up, so effectively it does look like a lower framerate. My PSVR does none of this. It's rock solid 60 fps (and up) with no perceptible hitches ever - although of course the resolution is very bad for videos. However, a solid framerate is waaay more immersive, and I want my Quest to do that. (I did rule out network as a cause by testing different videos running directly from onboard Quest storage, downloaded to desktop first and then copied over to headset.)

I'm not looking for help (unless you know of something software easy to try) right this moment with the poor frames in the Quest headset - I will try SLR via the desktop once I'm set up. And THEN, if it's still bad, I'll go from there. Maybe a lot of people don't notice what to me looks like quite bad stuttering. And maybe (unlikely) I have a bad headset(?) but I'll get around to running processor benchmarks on the Quest 2 to rule that out. I'm just guessing most people here will have only used a Quest, wirelessly, and they just accept that the low (apparent) framerates are what vr videos are. But, if you have unwavering 60fps, like with the psvr, that part is SO much better.

(Also, I could be crazy and maybe I do have a bad headset and everybody else gets solid no-stutter video from their wireless Quest 2. it's possible.)

Rakly3

Not all USB 3 cables are the same.
Depending on the length they can be thicker and/or powered.
Cables past 3m must have more/purer copper, better interference shielding and be braided a certain way. Which makes them more expensive.

It's like how a 5Ghz wifi has less range than a 2.4Ghz signal. Higher frequency will have more resistance.
Or some people probably still remember AM radio, aka long wave. It reaches much further than FM, aka short wave.

High frequency = more data
low frequency = longer distance

In the illustration the higher frequency has 12 bit over the same distance of the 8 bit from the lower frequency. (peaks + valleys)
But the higher frequency will also have moved through more 'stuff' (air, wall, wire, etc).

No one asked, but I'm telling you anyway 🙂

manthoney

Rakly3 No, I dig it! More info the better.

I actually might just go with the standard Link cable because of the connector being flush with the headset, and I don't need anything longer than the Link. Unless I can save like $50 or something. I'll look into it.

(ordering my custom Half Life Alyx parts tonight. I am very curious to see the results I get from SLR running on this machine after I build it. If it's exactly the same as what I'm getting now with my untethered Quest 2, that's fine, I still get to play a new Half Life game! But we'll see. I have a perfect 20 seconds of video bookmarked, to see if anyone else can confirm whether I'm crazy or not, regarding bigtime reprojection/ASW. No way a person could not see this. To be continued..)

doublevr

Link takes off the quality Quest 2 is capable of thus providing lower qulaity. It's better if you run it directly from Quest2