FOV has been a popular interest amongst the VR community as it’s a hot top especially since most models these days come with many good features.

The FOV is commonly used as a be-all and end-all decider on whether or not to pick a headset out of the rest.

The FOV of the Valve Index comes in higher than most models in the market, however, Vice hasn’t come out with an explicit number on what the FOV is, so we’ll have to do a bit of guesswork.

In this article, I’ll be going through what the FOV is on the Valve Index things you can do to change it, how it compares to other devices, and what this means for the Valve Index.

What is the FOV on The Valve Index?

The Valve index comes with a Field of view which prevents users from seeing the entire screen. The FOV means that users can only see within the angles of 130 degrees.

Vive hasn’t come out and explicitly said what the FOV of the Valve is, but we can make an accurate assessment based on a few metrics Vive and other close sources have given to us.

In general, Vive has listed its devices as having a FOV of 108.8 degrees on its own website. To get another comparison, OpenVR reported Vive’s horizontal Field of view to be 108 degrees.

Vive’s frequent users have measured Vive’s horizontal FOV to be 110 degrees. From these figures listed, we can come to a confident conclusion that Vives combed horizontal FOV comes in at 110 degrees.

The Valve Index website says that the Valve Index has a 20-degree FOV higher than the HTC Vive.

From this, we can conclude that the Valve Index has a FOV of 130°.

Unfortunately, we can’t give you exact figures as Vive hasn’t given any unambiguous number on what the FOV of the Index actually is these numbers can be taken as the next best thing we have.

What is The Fov Exactly?

The FOV which stands for Field of View is the amount of screen a user can see or perceive on a virtual reality headset.

The field of view is what users use to measure how much real estate they will be getting out of a particular headset.

The idea is that the FOV is how much you can see from the center of the headset to either your left or right side. The more you can see each side, the higher the field of view will be.

Sometimes the field of view can be stated as high on a headset, but when you come around to using it it, it feels like any old VR headset.

This can be because of the distance from your eyes to the screen and if it has been increased in any way.

Later on in this article, I’ll be showing you how to increase the FOV without doing anything jailbreaking or anything related.

Index Valve FOV Compared to Others

The Index Valve does come with one other the largest FOVs in the VR market. The only headset where you can beat this is the Pimax

The Pimax comes in with a Fov of 160 degrees on a larger headset, 1400 degrees on a medium headset, and 130 degrees on a small headset.

Even though these are huge differences, the Valve Index beats out these other headsets when it comes to the Field of View.

• Oculus Quest 2 – 89°
• Oculus Quest 3 – 110°
• Vive – 110°
• PIco – 104°

As you can see, you’ll be getting a higher FOV on the valve compared to its counterparts. This would be a good incentive to opt in and purchase one.

However, if FOV isn’t something you’re bothered about, we could argue that there are better alternatives to the Index.

What Does The Index FOV Look Like?

The field of view on the Vlave looks like the Field of view on any other VR Headset, just a bit wider.

This means that you can see just a bit more out of your peripheral than you can on other headsets.

This is what the FOV on the valve index looks like during gameplay.

As you can probably, see, this illustration doesn’t do it just, but it doesn’t provide a fair representation of the amount of screen real exteste you will be able to see on the index.

You won’t be able to see anything else apart from what’s actually on the screen. It’s similar to putting on skiing or swimming goggles.

There will be no black edges apart from what you usually see when looking out of your eyes.

There won’t be a line in the middle separating your two eyes and whichever game you’re playing. It will be one screen view, just like how you usually see from your eyes in general.

Can You Change the Fov Valve Index?

Yes, you can change the FOV on the Index using a few tricks that allow you to see more of the screen and more out of your peripheral vision.

Unfortunately, you can’t change the set FOV given by the manufacturer, of course, you can change a few settings here and there, and move a few things about, but there will always be a set limit you can increase it to before you hit a ceiling.

In this case, the manufacturer sets the FOV and not you. This is because most VR headsets are made to fit the position of your eyes and hand.

If you mess around with the Field of View a bit too much, these calibrations can become distorted.

The only real way you can avoid this is if you change the position of your eyes and head which won’t really be possible. Below, I’ll show you a few things you can do to manipulate the FOV on your Valve Index.

How to Change FOV on The Index Valve?

There are a few things you can do to change the FOV so you are allowed to see more of the screen and more out of your peripheral vision.

This method does improve gameplay as you’d have an advantage over other players.

Keep in mind that you can change the FOV on some of Vives’ headsets, however down below, here are ways that are less complicated that will do the job.

Decrease The Face Pad

A good way to change the FOV on your valve without having to change any settings or get complicated is to decrease the face pad on the headset.

This has reportedly given some users an extra 10 degrees in horizontal FOV. This, unfortunately, can result in less comfortable gameplay and there isn’t something softening the material of the headset against your face.

This invertedly decreases the distance between the headset screen and your eyes. However, this can also put some more strain on your eyes as it is closer to the screen.

Get Mods

You can go the more expensive route and purchase mods which will also achieve a similar or more enhanced result.

What this does is it changes the components on the headset so they are a bit smaller. It will also replace the strap you usually use that comes on the headset.

Change the IPD

Another thing you can do that increases the FOV is the IPD settings on your Valve.

Conclusion

The Valve Index offers the second widest fields of view among consumer VR headsets currently on the market. With an estimated 130° diagonal FOV, it beats out competitors in the VR world

While other headsets have larger FOV options available, the Valve Index provides an excellent combination of wide FOV, visual clarity, tracking fidelity, ergonomics, and moddability at a reasonable price point for enthusiast VR gamers.

Users report an immersive, naturalistic view in VR through the Valve Index that covers nearly the entire range of human peripheral vision.

There obviously are limits to human vision, but the Valve does its best to imitate real-world vision. This expanded FOV, versus more narrow competitors, allows for greater environmental awareness, visual realism, and embodied presence inside virtual worlds.

Even though the FOV is unspecified by the manufacturer, we can use clues as to what they have given us to come out with an educated answer.

The post Valve Index FOV Metrics (and More)! appeared first on VR Chase.

But while a blinking red light typically indicates your base station is not working properly or needs an update, the issue may be resolved with some diligent troubleshooting.

This guide will break down the common reasons for a blinking red base station light and actionable solutions to get your hardware fully operational again.

Why is My index Base Station Blinking Red?

There are a few reasons why your base station would blink red. If it’s blinking red then it’s an indication that the valve index base station has encountered an error.

Most users refer to this as KIA meaning Killed in Action. This essentially means that it’s not working properly anymore and you will need to RMA it which I will be getting into down below.

Another reason your valve index is blinking is that it needs updating. When it’s waiting for an update, it will indicate this to you by flashing.

Check Power Connections For All Base Stations

One common reason you could be having trouble with your base station is that the connections to your base stations are causing it to work incorrectly.

There are a few things you need to check with the connections to make sure that this isn’t what is causing the problem.

The first thing I would try doing is unplugging all connections to your base station, waiting for a few seconds, and then connecting them back again.

If that doesn’t do the trick, make sure your Base Stations are pointed at your play area and are visible to you.

Sometimes, when they aren’t facing your play area, your devices may find it hard to track the station if they can’t detect the sensors.

Check For An Update

The blinking red light sometimes means the base station is waiting for an update. If you don’t update the device regularly then this is more likely to be the reason.

To avoid this, you can check for updates on your device.

To Update the Base Station:

1. Go to SteamVR.com from your computer.
2. If you see an icon with “i”, mouse over it to check if your firmware is outdated.
3. If it is, click Update Device.
4. Unplug your base stations from their power adapters.
5. Now connect the base station to your USB power adapter.
6. While pressing the channel button at the back, connect the base station to your computer
7. Once the base station has been detected by SteamVR, the firmware should start updating.

Check The Firmware

Do not attempt this unless your base stations have been having this issue for a while and it does not; seem like it’ll be resolved anytime soon.

The steps below essentially fix the current firmware you have on the device and then update it to a new firmware.

1. While your Base Station is turned off, connect it using a micro-B USB cable to your PC.

2. Press the mode button and plug in the power lead.

3. Let go of the button once it’s mentioned as a USB mass storage device.

4. The drive you’re looking for is called “CRP_DISABLED” and has the “firmware.bin” file. Delete it.

5. Copy over onto the drive the “lighthouse_tx_htc_2_0-calibration-rescue-244.bin” file.

6. When this copy has been completed, remove the power lead.

7. Now give it a few seconds until you plug the power lead back in again.

It should start flashing green or red. Green means it succeeded.

If it is flashing red that means it means that this didn’t work correctly. Unplug the power again and try steps 1 to 7 but use this firmware file “lighthouse_tx_htc_2_0-244-2016-03-12.bin” instead of the rescue one.

It should be working correctly now. You can confirm by setting its mode to “A” and tracking with it alone. Once this has been done you can start using your other base again.

Restart SteamVR

Restarting SteamVR is a good way to troubleshoot existing problems such as this one. If you’re still having issues with the base station then check if SteamVR is having problems.

Restart SteamVR by closing it, unplug the Power and USB cords, wait for a few seconds then plug all the cords back in.

Once you have done this, check if the station is still blinking.

Replace Your Base Station

If you can’t seem to fix the problem, you need to replace the base station. The red light generally means that it’s not working properly.

This is much easier than going through a lot of troubleshooting steps to find that they don’t work anyway. If you do manage to fix the issue eventually then this isn’t necessary.

Once you have a new base station, if it does end up having the same issue again, you can always return it within the next 30 days.

These returns are also free so you won’t have to give it a second thought. With your new station, it’s recommended that you update it regularly and use the cables it came with rather than third-party cables.

Start an RMA With Steam

If you don’t know what an RMA is, it means Return Merchandise Action. It’s a Process Steam has to return items users aren’t satisfied with or want to return.

Since a blinking base station means that it’s not functioning properly, instead of going through the trouble of troubleshooting it, you could just return the item and get a new one.

A blinking red light is difficult to resolve, so if you have tried contacting Steam and haven’t heard back or have tried the recommendations they have given and the ones in the article, then this would be your best bet.

You can do this by going through Steam Support. Follow the prompts and select which hardware product you’re having trouble with.

Contact Steam Support

You can contact SteamVR if you haven’t been able to get rid of this problem.

Because the Valve Index isn’t a widely used VR headset, only Steam support specialists would have experience in operating the system and knowing what causing issues like blinking and so forth.

I recommend that you submit a support ticket. This gives you the opportunity to explain the specific issue you’re having and what have already done to try and get rid of it.

They will be able to assess the problem and use their past experience to tell you what the next steps are via email.

Go to this SteamVR support page here and click on Contact SteamVR. From here, just log in and follow the steps.

Conclusion

While a blinking red base station light commonly means you need it replaced, the problem is often fixable through measures like checking wired connections, updating firmware, restarting SteamVR software, or replacing defective hardware.

If issues persist even after troubleshooting, initiating an RMA via Steam Support can secure you a replacement free of charge. This means that you’ll get a brand-new base station without having to pay again.

So don’t panic and declare your base station KIA just yet – some systematic steps can usually resuscitate it even when the issue has been persisting longer.

Just be prepared to request an exchange if hardware replacement ends up needed.

The post Valve Index Base Station Blinking Red? Here’s The Fix! appeared first on VR Chase.