You have been able to stream over wifi for ages now, just not with the shitty AP your ISP gave you, which is not a problem you can magic away with software. The steam frame will come with a special wifi dongle that will direct connect to the headset, bypassing the need for a not-shit AP for streaming.
The long and short of it is that wireless VR requires low latencies that you can’t achieve without consideration to the radios in use, because high bandwidth low-latency is tricky.
It’s a different trade-off. Most routers, both cheap and expensive, are designed to deliver data to multiple devices. To do this, they need to switch who is getting data delivered at any given moment.
VR headset video is incredibly unforgiving for this. It’s high bandwidth, but requires incredibly low latency to not me nausea inducing. Its also limited in the tricks it can use to hide lag, like online gaming does. Any disruption to the data stream will be noticeable.
It’s akin to the difference between a waiter handing out glasses of water, Vs aiming a firehose at your face and letting rip.
You have been able to stream over wifi for ages now, just not with the shitty AP your ISP gave you, which is not a problem you can magic away with software. The steam frame will come with a special wifi dongle that will direct connect to the headset, bypassing the need for a not-shit AP for streaming.
The long and short of it is that wireless VR requires low latencies that you can’t achieve without consideration to the radios in use, because high bandwidth low-latency is tricky.
If you can drop a thousand on a novelty, you can drop $90 on a decent router and save some money (no longer renting you ISP’s)
I figure nerds who buy frames are probably not renting their routers from the cable company, tho?
It’s a different trade-off. Most routers, both cheap and expensive, are designed to deliver data to multiple devices. To do this, they need to switch who is getting data delivered at any given moment.
VR headset video is incredibly unforgiving for this. It’s high bandwidth, but requires incredibly low latency to not me nausea inducing. Its also limited in the tricks it can use to hide lag, like online gaming does. Any disruption to the data stream will be noticeable.
It’s akin to the difference between a waiter handing out glasses of water, Vs aiming a firehose at your face and letting rip.