[LordDragonfang]

>Passthrough is massively oversold, even if it's technically impressive. They set expectations way too high.

As a Vision Pro owner, kinda, but kinda not?

I have a really low-power glasses prescription (-1/-1.5) and I've come to the conclusion that everyone saying this has the priviledge of being born with perfect (irl) vision. It's intentionally a little bit out of focus to obscure the screen door effect, which I understand might be disorienting to people who've never had to wear glasses.

But taking that into account, it's incredibly clear. If you've used any other pass through, it's night and day. I will frequently put on my headset having forgotten that the cover is on, and when I take it off my brain genuinely reads that as uncovering a transparent lens. The slightly reduced HDR, slight desaturation, and almost imperceptible visual snow all added up still don't detract enough from that to say it is not close to "lifelike".

It's not perfect, but it's incredibly close - and probably better than a good chunk of the population's uncorrected vision.

I mean, the comparison images in the article almost make the point for me. The left image, when adjusted for brightness/contrast (which the human vision system does automatically absent other stimulus, e.g. when all you can see is the headset) has a greater resemblance to what a cloudy day looks like IRL compared to the completely oversaturated, amateurly HDR'd image on the right.

[joshstrange]

I’m -3.25 (or right around there) and I found the AVP pass through lackluster. Better than anything else I’d tried but I completely agree with the “oversold” point. The quality just isn’t all the way there yet and the blur when moving isn’t great.

[gamblor956]

The passthrough camera has fairly low resolution compared to the inner displays, so if it looks "lifelike" to you, it's probably time to consider getting your glass prescription updated. Comparing the VP to the Quest 3, it's a significant upgrade (and should be, for the 7x price), but neither of them is anywhere close to "lifelike."

[filleduchaos]

That...isn't even how myopia works. Do people actually think us short-sighted people see the world in 480p or what?

[theshackleford]

I mean I’ve got myopia and that’s not far off. I’m -6.75 in each eye. I’d say it’s more like 240p stretched over a giant display. At least in my case without glasse, I just see blobs of moving colour, not unlike very heavy compression/artifcating. I can make out people, vehicles etc, but I couldn’t tell one individual or vehicle from another. Just the shapes.

[filleduchaos]

I'm not as short-sighted (-3 in each, plus astigmatism of around 2.5 in my left eye) but to me there is a clear difference between the lack of focus that I have without my glasses and low resolution videos viewed with corrected vision. There's even a clear difference between both of those and e.g. reduced visibility from fog or haze.

And this isn't just down to videos being shown on a screen - just looking at digital photos with a critical eye also shows the difference between an out-of-focus shot (which approximates myopia) and a shot that's simply taken with a low-res sensor. One of the standout points is the way that lights look - low-res but in-focus shots don't have the "bokeh" effect.

[t888]

It’s not lifelike if you critique it, and especially if you look at detailed scenes with some distance to them - e.g, if I look at trees in the street outside my front window.

However in my living room during daylight, if I’m using the Vision Pro normally - i.e. interacting with apps, and not just staring at real world scenes to critique passthrough, then it easily creates the illusion that the content is in the room, and it doesn’t feel like I’m looking through a device. It has a long way to go, but it’s definitely capable of creating the illusion.

[LordDragonfang]

So, to gather anecdata, a question to you: do you wear corrective lenses or contacts in your day-to-day life?

I never said I couldn't tell the difference between my corrected vision and the vision pro. But it's probably close to as clear as my uncorrected vision, which is how I experience life the majority of time. In a very real way, it is lifelike. My reaction to the cover coming off is "oh, I don't have my glasses on" not "oh, I'm looking at a screen". In no world would I have the same reaction to the passthrough on any other VR headset I own.

The latency, lack of screen door, minimization of warping artifacts, and yes, even the resolution, are at a place where someone who doesn't have the privilege of 24/7 perfect vision could easily mistake it at first glance. There's lots of places to improve (mostly the blur when moving your head), but we're at the point where "not literally indistinguishable" is the point of contention.

Also, keep in mind "lifelike" has never even meant "literally undisguisable" in the first place. People have been using it to describe graphics since the PS1, so I think it's fair to use to describe something that looks more like life than the majority of even present-day "realistic" 3D games.

[anon373839]

> my uncorrected vision, which is how I experience life the majority of time

Is this common? I have myopia and I wear my contacts 100% of my waking hours. I can’t tolerate being without them, and can’t really tolerate glasses either.

[LordDragonfang]

My prescription is low enough that I don't need my glasses for close-up things like my own computer monitor (it actually gives me a little bit of eyestrain). And since I can walk around inside just fine without them, I usually don't bother putting them on when I'm at home unless I'm watching TV, and don't bother wearing them in the office if I'm not in a (face to face) meeting where I need to see someone else's screen.