They are there for SLAM tracking, the passthrough is basic to let you find your way around for setup.
The 3rd party solution is because they didn’t want to exclude AR uses, but they didn’t want to work on it in-house and didn’t want to add good cameras to the cost, and this other company they knew was working on relevant camera tech so they decided to cooperate to let them launch their camera as an accessory.
So the base device does VR well, and AR users can get what they want with an accessory
artyom@piefed.social 7 hours ago
You don’t know what you’re talking about. The existing cameras are for tracking the controllers. The aftermarket cameras are for AR content.
warm@kbin.earth 7 hours ago
You are correct, about the 4 monochrome cameras being used for both passthrough and tracking. I was confusing the setup with Quest 3, where there are 2 extra RGB cameras for passthrough.
But you are still very wrong about the usefulness. Valve could have done better here without the need for an attachment.
artyom@piefed.social 6 hours ago
Sure, they could have, and it would have driven up the price on what is already an expensive device, while providing nothing in return. Valve is a gaming company, and this is a gaming headset.
warm@kbin.earth 6 hours ago
"while providing nothing in return."
I think at this point it's just very clear you are a big Valve fanboy. I bet you would defend the inclusion of them if they existed and I suggested they were useless.