First Look At The PVR Iris – Thinking Aloud

Hi everyone,

Right now I’ve been doing some research and clicking around: reading about standalone VR headsets. That means you’re not connected to your computer or anything else. Unlike a headset such as the Rift or Vive, you’re completely free to move around.

Headsets being considered

And, I’m just going to think aloud a bit in this post. I’m giving strong consideration to the PVR Iris headset.

I’m also considering/comparing the Oculus Go, Gear VR (getting a GS 10), and the Oculus Quest.

This, of course, isn’t a very symmetrical comparison because the Galaxy S10 alone is around $700 (plus cost of new Gear VR); the Quest is around $400; while the GO (32 GB) and Iris are both around $200. If you want the 64 GB Go, that’s around $250.

So, the fair comparison here is between the 32 GB Go and the Iris.

They’re both about the same price. They’re both mobile VR units that work independently of phones and computers.

The Go can certainly be used for 3D porn. But, it’s also connected to the whole Oculus ecosystem dealio, which opens up other entertainment/gaming possibilities. The PVR Iris, on the other hand, proudly declares itself as having been designed and created for 3D porn.

That works for me.

Personally, I’ve yet to use VR for anything but porn. The Quest would likely change that. But, this is between the GO and Iris. In this article, I’m mainly interested in trying to figure out which would be a better choice for me between those two roughly $200 devices.

I read a bunch of reviews/reports. Nearly all concluded that both devices were worth the money. I didn’t come across any that said, “Oh, that’s a real piece of shit. Save your money.”

Now, here’s a bit more background…

I’ve already used the Oculus Go. Added: wrote up a Go review.

I know what it’s like. It is a good deal. In respect to real world quality…that’s to say…the experience of watching porn with it: the Oculus Go is rather similar to my present Gear/Galaxy arrangement. It really wouldn’t be much of an upgrade in respect to quality. But…

The thing is…I’m just not interested in using a Gear/Galaxy set-up anymore.

Phone VR worked fine for a time.

It was fun. It was a hell of a lot of fun. I remember first inserting an HTC M8 into a Homido…very memorable moment there.

But, ultimately your phone is rendered sorta dysfunctional when in VR mode. You finish and your battery is juiced. Maybe you have to run out and take care of some business. You’re trying to spark up the battery with your car charger during your drive to the grocery store. Maybe someone wants to see a picture of your dog. You show them hoping you don’t accidentally click open the latest Gianna Dior VR porn file.

Oh, it’s a long story. I’ve already said too much. Suffice to say, I want to separate VR porn from my phone.

Now, I am quite intrigued by the Oculus Quest.

I was reading some Reddit megathread…and, my interest is officially piqued! But, as mentioned, at twice the price it’s not fair to include the Quest in the mix here.

So, let’s think about how to decide between the Iris and Go for a VR porn consumer.

A huge factor is picture quality. Of course you want a reliable device with adequate storage and battery life…but, concerning VR porn viewing, when the Fleshlight hits the weenie, if the image clarity/resolution ain’t there, the experience will suffer.

Now, there ain’t nowhere I can test out a PVR Iris. So, I’m going based upon their website and my research of other reviews. But, I will tell you…seeing that they outright say it was designed for porn…and, more significantly, that Anna Lee and Ela Darling are behind it…yea, I’m coming into this expecting it to be a quality product.

So, Resolution, decoding, display, etc.

Iris: 2560×1440. 101°Fresnel optic lens. Now the PVR Iris claims that it has video decoding capability of 6K H.265.

Go: 2560 x 1440. 5.5 inch display. They describe this as a fast-switch LCD display with a refresh refresh rate of 60Hz or 72Hz. The Go’s decoding is labeled 4K. In the Oculus forum, I found this report: “I can happily play 4k videos (3840 x 1920 pixels), although I recently discovered the Go can also play 4096 x 2048 resolution videos. However, the Go won’t playback 5k videos very smoothly, which are instead intended for the Rift. To confirm this, I downloaded a 2300p video, and the Go attempts to play it but stutters, and jump frames, and eventually crashes the video player software.”

Storage

The Oculus Go has a 32 GB and 64 GB option. They’re around $200 and $250 respectively. The Oculus GO does not have SD card expansion. I’ve read reports about a workaround for this.

The Iris has 16 GB of internal storage. But, it does have SD card expansion. And, the reports I read indicate it can take up to a 128 GB card. I like that.

Battery

The companies make their own claims. From my clicking around, it sounds like either one will give you in the ballpark vicinity of 2.5 hours of VR porn playback.

One notable difference is that a purchase of a PVR Iris gets you some free VR porn from their PVR.fun project. Personally…just going to be honest with you here…this is something that I’m not taking into consideration. I tend to…I don’t know how to put it, but I just don’t go for those sort of promos. I’ve got plenty of VR porn movies and subscriptions already.

But, I could see this free weekly VR aspect appealing to some other folks.

Conclusion

I’d really need to test the PVR Iris to know for sure. But, from my reading…my gut feeling is that the visual experience between the two headsets is pretty similar. The price is pretty similar. The battery life seems similar.

Two things stand out for me:

1. A 128 GB card can be thrown into the Iris. From messing around with this stuff since 2015, I can tell you that limited space on the device detracts from the whole thing.

2. And, the Iris was designed for porn. And, porn industry folks are behind it: Anna Lee and Ela Darling. I like that.

With everything else seeming pretty equal, those two points are swaying me the PVR Iris direction.

You may also be interested in The VR Porn Devices Category.