Windows 10: Microsoft details on Windows 10 Mixed Reality Visual Quality Update

Brink · Nov 12, 2020

During development of the HP Reverb G2 in partnership with HP and Valve, weâve made some improvements to the Windows Mixed Reality VR platform weâd like to share today. These improvement apply to some existing VR headsets available on the Windows Mixed Reality platform in addition to the HP Reverb G2 devices. All of these improvements are available today with the latest versions of Windows 10 (Details here).

Chromatic Aberration Correction

Over the last few months, we have spent considerable time improving our approach to reducing chromatic aberration, an artifact inherent to VR lenses. Chromatic aberration is an artifact caused by red, green, and blue light refracting through lenses differently. A white pixel on the panels will refract through the lenses and separate into red, green, and blue pixels visible to the viewer. Chromatic aberration correction aims to adjust for this by pre-distorting the rendered image so that the image viewed by the user after lens refraction appears as a single white pixel as intended. Chromatic aberration artifacts usually look like opposing red and blue color fringes emanating from the center of the optics (Fig. 1).

We have applied these new improved algorithms to several Windows Mixed Reality headsets as outlined in the Device Specific Improvements section below.

One important note we would like to highlight is how to get into the eye box when you put on your headset. All Fresnel lenses in every VR headset have something called an eye box (the actual shape is more like a cone, but the term we use is âeye boxâ&#157. That is the ideal position (itâs actually a very small volume) where your eyes are directly behind the center of the lenses commonly referred to as the âsweet spotâ, and this is the location we calibrate for. The physical IPD slider on devices such as the HP Reverb G2 allows you to move the lenses inward/outward to align horizontally with the center of your eyes, but even more important is to adjust the headset vertically until you see the sharpest image possible. It can take some practice, but once youâre able to get into the sweet spot of the eye box, youâll see an incredibly clear image across your field of view. If you feel like you see any color fringing or radial distortion, try adjusting the IPD slider on the bottom of the headset and moving the headset up and down on your face slowly until the image is clearest. If youâre out of the eye box, you can often see some chromatic aberration artifacts near the center of the lenses in any VR headset.

Fig 1. (Left) Chromatic aberration artifacts common in some VR headsets. (Right) Corrected chromatic aberration captured on a Reverb G2.

Light Leak Correction

Almost every VR headset released to date has had some level of visual corrections implemented in software or on the GPU to correct for artifacts caused by some aspect of the hardware. Correcting for lens distortion is a great example of this.

Every VR headset the industry has seen has pushed panel technology to the limits, and with that comes subtle artifacts worth correcting for. The displays inside the HP Reverb G2 are amazingly high-quality LCD panels with a native resolution of 2160x2160 per eye at 90 Hz with virtually no screen door effect. However, most LCD panels on the market do not have filters that perfectly match the chromatic range of red, green, and blue light, and that can cause something we call light leakage.

As an example of light leakage, if a pure green pixel leaks a little bit of red light through the filter, normally, in a smartphone or flatscreen TV, you would never know that a little bit of red light is leaking through that green pixel. But in VR, that slight red leaked light is refracting through lenses, and since red, green, and blue light refract differently through the optics, that leaked light of a different color separates and can cause what appears to be a subtle colored ghost of the rendered image causing color fringing. We developed technology to correct for this in most situations where there is enough light in neighboring pixels to compensate for the artifacts.

It is important to point out that light leakage artifacts appear different from chromatic aberration artifacts. Chromatic aberration generally appears as opposing red/blue color fringing where light leakage can appear as red/cyan, green/magenta, or blue/yellow color fringing (depending on the panel design). This can also affect the overall color tint of the headset due to added light in a single-color channel. Our correction algorithms reduce both color fringing and the overall color tinting (Fig. 2).

Fig 2. Simulated light leakage without correction (left) and with correction (right). Notice the false color tinting on the left and the green and magenta color fringing. Images can also appear slightly blurrier without this correction (left).

God Rays

If youâre unfamiliar with the term god rays, itâs a common artifact of Fresnel lenses where light can appear to stretch and glow from the center of the lenses outward and creates an effect that appears similar to sunlight shining through dense treetops, often referred to as sunbeams or god rays.

God rays have been one of the most talked-about artifacts of Fresnel lenses, and the optics engineers at Valve did an amazing job of producing lenses for the HP Reverb G2 with almost no visible god rays relative to all previous headsets on the market. These reduced god rays arenât just an improvement for the viewer; itâs also an improvement for the entire calibration process that drives features like chromatic aberration correction and distortion correction.

Device Specific Improvements

Development on the HP Reverb G2 has led to some new approaches to correcting for certain visual artifacts as described above, and we were able to apply some of these new techniques to existing products in-market, namely, the Samsung Odyssey+ and the original HP Reverb G1. For the Samsung Odyssey+, we were able to improve chromatic aberration artifacts at the periphery. For the Reverb G1, we were able to improve chromatic aberration artifacts, reduce radial distortion, apply light leak correction, and improve rendering performance by about 8% in most applications from an updated and optimized hidden area mesh. All these improvements are also present in the HP Reverb G2 devices. These improvements are available in the latest Windows Mixed Reality runtime (see Windows Update instructions below).

Runtime Software Improvements

We are continually improving our software platform. To ensure you are getting the best experience, update to the latest Windows Mixed Reality VR runtime using Windows Update.

You can find instructions for how to update Windows 10 here.

Windows Feedback Hub

We are always listening to our users and improving our platform. Please use the Windows Feedback Hub to file bug reports or make suggestions to improve any aspect of our Mixed Reality products. Our Windows Mixed Reality team regularly reads and reviews all feedback and bug reports submitted by our users, so please let us know if you see an opportunity for us to improve any aspect of our software.

You can find instructions for how to file bugs and feedback to the Mixed Reality team here.

We are excited for the launch of the HP Reverb G2, and we look forward to seeing the community enjoying this headset as much as we are.
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Source: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/...e/ba-p/1874967

:)

Aditya_Roy · Nov 12, 2020

Windows Mixed Reality HP Disconnects Upon Visor Lift

Hi,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

We understand the difficulties you are facing with the HP Windows Mixed Reality device and we appreciate your effort for providing the information on the issue. In order to get clarity and to assist you accordingly, please reply with the answers to
the questions below.

What is the make and model of the PC?

What is the model number of the Windows Mixed Reality HP device?

Did you check the Windows Mixed Reality
HP on a different computer?

Are you aware of any changes in the PC prior to this issue?

However, we would suggest you to perform these methods and check if the issue persists.

Method 1: Troubleshoot
Mixed Reality headset displays

We would suggest you to perform the steps as referred under Mixed Reality headset display in this article:
Troubleshooting Windows Mixed Reality.

Method 2: New user account

This issue may be due to a profile corruption. Hence, in order to eliminate possibilities, we would suggest you to create a new user account and check. Follow the steps from the article

Create a local user or administrator account in Windows 10 to create a new user account.

We await your response.

Aditya Roy

Microsoft Community – Moderator

Manjunath_H · Nov 12, 2020

Microsoft Mixed Reality portal opens automatically causing gaming programs to freeze and crash.

Hi,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

We understand how difficult it could be when devices do not work the way they supposed to and impacting gaming experience. However we would need some information regarding the issue.

May I know the make and model of the computer?

Was there any major change on your system prior to which you weren’t facing this issue?

In the meantime, we would suggest you to try following methods and check if it resolves the issue.

Method 1: Disable Microsoft Mixed reality on start-up.

Right click on Task Bar and open
Task Manager.

Click on More details and go to
Startup tab.

Look for and right click on Windows Mixed Reality.

Choose Disable and check.

Method 2: Shut down Microsoft Mixed Reality Portal.

First switch off the simulator and then shut down Microsoft Mixed Reality Portal and check if the issue persists.

We would also suggest you to refer
Troubleshooting Windows Mixed Reality,
Navigating the Windows Mixed Reality home,

Using Windows Mixed Reality FAQ and
Controllers in Windows Mixed Reality for more detailed information.

Regards,

Marcel Kuri · Nov 12, 2020

Microsoft Mixed Reality portal issue

Hello Elizabeth, my name is Marcel and I am an Independent Advisor.

I am here to help.

I recommend that you try the steps mentioned below:

Try disabling Microsoft Mixed reality on start-up

1. Open the Task Manager

2. Tap on More details and move to Startup tab

3. Search for Windows Mixed Reality and right click on it

4. Select Disable and check the issue

Try shutting down Microsoft Mixed Reality Portal.

Switch off the simulator - shut down Microsoft Mixed Reality Portal - check the issue.

I can also recommend that you refer to the following articles to get more information.

Troubleshooting Windows Mixed Reality:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/mixed-...

Navigating the Windows Mixed Reality home:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/mixed-...

Using Windows Mixed Reality FAQ and Controllers in Windows Mixed Reality:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/404051...

Post me back, if you need further assistance.

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