This is quick update to let you know what we're working on. Desktop app will let you know that auto-update is ready soon (version 1.1.3).
Stable update for desktop app (v. 1.1.3)
We're pushing desktop beta updates to stable branch. Everyone will be able to take advantage of software encoder on low end PCs. This is last resort option because this will put heavy load on CPU. You should only use it if you don't have any compatible hardware (recent GPU or Intel Core CPU).This update also includes some stability tweaks, UI changes, newsletter opt-in and Gear VR edition download button.
Motion controller black screen
Several people reported that black screen no longer happens in Steam VR beta when you use multiple drivers (e.g. VRidge and PSMoveService). Check it out and send log files* if it still blacks out for you.
*vrserver.txt located in Steam/logs (by default: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\logs).
Work in progress: sound streaming
The sound streaming work is done on the Windows and networking side. We just need to finish up Android decoding and playback. It's still on track to be released as an update sometime in December.
Work in progress: android improvements - jitter, Android 4.x, HEVC
During our jitter research we decided that it's worth a shot to try synchronous video decoder instead of asynchronous (which is recommended by Google). This will allow for VRidge to work on Android 4.x devices.Most of the older phones that weren't upgraded to Android 5.0+ aren't great VR devices but there are some phones that have 720p+ display there were simply forgotten by carriers and were left with Android 4.x OS. If you have decent Android 4.x based phone with 720p (or better) display and you want to try VRidge on it - e-mail us at support@riftcat.com with "Android 4 testing" as subject line. We'll contact you when we have something worth testing.
Creating synchronous decoder as an option forced us to do some refactoring of our decoding & rendering flow. This will make it easier to implement HEVC/H265 coding which is ~40% more efficient than H264 that we use now. This means 40% better quality at the same bitrate. We hope that we don't run into major roadblocks on the PC side. We'll start with NVIDIA GPUs first for HEVC.
We are also in process of getting Daydream & Pixel to explore new VR possibilities on Google's new flagship device but it's too early to talk about the details.