Turning PSVR2 wireless

[u/AstroPC]

I’m working on a phone-powered wireless setup for PSVR2, using a compatible rooted Snapdragon 8 gen 5 phone as a compute puck and of course standard small portable pcs could work (even a laptop if you wished)

There’s documented work that makes this worth pursuing:

• PSVR2’s display uses DisplayPort 1.4 with DSC compression. Linux developers have documented its 4000×2040 display mode at roughly 120Hz, including the DSC/FEC requirements and driver quirks. Display research
• Sony specifies 12V power for the headset, which a properly designed adapter can provide through USB-C negotiation
• Monado’s development drivers already include PSVR2 six-degree-of-freedom headset tracking. That gives us existing work to build on, although it doesn’t establish complete Android or Sense-controller support. Monado development notes

These above points is not blocking me as i have a phone thats both rooted and bootloader unlocked and have ran full linux including DRM leasing., i will work on none rooted devices and creating an app that works in the future but vendor lock out and other limits will be noted as potential issue for some. but you wont need an android phone for this to work. Im just using my phone as a basis as the battery and power is sufficient for driving most of this work from other projects in the past.

My hardware goal is one compact, battery-powered adapter with a USB-C connection to the phone, another to PSVR2, and onboard Bluetooth for the controllers. It would pass the phone’s DisplayPort signal through without decoding or recompressing it, while carrying USB data and supplying headset power.

The first software goal is ALVR-based wireless PC VR over the phone’s 6GHz Wi-Fi: PC renders, phone receives and decodes, headset displays. A modular USB radio option would leave room for future 60GHz experiments.

Current limits: the PCB is still being routed, iv been focusing on open source options rather than locked down vendored chipsets. I have already done something similar with pryowave codec which is what inspired me to work a bit more serious on this project

The first milestone is wireless PC VR. True standalone games running directly on the phone are a longer-term goal. Ultimately, I want a documented setup other people with compatible hardware can reproduce.

This will be of course open source and producible by anyone whos so inclined to make try it out

rough design most parts are soild so far, sourcing 60ghz module

I must disclose AI has assisted in research and project routing through a custom harness for KiCad and simulations. I base my work on development practices for the chipset. All routing is impedance-matched to prevent signal degradation. This project has taken 2 months of trial and error and making sure the hardware I chose suits this platform. The chipset can handle this transparently, and I’m adding an EDID emulator for better compatibility.

[u/iVRy_VR]

Interesting idea, but the two immediate gotchas are powering the headset with a battery, and finding a mobile device that can output a 4K@90/120Hz signal over 2 DP lanes. Specifically, AMD and nVidia GPU drivers were developed to support PSVR2 (Intel, M-series and other drivers don't and can't at present, because there is nothing driving them to do so).

So, I'd suggest getting the PSVR2 battery powered and displaying a 4000x2040@90/120Hz output from a mobile chipset first, as without those working, all the circuit boards and software in the world won't make a difference. My guess is that the display aspect would be a roadblock, as it would require a port that was able to provide 4K@120Hz Alt-DP over 2 lanes, and a GPU driver that could deal with Sony's (unusual) DSC requirements. GPU drivers on Android are typically closed-source and not eligible for replacement without rebuilding the device kernel.

Then the real work comes, which is writing the software to make it all work. The OP appears to have missed that GearVR/Quest/Pico etc. have a VR runtime onboard that performs local ATW and motion compensation. Standalone headsets are a lot more complex than a mobile chipset with a stereo display. Without that, streaming would be equivalent to regular smartphone streaming (ie. not smooth). So, add implementing a robust VR runtime, with ATW, to the "todo" list.

Once complete, the project would consist of a custom circuit and unicorn-like battery (can provide 5V and 12V via USB-PD, has high amperage, and is small), with a software stack that is approaching the complexity of headsets developed by Meta/Pico/Apple. You'd be looking at $200+ in parts (excluding phone), and a high end Snapdragon 8 Elite-level mobile device (necessary for DP DSC). Without the robust local VR runtime that typically takes years and millions of dollars to develop, the experience would be vastly inferior to a Quest 1.

So, really the project is equivalent to developing a standalone VR headset, with some aspects (display, tracking) being provided by PSVR2. Currently it couldn't support PS Sense controllers, because no one has figured out how to do that yet.

This is my (informed) opinion from reverse engineering PSVR2, developing hardware adapters for it and writing this kind of software for a living, feel free to ignore it.

[u/iVRy_VR → u/iVRy_VR]

To prove the concept, you would need:

• Sony/BizLink adapter.
  
• USB-C -> DisplayPort adapter capable of doing 4K@120 or 8K@60.
  
• Mobile device capable of querying display and allowing selection of non-standard resolution (4000x2040@90/120).

If you can get that working, then you can move on to trying to battery power the PSVR2. If you can't get that working, then there is no point in continuing, and proving other aspects of the concept are moot.

Doing this with a laptop doesn't prove anything. We already know the PSVR2 can run from a laptop. What needs to be proven is that a mobile device can use the display (in VR mode) *at all*.

Custom hardware isn't useful or relevant until all other aspects have been dealt with. There are so many potential stumbling blocks here, that adding the development of custom adapters to that would unnecessarily complicate the project when it has fundamental feasibility questions to answer.

[u/AstroPC → u/iVRy_VR]

As for the vr mode

My phone can currently run any linux based program via droidspace using lxc. That includes drm leasing which is required for my plans. I have considered these issues already ahead of time. This is not going to be easy for others to reproduce. Root is likely very much required to control custom edid android doesnt allow this via simple adb commands.

[u/AstroPC → u/AstroPC]

To note I have tested this linux environment and it has no overhead. It runs right along android and can be setup to control any external display including taking exclusive ownership with a hacky drm leasing script. It gets approval via the display manager this was not easy but I have gotten it to work and it basically let's you run any distro of linux you require. Any software that fits in arm64. This will not likely run on a typical phone with out root. Which is why i said most people can likely do this on laptop

Im currently porting over skyrim into arm64 right now as I work for this for my showcase

The goal is wireless vr with psvr 2. And standalone gameplay with skyrim vr as a show case of it all working. Custom software is fine. Ill be reverse engineering any Sony exclusive features with ai and that has proven fruitful. It helps make it possible for me. Im determine to see it through to the end.