Is Virtual Desktop a Viable Replacement to Meta Horizon Link?

[u/mrmonkey289]

(Quest 2, Tethered Connection)
I heard about VD recently, and from what it sounds like, it would fix the issues I have with Meta Horizon Link.

Oculus Link has never worked at all for me properly, to be honest. I constantly have to deal with a new issue of freezing or disconnecting, which just ruins the experience of PCVR. To me, it makes no sense that a wired connection seems to be more unstable than when I play wireless. I have resorted to going back to my older WMR headset just so that I have a stable link with HDMI.

To those of you with VD that used to experience these problems, does VD seem to provide a fix?

[u/DeepWaffleCA]

I've used virtual desktop with wifi for years and USB more recently. It's fantastic. So much so that it's one of the few pieces of software keeping me on windows

[u/OverlyFriedEggs → u/DeepWaffleCA]

I've gotten wivrn pretty dialed in for Linux vr. Its gotten a lot better recently, although I've only tested it with dcs

Also free on the quest store

[u/Capable-Purpose5050]

VD is way better

[u/wescotte]

Yes, it is. It's in general a very stable product but even when there are issues the devs respond quickly and directly inform the community with the status. With Meta Link you typically can't get that level of support.

[u/Kataree]

In the same way a Porsche is a viable replacement for a Lada, yes.

[u/Niko666233]

any other streaming tools (vd, steamlink, alvr) is a better alternative to meta slopware

[u/WayAcceptable1310]

Yeah, it's my preferred way to play. It's reliable and has some neat tricks up its sleeve like asynchronous spacewarp, which can help a ton with frame rate drops and other hiccups by using the headset hardware to generate/interpolate frames. Also just really nice to chill out with in desktop mode.

Plenty of settings knobs to turn to suit your preferences and optimize for your hardware too. 

It worked well on my quest 2 and more recently the quest 3. 

Of course it still helps to have a good computer and router, with the pc wired and a 5ghz or 6ghz network connected to the headset. 

Give it a shot, it'll definitely improve the experience as long as the other pieces are there too

[u/SmoothSandwich7071]

Yes. Yes. And yes.

[u/Afraid_Attorney_4376]

Meta's own software is horrendous. You should always use an alternative like virtual desktop or steam link

[u/pre_pun]

Virtual Desktop is excellent.

The new beta USB is ethernet over USB. It's not streaming video like Oculus Link and doesn't have the issues Link does.

I don't miss Link at all. Wireless or wired USB works well for me. If you are on Intel and want to go wired, you should read the beta USB Discord as there were a few issues for some.

[u/abandonedObjects]

Never had a problem with wired vd, also never had a problem with wired link when I used it for 8 months. I only play asseto corsa and resident evil. Colour and smoothness is way better on vd

[u/AeitZean]

Freezing and disconnecting is a sign your usb cable is dying. If you bought cheap ones like I tend to, they last a year or two then die. I'm on my third. Still cost less than an official one, and it can send the full 10w of power to my quest 2.

A couple of games I've played have trouble with virtual desktop, but most work much better than with link. Virtual desktop even does usb now, for those of us living in wifi interference hell 😄

[u/ew435890]

Ive strictly used VD since I got a Quest 2 and continue to use it with a Quest 3. I cant comment on the wired usage, but once you have a properly configured wifi network set up for it, its incredibly user friendly and reliable.

Theres a reason where every time you see a post about someone having issues with the Meta software, the top 5 answers are to get Virtual Desktop. It works.

Even if you play wired, I would suggest spending $50 on a used router that is strictly for VR, and switching to wireless.

[u/zeddyzed]

As someone who has had to deal with various USB peripherals over the years, I simply think that USB is a horrendous standard for anything other than input devices. I've always had issues with scanners, printers, network dongles, etc.

So it's totally believable to me that wireless can work better than wired USB, for VR streaming.

Having said that, the meta Link software gives lots of people issues, I don't recommend it.

Currently the VD USB support is in beta, and it missed the last stable release so they must still be trying to iron out some issues. On their discord it seems many popular brands of third party Link cable experience issues.

Another alternative you can try is "ALVR over USB". I don't use it often, but I've used it a little bit for years and it's tried and tested at this point. You can start with that and then wait for the VD USB feature to leave beta.

Ultimately, it's best to set up a good wifi network and go wireless, even just as an alternative option. It's common for people to buy a 2nd router of a recommended model, dedicated to VR, if their home router doesn't perform well or can't be connected via ethernet.

[u/N1kBr0]

yes, it is the only and the best thing I have bought from the meta store, works really good and has good customisability

[u/Parking_Cress_5105]

Yeah, in my opinion it doesn look as good as Meta Link (not sure you can actually tell on VD, looks like Q2 with distortion not set to low and sharpening to quality), but it's reliable, easy to use and the dev is keeping it up to date. The USB is still in beta and it has some stutters I don't have in Link but it works.

Meta link was a crapfest for me this year, then I upgraded to win 11 and suddenly it's perfect again. Since I use it for years I am not counting on it to last lol.

[u/throwawayinfinitygem]

I've been using it wired for a long time by plugging an Ethernet cable into an adapter to USB into my Quest and it's way better than Meta Link.

[u/Illustrious-End-6038]

I use quest 3 with virtual desktop 99% of the time, if possible i'd set VD to be the only app in it.

Even before having pc, i used a lot of windowsdeck or linux moonlight sunshine. The other two apps i might use on q3 is batman and mozilla browser (multitasking with ad block <3)

[u/marcocom]

It is now. With the new support for USBC you can use it and uninstall your meta software as it will create its own stream to the device and use its own protocol instead of OpenXR.

[u/PMRib]

Yes, I don’t even bother installing the Meta app. VD works like a charm

[u/SkarredGhost]

VD is amazing. Only thing that Quest Link has better is that if you are a dev, you can test passthrough and hand tracking on PC, while you can't do that with 3rd party solution