I really appreciate being able to keep Heresphere in the Unknown Sources menu. Since I only use it for porn, it’s a nice extra layer of security and peace of mind in case I’m showing someone my headset.
Something that I noticed happening, well before this update, is that Spotify won’t play from the browser again. I’m using the desktop mode of the website, but it says the browser isn’t supported. Unfortunately performing Quest system updates has not fixed it like it did previously. There have been several updates since this happened again. Is this just a Spotify issue and something that Heresphere just won’t be able to do?
Looks like I just need to update the user agent string used by the HereSphere web browser, and it should work with spotify again (they keep on increasing the minimum chromium version required). Update should be available on Monday.
2 Likes
HereSphere update v0.9.5 for the Quest, Quest 2, and Quest Pro is now available. This update adds video buffering settings, fixes playback issues, and adds some quality of life improvements. It’s available on itch.io and App Lab Release Candidate (RC) channel. To opt into the RC channel, visit the HereSphere app lab page (or the free demo page) on your web browser, scroll down to “Version”, click the version number, and select the RC channel from the drop down box. It may take a couple minutes for your headset to register that you’ve switched build channels. You’ll see a blue dot in the upper right corner of the app icon when an update is available. Click on the three dots when hovered over the app icon, and then select update.
Video buffering:
- Added player buffer settings to the user settings.
- Buffer size can be increased to allow reading more data ahead of time for fewer buffering pauses, or reduced to improve latency when seeking. The total memory allocated to all videos is around 300MB, so the real buffer time duration might be less than what you’ve set, depending on the bitrate of the video, and the number of videos being played.
- Changed to a better ExoPlayer network stack (Cronet) that is capable of streaming HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 sources.
- Increased the video timeout to 60 seconds, which should allow videos to eventually load and seek when the network conditions are bad.
- Added a SMB block size setting, which can be increased to improve SMB throughput or decreased to improve SMB latency. On a side note, if you’re hosting SMB shares (especially on MacOS), then turning off packet signing on your SMB host device should improve speeds.
Bug fixes:
- Fixed issue with videos sometimes failing to start playing when opened.
- Fixed issue with the player running out of memory and crashing when using multiscreen mode. The app will now scale the target buffer size based on the number of visible screens. The player should be able to handle over a dozen simultaneous 1080p videos with good performance. For good measure, it’s recommended to keep the max buffer size in the user settings fairly low to reduce the chance of running out of memory.
- Fixed issue with video not closing and freeing up resources when the stop button is pressed twice (last rendered image is still visible, but the video player is actually closed).
- Fixed issue with keybindings not saving automatically after loading saved backup data.
- Fixed issue with flat screen videos (perspective projection) not applying image settings correctly when opened.
- Fixed issue with SMB share scanning at startup interfering with accessing SMB shares. The app now scans for network devices without checking if they have an SMB share.
- Updated the HereSphere web browser user agent, so the web browser should now work with websites like Spotify, that require newer chromium versions.
- Video previews in the HereSphere web API view now properly pause when the menu is hidden.
Quality of life improvements:
- Video no longer pauses when the Oculus menu is opened.
- Added a “Toggle Favorite” keybinding (just before halfway down the keybindings list) that will toggle the current video’s favorited state.
- Added an “Auto Create HSP” toggle to the user settings. The “Auto Update HSP” toggle has to be enabled for this toggle to be visible. When both toggles are enabled, HSP files will automatically be created and updated.
- Added a button to write the title of a streamed video (with restricted characters removed) to the script fallback directory. This title can be used to rename your script file so the fallback script will play when streaming a video. The button, which looks like a save icon, can be found in the synchronized peripherals menu next to the fallback script directory input box when playing a streamed video.
10 Likes
Thanks for the update! So apparently there used to be an anaglyph mode in HS? I find this invaluable in DEO to correct stereo misalignment. AF in HS seems to correct some poor alignment but is sometimes more trouble than its worth because the scaling changes, and when it performs poorly that ruins immersion - I find AF difficult to use but usually have it switched on.
Please bring back anaglyph, and have the AF on/off state tied to each video or at least an option for that. Sorry, I know the more features you have, the more complex you risk making the app.
The best way to correct poor alignment is to use the autofocus depth estimation text as a reference. It basically acts as the ground truth for how the stereo image should be, including the vertical alignment. Just pause the video, look straight forward, and adjust the stitch shift y or camera stereo alignment pitch until the text looks clear without double vision. Best way to adjust is hover over the setting, hold the grip button, hide the menu, and then move the thumbstick to adjust (or hold trigger and twist the controller back and forth) until the text is clear.
3 Likes
I installed the latest update, v0.9.5 , however it has made SMB browsing much worse for me (using TrueNAS). I couldn’t find where I could turn off packet signing in the TrueNAS dashboard.
I waited much longer than normal after starting HereSphere to browse over SMB and it was very unresponsive.
Since reverting back to v0.94 it is much quicker. I can browse after about 15 to 20 seconds of HereSphere starting, and can quickly navigate directories and also flick between movies when I am watching.
Another user reported issues with browsing SMB shares by hostname with the new update. I’ll be reverting back to the SMB startup scan used in 0.9.4, but will add a prompt that will show up if a user clicks on an SMB bookmark before the scan has finished, recommending the user to wait a little bit or they can force the connection to proceed by clicking on a “proceed anyway” button.
2 Likes
Thank you for all your hard work it is much appreciated.
Thank you, this worked really well. I wonder how many people have got to grips with the technique, as it’s a pretty great feature.
HereSphere update v0.9.6 for the Quest, Quest 2, and Quest Pro is now available. This update patches some issues with the SMB startup scan, fallback script lookup for streamed videos, and some other quality of life improvements. This update is available on App Lab (select RC channel next to the version number) and itch.io. Try the free demo.
Changes:
- SMB startup scan has been reverted to v0.9.4 behavior, where the app will check whether a network device has SMB shares before trying to resolve the hostname from the IP address. However, if you try to open a SMB bookmark while the SMB startup scan is in progress, a notification will appear recommending that you wait until the scan is finished. You can click a button to proceed anyway if you wish not to wait.
- Fixed issue with fallback script for streamed videos looking for the incorrect file when the video title contains a period.
- If “_F120” or “_120F” are included in the filename (underscore can be replaced with hyphen or space), the player will automatically set the projection to fisheye with 120 degree linear lens.
- Changed android manifest to no longer require positional head tracking, so the app can be used in 3DOF mode on app lab.
3 Likes
I haven’t tried the latest update yet but i can confirm the SMB problem from the 0.9.5 update. Thanks for fixing that so quickly.
I’ve been having regular problems with buffering and general playback since the last update. I’ve recently been messing with the player buffer settings. Currently I’ve got it set up so Heresphere pinpoints the exact moment when I’ve reached the point of no return and immediately halts video playback. I would very much like to adjust the settings so that it does the opposite of this. Any help would really be appreciated.
1 Like
This is currently what I have for my Player Buffer Settings
Minimum 20,000
Maximum 30,000
Playback Start 10,000
Rebuffer 20,000
SMB Block Size MB 4
Even with the pop up info, I’m uncertain how to adjust these in order to solve the problems I’m having. I’ve tried maxing them out, and all kinds of various combinations without success. The way I’ve got it set up now is my best attempt at getting it back to default, but I can’t remember what default is exactly and I don’t see a way to quickly reset it.
I’m also having issues with lots of failure to connect and/or upload script messages. I’m not sure what the exact wording is for each of these, but I will sometimes get an orange icon and sometimes a red icon. I get these even when my Handy is successfully connected to wifi. It also plays fine on other players such as ScriptPlayer, the Handy app/website, and I can even switch the manual function on in Heresphere and it starts moving. I can’t find any rhyme or reason as to why this happens. I try to resolve these errors by first reuploading the script, then toggling the peripherals on and off, unplugging and plugging back in my Handy, and then restarting Herephere. These attempts usually don’t work. Sometimes I can resolve it by restarting my headset, but often I just can’t and I’m forced to not use Heresphere at all.
Does rolling back to an older version of HereSphere fix the issue? It kind of seems like you have some network connectivity or wifi issues. Have you tried restarting your modem and router? And are you playing files with SMB, XBVR, or some other method? Have you tried generating a new Handy connection key?
My wifi should be okay. I know there’s more to it than this, but I have no issues with streaming services and I’m able to play online multi-player FPS games over it without any perceptible lag. Also, while I’m not in the same room as the router, I am right next to it.
I’m playing files with SMB on two different computers. One of them has an ethernet connection. I use this one for VR, high res, and other files with bit rates over 20,000kps. Nothing in this set up has been changed since the last update or even since I started using Heresphere. Whenever I have buffering or playback issues, it does not seem to matter whether I’m trying to play files from my wifi connected computer or my ethernet connected computer.
The modem and router have been restarted multiple times in the last month, and I’ve still had all of these problems since then.
I have not tried generating a new Handy key. I didn’t think that would do anything to help. Anytime I get the failure to connect or script upload failure messages, I always go back to the Handy website on another device to make sure there’s not an issue on the Handy side. I have to use their remote control function just to keep the blood flowing anyway so I know the device is still connecting.
I haven’t tried rolling back to an older version yet. I didn’t want to lose my playlists since I can only create them by adding 1-5 videos at a time. It sounds like I’m probably going to end up having to do that anyway though.
I think playlist data should still be saved even if you roll back. You can go to the user settings and click on “Save Backup” just in case. To reset settings to default, just hover over the setting and then press A or X (for Quest 2). The only thing that changed on the SMB side from the old version was bumping up the SMB block size from 1MB to 4MB, so maybe setting it to 1MB might fix the issue? Also, which Quest OS version are you on? I’d still recommend changing the Handy connection key just to exhaust all possibilities.
1 Like
what is the toggle for on the corner of the video icons?
To select multiple videos to add to playlists or delete.
Ok great. I’ll start with setting everything back to default, and start making changes one at a time then. I’m on Quest 2. Thanks!
What is currently being worked on for HereSphere? I was hoping the option of showing video thumbnails would be included at some point.
HereSphere is great.
2 Likes