General VR discussion thread

[flexy]

What I would like is an omni-directional treadmill. But I'm not going to invest in one until they either get more refined or get more games support. Plus it would eat up all of my Roomscale space, so maybe they could invent a fold-apart unit or something.

Someone on the Oculus forum tried to sell one actually via ebay. He wanted a staggering $16,000 (!!) for it. Basically a round/omni-directional hamster cage. Pretty crazy.

 

[gorobei]

htc coming out with next round of accessories Q2: universal tracker and deluxe audio strap
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/htc-vive-accessories-q2-2017,33333.html

tldr puck with sensors to track any object + replacement headstrap with built in audio and knob tensioner.

 

[ImpulsE69]

^^ f. yeah!

 

[pj-]

That looks like it will suck for people with above or below average head sizes

 

[Sabrewings]

That looks like it will suck for people with above or below average head sizes

Looks pretty adjustable to me. I'm interested in one, though I don't care for the built in audio. If it's removable then great.

 

[pj-]

Looks pretty adjustable to me. I'm interested in one, though I don't care for the built in audio. If it's removable then great.

The side arms slide in and out, (though the top is still a velcro strap, bizarrely), so it'll be fine if you have a normal head or a long and narrow head.

The "skull cradle" part looks to be hard plastic. The foam will give it some leeway but if I had a large round head I wouldn't want to jam it in there.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I imagine it is more flexible than hard plastic, for that very reason, hopefully.

 

[pj-]

Flexible to some degree, but will probably be putting non-comfortable pressure on the head.

Anyway, I have a non freak head and hate the current strap so I will be buying one. Hope it's not super price gougey.

 

[Sabrewings]

Hope it's not super price gougey.

If HTC's past on accessories is a clue, the price will be mildly price gougey and the shipping will give you heart failure.

 

[Aikouka]

Just take a peek at how expensive the Vive replacement parts are. Oculus charges $200 for the touch controllers + 1 webcam thingy. HTC charges $130 per controller.

As for the headset thing itself, my biggest question is... where does the cable go? The jack for the headphone seems to have a holder on the visible side, but currently, the cable does down the top, and may not be able to reach that 3.5mm plug. Although, that may just be a way to hold the cable until its attached. However, I don't see any holding mechanisms on the top for the cable. It looks like the holder on the side in the back is thick enough to hold the 3-wire cable -- the problem there is HTC also ships a newer, thinner cable.

 

[Pheran]

I hope that HTC at some point decides to incorporate that new head strap into all newly-produced units. From what I've read, that could fix what is probably the most major weakness of the Vive - comfort.

 

[Sabrewings]

http://www.theverge.com/ces/2017/1/4/14172296/htc-vive-wireless-adapter-tpcast-ces-2017

So want one...

 

[WhiteNoise]

With the need for charging every 2 hours that would suck. You would have to have a couple sets of batteries and it would have to be charged daily if not more. I'll gladly stick with cables.

That new head band though looks nice!

 

[Sabrewings]

I'd definitely want a spare battery. The wife and I play 3-4 hours at a time. I still can't wait to get it.

 

[Aikouka]

With the need for charging every 2 hours that would suck. You would have to have a couple sets of batteries and it would have to be charged daily if not more. I'll gladly stick with cables.

That new head band though looks nice!

When I read about this prior to CES, the 2-hour variant has a battery that's on top of your head, and I believe that's the one that's shown in the article. However, the one that they talk about with a battery that goes in your pocket is the higher capacity variant. From what I recall, that one is supposed to last for five hours on a full charge.

 

[Kaido]

http://www.theverge.com/ces/2017/1/4/14172296/htc-vive-wireless-adapter-tpcast-ces-2017

So want one...

$249 seems reasonable given (1) how much VR stuff costs right now, and (2) the other vendors were talking about solutions that cost well over $1,000. Although having a tether sometimes prevents people from walking too far away haha...

 

[Kaido]

Very interested in the Icaros Flight system, looks like it'd be a great workout system:

http://imgur.com/gallery/0RQglTo

One article I read said it's $7,500 euros (around $7,900 USD) though...I'll stick with my pushups & dips for now, haha.

 

[Aikouka]

$249 seems reasonable given (1) how much VR stuff costs right now, and (2) the other vendors were talking about solutions that cost well over $1,000. Although having a tether sometimes prevents people from walking too far away haha...

It seems expensive, but reading a bit about what it uses, it seems to be on the forefront of technology. It uses that new 802.11ad WiFi standard, which uses the 60GHz spectrum. Higher frequencies can carry far more data, but they suffer from worse attenuation (loss of signal integrity as you pass through solid objects), but since the Vive should be used in an open space and the transmitter will be at a high point (your head), it should work well.

It also has some sort of sensor, and I know one of them needs to be mounted up higher. So, there's another thing to add to the number of things to mount.

 

[Kaido]

It seems expensive, but reading a bit about what it uses, it seems to be on the forefront of technology. It uses that new 802.11ad WiFi standard, which uses the 60GHz spectrum. Higher frequencies can carry far more data, but they suffer from worse attenuation (loss of signal integrity as you pass through solid objects), but since the Vive should be used in an open space and the transmitter will be at a high point (your head), it should work well.

It also has some sort of sensor, and I know one of them needs to be mounted up higher. So, there's another thing to add to the number of things to mount.

Yeah, that's the problem, we're really still in the VR early-adopter phase. Everything is new & cutting-edge and stupid-expensive. Although I have been seeing the price of VR computers coming down quite a bit...saw a turnkey VR-ready desktop the other day for $900. The trouble is you can get an entire PS4 + PSVR setup for that, haha.

Also, hopefully all of this crazy wireless stuff doesn't give us brain cancer...not sure if beaming two HD monitor's worth of data into your noggin is the best idea or not haha.

 

[pj-]

Yeah, that's the problem, we're really still in the VR early-adopter phase. Everything is new & cutting-edge and stupid-expensive. Although I have been seeing the price of VR computers coming down quite a bit...saw a turnkey VR-ready desktop the other day for $900. The trouble is you can get an entire PS4 + PSVR setup for that, haha.

Also, hopefully all of this crazy wireless stuff doesn't give us brain cancer...not sure if beaming two HD monitor's worth of data into your noggin is the best idea or not haha.

60ghz signals can't penetrate skin. It's safer than wifi and cell signals in that sense. Not that those are dangerous..

I really hope the audio headstrap isn't more than $125. There really isn't all that much to it, but they have us by the balls so who knows.

 

[Kaido]

Norm from Tested did a hands-on with the TPcast wireless adapter for the Vive:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/5n2675/tested_handson_tpcast_wireless_vr_for_htc_vive/

Indistinguishable from the tethered experience

Gonna start saving up for one of those puppies right now!

 

[gorobei]

Norm from Tested did a hands-on with the TPcast wireless adapter for the Vive:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/5n2675/tested_handson_tpcast_wireless_vr_for_htc_vive/



Gonna start saving up for one of those puppies right now!

yt link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-CWz8nAFgs
review of tracker and deluxe headstrap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBU0OktGeiM

he shows that the tpcast can still be interfered with by covering with both hands, but it is still very impressive. however they arent the only dog in the fight http://www.tomshardware.com/news/displaylink-wireless-4k-120hz-vr,33373.html . no word on actual performance/experience.
the deluxe strap seemingly answers all his previous criticism of the vive comfort level, the tpcast probably brings it over the top in comparison to the rift. interestingly i was browsing frys website and the vive package pictures show the new strap, but there is no guarantee that it comes with one as it seems to be a standard bunch of promotional images.

 

[Kaido]

yt link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-CWz8nAFgs
review of tracker and deluxe headstrap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBU0OktGeiM

he shows that the tpcast can still be interfered with by covering with both hands, but it is still very impressive. however they arent the only dog in the fight http://www.tomshardware.com/news/displaylink-wireless-4k-120hz-vr,33373.html . no word on actual performance/experience.
the deluxe strap seemingly answers all his previous criticism of the vive comfort level, the tpcast probably brings it over the top in comparison to the rift. interestingly i was browsing frys website and the vive package pictures show the new strap, but there is no guarantee that it comes with one as it seems to be a standard bunch of promotional images.

Yeah, time will tell. So much stuff still being developed & coming out.

I'm using a Zotac EN1070 as my VR PC for the next couple of months; I would really like a wireless headset adapter because it's easy to yank the tiny computer out via the HDMI cable.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

With VR games, do they allow you to sit in one spot, and track head movements, but as far as walking/driving etc use traditional control inputs? My assumption is that this depends on the games and isn't specific to the choice of hardware....

 

[Kaido]

With VR games, do they allow you to sit in one spot, and track head movements, but as far as walking/driving etc use traditional control inputs? My assumption is that this depends on the games and isn't specific to the choice of hardware....

Yeah, depends on the game. Like you can get a racing sim that uses a wheel, pedals, and shift knob and still use it with the Vive or Rift. Same with space sims, flight sims, etc.