After revealing the Vive Wireless Adapter earlier this year, the company confirmed this week at E3 2018 that the device is on track to launch by late Summer, and offered up some details on the device’s battery and operation. I went hands-on with a near-final version and came away impressed.

Update (June 20, 2018): After some technical difficulties were sorted out at DisplayLink’s E3 booth, I got to go hands-on with a near-final version of the Vive Wireless Adapter and came away impressed.

The adapter was being shown paired with a Vive Pro, along with a big gatling gun controller custom-made to work with Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope (2017). While the chosen demo was something of a best-base-scenario for the adapter (players are stationary, the virtual scene is very bright, particle effects are minimal), at least in this case the performance was very impressive, showing sharp visuals that looked indiscernible from what would be seen on a wired headset, along with perfect tracking, also not noticeably different than what I’m used to seeing on a wired headset. While I had noticed some slight latency back when I tried the Vive Wireless Adapter at CES at its introduction earlier this year, this time around I didn’t see any added latency. When I asked about the latency in the CES demo, DisplayLink said there may have been an issue with that demo relating to the lighting in the room, which has caused them issues in the past.

In addition to no noticeable latency, the system was also very robust in my demo—I didn’t see a single frame drop, tracking issue, or any other major artifact from the Vive Wireless Adapter, which bodes well for consistent performance. The only artifact I was able to spot was a slight blockiness in the view when quickly rotating my head back and forth, but I had to look very carefully for this and I think it will go unnoticed by the vast majority of users.

I’m still interested to see how the Vive Wireless Adapter holds up in more challenging situations (highly active games, scenes which are more difficult for compression, etc), but from my experiences thus far, it appears to be shaping up to be a promising wireless solution, even for the higher resolution of the Vive Pro.

Original Article (June 12, 2018): Showing off the Vive Wireless Adapter with the Vive Pro at the DisplayLink booth at E3 2018, an HTC spokesperson said that the unit is nearing production readiness and is on track to launch by late Summer. The battery that will ship with the unit, powering both the adapter and the Vive headset, is the QC 3.0 Powerbank that HTC presently sells as an accessory; its expected to offer two to three hours of battery life, and take about one hour to reach a full charge. Since the power output on the battery is a simple USB port, it seems likely that users could use any off-the-shelf powerbank, but the company hasn’t confirmed that capability just yet.

Vive Wireless Adapter with the original Vive, as seen at CES 2018 | Photo by Road to VR

HTC also said that up to three Vive Wireless Adapters can be used in the same space without interference issues (each requiring their own transmitter, by my understanding), and that the ideal range of the system is up to six meters from the transmitter.

The price of the Vive Wireless Adapter hasn’t been confirmed, but the ~$300 pricetag of the third-party TPCast wireless solution [Amazon] gives us a rough hint of where things might fall. Granted, HTC is likely to target the Wireless Adapter mostly at less price conscious commercial and enterprise users, and thus we may see a more premium price, much like the Vive Pro.

SEE ALSO
7 Companies Aiming to Cut the Cord on High-end VR Headsets

At the DisplayLink booth the company is showing off the Vive Pro with the Vive Wireless Adapter, and a custom-built gatling gun controller made to show Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope (2017) at the booth. Today, the first day of E3, they were having some technical issues with the gun and so I haven’t yet had a chance to go hands-on with the latest version of the Vive Wireless Adapter, but expect to soon. [See update above]

I did however have a chance to speak with DisplayLink’s Andy Davis, Director of Marketing, and ask him about my CES hands on with the Vive Wireless Adapter where I noted impressive robustness, but a bit of latency too (which was surprising because I didn’t see such latency on an earlier reference design that I tried). Davis told me that either the game or the room’s lighting may have been impacting the latency at the CES demo, and he didn’t believe that the adapter was part of the issue. Further, he said that the current setup at E3 shouldn’t have any issues with lighting, so I’m looking forward to giving it another go to find out how it handles under more controlled conditions. [See update above]

Update (6/12/18): An HTC spokesperson reached out to say that the originally quoted figure of a maximum of six wireless adapters functioning together in one space was stated in error, and that the maximum supported in one space is three. This has been adjusted in the article above.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • MarquisDeSang

    Oculus Go is already wireless for only 200$.

    • Gabe Newell

      With no SteamVR games…

      • Bruce Banner

        … and only 3 DoF, with a maximum battery life of 2.5 hours. The external battery adapters for the Vive wireless unit will be upgradeable to a larger battery. On top of that, the Oculus Go has a maximum of 75fps. Never mind Steam games, it can’t even play high end Oculus games. It’s a glorified media player.. not much more.

        • MarquisDeSang

          With an external cell phone external battery pack, you can play 24 hours straight on the Oculus Go.

          • Bruce Banner

            Interesting. I’m sure an external battery would work, but they do warn against using the headset while charging, as it gets warm. I know my phone gets hot when using it while charging. That ‘might’ also void the warranty though.. if they can tell that is. The Go’s current battery is 2600 MAh, and does 2.5 hours. A 3350 MAh unit apparently will do 4.5-5.5 hours. I’ve only seen as high as 10000 MAh units. You’d be able to swap them out as needed though. That’s the biggest drawback of the Go, besides not having a full 6 degree of freedom, and only 1 controller. If it only does 2.5 hours, you’re limited to the content. Lord Of The Rings is more than 2.5 hours. A Woodstock or Glastonbury is more than 2.5 hours. Hell.. a regular season hockey game barely fits in 2.5 hours, let alone a playoff game that runs at least 4 hours. It definitely needs a longer battery life.

            https://www.ravpower.com/10000mah-portable-charger-Type-C-black.html

          • MarquisDeSang

            They say to not plug it into wall while playing, battery pack is actually recommended in the manual. Make sure to use a 1amp usb plug on the power pack and not a 2 amp. The Go will not charge but will not loose chage or very slowly and not heat.

          • Bruce Banner

            I don’t have a unit, but the online manual only says not to use while connected to a power adapter ‘or’ charging. I tried googling earlier, but it was kind of vague. Even on the Oculus forums, they just referenced a post by a mod saying not to use while charging, even though it was about using an external battery. If the internal stock battery only runs for 2 to 2.5 hours, but takes 3 hours to charge.. at 2 amps, then using a 1 amp adapter would double the charging time to 6 hours. Then again, you’re using the power directly from the external, not the internal unit itself.

          • sebrk

            /r/MurduredByWords

        • sebrk

          I’ll just paste what I said in an earlier post:

          I was spot on your thoughts until I figured that it would be neat with VR on the go, like for when away. Having a little baby girl who didn’t dig noise I decided to buy one. Now it is my goto device for movies and Netflix. I tried a few games too and sure 3DoF has its limits but the picture quality is actually pretty decent. So I would urge you to try it.

        • G-man

          oh no. it plays media and games, and doesnt need a pc, and doesnt cost very much. what a piece of crap.

      • MarquisDeSang

        Not true, I actually installed the Steam version of Quake on my Oculus Go with the Quake Gear VR engine : http://www.quakevr.com/

        I am playing the full version Quake in VR (and the vr version is really amazing with a 1:1 scale, many comfort options and it’s fun to play)

        https://youtu.be/6BQDYb_Liq0

        • are you high?

        • HybridEnergy

          Look , many of us like the Oculus GO, specially for what it was designed for and what it does. The problem with you and your comments everywhere is that you make it out to be something it is not.

          • William Calderini

            While I agree that MDS is a bit of a trolling moron, it does NOT take away from the fact the the Oculus GO is a pretty decent bit of equipment for the price. I have the Vive, Vive Pro, Rift, PSVR, and Odyssey, and I’ll say that recently the GO has gotten more play time recently due to the fact that you just pull it on and GO. The convenience outweighs it’s limitations IMO, and as an affordable “gateway drug” into the VR world, I’m really pulling for it to be a success. This thing WILL lead people to making “better” VR purchases in the future once PCVR quality can match to Gos convenience. And just as a side note. The Next VR NBA stuff and the “Henry” short film look phenomenal on the GO.
            I’m really looking forward to where those particular techs are going. Just my 2 cents. (And I was not replying to you Hybrid, just replying in “general”. :))

          • HybridEnergy

            I have the GO also William, but other than the Hotel rooms I stay in it doesn’t compare to my Vive Pro use time. It doesn’t do the games I want to do, period. I do a lot of variety of VR content ranging from sim racing (have full rig) to Skyrim Vr, to Oculus exclusives. I only need to watch something like Henry once and it’s like 8 minutes long. Even movies look better on the Vive since you can super sample if you have a good gpu.

        • John Nemesh

          Fanboy much? This thing is a JOKE compared to a high end gaming PC and a Vive Pro!

          • sebrk

            I had the same opinion until I figured that it would be neat with VR on the go, like for when away. Having a little baby girl who didn’t dig noise I decided to buy one. Now it is my goto device for movies and Netflix. I tried a few games too and sure 3DoF has its limits but the picture quality is actually pretty decent. So I would urge you to try it.

          • G-man

            and cars are a joke compared to the spacex rocket. who gives a fuck? we still need cars to get around. moron

          • John Nemesh

            Insults? Yeah, I am done with you. Take your crackerjack vr system and go away.

          • G-man

            if you dont like being called a moron, stop being a moron and saying stupid things like how a £200 vr headset isn’t as good as a £2000 vr setup. moron.

          • John Nemesh

            And you’re blocked. Buh bye, thanks for playin!

          • G-man

            oh no, the moron who posts nothing but crap is blocking me. however will i live now?

    • Martin355

      An ordinary carrot is also wireless, cheaper than Oculus Go, and can be used to play just as many interesting VR games as the Oculus Go. (Seriously, I haven’t heard of a single game or experience that would make me the least interested in the Oculus Go. Plus, a carrot contains vitamin A!)

      • MarquisDeSang

        You must be an Oculus Go Virgin to say that. The best seller PCVR and PSVR are on the Oculus Go.

        • Psycold

          You sound like a 10 year old.

          • MarquisDeSang

            You sound like you are attracted to 10 years old? Go somewhere else perv.

          • Tomas Sandven

            The fuck?

          • Sandy Wich

            He’s a kid or mentally ill, look at his comment history.

          • Psycold

            Alright I take it back, 8 year old.

          • Bryan Ischo

            I don’t even know who you are replying to because I have blocked that user. May I politely suggest that you do the same because whoever they are, they are clearly not worth anyone’s time to read.

          • NooYawker

            hahaha.. I had blocked that user some time ago as well.

      • HybridEnergy

        Martin355 wins the internet today. Marquis can take his Gear VR 2.0 and leave in shame.

      • sebrk

        I was spot on your thoughts until I figured that it would be neat with VR on the go, like for when away. Having a little baby girl who didn’t dig noise I decided to buy one. Now it is my goto device for movies and Netflix. I tried a few games too and sure 3DoF has its limits but the picture quality is actually pretty decent. So I would urge you to try it.

    • Peter Hansen

      lmao

  • oompah

    After 10 years VR headsets will change so much
    that they will show this pic as a matter of
    ridiculle

    • Jonathan Pratte

      That’s exactly how I see things too. This is just a temporary fix, it can’t stay like that.

    • JJ

      well duhh, you’re stating the most obvious fact there is

    • John Nemesh

      Yeah, why don’t you look at what the best selling videogames of 2008 looked like compared to what is on offer today. It’s a given that a FULL DECADE of advancement will make current hardware look clunky and old. But without the clunky 1st and 2nd gen units selling, we won’t have 4th, 5th, and 6th generations.

      • ra51

        I dunno. I just loaded Killzone 2 and Metroid Prime 3 the other day just for the hell of it and it sure does hold up pretty well for games that are 10+ years old.

        • John Nemesh

          Compare either of those to what they showed at e3…

          • sebrk

            No seriously he is absolutely right

        • I agree, the increase in resolution and polygons in the last 10 years is rather minor. I’m certain it looks amazing on paper, but in real-life gameplay there isn’t as huge a leap as there was between 1998 and 2008. The only REALLY interesting thing that’s happened in the last 10 years is the rebirth of VR… but hey, I don’t need to tell you guys that. ;)

    • V Z

      Why is that? Can we see a pic of your butt plug as a matter of ridicule?

      • Sandy Wich

        …..? Go to bed.

        • WoolyBug

          Do like I did, report the idiot.

          • V Z

            Ok, as you wish. I reported you.

    • brubble

      …and this time next year you’ll be a year older.

  • PJ

    I hope oculus release a similar device, wireless vr needs to happen

    • Mucker2002

      TPCast already produce a wireless kit for the Rift

      • PJ

        The tpcast is awful though

        • Mucker2002

          I had one for my original Vive it worked great. Sold it when I upgraded to a Pro so I’m looking forward to the release of the intel solution.

        • sebrk

          Stock is, restoring it with OpenTPCast it is near flawless.

          • PJ

            Have one myself, running opentpcast, still has issues with audio skipping and jitters.

            Gone back to the cable

          • sebrk

            My only issues since I moved to SSD is that I experience what you describe in Oculus Home. In games any jitters and audio issues are gone. I did buy the TPCast on a sale knowing that it would be shit but also reading a lot about OpenTPCast. So, fair to say that TPCast is nothing but another crappy chinese shit company but the FOSS community has really got something going. Laughable but true. I hope we see proper stuff soon enough.

          • PJ

            Hopefully the Vive adapter fly’s off the shelves, oculus would have to act then

        • Peter Hansen

          Wait for 2.0, they have learned their lesson. It will ship with a small dongle instead of a Wifi router, and pairing will also be less painful and more stable.

          • PJ

            I’ll have look at that, I didn’t know it was a thing

  • Bruce Banner

    I’m wondering if the thing will work with the Oculus Rift. It works with the older Vive, so the cable connections should be universal.. usb and hdmi. Unless Vive’s cables have a proprietary pin-out.

    • John Nemesh

      Vive Pro is DisplayPort not HDMI…

      • G-man

        and the vive is hdmi, since the wireless adapter works with both it has usb, hdmi, and the proprietary connector that plugs into the pros link box/headset, not as display port.

  • bots

    Is there any alternative to the PCIE adapter for this kit? Sadly wont work with my mini itx build if not.

    • Zerofool

      I’m in the same boat. I hope there will be a variant with USB 3.x transmitter, or at least the option to use the PCIe card through M.2 -> PCIe adapter, although I’d need to find a way to attach the card in/to my DAN A4-SFX v2 case :/

  • I hope the wireless adapter is something that works between the computer and the headset, and doesn’t require the wireless in your house. Mine is less than stellar, to the point we punched holes in the floor and walls and ran cat 6.

    • John Nemesh

      It’s a dedicated 60Ghz “WiGig” signal, which requires line of sight between the headset and the transceiver. It won’t impact (or be impacted by) regular 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wifi at all.

  • Pasi Ripari

    “may have been impacting”
    “shouldn’t have any issues”

    Really wish VR industry would focus on reliability a bit more. I bought a vive pro, but just couldn’t get it to work. If I had, I would have showcased it to at least 8 people. But no word of mouth from me. I’ll keep trying, of course…

    • Andrew Jakobs

      uhh.. how did you not be able to get a vive pro to work (unless it’s DOA)?

      • Pasi Ripari

        Tracking issues? Just google “vive troubleshooting” there’s like a million reasons besides DOA why your headset doesn’t work. It’s understandable, we’re talking about screens after all and there’s tons of other tech. But reliability is key. No amount of wow factor ever beats the importance of “but did it work when I needed it to.”

  • I hoped for a longer battery time

    • John Nemesh

      Just get multiple batteries? Have one charging while using the 1st one…then swap as needed. No biggie. I would rather have a smaller, lightweight battery and 2-3 hours of use than a huge 20 lb battery strapped to my while I play…

      • HybridEnergy

        John, I agree as long as swapping out the battery I don’t have to quit the game in the process. That would be ok with me.

        • John Nemesh

          Need a wingman to swap the batteries for ya! :)

          • HybridEnergy

            lmao, not what I meant but that’s hilarious.

        • Peter Hansen

          Without power, the HMD will be offline and SteamVR will hang itself up.

          • HybridEnergy

            Peter, I’ve stepped on the power cable before pulling it out and when I quickly plugged it back in everything came back on. So maybe there is hope.

          • Peter Hansen

            Signs and wonders. Not my experience.

      • Andrew Jakobs

        I’ve scoured the HTC site and can’t find anything related to any battery.
        But I should wait before buying extra batteries. If it’s just a regular powerbank you’ll propably be able to buy a much larger one for less..

        • John Nemesh
          • Andrew Jakobs

            ah, thanx hadn’t seen the link itself.. Damn, that’s a hefty price for such a powerbank. On Aliexpress you can buy powerbanks which have twice the power for a fraction of what the QC3 costs..

          • G-man

            yeah, and those are probably not rated anywhere near what they say they are and are more likely to exploded. dont buy cheap batteries. just like memory cards

          • Andrew Jakobs

            that’s what reviews are for.. And my experience with brand batteries is just as bad as with cheap ass batteries… (and in a lot of cases the brand batteries are just exactly the same as the cheap ones).

          • HybridEnergy

            I’m not buying cheap batteries cause I’m ghetto rigging it to my head (not wearing it like a fannie pack sorry , lol ) . I don’t want battery goop in my skull though. lol

          • gothicvillas

            Lol i wouldnt attach cheap massive batteries to my hip. If it blows think of all the mess your family will have to clean up.

          • Andrew Jakobs

            Well, it could also happen to the ‘expensive’ brands, and the batteries never explode, they just simmer and swell up..

          • Peter Hansen

            TPCast…

        • HybridEnergy

          I think that if the specs are true that it charges with in one hour but lasts 2-3 then having two of them is better than one large one. The other will charge quicker than the one you use a the time. I also bet everyone who does VR takes the headset off at least once within a 2-3 hour sessions to do one of the following anyway:

          1: number 1 in bathroom
          2: number 2 in bathroom
          3: drink
          4: wipe sweat
          5: take a break and see if face is still ok
          lol

      • Tomas Sandven

        Will it be possible to swap batteries without disconnecting the headset and restarting the game though? That’ll mean the difference between a small nuisance and a huge pain in the ass.

        • John Nemesh

          Have to wait and see how the computer handles it when you pull the plug…my guess is that they will make it so you can easily swap out batteries…but we wont know for certain until the product actually ships and people get hands on.

        • Peter Hansen

          VERY likely not. How would that work without power?

          • Tomas Sandven

            It’s totally possible, the headset would just need to have a small built in battery that could keep it running for a minute or so. It wouldn’t even need to stay on, as long as the headset reconnected instantly after changing the battery and let you resume playing without having to restart the game.

          • Peter Hansen

            This will not happen.

          • mirak

            With 2 plugs …

      • Caven

        The TPCast battery looks to be about twice the size of the HTC battery, and I tend to forget it’s in my pocket during use. The TPCast battery also has enough runtime that I have yet to completely drain it during a VR session. It certainly wouldn’t last all day, but on the other hand I was able to play through The Gallery: Heart of the Emberstone in its entirety without running out of battery power. Practical runtimes don’t need a particularly heavy battery.

      • Peter Hansen

        Only? “Only” $79? I see. So TPCast gives you 5h for 40 bucks and this one gives you 2h for 80 bucks. And you say “only”.

        I am really sad that this product is that bad.

        • John Nemesh

          $80 seems cheap to me for a battery of this capacity that gives 2-3 hours of play with an hour recharge. I mean, come on, we are talking about accessories for a $1300 VR rig, right? If you are in this deep already, what’s another $80?

          • Peter Hansen

            If you are Mr. Moneybags, you will be just fine.

            I am not. And I have already spent so much on VR equipment and software, that if given the choice, I will always take the system where another hour of play time will cost me <10 bucks, and not 40 bucks. And where I receive a high capacity power bank that will be of great use also in other scenarios, e.g. during travelling.

            In addition I don't like to overly support products/companies with questionable price politics. Whereas I already have an Anker power bank in use, which still is in great condition after years of use. For me this decision is very simple.

          • John Nemesh

            Well, that’s the cool part…it looks like it’s a standard USB interface for the battery, so you should be able to use what you want. My brother has an Anker battery. It works extremely well for other applications.

    • G-man

      how do people not know how batteries work if you have a y split usb cable that is wiredin parallel then you can switch batteries without lostging power to a device all you want.

      • Peter Hansen

        If the wireless adapter ships with such a y split cable, I’ll buy you a crate of beer including shipping to wherever you live (including Antarctica, Moon or Mars). That is never going to happen.

        • G-man

          thanks, you can keep your crate of yeast water. instead go buy yourself a y split usb cable. it also wont come with two batteries. but you’ll be able to buy them, thats how things you can buy works. i never said it would come with the thing i said that all you need to hot swap batteries is a parallel cable. if physics suddenly stop working i’ll buy you a crate of beer. and i wont even need to ship it because physics will be different, it will ship itself.

    • V Z

      Battery time is fine. On the other hand, your mamas vibrator battery needs to have a longer battery time.

      • Sandy Wich

        Ohh, now you’re behavior makes sense. You’re 11.

        • V Z

          If I was 11, your mamma would be in jail. But she is still in the whorehouse, meaning I’m over 18. Logic, learn some!

      • Bryan Ischo

        Hello, idiot! Welcome to my blocklist! Enjoy antagonizing the other losers in there while I enjoy not reading your drivel out here!

  • HybridEnergy

    “two to three hours”

    That’s not a lot of battery life and we still have to wear it like a Fannie pack :'( . Wonder if it’s easy to swap batteries on the go.

  • RavnosCC

    One question, can it transmit real-time voice just like my vive? (TPCast still cannot?)

    • gothicvillas

      If voice chat is not there then this product is dead on arrival

      • anony

        like the tpcast then

  • Kris SIMOND

    “three wireless adapters functioning together in one space “… OK… But what size is the space ??? that means nothing without this specification.

    • Caven

      The article says that the headsets work best within 6 meters of the base station.

      • Kris SIMOND

        Thanks, my concern was more about mixing the signals…
        What about arcade game structures using different tracking side by side on a game area, only separated with a 2.50 m high wall ?

        • Caven

          The whole point is that they can be in the exact same space without interference. If they broadcast on different frequencies, then their signals cannot mix.There would be no point in advertising multi-unit capability if they had to be separated somehow.

          You would only really need to worry about barriers if you started dealing with four or more wireless headsets, but given how incredibly easy it is to completely block a 60GHz signal, even very thin barriers would be enough to shield separate play spaces. If the three different frequencies are distributed intelligently throughout a space, the only limit to the number of usable wireless headsets would be the amount of available space for setting up play areas.

          • Kris SIMOND

            Thx a lot Caven, that’s a very accurate answer, much appreaciated.
            Indeed i open a VR multiplayer arcade with 5 boxes / 10 people, and wanted to check the option of wireless instead of back packs.

  • G-man

    why would they need to confirm compatibility with other batteries? if its the right voltage and the right amps then it works.

    • Because ten ppl will plug this to shitty chinese powerbanks with heap, and low quality electronics, that cannot prowide stable, and quality power on output, and they will be writing it’s HTC fault, that thier device doesn’t work with “standard powrbank”. They just cover thier backs. If you have a good quality powerbank you should be set.

      • G-man

        they already cover their backs when they print the voltage, amps and freq requirements of the power supply in the manual and likely somewhere on the product case. if people use a powerbank that doesnt meet that then thats their fault. htc dont have to privide an exhaustive list of every make of battery brand. they do that by specifying the power requirements, like every other electrical product.

  • Kenji Fujimori

    Fuck HTC, them and their shit products, such as the batteries blowing up on their mobile phones..

  • Peter Hansen

    Sure, the lighting increased the latency. ;)

    Honestly, it seems to me that TPCast, as clunky as the use of its first draft was, remains the superior solution. More battery life (up to 5h), less latency, and a business edition with up to 4 concurrent users. If its usability (i.e. establishing and maintaining the connection) gets even a little better, then there is no doubt for me.

  • WoolyBug

    $300 for 2 hours use and 1 hour charge time?

    VIVE’s pricing policy is ridiculous.

    • FireAndTheVoid

      The battery they are selling for this is a 10,050 mAh battery priced at $80. I just bought an Anker 20,000 mAh quick charge battery for the same price.

      • Peter Hansen

        TPCast is way better in that regard. Better battery life (up to 5h) and you can their power banks for 40 bucks at amazon, in case you really need a second one.

  • Lucidfeuer

    That’s disgracefully ridiculous, insulting even.

  • As I thought from the vague response that I received from HTC/Vive earlier in the year, is the range of 6m is not enough to cover the full 10m x 10m space that can be created with the Vive 2.0 tracking system. The only way I could see this working is if the PC based transceiver is placed in the center of you space mounted on the ceiling or above your head.

    • gothicvillas

      Lol

  • Str][ker

    They intentionally used big, clunky gatling gun controllers to show this. I suspect that they chose this because the person trying the wireless headset will not be able to move too quickly, duck, spin around, etc. This would have revealed tracking issues which I expect people will start to experience in games which have a lot of sudden moves.
    I had tracking issues when I tried the TPCast on my Vive while playing Sparc. I tend to be very active in that game, ducking, twisting and making sudden movements to avoid being hit.
    So far for the Vive Wireless headset demos, the games selected have been pretty low intensity in terms of movement or potential for holding your hands above your head. So far it was a balloon simulator of some sort and now this with a huge controller hanging off you which prevents you from getting your hands up high or making sudden movements, potentially blocking some signal..

    • impurekind

      Interesting. I really hope that’s not the case.

      • Str][ker

        Believe me, I REALLY hope that these work. I’ll definitely be ordering mine the moment I can and I really want these to work and work well. I understand why they chose the demos that they did and it makes sense. Play it safe while still working on optimizations and ship something solid. I can’t help but worry that there will be problems with the final product. I am sure it will work virtually flawlessly (pun intended) for most games but my worry is how this will work for games with a lot of movement, action, ducking, etc. These are games I play a lot. My wife and I use VR for our cardio exercises and are eagerly awaiting wireless. For now we use pulleys to suspend the cable to the ceiling.

  • RavnosCC

    Still no confirmation of working voice com? Am I the only one that cares about wireless social VR? lol

    • gothicvillas

      No you are not alone. If no voice chat I’ll stick with wired for now.

  • MarquisDeSang

    So this basically cost 6 000$ (vr, pc, sensors, controller, wireless) just so you could immitate the 200$ Oculus Go?

    • JJ

      no. a go can’t process shit compared any pc hmd

    • MosBen

      No. A PC VR setup doesn’t cost anywhere near $6,000 and the Oculus Go and do what this device does. So your whole comment was worthless.

  • oompah

    Asians have no aesthetic sense
    as ugly as their slums with crawling worms

  • PJ

    If voice chat works, this will almost feel like next gen VR, hopefully oculus release something similar

  • Peter Hansen

    So it basically is not as good as TPCast, which has better battery life and no blockiness. Plus it comes out a year later.

  • rick palmer

    Im starting a vr arcade and would love to have this all wireless. The startup capital will be higher(HTC Vive pros then add the wireless) but the experience the user will have will be much better. Right now playing H3VR is a pain in the ass with the cord. Smashbox Arena is also a pain in the arse and I have almost hung myself with the cable. Cable management is a huge concern of mine so wireless will be the way to go. Just need HTC to launch this bad boy so I can get going. Battery life is a concern but ill just have extra on hand and swap them out as needed.