Category: hp reverb g2

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Future of Valve VR, Next Gen HP Headset & Huge New Releases! – VRecap

Welcome to another swift roundup of the week’s top VR stories, releases and more! You can probably already guess the direction this episode is going to take, but we’ve got more than just Half-Life: Alyx to talk about.

First, not only did Half-Life: Alyx release, but we got the low-down on the future of VR at Valve. Jamie spoke to Greg Coomer from Valve and questioned whether or not Gabe Newell’s claims of Valve having three VR titles in development from 2017 were still true. Spoiler: they’re not. Well, not for now, anyway.

Alongside all the Alyx excitement, HP decided to drop pretty big news at the same time Valve’s title released – there’s another HP Reverb coming and it’s going to have next gen specs! What are those specs, you ask? Well… We don’t know yet, but they shared this pretty cool teaser trailer! Read more from our hardware expert, Heaney, who can fill in more gaps.

The number of releases this week has been unprecedented – yes, other VR games exist this week (and some are pretty darn good, too!). Time for a roll call! We’ve got: Paper Beast, The Room VR: A Dark Matter, Down The Rabbit Hole, Tilt Brush on PSVR, A-Tech Cybernetic VR also on PSVR, and B-Team on Quest.

We don’t have a giveaway for you this week, but make sure to tune in next Friday to see what’s up for grabs.

As for other news this week, here are other stories which didn’t quite make it into the VRecap:

Enjoy the glorious, non-judgemental freedom self isolation has given you, and make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest in VR. Have a great weekend!

The post Future of Valve VR, Next Gen HP Headset & Huge New Releases! – VRecap appeared first on UploadVR.

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HP, Valve & Microsoft Are Working on a ‘Next Gen’ Reverb G2 Headset

Microsoft’s endeavour to support the virtual reality (VR) industry with a reference design headset which the likes of HP, Dell and others could build up never really took off. Windows Mixed Reality headsets weren’t bad but the sudden flood of them in late 2017 made for a confusing hodgepodge of devices. HP was one of the companies that stuck to its guns and released a followup in 2019, the HP Reverb, geared more towards enterprise with a much nicer display. Now, HP has teased a new headset currently dubbed the Reverb G2.

Very little is know about this new HP Reverb G2 with the website merely stating: “Developed in collaboration with Valve and Microsoft, the next gen HP VR headset delivers a more immersive, comfortable and compatible experience than the previous generation. It’s the new standard in VR.”

Splitting that statement down it’ll still likely be based on the Windows Mixed Reality platform so you’ll get those inside-out tracking capabilities and comfort was mentioned so hopefully there will be better weight distribution. A more ‘compatible experience’ suggests that HP might be leaning back towards the consumer market, possibly even supporting the Index controllers as Valve is involved.

And as this is a next-generation headset that going to set a ‘new standard in VR’ a bump in visual quality is highly likely, and therefore a premium price. Although Valve may not want a direct competitor to its currently out of stock Valve Index, so a higher price would continue HP’s focus on enterprise. There is the small matter that the current HP Reverb isn’t exactly lacking in visual quality. Offering 2160 x 2160 resolution per eye and a 114° field of view (FoV), Valve Index, for example, sports a 1440 x 1600 resolution per eye while the HTC Vive Cosmos comes equipped with 1440 x 1700 pixels per eye. So upping that even further would be quite something.

HP Reverb VR Headset

At the moment its pure speculation as to the possibilities of the HP Reverb G2. Interestingly, it was teased not long after the launch of Half-Life: Alyx, which VRFocus just gave a full five stars to in its review. Maybe this new headset will be easier to get hold of to play the latest instalment? For further updates on HP’s plans keep reading VRFocus.

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HP Teases New Reverb G2 Headset Made in Collaboration with Valve

HP today announced it is building a new VR headset, called Reverb G2, in collaboration with Valve and Microsoft.

There’s very little to go on, as the only thing available right now is a single teaser video. Here it is, in all its ambiguous glory:

HP also left us with this statement, which may give us at least one clue as to what we’re seeing here:

“Through this collaboration, Valve, Microsoft and HP are bringing a more immersive, comfortable and compatible VR experience,” an HP spokesperson told Road to VR. 

Healthy speculation: by the looks of it, the Reverb G2 may make use of Microsoft’s Windows MR optical inside-out tracking, which is available on a host of Windows MR headsets dating back to the first generation of devices in 2017, including the original HP Reverb.

Launched just last summer and aimed at enterprise users, the HP Reverb was an impressive piece of kit despite the compromises on its generally tepid Windows tracking quality and aging WMR controllers. It includes 2,160 × 2,160 per-display resolution, which is a big step up over the next highest resolution headsets in the same class—the Valve Index, showcasing a resolution of 1,440 × 1,600 per display, and HTC Vive Pro’s dual 1,440 × 1,600 AMOLEDs, making the OG Reverb an impressively pixel-dense headset.

The “more compatible” part of the statement however might just point to the inclusion of SteamVR tracking as a secondary standard, embedded within the headset’s exterior. Windows MR headsets are already compatible with SteamVR by default, and their controllers have a standard input layout, so making it “more compatible” from a software perspective seems like a moot point.

Here’s a better look, brightened for clarity.

Image courtesy HP

If it includes SteamVR tracking, where are the dimples then? Although HTC Vive and more recently Vive Cosmos Elite contain characteristically dimpled faceplates for SteamVR tracking, Valve’s Index has them invisibly embedded, so there’s no telling what lurks underneath that front portion of the headset.

Another bit of speculation: the headset’s integrated audio looks strikingly similar to Valve Index’s, which might suggest an off-ear headphone design. Should that be the case, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they’ve also borrowed some of Valve’s optics as well.

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What definitely isn’t clear is whether Reverb G2 will come with the aging Windows MR controllers, or whether that reveal will come later with a prospective Windows MR/SteamVR tracking combo. We’ll have our eyes peeled for more info on Reverb G2, which symbolizes Valve’s first headset collab outside of the original HTC Vive from 2016.

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Is HP pushing out another enterprise headset, or heading HTC off at the pass with an impressively speced headset which could potentially trump the Vive Cosmos’ modularity? We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled in the coming weeks for more info on Reverb G2, so make sure to check back soon.

The post HP Teases New Reverb G2 Headset Made in Collaboration with Valve appeared first on Road to VR.