Despite the increasing popularity of standalone VR, there are several good PC VR headsets on the market. Whether you’re looking to dive into the world of PC VR headsets or already own a Valve Index, HP Reverb G2 or something else, we’ve got you covered. Our Ultimate PC VR Gift Guide takes you through all the headset options and the best accessories for each.
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PC VR Headsets: Which To Buy?
Unlike our Quest 2 and PSVR gift guides, if you’re looking at buying a PC VR headset, there’s a couple of options. For starters, no matter which headset you choose, you’ll need a VR-ready PC to run the content.
From there, there’s basically three big players, each at different price points and with different pros and cons — Valve Index, HP Reverb G2, and Oculus Quest 2. This isn’t all of the PC VR options available, but we feel these three are the best choices.
Valve Index
The Valve Index is the most expensive headset on the list and, for a long time, has remained the premier PC VR option. The headset offers great optics, fantastic controllers, and excellent tracking thanks to the latter of which is all handled by an outside-in tracking system via lighthouses sensors. While this system provides the best accuracy by far, it’s also the most cumbersome to set up. Plus, once it is set up, there’s no moving it easily.
In the middle in terms of pricing, the HP Reverb G2 is a collaboration with Valve that offers a similar PC VR experience to the Index, but with some notable caveats that might be deal-breakers for certain people. But first, the good — the Reverb G2 offers a screen that is one of, if not the, best on the market right now. It also boasts wonderful over-ear speakers and is one of the most comfortable headsets around.
However, the controllers are not the best. And even though the inside-out tracking is improved from the original Reverb, it still lacks in edge cases where controllers are at the periphery of the camera lens range and start to go out of view. Depending on what kind of VR games you’re looking to play, this might affect you more or less than others. For PC VR-only simulator enthusiasts, the controller woes may be negligible since you may spend more time with a wheel or HOTAS anyway, which makes the Reverb G2 more than worth it otherwise. For the twitchy-Expert+ Beat Saber VR player, you might be more impacted.
Now, I know what you’re thinking — you’re right, the Quest 2 isn’t technically a PC VR headset. It is Facebook’s standalone headset, a successor to the original Quest from last year. However, it is also can harness the power of Oculus Link to provide an extremely serviceable (if verging on identical) PC VR experience. This does require purchasing a long, reliable USB cable to use with Link, but even so, Quest 2 remains one of the cheapest options for PC VR, with few drawbacks.
If you’re happy with using a Facebook account and are ready to buy a USB cable to set up Oculus Link (or even play PC VR wirelessly using Virtual Desktop) then the Quest 2 is one of the best options. You get a fantastic VR experience, both in and out of PC VR content, for an insanely low price.
VR Cover has been around for a while now, and is known for making accessories designed to improve hygiene and make headsets more comfortable while they sit on your face. It offers a variety of different face covers for most major headsets, which allow you to pick a material that’s more comfortable for you.
Depending on which headset you go with, you may or may not need headphones. For some PC VR headsets, such as the Valve Index and HP Reverb G2, they come built-in with fantastic over ear headphone solutions. Headsets like Quest 2, Oculus Rift S, and other older headsets don’t always have great audio quality built-in.
To remedy this, we recommend a pair of detachable over ear VR headphones, such as the Bionik Mantis. Despite being advertised as specifically for PSVR, we’ve tried them out on PC VR straps and found that they still attach just fine.
Storing headsets can be a bit of a hassle. If you’re looking for a way to store your headset on your desk, then check out a headset stand.
These stands are an elegant way to store your headset when not in use, while also keeping it on display and out of a box. In most cases, the stands also include hooks to hold controllers as well, making them a good all-in-one solution.
We’ve tried the AMVR headset stands and found they work really well and can look quite elegant on display.
One of the downsides of PC VR headsets is the often thick, restrictive wires that go between your PC and your headset. These can make it difficult to move freely and require you to manage the cable as you play, which can get frustrating.
A solution for this problem is to install a ceiling pulley system in your play area, so that the cable loops up from your headset, through the ceiling mount, and then goes back down to your PC. We haven’t used one of these systems personally, but they look like a great way to manage your messy PC VR cables.
Any VR headset’s lenses will get foggy and dirty between uses, so you’ll want some microfiber clothes to quickly clean the lenses between games and sessions.
The major benefit of PC VR is that you’re not limited by console or mobile hardware when it comes to VR content — because your PC is doing the hard work, you can run a lot of higher fidelity games. There are some absolutely stunning games and experiences to be found on the PC VR platform. Some of the most popular and intensive VR titles, such as Boneworks or Half-Life: Alyx, are only available for PC VR headsets.
Can the combined forces of HP, Microsoft and Valve deliver a PC VR headset strong enough to take on Facebook? Find out in our HP Reverb G2 review!
It’s tough to envy HP on the eve of Reverb G2’s shipping. No matter how mighty your spec sheet — and these specs are indeed mighty — there’s a tiny tetherless elephant in the room for any VR headset launching in the near future.
Give the Reverb G2 its fair shake, though. Because, stiff as the competition may be, there are people that want to jump into VR without making a commitment to a Facebook account, and are instead married to the PC VR library they started building up four years ago. For those people, the HP Reverb G2 is a viable upgrade with amazing clarity, but there are still some big issues to consider.
History Lesson
The original Reverb, released in 2019, raised an eyebrow with is 2160 x 2160 per-eye resolution. It offered crystal clear VR yet to be matched by Facebook, Valve or even any of the other headsets in the Microsoft Mixed Reality line of which it was a part. But other aspects of the headset, like the ergonomics and two-camera inside-out tracking, left a little to be desired.
Fast forward roughly 18 months and Reverb G2 remains ahead of the curve with the same display (Quest 2 comes second place with 1,832 × 1,920 per eye) but comes packing another two cameras for better tracking and even improved lenses, audio and comfort thanks to a partnership with Valve. In more ways than one, this is a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster of a headset. On the hardware front, the visor itself appears all HP, but the strap and off ear speakers are extremely similar to Valve Index.
I myself haven’t tried out the original Reverb for comparison but, stacked up to other VR headsets in 2020, Reverb’s display still strikes me as remarkably sharp. If you’re still using 2016 – early 2019-era PC headsets then the difference is night and day; Reverb G2 is like a breath of fresh air… for your eyes. Tiny details that I’ve simply learned not to expect from the visual VR experience, like telling individual blades of grass apart or seeing the whites of a character’s eyes from a distance suddenly become visible, creating more textured, believable virtual worlds as a result. Even if you’ve grown accustomed to either Index (1440 x 1600 per eye) or Quest 2’s resolutions like I have, Reverb G2 boasts a very noticeable upper hand in this department.
Sensory Overload
Of course, one of the great things about trying out any new generation of VR is getting to re-experience some of your favorite games and apps with an instant makeover. So I dug back into some real classics that have been left gathering dust for the past year.
Yet again I felt like I was seeing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR with fresh eyes as I emerged from the keep of Helgen and walked between the ferns and flowers. The tips of my arrows finally appeared lethally sharp and more clearly seeing the pupils of a character’s eyes conjured a stronger sense of connection than before. In Google Earth VR, I revisited last year’s vacation to Japan and marveled at sweeping vistas from Hokkaido mountains mixed with the Sapporo skyline, a maze of lush greenery and alleys of windows that, now more than ever, are caught with striking detail. And, yes, that unforgettable opening shot in the more recent Half-Life: Alyx took my breath away all over again, offering a more granular view of City 17 than I’ve yet seen.
Plus I tried some new stuff, few and far between as it may be on PC these days. Ubisoft lends a welcome crispness to the production of an otherwise bizarre little space adventure, AGOS, that had me hypnotized by far-flung stars piercing the cold abyss, while saving myself for the jaw-dropping visuals and intricate cockpit details of Star Wars: Squadrons paid off in droves. If you want to see VR at its sharpest without compromise the Reverb G2 is the only place to do it right now.
The screen door effect isn’t completely abolished here (in fact there’s plenty more ground to cover before it will be), but Reverb G2 still offers easily the best visual experience in VR today. Bear in mind it’s an LCD display, so you won’t be getting as deep black levels as OLED headsets like the original Quest, but the tradeoff is more than worth it. Godrays, too, haven’t been an issue for me – I’ve only really noticed them on bright white text when games are first loading up.
Reverb G2 is also one of the best headsets from an audio perspective too. Like I mentioned, the off ear speakers that dangle from each strap are the same as those seen in the Index, and they remain a pretty perfect audio solution, delivering powerful sound without plugging up your ears and leaving you connected to the real world at the same time. With most other headsets, a pair of earphones or headphones is practically an essential add-on, but not so with the Reverb G2 (note that the headset doesn’t include a 3.5 mm audio port at all).
Controllers and Tracking
But the best optics and audio in the world aren’t worth much good if you get the fundamentals wrong and, for some, this will be Reverb G2’s downfall. The inside-out tracking on the headset is quite good; many people thought two-camera inside out tracking didn’t make the grade with the original Windows MR headsets and Facebook’s Oculus Insight tracking has, quite frankly, spoiled our expectations a little on this front. But, by adding two more cameras, the Reverb G2 headset itself hasn’t put a foot wrong in all of my testing so far, which has included throwing myself to the floor to start sneaking in Skyrim and leaning in for close inspection of Google Earth’s tiny toy model-like landscapes.
I can’t, however, quite say the same about the controllers.
As I said before, the Reverb G2 is something of a Frankenstein’s Monster and, while the headset is very much ahead of the pack in important ways, there are also a fair number of areas where compromise rears its ugly head. Nowhere is this more true than with the controllers. When these two redesigned devices are in clear view of the camera, they work very well, keeping up with as quickly as I can play Beat Saber (which is averaging a C on Hard difficulty if you must know) when in view, but the vertical field of view of the cameras isn’t great.
When I drop my hands down to my waist, as I often do in VR, the tracking struggles to stay consistent. How do I know if I can’t see for myself? Lots of VR games, like Pixel Reef’s sensational Paper Beast, emit a persistent laser-pointer from the controllers and, when I’m playing games with that feature, the line is regularly off by a fair few degrees. Even in Beat Saber itself I would notice my sabers going off at angles at the bottom of a swing, even if that wasn’t enough to ever mess up a move (though I can’t process Expert+ nearly enough to tell you what the impact is there). The controllers also struggle when up close, causing issues with mechanics like archery and boxing, and occlusion for two-handed weapons can be spotty. It’ll correct itself quickly as soon as I bring them back into view, but it’s common enough to cause frequent, annoying distractions in these types of games.
Now, personally, as someone that values convenience in VR more than they do accuracy at the cost of accessibility, this isn’t a huge deal-breaker. But I know for a lot of people, particularly the type of enthusiast that might be looking to upgrade to the Reverb G2 after getting a headset as recent as the Index for high-end gaming, that’s going to be a massive issue. If you value faultless VR tracking above all else, Reverb G2 is not for you.
Put that aside for a moment though and the controllers, well, they still continue to disappoint. The original Windows MR controllers were never popular and this new design is better, but it’s still fairly barebones and oddly proportioned. The enormous tracking rings on both give off a slightly awkward top-heavy feel and the handle quickly curves off at the bottom, making it feel quite stubby for bigger hands. The back trigger, meanwhile, doesn’t sink in very far, stopping just a little short of making me feel like I’ve pulled a gun trigger. It’s a shame, too, not to have any sort of touch sensors for your fingers to keep up with Touch and Index, and the haptic vibration is pretty weak and noisy. The controller does have all the expected buttons and I haven’t yet found any SteamVR apps with compatibility issues that can’t be fixed with a visit to the bindings menu, but overall these aren’t the big step forward for Windows MR controllers I was hoping for. At least they got rid of the ghastly touchpad/joystick hybrid.
Comfort And Storage
And it’s a shame that the controllers aren’t all that comfortable to use because, honestly, the headset itself might be the most comfortable on the market today. There’s no back dial like those on the Index or Quest’s Elite Strap, which makes it slightly more of a hassle to get sitting right every time you put it on. But, once you find that sweet spot, the headset almost disappears from thought. The soft cushioning around all areas of contact keeps fatigue to an absolute minimum over multi-hour play sessions and weight feels almost perfectly distributed from front to back. A brilliant front-flip feature quickly provides access to the real world and has the headset resting comfortably on your forehead at a moment’s notice, with enough space to take a drink from a pint glass (please note I’m reviewing this headset in UK lockdown).
Meanwhile an IPD slider allows you to quickly adjust to the right distance between your eyes, which is a better, faster and wider-ranging option than Quest 2’s three pre-sets.
Oddly enough the headset with the wire removed weighs more than the Quest 2 (610g vs 503g) but that’s being spread more evenly across the device with no bulky compute to store in the front. And yes, you read that right, you can remove the wire directly from the Reverb G2 itself. The face lining is held magnetically making it incredibly easy to quickly take off and then remove or insert the wire into the top of the headset. It’s the first PC VR device I’ve started to unplug from the headset at the end of the play session rather than the PC itself and then neatly store away without the wires, and it feels like a real game-changer for home maintenance, even if I am then just leaving the masses of cords under my desk and unsuccessfully trying to pretend they don’t exist.
Reverb’s knot of wires includes DisplayPort and USB C connections to your PC (mini DisplayPort and USB A adaptors are included in the box) and requires a mains connection with not one but two power bricks tangled up in there somewhere. That’s three individual wires to handle as opposed to, say, the one USB/DisplayPort splitter at the end of the Rift S or just that one USB cable you’ll need for Oculus Link. Even by modern PC VR standards, this setup feels a little dated. At least inside-out tracking means you won’t need any external sensors dotted around the room.
The cable length is around six meters so the vast majority of us won’t have to worry about it not having enough length for our play space, although the tug of the wire was ever-present as I played. It’s a real shame there’s not a native wireless streaming option for Reverb G2 at launch, because doing away with the wires and delivering a Virtual Desktop on Quest-type experience for those that could sustain the connection — which admittedly isn’t many — would make the Reverb G2 significantly more attractive.
HP Reverb G2 Review: Who Is This Headset For?
Somewhat unfortunately for HP, the Reverb G2 enters the fray during a transformative moment for the VR industry. The Oculus Quest 2 does away with the need for a PC while also connecting to them, has its own great display (though not as clear as G2’s) and starts at $299. Comparatively, G2’s high $599 asking price and dependency on PC make it seem stuck in 2016, at least at first. That’s especially true when you consider Quest 2 can play almost all the same apps Reverb G2 can with a PC and USB-C cable.
The fact of the matter is Reverb G2 can’t contend with the Quest 2 in terms of mass-market appeal, but does it need to? The future of PC VR might not seem as bright as Quest’s but developers like Stress Level Zero do see big success on the platform and there’s a clear hunger for hardware that pushes the boundaries of VR, especially without signing up to Facebook.
Even with those considerations in-hand, though, Reverb G2 still has a lot stacked against it. You could argue that the kit is perfect for enthusiast VR users, but I doubt the type of gamer with dedicated space to spend hours in VR will be willing to overlook the tracking troubles. If you play a lot of cockpit games like Project Cars 2 and Microsoft Flight Simulator then some of that concern goes away, but that’s a fine niche within an already limited audience. Weighing up the importance of visual clarity over tracking quality is ultimately for you to decide, but I suspect many won’t compromise the latter to improve the former.
Platform And Performance
Microsoft may have gifted HP with a reference design to take on the VR titans but as a result the Reverb G2 is tied to the rather neglected Windows Mixed Reality platform – the distant third of the three main PC VR ecosystems available today (not counting Viveport considering it still needs SteamVR).
Windows MR is easy to set up and its home environment is functionally pretty similar to Oculus and SteamVR’s offerings, but there’s precious little to do that’s native (or exclusive) to the platform. It’s pretty jarring to enter the hub world and still find everything pretty much right where Microsoft left it when it launched in 2017. That includes podiums for Superhot, Altspace VR and that really rather awful Halo VR game (which, trust me, hasn’t gotten any better) that I’m surprised haven’t grown cobwebs even in VR.
It’s frustrating, too, to have to switch between operating the desktop by pressing the Windows and Y keys, even if you’re using a virtual window inside the home environment, requiring you to stumble over to your keyboard. I’ve also had strange issues like the audio channels randomly switching out which, again, is difficult to know what to attribute to but not a problem I’ve had on any Oculus or Steam-native headset.
This ecosystem went the way of the dodo faster than you can say ‘Windows Phone’ and it’s not clear what, if anything, Reverb G2 can do to breathe new life into it. Don’t buy this headset assuming Microsoft will have a spring clean and improve the experience, but there’s enough goodness in the G2 that it’d be a shame for this to be a swan song for Windows Mixed Reality rather than a new beginning for the company’s next steps in VR. For now, there’s timed exclusivity for the VR support for Microsoft Flight Simulator on the way but, that aside, this is little more than a hurdle between you G2’s main source of VR content – SteamVR.
My testing on Steam has been pretty positive overall, though you’ll want to make sure your PC is up to spec. HP suggests a bare minimum of a GTX 1080 graphics cards but using that spec on my PC with Star Wars: Squadrons brought the game to a grinding halt. I had much better results testing on a 2060 Super. Granted it’s always tough to tell specifically why different builds are causing different issues, but if you want to be extra safe an upgrade to an even newer graphics card may be in order.
HP Reverb G2 Review Final Impressions
The HP Reverb G2 is caught between a rock and a hard place. The incredible display, razor-sharp audio and cozy design capably outweigh a lot of its shortcomings, like lackluster controller ergonomics and an association with the all-but-dead Windows MR platform. When it comes to sheer sensory experience, the kit stands a cut above the competition, offering crystal clear VR that will lets you see PC apps in a whole new light.
Fairly consistent controller tracking issues prove to be a thorn in the Reverb G2’s side, however, especially for a device geared towards enthusiasts. We could see updates that improve this side of things, but as it stands, I suspect constant hiccups with field of view and occlusion will be enough to warn off many of the hardcore VR devotees that had hoped to replace their Rifts, Vives or Indexes with this release.
Even if you’re willing to overlook these blips so you can avoid setting up SteamVR base stations, Reverb G2 faces some very stiff competition. Starting at half the price of the G2, the Oculus Quest 2 has better tracking, access to all the same games alongside its own standalone and exclusive ecosystem with a simpler wire setup for PC VR. G2 is still the better device in terms of clarity and audio, but Quest 2 isn’t that far off of it and Facebook is already tackling the image compression issue on Oculus Link. That really only leaves the G2 as a viable option if you’re desperate to avoid Facebook’s account requirement but either still want to get into VR with as little friction as possible or can handle tracking quirks in the name of superior visuals.
Competing with Facebook on this level is a reality HP and the wider VR market will have to reckon with going forward but, taken on its own merits, the Reverb G2 represents the best way to see VR, if not interact with it. Based on where your priorities lie, that might be enough, but the HP Reverb G2 falls short of becoming the new definitive high-end VR experience.
The HP Reverb G2 will be shipping out to the first people that pre-ordered the device this month. This Steam page will direct you to the correct place to order a unit from. Like our HP Reverb G2 review? Let us know in the comments below!
Microsoft detailed a new software update available for some Windows MR headsets, including the Reverb G2, that will increase the visual fidelity by improving corrections made for artifacts such as chromatic aberration and light leakage.
The blog post was written by Alex Vlachos, a former member of Valve’s VR team who joined Microsoft as a ‘Partner Architect in Mixed Reality’ earlier this year. Vlachos says that many of these new corrections and improvements came about during the development of the HP Reverb G2.
The team “spent considerable time improving our approach to reducing chromatic aberration”, resulting in a new algorithm that makes better corrections to the image, and results in a cleaner view when viewed through headset lenses.
“A white pixel on the panels will refract through the lenses and separate into red, green, and blue pixels visible to the viewer. Chromatic aberration correction aims to adjust for this by pre-distorting the rendered image so that the image viewed by the user after lens refraction appears as a single white pixel as intended,” the blog post explains.
Vlachos says this helps eliminate a lot of chromatic aberration, as per the image below.
Left: an example of chromatic aberration. Right: Corrected chromatic aberration on Reverb G2.
Microsoft also made improvements to correct for light leakage. The new corrections implemented will reduce color fringing and color tinting that comes from light leakage, as pictured below.
Left: No light leakage correction (simulated). Right: Light leakage correction.
While these improvements came about during development for the Reverb G2, they will also be applied to the Samsung Odyssey+ and the original HP Reverb. For the former, Microsoft has improved chromatic aberration at the periphery of the lenses. For the latter, the team was able to “improve chromatic aberration artifacts, reduce radial distortion, apply light leak correction, and improve rendering performance by about 8% in most applications.” All of these improvements will also be applied to the Reverb G2.
The update is available now in the latest Windows Mixed Reality VR runtime, which can be downloaded using Windows Update.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our Reverb G2 unboxing video and keep an eye out for our full review of the headset coming later this week.
It’s here! The latest contender for the PC VR throne has made its way to us and we can finally bring you our HP Reverb G2 unboxing.
VR enthusiasts have been looking forward to HP’s latest stab at the VR headset since its announcement earlier in the year. Like the original Reverb, it offers incredibly high-resolution VR at 2160×2160 per eye with LCD displays. But Reverb G2 also adds two more tracking cameras, bringing the total to four for (hopefully) more stable VR. It also introduces redesigned controllers and features input from Valve, utilizing the same audio and comfort design as seen on the Index. Finally, it runs off of the same Microsoft Mixed Reality platform as its predecessor.
HP Reverb G2 Unboxing
We unpack the kit in the video above. Reverb G2 should be arriving to first pre-order customers in mid-November, so it won’t be too much longer until others get their hands on it. If you were to order one today, though, you’d likely be waiting until December at the earliest.
Unboxing Reverb G2 is one thing, but how does the kit actually stack up? We can’t answer that just yet, but rest assured we’ll be diving into the device extensively in the coming days to bring you a full review. Look for our impressions sometime in the next week, and we’ll also be comparing the kit next to its new rival, the Oculus Quest 2.
What do you make of our HP Reverb G2 unboxing? Let us know in the comments below and make sure to follow us on YouTube for plenty more VR coverage.
Don’t expect any last-minute delays for the highly anticipated HP Reverb G2; the headset is now shipping out to retailers.
HP’s Joanna Popper announced the news on Reddit this week. We already knew the PC VR headset would start shipping out pre-orders in November, but Popper confirmed the device was now being sent out to ‘channel partners’. That’s basically a term for retailers HP itself has partnered with to sell the headset; the company is using different retailers depending on the region you’re in.
Elsewhere, Popper reaffirmed that the first pre-order units should arrive early on in the month, but will carry on being delivered through to December. If you order a unit now, you shouldn’t expect to get one next month, in other words.
Reverb G2 promises a resolution of 2160×2160 per eye, which surpasses pretty much every other VR headset on the market right now including the recently-released Oculus Quest 2. It also boasts the same off-ear audio solution seen in 2019’s Index headset thanks to a partnership with Valve, and runs on Microsoft’s Mixed Reality platform. The headset will run content on SteamVR but will also be launching with timed-exclusive access to VR support on Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Following on from Reverb G2’s launch, HP will launch an Omnicept Edition next year geared more towards enterprise use.
HP is supplying a review unit of the G2 to test, so we’ll be looking to bring you full impressions in the very near future. Are you hoping to get a Reverb G2 next month? Let us know in the comments below!
HP stated that its upcoming Reverb G2 headset currently doesn’t support Xbox One consoles after a Microsoft Store listing suggested otherwise.
The listing is a free app that appears to be a utility for performing a first-time setup of the headset. Under both the minimum and recommended specifications, the OS category reads “Windows 10 version 15063.0 or higher, Xbox One,” as pictured below.
Reaching out to HP, the company told us that there is “no current support” for Xbox One with the Reverb G2. The listing is likely an error, though it’s still up and visible as of the time of this writing.
Xbox VR support has been rumored for a long time in one form or another. The Reverb G2 is made in partnership with Microsoft (along with Valve), so a partnership to bring the kit to console would make sense. Another reason the listing is likely a mistake is that only the Xbox One is mentioned in the app listing, and not the newer Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S or Series X consoles. However, if the original Xbox One model can support VR content, then the newer One models and the next generation Series models should hypothetically be able to as well.
While the application listing is specifically for the Reverb G2, that doesn’t rule out the possibility of connecting other VR headsets to Xbox consoles either. That being said, Flight Simulator will launch VR support exclusively for Windows MR headsets this Fall, and the Xbox release of the title is still forthcoming. Xbox VR could take a similar path, with exclusive support for Windows MR hardware to tie in with the launch Xbox of Flight Simulator around the same time.
HP is planning an Omnicept Edition of its Reverb G2 VR headset for early 2021 with additional face-tracking sensors and the ability to measure “cognitive load”.
The upcoming PC VR headset can sense expressions, eye movements and heart rate, with the promise of “foveated rendering, this HMD delivers lifelike VR like never before,” a HP document pitches.
“By capturing user responses in real time, you can generate insights and adapt each user’s experience,” the document suggests. HP promises software development tools informed by the “cognitive load” of the headset wearer. Taken all together, you could have agents in a virtual world who know whether you are tense, what you are looking at, what you are interested in, and potentially much more.
HP Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition Revealed
“HMD firmware safeguards sensor data at every moment of capture and no data is stored on the headset. HP Omnicept powered applications help ensure the capture and transfer of data comply with GDPR and keep user data confidential,” HP suggests.
HP is selling the base Reverb G2 PC-powered headset without the “Omnicept” sensing capabilities for around $600. Made in partnership with Valve and Microsoft and boasting a 2160 x 2160 resolution per eye, the device is hugely anticipated by the PC VR community. New orders for the headset featuring Valve audio and lens technology are expected to ship in December.
When it comes to the Omnicept Edition of G2 in 2021, HP is pitching the product to developers and researchers seeking a “2% revenue share for profit” on applications built for the sensor-laden headset.
Here’s a look at the included APIs and terms that HP is pitching for Omnicept:
There’s obviously a lot of unanswered questions at this point regarding the Omnicept Edition of the Reverb G2 and the applications developers are likely to make for the system.
We’ll bring you updates as soon as we have them. For more updates on the HP Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition, stay tuned to Upload and our Youtube channel.
The upcoming HP Reverb G2 PC-powered headset should start arriving to buyers in early November, according to HP.
New orders placed September 24 or afterward should start arriving to customers in early December.
“Customers who has already pre-ordered the HP Reverb can expect to receive their shipments this fall, starting in early November 2020. Pre-orders are expected to be prioritized for the time/date the order was made to our channel partners,” a blog post from HP explains. “Demand has been high so all pre-orders made starting today, September 24 will start arriving to customers from channel partners in early December.”
The $599Reverb G2 headset features four cameras and the same audio system as the high-end Valve Index, alongside IPD fitting adjustment and extremely high resolution with Valve optics. We’ve been looking forward to getting our hands on the finished HP product to see how it compares to Index, Oculus Quest 2, and others.
Oculus Quest 2 from Facebook is expected to start arriving in early October with orders already backordered to November in some countries from some retailers. It is still early in the shopping season for the holidays but it is already starting to look like demand for VR in 2020 could outstrip supply, at least for some VR systems. Facebook is also planning a 90 Hz mode for Oculus Quest 2 that we’re curious to see in comparison to Reverb G2.
Did you order a Reverb G2 when pre-orders popped up earlier this year? Are you planning to order one soon? Let us know in the comments below.
A recent potential leak suggests that HP Reverb G2 eye-tracking – and even facing tracking – may arrive in the form of a new model.
Aggiornamenti Lumia is the source behind the supposed leak for what it calls the HP Reverb Omnicept Edition. The image we use below comes from that report. At first glance, it may look like the usual HP Reverb G2, but you can spot one major difference from the off.
On the bottom of the device, between the two front-facing cameras, is what looks like a small tab. The original report notes that this tab includes a face camera, which could well track the movements of the lower half of your head. Feasibly, it could then take that data and relay it onto, say, a virtual avatar of yourself. Aggiornamenti Lumia also reports the headset has eye-tracking, though it’s hard to verify this in the images without having a look inside the headset.
The report also spots a difference in the type of strap on the side of the device and Road to VR also spotted what could be an electrode embedded in the face lining. Companies like Emteq use similar tech to scan muscle impulses as a means of facial replication in VR, accessing a deeper range of realistic emotions than what’s currently possible. Recently, Facebook Reality Labs shared new research for its own photorealistic face tracking that no longer requires a camera, but it’s still very far off.
If this is all true, it’s possible that the Omnicept Edition will be a more expensive version of the Reverb G2 aimed more towards enterprise customers. The original device, set to ship this fall, offers 4K VR and improved design and audio for $599. HP did recently tease it would have more exciting announcements on the VR end, and this could well have been one.
Would you be interested in an HP Reverb G2 eye-tracking headset with a face camera? Let us know in the comments below!
A VR development studio created a tool to measure the field of view of PC-capable VR headsets and a database to show the results.
The tool, made with Unreal Engine, supports SteamVR and Oculus Rift on Windows. It was created by iNFINITE Production, based in Prague. Its past VR projects include Experience: Colorblindness, which simulates what it’s like to live with poor color vision.
“Field of View” refers to how much of your vision a VR headset’s display system covers. A wide field of view immerses you in a virtual environment, whereas narrow field of view can feel more like using binoculars.
Human field of view is somewhere around 210°×150°.
The field of view of a given headset is notoriously difficult to consistently measure, because it actually changes depending on the distance between your eye and the lens. That distance is determined by the shape of your face and the fit of the headset.
Some headsets like Valve’s Index allow the lenses to be moved closer independently of the rest of the hardware.
iNFINITE’s webpage lists the average of the uploaded values for each headset, revealing what could be the most complete field of view measurements yet:
Pimax Vision 8K X
156°×104°
Pimax 5K+
140°×101°
Valve Index
108°×105°
Samsung Oddysey+
103°×107°
HP Reverb (G1)
98°×92°
Oculus Quest
96°×94°
HTC Vive Cosmos
95°×86°
HTC Vive (2016)
86°×86°
Oculus Rift (2016)
86°×86°
Oculus Rift S
86°×85°
iNFINITE claims the database now has 70 samples. Over time as this sample size increases, we should get a clearer picture of the typical field of view these headsets offer in real use.
We’ll also be curious to see how Oculus Quest 2 and HP Reverb G2 rank in this dataset. Will Facebook & HP deliver more immersion? We’ll let you know when we find out.
