Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation
What Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality developers are talking about
HTC announced a partnership with TPCast to create a wireless adapter that lets users move around without tripping over wires. Now, it appears that TPCast is set to release its solution by the end of April after a bit of a delay.
The post TPCast wireless adapter for HTC Vive scheduled to ship by end of April appeared first on Digital Trends.
Auch wenn es mittlerweile diverse Unternehmen gibt, die die Virtual Reality Brillen von den Kabeln befreien wollen, so war TPCAST eines der ersten Unternehmen, welches gezeigt hatte, dass eine solche Technologie bereits heute hervorragend funktionieren kann. Während wir in Europa noch auf eine Möglichkeit zum Vorbestellen warten, werden in China demnächst die ersten Vorbesteller bedient.
Eigentlich sollte der TPCAST in China bereits im ersten Quartal 2017 ausgeliefert werden, aber dieses Versprechen konnten die Entwickler leider nicht einhalten. Im April sollen die Auslieferungen aber starten und das Unternehmen legt kostenlos einen TransQ bei, der das Bild von einem Smartphone auf einen HD TV spiegeln kann, um sich bei den Kunden zu entschuldigen. Zudem sollen alle ersten Auslieferungen mit dem größeren Akku ausgestattet werden, welcher euch 5 Stunden am Stück spielen lässt.
Der Release in anderen Teilen der Welt ist weiterhin für dieses Quartal geplant und wir sind gespannt, ob TPCAST diesen Zeitraum einhalten kann. Die Entwickler hinter TPCAST werden offiziell von HTC gefördert und deshalb ist der TPCAST auch vorrangig für die HTC Vive gedacht. Ein Support für andere VR Brillen ist aber nicht ausgeschlossen und sollte technisch einfach umsetzbar sein.
Wenn ihr auf das Kabel der Vive verzichten wollt, dann müsst ihr aber auch tief in die Tasche greifen. Das Zubehörteil wird wohl 249 Euro kosten und ist somit fast so teuer wie eine aktuelle Konsole. Dennoch sollte man die gesteigerte Immersion nicht unterschätzen, denn das Ziehen des Kabels erinnert uns in VR ständig daran, dass die gezeigte Realität nicht echt ist. Auf der anderen Seite wird die Vive mit dem TPCAST nur von den Kabeln befreit. Der Spielbereich selbst kann durch die kabellose Lösung nicht vergrößert werden. In Verbindung mit dem Deluxe Audio Strap von HTC, kann eine Vive mit Audio Strap und TPCAST aber durchaus als Vive 1.5 bezeichnet werden.
Der Beitrag TPCAST: Adapter für kabelloses VR wird in diesem Monat in China ausgeliefert zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!
When it was revealed late last year, HTC said that TPCast’s wireless adapter for the Vive VR headset would be arriving in Q1 2017 in China. The device hasn’t quite made that window, but it isn’t far off.
TPCast issued an update to those that pre-ordered the kit this week, informing them that their units were now expected to start shipping in batches around the end of April. As a thank you for customer’s patience, the company is giving away its TransQ device, which mirrors smartphone content onto a HD TV, with every Early Edition product.
TPCast also clarified that these first units will feature the larger battery offering over five hours of power before running flat.
A global release for TPCast’s kit is still planned for this quarter. The device connects directly to your Vive with an adapter that sits on the top head strap, communicating with your PC to stream images into the headset. We’ve had extensive hands-on with the device and we were impressed; we noticed minimal latency and image compression, and the freedom to move around without a wire pulling at the back of our heads was incredibly liberating.
The device costs $249 in the west.
TPCast isn’t without its competitors, though. A few weeks back QuarkVR revealed its own take on wireless VR, and we’ve gone hands-on with other solutions, though they didn’t appear to perform quite as well. While we wait for VR headsets to finally go truly standalone, it looks like these devices will be a good workaround for VR enthusiasts to take advantage of.
Speaking at GDC 2017, Jason Rubin described VR wireless technology as “compressed, not perfect, and expensive” and “the wrong direction for right now”. Rubin’s task at Oculus is to deliver compelling VR content, and believes that hardware features such as wireless, while desirable, simply add to the cost of a product that is already considered too expensive.
As Oculus’ VP of Content, Jason Rubin’s priorities are steered towards delivering a strong software lineup, but he offered some thoughts about emerging VR hardware technologies when speaking to PCGamesN at GDC 2017. Following the positive reaction to low-latency wireless accessories like KwikVR and TPCAST, and influential figures like Gabe Newell suggesting that PC VR headsets will have integrated solutions in 2018, the expectation for wireless high-end VR is rising.
However, it adds a significant cost to products that are already considered very expensive for mainstream adoption, and Rubin believes it is currently the wrong move. “If we add wireless, but it adds $200 to the price of the headset, I think we’re moving in the wrong direction for right now. Some may want it, so as a peripheral it’s interesting, but I don’t think it should be our focus right now, I think our focus should be on bringing the core experience we have down in cost before we add features.”
Rubin is being realistic. The hardware needs to improve, but it has to become more affordable as well, and ultimately appeal equally to the mainstream consumer and the enthusiast. In any case, it will remain a matter of tradeoffs. The existing wireless solutions are close to the limit of bandwidth to stream current resolutions at 90Hz, and increasing resolution and FOV is the main expectation for the next generation of VR HMDs. “They’re getting it, not to say it doesn’t work, but it’s compressed, it’s not perfect and it’s expensive”, he says. “If we go wireless and then we decide we’re going to increase the resolution of the screens, now all of a sudden we may have to go back to a wire.”
It’s clear that Rubin is discussing the short term here. Wireless is the future, and Oculus’ own Chief Scientist Michael Abrash laid down some impressive predictions of where the hardware could be in five years, which include a wireless solution supporting 4Kx4K displays per eye. Valve are certainly not afraid of pushing the hardware at a high price. Speaking at a recent press event, Gabe Newell described the Vive, which is the most expensive VR device on the market, as “barely capable of doing a marginally adequate job of delivering a VR experience”, and believes major hardware improvements are required to make VR compelling enough for the mainstream, warning that high-end systems will remain very expensive.
While it may appear that Valve and Oculus have different priorities here, it’s all a matter of interpretation. Both companies are heavily invested in delivering content and developing future VR hardware solutions – it just depends on who you talk to, and what timescale they’re prepared to talk about. Right now, Rubin’s message is clear. “The two things we think are most important in pushing PC VR forward right now are better and better content and better and better price”.
The post Oculus’ Jason Rubin on Wireless VR “the Wrong Direction for Right Now” appeared first on Road to VR.
HTC Vive are, as expected, attending the 2017 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona and with a fully-stocked booth. Their line-up is as follows: Mindshow, MakeVR, You VR, Island 359, Vive EU, Cover Me!!, Richie’s Plank Experience and the TP Cast.
Mindshow is a videogame and also a tool for creating movies, allowing players to record the 3D environment similar to a real film set in a way comparable to how Machinima work.
MakeVR is essentially a 3D modelling applications implemented into virtual reality (VR). It allows the creation and manipulations of objects you create in the virtual space in a way similar to a Computer Aided Design (CAD) programme.
YouVR allows a player to experience the full ins and outs of the structure and function of a human body, such as stepping right inside a virtual heart to watch it beating.
Island 359 is a demo that allows for full-body tracking through the use of additional sensors and controllers to allow the movement of the rest of the players body instead of just their hands.
Cover Me!! Is also present in the booth, a multiplayer VR experience that links the Vive head mounted display (HMD) with a smartphone attached to a plastic gun peripheral and use the screen to aim.
Richie’s Plank Experience allows players to simulate the experience of walking out onto a plank suspended 180m in the air.
There are also demonstrations of wireless headset solution TPCast being displayed at the Vive Booth.
VRFocus will keep you updated with further information on HTC Vive and MWC.
TPCAST, the wireless solution for HTC Vive that was revealed at the end of 2016 is closing in on release after it was confirmed to VRFocus by HTC at the 2017 Mobile World Congress (MWC) event in Barcelona that it will be available to order in Europe during Q2 of 2017, collaborating earlier reports of a worldwide Q2 release. Roll out of the kits will commence in China, before continuing across other regions worldwide.
The date was confirmed to VRFocus by the Vice President HTC Vive, Europe Peter Frølund.
TPCAST, a company invested in through the Vive X global virtual reality (VR) accelerator program, which offers access to experienced VR developers and VCs looking to invest in startup firms, was first revealed back in November 2016 as part of an event by HTC and Alibaba.
“We are also very proud that a Vive X team, TPCAST, has developed such an impactful product in such a short time.” Commented Alvin W. Graylin, China Regional President of Vive, HTC at the time. “It will allow Vive customers worldwide to gain untethered mobility in VR from their existing devices, while satisfying the biggest feature request of potential PC VR customers.”
And last month the company revealed a partnership with Lattice Semiconductors to bring the product up to near-zero latency with non-line of sight (NLOS) performance best suited ideal for dealing with VR applications.
“When seeking a partner to collaborate on our wireless VR protocol TPCAST 2.0, Lattice’s proven WirelessHD technology, coupled with Lattice’s FPGA and ASSP products, was a natural fit,” said Andrea Liu, marketing director at TPCAST. “Working with Lattice, we’re able to deliver a truly unmatched VR experience with low latency, high robustness and high bandwidth video transmission. We look forward to continuing our work with Lattice to develop future wireless VR solutions.”
VRFocus will be bringing you more news, hands-on reviews and information throughout the week from both MWC and GDC.
Valve chief Gabe Newell is optimistic about the future of VR, considering the studio is in development of three VR titles—not mini-games or experiences, but “full” VR games—but what about the future of VR hardware?
During a recent press briefing reported by Gamasutra, Newell maintains he’s confident that PC-powered room-scale VR will no longer be defined by a single ‘VR capable’ room but rather progress to “house-scale” VR in the near future.
Valve’s laser-based Lighthouse tracking system is by design a scalable solution, with Valve hardware designer Alan Yates stating “you can in principle concatenate tracking volumes without limit like cell towers.” But for that to work, you’d need a wireless VR system to take advantage of the multi-room-scale space, a hardware issue Newell says is actually already a “solved problem.”
“My expectation is that [wireless] will be an add-on in 2017, and then it will be an integrated feature in 2018,” said Newell, as reported by Gamasutra.
Newell’s “solved problem” might be in reference to KwikVR or TPCAST, two light-weight aftermarket devices that both use a wireless compression and transmission system that effectively let you cut the cord while in VR.
Saying PC VR headsets could come stock with wireless transmitters in 2018 may initially seem trivial coming from any old software company, but Valve has been intimately involved in researching VR hardware and prototyping room-scale headsets since at least 2012 with its QR code-laden VR room. Valve later revealed in 2014 they were collaborating with Oculus “to drive PC VR forward,” consequently the same year that Oculus was acquired by Facebook for $2 billion and attracted key Valve talent such as Michael Abrash and Atman Binstock, both of whom were already working on Valve’s nascent VR hardware. The subsequent falling out would set the stage for Valve’s first SteamVR-capable headset, the HTC Vive.
Valve’s ongoing hardware projects, made public at last year’s Steam Dev Days, delve deeper into controllers, with their ‘hand presence’-inducing grip prototype, and a new single-rotor Lighthouse basestation coming later this year. Just what wireless PC VR tech they have up their sleeves, (or what sort of “house-scale” VR games you could play), we just can’t say, but we’d love to crack a drawer or two at their Bellevue, WA headquarters to find out.
The post Valve’s Gabe Newell Expects PC VR Headsets in 2018 to Be Wireless appeared first on Road to VR.
We’ve been hands-on with a lot of wireless upgrade kits for VR headsets now, but Vive X company TPCAST’s solution for the HTC Vive remains the most promising.
If you read our impressions of the kit from last year, you might remember a mention of what the group called ‘Wireless HD’ transmissions, which use a 60 ghz wifi band to send 2160 x 1200 video data from a PC to your headset without the need for a wire connecting the two. This week, we’ve learned which company is helping power those transmissions.
Portland-based Lattice Semiconductor announced that it made an exclusive partnership with TPCAST to provide its WirelessHD solution to the company’s wireless products, starting with the Vive upgrade kit. The device, due for global rollout later this year, also utilizes the Lattice’s SiI9396 600 MHz HDMI bridge IC which, according to the company, “enables ultra high definition video transmission” and the ECP3 SERDES-based FPGA, which are “low power, small form factor programmable devices to meet system connectivity requirements.” Lattice’s tech is also used inside the Vive itself.
Lattice’s tech lays important foundations for the TPCAST kit, then, but how does WirelessHD actually work? We reached out to the company to ask.
According to a company representative, WirelessHD using the 60 GHz band “delivers visually lossless, low-latency wireless video transmission” by using a “proprietary beam forming technology” developed by the company’s SiBEAM Technology Group. Lattice says its solution is not “dependent on line of sight and we can maintain superior video transmission in challenging high-motion conditions.”
The company continued that “the transmitter module provides a digital audio/video sink compatible with HDMI, for the wireless transmission of UHD video to any WirelessHD-compliant receiver. The receiver module provides a digital audio/video source compatible with HDMI, for the wireless reception of UHD video from any WirelessHD-compliant transmitter.”
According to the company Lattice’s products are “proven in numerous applications spanning consumer, industrial, and automotive applications,” meaning they were easy to adapt into the VR kit.
TPCAST will be bringing its wireless upgrade kit to the Vive later this year. Will you be cutting the chord on your headset? Let us know in the comments below!
Tagged with: Lattice Semiconductor, TPCAST, wireless vr
Keine Kabel – keine Grenzen. Seit der Ankündigung der TPCAST für die HTC Vive in den letzten Zügen des vergangenen Jahres sorgt das unscheinbare Gerät für Aufsehen. Mit dem Receiver habt ihr bald die Möglichkeit, euch von den Ketten der Kabel zu befreien und die VR-Erfahrung ohne nerviges Anhängsel an der Brille zu genießen. HTC hat zu diesem Zwecke die offizielle Zusammenarbeit mit Lattice Semiconductor, verantwortlich für elektronische Bauelemente, enthüllt.
Unter diesem Motto stellt der amerikanische Hersteller von Halbleiter-Komponenten bereits seit Jahren hochwertige FPGA- und ASSP-Produkte her, die auch in der neuen TPCAST Anwendung finden werden. Dazu kommt die hauseigene SiBeam Wireless HD Technologie, die komplett auf das Ziel der Kooperation hinarbeiten soll: Die Vive zum Marktführer in Sachen kabelloses Virtual Reality Vergnügen zu machen.
Dabei steht im Vordergrund, dass Wireless VR keinen Einfluss auf die Qualität der Spielerfahrung nehmen dürfe. Mithilfe der MOD6320-T/MOD631-R WirelessHD Module von Lattice sollen Probleme bei der Übertragung zwischen Receiver und Brille wie Latenzschwankungen oder Schwierigkeiten bei der Erfassung des Sichtfeldes der Vergangenheit angehören. Was dabei herauskommen soll ist es eine Auflösung von 2160 x 1200 bei erstaunlichen 90Hz – für eine kabellose Variante beeindruckend.
Cheng Hwee Chee, Marketing-Director bei Lattice Semiconductor begrüßt die Zusammenarbeit mit Vives TPCAST und resümiert die langfristigen Ziele der Zusammenarbeit folgendermaßen:
“Our partnership with TPCAST delivers optimized wireless video solutions, further validating our commitment to improving the virtual reality experience. Our WirelessHD technology allows VR enthusiasts to eliminate cables while maintaining high-quality and robust video connectivity, without sacrificing performance.”
Der Release der TPCAST für die HTC Vive ist für das zweite Quartal 2017 angesetzt und verspricht so einiges an Freiheit für die Nutzer. Preislich wird das Gerät wohl so um die 250€ liegen. Wer mit dem Gedanken spielt, sich von den Kabeln zu befreien und die Vive ohne Grenzen zu genießen, kann sich in unserem ersten Test zur TPCAST einen Eindruck verschaffen.
(Quelle: VR Focus)
Der Beitrag TPCAST: Partnerschaft mit Lattice Semiconductor für Wireless VR eingeläutet zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!
Ever since its unveiling towards the end of last year TPCAST has been making headlines as the first possible wireless solution for HTC Vive. Now the company has announced a partnership with Lattice Semiconductors to supply a number of the devices internal components, using Lattice’s SiBEAM WirelessHD technology and its suite of FPGA and ASSP products.
High-end wireless virtual reality (VR) has become one of the industry’s biggest hurdles, looking to provide the same immersive experience whilst completely untethered from a computer. TPCAST is a Vive X Accelerator invested company and to achieve the results needed the wireless upgrade kit includes Lattice’s MOD6320-T/MOD6321-R WirelessHD modules offering near-zero latency and non-line of sight (NLOS) performance ideal for VR applications. The device’s solution also features Lattice’s SiI9396 600 MHz HDMI® bridge IC, LatticeECP3 SERDES-based FPGA, and TPCAST 2.0 protocol and algorithm. Together, the solution supports wireless transmission of VR display resolution at 2160 x 1200 at 90Hz.
“Our partnership with TPCAST delivers optimized wireless video solutions, further validating our commitment to improving the virtual reality experience,” said Cheng Hwee Chee, senior director of marketing, mobile and consumer division at Lattice Semiconductor. “Our WirelessHD technology allows VR enthusiasts to eliminate cables while maintaining high-quality and robust video connectivity, without sacrificing performance.”
“When seeking a partner to collaborate on our wireless VR protocol TPCAST 2.0, Lattice’s proven WirelessHD technology, coupled with Lattice’s FPGA and ASSP products, was a natural fit,” said Andrea Liu, marketing director at TPCAST. “Working with Lattice, we’re able to deliver a truly unmatched VR experience with low latency, high robustness and high bandwidth video transmission. We look forward to continuing our work with Lattice to develop future wireless VR solutions.”
The TPCAST wireless solution is scheduled for worldwide release during Q2 for $249 USD. As further details are released VRFocus will keep you updated.
