HTC will 2021 VR auf ein neues Level bringen

Im kommenden Jahr dürfen wir uns scheinbar auf eine neue VR-Brille von HTC freuen. Das Unternehmen will mit dieser Brille 2021 Virtual Reality auf ein neues Level heben.

HTC will 2021 VR auf ein neues Level bringen

Alvin Graylin, Präsident von HTC China, setzte sich kürzlich für ein ausführliches Interview mit Daniel Colaianni und Nick Rosa bei der Academy of International Extended Reality (AIXR) zusammen. In diesem Interview.

“Leider ist es mir nicht erlaubt, über zukünftige Geräte zu sprechen, aber ich werde sagen, dass wir Geräte haben, die im Jahr 2021 herauskommen”, sagte Alvin Graylin, China President, HTC Vive. “Und ich denke, es werden bahnbrechende Geräte sein, die die Leute genauso begeistern werden wie 2016, als wir mit der ersten Vive herauskamen. Ich bin also ziemlich aufgeregt über das, was kommt, und ich denke, es wird die Branche auf ein neues Level bringen.”

Diese Ankündigung ist besonders spannend, da die HTC Vive damals ein tolles Produkt war und man an diese Zeiten wieder anknüpfen möchte. Mit der Vive Cosmos hatte sich das Unternehmen in den letzten Monaten kein besonders großen Gefallen getan, da das Tracking leider nicht mit dem Tracking der Konkurrenz mithalten konnte.

(Quelle: Tweaktown)

Der Beitrag HTC will 2021 VR auf ein neues Level bringen zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

HTC Vive Pro Full Kit Now Comes with ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ for Free in Europe

It looks like HTC is making a final push to relieve itself of Vive Pro stock in Europe, as the company is including a copy of Valve’s critically-acclaimed VR title Half-Life: Alyx (2020) with purchase of the full kit.

The Europe-only deal is taking place between May 11th – 25th, and is only available with purchase of the full Vive Pro kit.

Priced at €1,219 (£1,119), the Vive Pro Full Kit includes the headset itself, two SteamVR 2.0 base stations, two ‘wand’ style controllers, and all the necessary cabling to get you into PC VR. Besides a download code for Half-Life: Alyx, the offer also includes two free months of Viveport Infinity, the company’s Netflix-style game download service.

The deal is also available through online retailers such as Scan, Overclockers, Curry’s PC World, Ebuyer, Box.co.uk, and Amazon.

SEE ALSO
HTC Reveals Vive Proton, a Compact Standalone VR Headset Prototype

First launched back in 2018, Vive Pro is now being discontinued in favor of the newer Vive Pro Eye, a version of the headset with integrated Tobii eye-tracking. Vive Pro notably upped the resolution of the original 2016-era Vive and included the ergonomic audio headstrap as a standard feature.

Earlier this year HTC permanently reduced the price of Vive Pro to $600 (or local equivalent), which includes only the headset. With that, it’s possible we’re seeing the last Vive Pro stocks dwindle as Vive Cosmos and Vive Pro Eye take its place as the company’s flagship headsets.

HTC Vive Pro Specs

  • Display – Dual AMOLED 3.5″ diagonal
  • Resolution – 1440 x 1600 pixels per eye (2880 x 1600 pixels combined)
  • Refresh rate – 90 Hz
  • Field of view – 110 degrees
  • Audio – Hi-Res certificate headphones (removable), High impedance headphones support
  • Input – Integrated microphones
  • Connections – Bluetooth, USB-C port for peripherals
  • Sensors – SteamVR Tracking, G-sensor, gyroscope, proximity, Eye Comfort Setting (IPD)
  • Ergonomics – Eye relief with lens distance adjustment, Adjustable Eye Comfort Setting (IPD), Adjustable headphones, Adjustable headstrap

The post HTC Vive Pro Full Kit Now Comes with ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ for Free in Europe appeared first on Road to VR.

More Than 1 Million Steam Users Now Own A VR Headset: Here’s Which Ones

Valve’s Steam Hardware Survey now includes any VR headset used in the past month, revealing that 1.16% of users have a SteamVR compatible headset.

Steam Hardware Survey March 2020

That may not sound like a lot. But comparing it to other currently niche items on the Hardware Survey shows PC VR is off to a great start.

In April 2019, Valve reported Steam reaching 90 million monthly active users. If we assume that figure has now grown to roughly 100 million, we can estimate the number of Steam users with a VR headset as roughly 1,160,000.

More Steam users have a VR headset than an RTX 2080 Ti or than use Linux. At current growth, it shouldn’t be long before more Steam users use a VR headset than have a 4K primary monitor.

Consumer VR is still a relatively new technology. The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive were released just four years ago, with the latter launching at $800 including controllers. Today you can get a similar experience for $400 or even lower. As hardware gets cheaper and better and more must-have VR games emerge, this percentage should steeply rise throughout this decade.

VR Headsets On Steam

Using the March Hardware Survey data and the estimate of 100 million Steam active users, we can arrive at what should be a decent estimate for how many of each headset are in use.

For newer headsets, this number should be somewhat close to how many were sold. Older headsets are more likely to be in storage or inoperable.

Just under half of the headsets on Steam are from Facebook’s Oculus Rift brand. The company’s newest PC headset Rift S is the most popular headset on Steam, used by more than a quarter of SteamVR users. The original Rift, once the most popular on Steam, is now used by 15% of SteamVR users.

HTC’s Vive brand is in second place, with almost a third of users. The vast majority of this comes from the original Vive launched back in 2016- the first consumer headset to offer room scale tracking & positionally tracked controllers. Today, roughly one quarter of VR headsets on Steam are still the original Vive.

HTC’s latest consumer headset, Vive Cosmos, is used by just 1.23% of SteamVR users. That’s less than than half the number for the Oculus Quest (2.9%), which isn’t even a native PC VR headset.

Valve’s premium Index HMD now represents over 1 in 10 headsets on SteamVR. This is an impressive feat given the $1000 pricetag for the full kit. It could be seen as proof against Facebook’s product positioning which suggests they believe consumers aren’t interested in hardware at that price.

Microsoft’s Windows MR platform took an opposite approach, with many low cost headsets from different manufacturers. However despite continuous aggressive price cuts as low as $150, consumers just don’t seem interested, so they make up less than 1 in 12 headsets.

Pimax headsets now show up on the survey- specifically the 5K Plus and 8K, thought to be the most popular of the company’s many offerings. As suspected, these are fairly niche products, with even both together making up less than 1 in 300 SteamVR users.

In fact, more Steam users are rigging their PlayStation VR using third-party drivers to work with PC VR- roughly 1 in 200 SteamVR users. This is achieved with drivers like Trinus or iVRy. But unless you’re just using it for cockpit games, you’ll also need a third party tracking service such as PSMoveService or Driver4VR. Keep in mind the quality of tracking often won’t be as good as on a PlayStation 4.

Inside-out tracking has enabled lower cost headsets and easier setup, accounting for the majority of VR headset growth since May 2019 thanks to the Rift S. However, 6 in 10 headsets on Steam are still tracked with external hardware thanks to the huge numbers of Oculus Rift and HTC Vives still in use.

The SteamVR “Lighthouse” tracking system enables interoperability between headsets and controllers. Owners of the original HTC Vive are able to purchase & use Valve Index controllers, for example. This could explain why the Vive is still used much more than the original Oculus Rift, for example.

We’ll Be Keeping Track

Because of the improvements to detection, the 1.16% can’t be compared to previous Steam Hardware Survey data. But UploadVR will continue to track the data over this year. We’ll keep you updated on the growth of PC VR over time.

Over the next few months, Valve’s “flagship” AAA title Half-Life: Alyx, and its incredibly positive reception across the games industry, may be a primary driver of this growth- assuming Facebook & Valve can ramp up to produce enough headsets to meet demand. We won’t, however, see the effect of Alyx on PC VR usage until the next report in May, according to Valve.

The post More Than 1 Million Steam Users Now Own A VR Headset: Here’s Which Ones appeared first on UploadVR.

Steam Hardware Survey Revamped, Will Be Reliable Estimate Of PC VR Headset Ownership

Valve revamped the VR section of the Steam Hardware Survey to support all PC VR headsets. When the data for March is released later today, it will include any headset the user has connected in the past month.

The Steam Hardware Survey is offered randomly to a portion of Steam users each month. If they agree, it uploads their system specs. These specs are publicly collated each month, giving PC developers insight into the hardware capabilities of their market.

UploadVR has been collecting the VR headset data reported by this survey for years now. Because Facebook and HTC don’t release sales figures, the survey is actually the most reliable publicly available indicator of PC VR headset sales.

However, before these changes it had a major limitation: only reporting headsets currently connected to the PC. While many PC VR headset owners likely keep their headset plugged in, some may prefer to unplug and store it.

In an email sent to UploadVR and others, Valve explained that starting on March 1, Steam started to use the SteamVR records of any headset connected in the past month, instead of just scanning current USB devices (which will now be just a fallback).

Using SteamVR’s data also means the survey will be tracking wireless headsets, theoretically including Oculus Quest via Virtual Desktop. It also means it can keep track of less common headsets that weren’t in the Hardware Survey’s whitelist beforehand.

Drivers for the Pimax 5K Plus and the community drivers Sony’s PlayStation VR seem to have been retroactively added to the report for the February survey, which has now been updated. Those headsets have usage shares of 0.04% and 0.05% respectively.

How can you use a PlayStation VR on Steam you might ask? Third party drivers like Trinus or iVRy allow it to interface with SteamVR. But unless you’re just using it for cockpit games, you’ll also need a third party tracking service, such as
PSMoveService or Driver4VR. Keep in mind the quality of tracking often won’t be as good as on a PlayStation 4.

These changes should make the Steam Hardware Survey by far the most reliable estimate of PC VR headset ownership. Steam has roughly 100 million active users, so each percent should represent roughly one million users.

If a significant portion of users don’t keep their headsets connected to their PC, or are using wireless headsets, it could dramatically change our understanding of the size of the PC VR market.

Once the March data is released, we’ll bring you the figures, visualizations, and our analysis on UploadVR.com.

The post Steam Hardware Survey Revamped, Will Be Reliable Estimate Of PC VR Headset Ownership appeared first on UploadVR.

HTC Vive Pro Eye Gets A Price Cut And New Bundles

Hot off the heels of introducing new models of its Vive Cosmos consumer headset, HTC is today introducing two new editions of its enterprise-focused Vive Pro Eye device, along with a small price cut.

The Vive Pro Eye itself is now down to $1,399/£1,299 from $1,599/£1,499. Initially introduced last year, the Vive Pro Eye is very similar to the HTC Vive Pro, boasting improved ergonomics and screen resolution over the original Vive. As the name suggests, though, the Vive Pro Eye features eye-tracking, which can be used as a form of VR input or foveated rendering.

The first new offering for the kit is the $/1,599£1,551 Vive Pro Eye Office. This comes packaged with HTC’s ‘Vive Enterprise Business Warranty & Service’. The second is the $2,350/£2,280 Vive Pro Eye Office Arena Bundle. This adds in an extra two SteamVR 2.0 base stations, allowing for wider tracking areas (up to 10 m by 10m) and is fitted with a 20m fiber cable. As these extras suggest, this is intended for people using VR across a wide area, like arcades.

This news comes just after HTC revealed new bundles for the Vive Cosmos, including a cheaper Cosmos Play option and a SteamVR faceplate option for $899. Cosmos is HTC’s consumer-focused offering whereas Vive Pro Eye is largely intended for enterprise customers, though there’s nothing stopping VR enthusiasts picking it up. Judging by these prices, though, you’ll need deep pockets.

Does this Vive Pro Eye price cut have you considering picking up HTC’s headset? Let us know in the comments below!

The post HTC Vive Pro Eye Gets A Price Cut And New Bundles appeared first on UploadVR.

HTC Vive Pro Headset Permanently Reduced to $600

HTC Vive Pro launched in April 2018 with a few key improvements over the company’s original 2016 HTC Vive headset, although its launch was marred somewhat by its steep retail price of $800 for the headset alone. Now the company appears to be responding to recent competition in the space by cutting the price of its Vive Pro headset permanently to $600.

Alongside the addition of SteamVR 2.0 tracking sensors, integrated audio, and ergonomic head strap, one of the biggest improvements to Vive Pro was undoubtedly its displays, which feature dual 1,440 × 1,600 AMOLEDs—a clear upgrade over Vive’s 1,080 × 1,200 per lens resolution. That works out roughly to a 77% increase in the number of pixels for each eye.

The Valve Index, a direct competitor to Vive Pro, sells for $500 for the headset alone however, which boasts the same resolution as Vive Pro but at a slightly larger field of view; Vive Pro is somewhere around 110 degrees while Valve Index is around 120-130 degrees. If you want to know more about Index, check out our deep dive review.

Image courtesy HTC

Moreover, HTC is now selling its ‘Vive Pro Full Kit‘ for $1,200, which includes a pair of the newer SteamVR 2.0 base stations and a pair of Vive wand controllers. Notably, Valve is selling the superior all-in Index bundle with the much improved Index controllers and SteamVR 2.0 base stations for $1,000.

SEE ALSO
'Half-Life: Alyx' Will Run on All SteamVR Headsets, Free for Index Owners

You might think HTC would be able to serve up a cheaper all-in SteamVR 2.0 bundle due to the inclusion of the aging Vive wands, making HTC’s new pricing scheme for Vive Pro overall a bit of a perplexing move.

Additionally, HTC is also offering up its ‘Vive Pro Starter Kit‘ for $900, which includes the Vive Pro headset, a pair of older SteamVR 1.0 base stations, and two Vive wand controllers.

Vive Pro, whether purchased through a bundle or the headset alone, comes along with a six-month free trial of Viveport Infinity (a $78 value), the company’s Netflix-style game service that lets you download a number of participating games from the digital distribution platform Viveport.

The post HTC Vive Pro Headset Permanently Reduced to $600 appeared first on Road to VR.

HTC Cuts Vive Pro Price, Base Headset Now Cheaper Than Cosmos

HTC Vive is cutting the price of its enterprise-focused (and very expensive) PC VR headset, the HTC Vive Pro.

Starting today, the standalone Vive Pro, which includes just the headset alone, costs $599 (or £599). That’s $200 less than its original $799 price. In fact, it’s actually even cheaper than HTC’s new consumer-level VR headset, the Vive Cosmos. That costs $699, but also comes with two hand-tracking controllers and embedded sensors for inside out tracking. The standalone Vive Pro doesn’t have controllers, nor the external SteamVR sensors to track the headset. So, to be clear, the standalone kit is only a viable option if you already own SteamVR base stations and Vive controllers.

$599 also puts Vive Pro’s standalone headset at $200 more than the $399 Oculus Rift S and Oculus Quest.

You can, however, get a Vive Pro, two controllers and two SteamVR 1.0 base stations for the new price of $899. Or you could even upgrade to the ‘Full Kit’, which includes SteamVR 2.0 base stations, for $1199. That’s $200 more than the $999 Valve Index, which also includes 2.0 base stations and its own Index Controllers.

Again, it’s important to stress that Vive Pro is a business-level device. HTC won’t stop consumers from purchasing the kit, but even with these cuts, its price is still very much aimed at companies over consumers.

Vive Pro is still an incredibly expensive proposition, then, and many of the features that headlined the device when it released in 2018 — upgraded resolution and improved comfort — have either been met or surpassed in other products, even some from HTC. Last year, for example, the company launched the Vive Pro Eye, which is essentially the same device but with eye-tracking. That device hasn’t received a price cut today ($1,599 for the full kit). Cosmos, too, beats Pro’s resolution.

Earlier this week HTC canceled appointments with the press at CES 2020. At the time the company told us that it had a “new vision” for Vive that it would share later in the year, likely around Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month. We speculated that perceived struggles with the launch of the Vive Cosmos might mean that the company is doubling down on its enterprise business. Cutting the price of the original Vive Pro might support that theory.

Would you get a Vive Pro at this new price? Let us know in the comments below!

The post HTC Cuts Vive Pro Price, Base Headset Now Cheaper Than Cosmos appeared first on UploadVR.

HTC Black Friday Sale Slashes Price On Vive Pro, Cosmos, Wireless Adapter, And More

In preparation for Black Friday 2019, HTC has unveiled its lineup of discounted hardware to take advantage of the shopping season.

We heard from HTC that starting on Thursday, November 28th, running through Monday, December 2nd, they’ll have a bunch of big discounts and sales at the official Vive website:

  • Save $300 on the Vive Pro Starter Kit or the Vive Pro Full Kit.
    • The Vive Pro Starter Kit is $799—that includes a Vive Pro headset, SteamVR 1.0 base stations, and two Vive wands. If you want the latest versions of the controllers and base stations, you can snag the Vive Pro Full Kit for $1099, which includes the Pro headset, two SteamVR 2.0 base stations, and two Vive wand controllers.
    • If it’s only the headset you’re interested in, you can get the Vive Pro HMD for $200 off, bringing the price down to just $599, the lowest it’s ever been.
  • For the first time since launch the Vive Cosmos is getting a discount too, with HTC offering $100 off the Vive Cosmos—priced for Cyber Weekend at $599—which includes the Cosmos HMD and two Cosmos controllers. This is their latest inside-out tracked headset so no base stations are required. 
  • The Vive Wireless Adapter will be $50 off for all headsets. The Pro and Cosmos still require an additional attachment kit.
  • HTC is also pricing the Certified Pre-Owned Vive Systems at $349 for this weekend only.

All in all, HTC products are still very expensive even after these Black Friday / Cyber Monday / Cyber Weekend discounts. However, knocking the Cosmos down $100 definitely makes it more attractive — especially if you’re interested in the flexibility afford with its various mods and face plates that will release over time. You can read and watch our full Cosmos review here.

Let us know what you think of these deals down in the comments below!

The post HTC Black Friday Sale Slashes Price On Vive Pro, Cosmos, Wireless Adapter, And More appeared first on UploadVR.

HTC Vive Cosmos Review: A Strong Debut, But Still Not Enough

A few weeks ago HTC finally revealed the release date and price for the HTC Vive Cosmos: October 3rd for $699. We tried it out briefly, but now after spending about a week with a review unit we’ve got our full and finalized review.

To be perfectly honest the Vive Cosmos is in a difficult spot. What should have been a headstart for HTC’s new flagship VR device, considering it was formally announced all the way back at CES in January, has quickly evaporated. Before it’s even launched the Cosmos is already facing an uphill battle.

Priced at $699 between the Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S, both at $399, and the Valve Index at either $749 or $999 depending on if you have lighthouses already or not, the Vive Cosmos has a lot to prove; I’m just not sure there are many people left to care.

 

Vive Cosmos Video Review

 

Comfort, Flip Up, Design, and Audio

The Vive Cosmos is easily the most comfortable headset HTC has made thus far. As someone that wears glasses I’ve never liked the way the original Vive, Vive Pro, or Vive Pro Eye fit on my face. It feels cramped and uncomfortable pretty much at all times. Thankfully the new halo head strap design completely avoid that.

Functionally it works a lot like the Rift S or PSVR: you loosen the knob on the back, pull it around the top of your head, tighten it, and adjust the front part that hangs down to fit close to your eyes. The main difference is that the Vive Cosmos can also be flipped up making it easy to check your phone, computer, talk to someone, or just generally access reality easily. It’s a cool feature, but the trade-off seems to be that the visor itself doesn’t get as close to your face.

With Rift S and PSVR there is a button on the underside you press to slide the visor closer to your eyes to increase the FOV and eliminate most of the nose gap. Vive Cosmos doesn’t have that button. So I noticed a distracting amount of light leak coming from the bottom and it just never fit against my face all the way like I wanted it to unless I was pressing down with my hand. The padding and head strap design itself is very high-quality though.

I’m not a big fan of the vent-style face plate. It reminds me a bit of a grill or an air vent. It honestly just looks a bit silly. The mechanical IPD adjustment works like it does on past Vive headsets though, so if you’re outside the range offered for Rift S then this could be a more comfortable experience.

The included earphones hang down and hover against your ears just like the original Rift and the Vive Pro. Audio quality seems about the same as the Vive Pro without any perceivable differences, but I do appreciate the feel and durability of the headphones.

 

HTC Vive Cosmos Video

Technical Specs and Lenses

Technically speaking the Vive Cosmos is one of the best VR headsets on the market, but specs don’t tell the full story. The panels feature a dense 1440 x 1700 resolution per eye and a full RGB LCD substrip with its three subpixel design. The field of view is basically the same, around 110 degrees, which remains unchanged from the original Vive. Due to the halo strap design, it might fit a little bit closer to some faces which would result in a higher perceived FOV. For me, that was never the case.

My main issue with the Vive Cosmos is the design of the lenses. Presumably they’re improved from their previous headsets, but you could’ve fooled me. I wasn’t able to pick up on this much in my preview session for whatever reason, but now that I’ve spent more time with the headset at home I’ve realized the lenses have two major issues. First are very noticeable God rays during high contrast scenes (this causes a sort of light smearing effect that makes bright colors on dark backgrounds emit rays along the edges sort of like this), specifically black backgrounds and bright colors such as loading screens or nighttime in apps.

Then there’s the tiny sweet spot. Unless I get the Vive Cosmos positioned just right on my head, I often found the visuals a bit blurry. And even if it is sitting correctly with my pupil dialed in right along the center of the lens, if I move my eye around beyond that center spot things get blurry. It’s extremely noticeable after having spent time in other recently released headsets like the Oculus Rift S, Oculus Quest, and especially the Valve Index’s massive sweet spot, that all seem to sidestep this issue. In the Index you can move your eyes all around without losing clarity, which is a huge boon for immersion because, as you are aware, you don’t just move your head in real life. You move your eyes. A tiny sweet spot can ruin a lot of experiences.

That being said, the Vive Cosmos certainly feels like the most complete and well-rounded headset that HTC has put out thus far. When you are in that sweet spot it looks awfully sharp and the other changes make it an all-around much easier device to use.

 

htc vive cosmos controller close up side view

New Vive Cosmos Controllers

I both love and hate the new Vive Cosmos controllers. On the one hand I love the design. They’re comfortable and chunky in a way that feels good and reminds me of actual console gamepads, rather than the relatively cheaper feel of the Oculus Rift S and Quest controllers. They’ve got that same strong build quality that the original Vive wands sported, but in a new form factor.

The analog stick feels great, buttons are nice and clicky, and both R1/L1 and R2/L2 are just spongey enough and very comfortable to use. The grip button is a big improvement as well. Obviously HTC took heavy inspiration from the Oculus Touch controllers, but it totally worked generally speaking.

That being said, I also hate them. They take two AA batteries each and only last about two or three hours on fresh batteries. That’s not even enough to get me through a single session most of the time. And to make matters worse, they’re way too heavy. I know I just praised the chunky feel, but once you add two batteries they each weigh about twice as much (around 8oz) as Oculus Touch controllers (around 4oz) and that extra weight adds up over time. I noticed I was just far less accurate in Beat Saber using the Vive Cosmos controllers because the weight really threw me off.

 

vive cosmos setup

Inside-Out Tracking And Passthrough

The Vive Cosmos jettisons the need for lighthouse base stations entirely, instead deploying an inside-out tracking system similar to Windows VR headsets and the latest Oculus Quest and Rift S. The main difference here is that the Cosmos actually has six total cameras embedded in the headset itself giving it what seemed to be a large and robust tracking volume. Most notably it’s got a camera pointed down at the bottom edge of the front face plate meaning it shouldn’t lose track of your controllers as often when they’re just hanging by your side.

The volume of the tracking seems higher than other headsets I’ve used, but the quality isn’t quite up to par with the Oculus Insight system on Rift S and Quest. Specifically it seems to take just a little bit longer for the cameras to relocate your controllers once they return to view. This isn’t a huge issue, but in games like Beat Saber when you often extend your arms very low or very wide, or if you’re reaching behind your back and over your shoulder to grab something, it can cause some hiccups every now and then.

As someone that doesn’t specifically care about having the best and most accurate tracking humanly possible, I appreciated the easier setup process and flexibility of having an inside-out headset versus the dedicated base station arrangement of previous Vive systems. The Cosmos still uses a breakout box to provide power, which is nice since you’ve just got a single wire extending from the headset and into a box that splits it off into a power cord, Display Port cord, and USB 3.0 cord.

The inside out tracking system has some quirks though that popped up sometimes, such as needing a lot of brightness to function correctly. During the daytime with my curtains open in my office it didn’t give me any problems, but in the evenings if I didn’t have my lights on full blast with my office door closed to contain the light then it sometimes struggled and dipped in and out, occasionally warning me it was too dark.

Considering that I’ve used my Rift S in near darkness in this same room several times and have used my Quest outside after sunset without issue it’s a bit annoying. Needing light is one thing, but not even working unless the room is entirely full of bright light is something else. Another reviewer I spoke with couldn’t even get his Cosmos to track properly at all during the evening.

The passthrough functionality works very well. When you first put on the headset you see a slightly blurry (but colorized) view of the real world and draw your boundary on the ground just like the guardian setup process for Rift S and Quest. Then at any time you can double-tap the right Vive logo button to see the real world again or if you poke your head through your boundary it’ll fade into view as well.

 

Vive Origin Platform

Alongside Vive Cosmos, HTC is also launching their own branded VR home hub called Vive Origin. It’s a lot like SteamVR Home and Oculus Home, except it’s tied to their Viveport store directly instead. I’m surprised it took them this long to release a branded home space.

The way it works is you load onto this little circular island with a tree in the middle and there are a handful of stations you can interact with in the space. One station summons a remote control RC car, another lets you browse a collection of sculptures and statues with info bubbles like a museum, and another shoots out an orb into the sky that erupts like a firework and slowly transforms the 360-image surrounding you as the background. It’s a great effect, but I was disappointed the images are entirely static and not animated at all. Looking out at the Golden Gate Bridge surrounded by static water with waves frozen in time was a bit odd.

One side of the island has a waterfall and pond with some fish and lily pads in it and then on the other end there is a cozy apartment pod. It’s a nice space that feels homey and it even has a Vive Cosmos headset that you can put on your face, while in VR, for a quick passthrough preview, which is a nice touch.

And that’s about it. No customization that I saw, no multiplayer at all (yet, they said that would probably be coming later) and no way to launch apps directly from within Vive Origin itself. The only way to do that is to press one of the Vive menu buttons to pull up the “Vive Lens”, which is just a circular menu that pops into the air, where you can adjust settings and launch games from Viveport or SteamVR.

If this had launched with Vive in 2016 it’d have been fine, but I expected a bit more out of a “home” space 3 1/2 years into HTC’s VR efforts. As far as I can tell, Origin is Cosmos-only for now but is likely coming to other Vive headsets soon afterward. In my time with the Cosmos, I vastly preferred just launching Viveport itself and standing on the edge of that balcony to browse through games. At least it’s functional.

 

viveport logo game images

Viveport and SteamVR

I’ve been pretty critical of Viveport in the past. When it launched it was super buggy and just not a pleasant experience at all. But after spending a lot of time using it the past week with Viveport I’ve definitely came around. The library is nowhere near as robust as Steam or Oculus Home, but it’s still got a great selection of games and apps and the Viveport Infinity Subscription packs insane value. If you pre-ordered the Cosmos you get a full year for free. If you buy a Cosmos after launch then it still includes six months free and then you can continue for just $12.99 per month after that.

Some of the best games offered in the Infinity subscription, meaning they are entirely free to download and play while you’re a subscriber, include Arizona Sunshine, Sairento, I Expect You To Die, Apex Construct, A Fisherman’s Tale, Witching Tower, BoxVR, Final Assault, Form, The Brookhaven Experiment, and tons of others.

All that being said, you don’t need a Cosmos or even an HTC headset at all to use Infinity. It works fine with the Valve Index, Windows headsets and Oculus headsets and sometimes include special promotions for those as well.

But if you don’t want to use Viveport then you don’t have to. SteamVR works just fine and you can easily access SteamVR Home if you want or even just launch SteamVR games directly from the Vive Lens menu without even needing to open the SteamVR overlay at all. It’s very slick and intuitive.

 

vive cosmos phone attachment add on ces mockup

Add-On Potential

HTC pitched modding as the major differentiating feature for Vive Cosmos. The front face plate can be taken off and replaced with alternate versions that will enable different features. The snap-on / snap-off design works well.

In early 2020, HTC says they’ll launch a faceplate that enables external SteamVR Tracking base station connectivity so if you have those base stations already from a previous Vive, this attachment should let you use it in that environment natively. That means HTC is promising future support for Vive wands, Index Knuckles controllers, Vive trackers, and everything else soon. That’s still several months away without a release date or price.

The ability to power your Vive Cosmos with a phone instead of a PC, a feature that was hinted back at CES in January when the Cosmos was unveiled, is mysteriously absent. When I asked HTC about the feature, they just said it’s on the roadmap and isn’t being discussed right now.

That’s a major disappointment. The prospect of a headset that can reliably swap between phone-powered VR when needed and high-fidelity PC-powered VR is extremely interesting and was one of the key marketing pillars for Cosmos that got a lot of people excited. Now, the Oculus Quest is getting the inverse of that feature with Oculus Link turning it into a Rift S just one month from now. And yes, it will work with SteamVR.

As far as I’m concerned, the lack of discussion on that feature deals a significant blow to the versatility of the Cosmos overall.

HTC just revealed that the Vive wireless adapter they released previously would be compatible later this month, but you’ll have to buy an extra $50 attachment kit with a larger battery for it to work, in addition to the $300 for the Vive Wireless Adapter itself. That’s $1,050 total to get a wireless Vive Cosmos.

vive cosmos and controllers hands on preview image headset

HTC Vive Cosmos Review: Final Verdict

If the Vive Cosmos had released a year ago, or even six months ago, this would be a very different review. Technically speaking the Cosmos is far from a bad device. The resolution is very near the top of the market, it features a comfortable halo strap design, includes six inside-out tracking cameras, finally gets controllers with analog sticks, and comes with a great value in its Viveport Infinity subscription. But it’s just too little too late.

When HTC announced the Cosmos in January back at CES, they hinted at a portable mode that would be powered by a smartphone, making it a standalone device. Since then, Oculus has released their own standalone device in the Oculus Quest that will be gaining the ability to plug into a PC and basically become a Rift S in one month. Both the Quest and Rift S are almost half the price of what HTC wants to charge for a Cosmos. And neither the external tracking mod nor eventual smartphone attachment have release dates at all.

To be perfectly clear: I don’t dislike the Cosmos overall and I’ll probably use it occasionally for SteamVR games since I don’t personally own an Index, but it’s just not enough at this stage to carve out a place in a crowded market that’s still struggling to attract new consumers. At the $699 price point, without any of its marketed add-on features included, I don’t think I can recommend buying a Cosmos when you could instead get a Rift S or Quest at nearly half the price or just save up a bit more for a Valve Index instead.


For more VR hardware reviews, check out our reviews of the Vive Pro, Vive Wireless Adapter, Valve Index, Oculus Rift S, Oculus Quest, and PSVR. You can find out more about the Vive Cosmos, as well as purchasing options, over on the official website.

Editor’s Note: Fixed a typo and corrected the price of what a full kit to achieve a Wireless Cosmos would cost.

The post HTC Vive Cosmos Review: A Strong Debut, But Still Not Enough appeared first on UploadVR.

7invensun Announces $150 Eye-tracking Module Supporting All HTC Headsets

Today at HTC’s Vive Developer Meeting in Beijing and its simultaneous Shanghai-based Vive Ecosystem Conference, Chinese eye-tracking startup 7invensun debuted a new eye-tracking module that’s not only affordable at $150 (¥1100 RMB), but is designed to support all of HTC’s VR headsets, past and present.

Called Droolon F1, 7invensun’s new eye-tracking module was primarily announced to target the company’s upcoming Vive Cosmos, the inside-out tracked PC VR headset arriving on October 3rd for $700.

However, as an official product partner with HTC, 7invensun says that Droolon F1 will also be compatible with the original Vive, Vive Pro, Vive Focus, and Vive Focus Plus.

Image courtesy 7invensun, via CNW

There isn’t any official information out there in English yet, although according to Chinese publication CNW (Chinese), Droolon F1 connects to the VR headset via USB and uses its USB port to provide dual-eye sync data. The standard version, CNW reports, has a sampling rate of 120 Hz, but can be customized to run at 240 Hz.

At the time of this writing, neither 7invensun nor HTC have mentioned what countries it intends on supporting at Droolon F1’s launch, however the $150 USD price was unveiled onstage at the enterprise-focused Shanghai event which points to a probable offering outside of China. Pre-orders are said to begin sometime in November with shipping taking place in December.

Image courtesy HTC

Unlike 7invensun’s previous aGlass modules, which used its own proprietary eye-tracking API, Droolon F1 is said to use HTC’s official eye-tracking API, SRanipal SDK. This essentially allows developers to target both Droolon F1 and Vive Pro Eye, HTC’s enterprise-focused headset with integrated eye-tracking.

SEE ALSO
Oculus Job Listing Points to Eye-tracking in 'next gen AR/VR products'

The size of the module is also said to be smaller in comparison to the company’s previous eye-trackers, weighing in at only 60g (~2.1 oz). It’s said to feature a more convenient assembly, taking a purported three-minutes of setup time.

Image courtesy 7invensun, via CNW

7invensun initially launched its first aGlass module (DK1) for HTC Vive at the end of 2016, and later released the second iteration in 2017. Shortly afterwards, the company was accepted into HTC’s second batch of Vive X accelerator, which provided the company financial investment and mentorship. One short year later, the 7invensun confirmed aGlass DK2’s compatibility with Vive Pro.

As with its previous products, Droolon F1 is being targeted at developers. Current apps and games can’t make ready use of eye-tracking without being created specifically for the task, although the low price point may prove tempting to not only a wide array of developers, but (ultra) early adopters who want to experience the first experiences made specifically with eye-tracking in mind.

If you want to learn about eye-tracking and its many uses, check out our deep dive article on why eye-tracking is a game changer for VR.

The post 7invensun Announces $150 Eye-tracking Module Supporting All HTC Headsets appeared first on Road to VR.