HTC Kicks off VIVE PRO and Wireless VIVE at CES

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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HTC just announced its VIVE PRO HMD. Let's touch on what is likely the most important upgrade, which is the displays, which moves from a total 2160x1200 to 2880x1600, bring ups from 1080p to 1440p for each eye. This should dramatically cut down on the screen-door effect, but also dramatically push GPU usage as well for high end graphic games. A new headmount system as well as sound system is shown as well, and of course you can now see that it has two front mounted cameras which are certainly there for pushing better AR experiences. The wireless adapter is targeted to ship in Q3 of 2018, so don't get your panties wet just yet.


Check out the video.

Vive Pro is a new HMD upgrade from Vive, built for the VR enthusiast and enterprise user who wants the best display and audio for their VR experiences.
 
Waiting for price. Hopefully we can just buy the headset alone.
 
heatlesssun said:
The Pro is backwards compatible with the original lighthouses and controllers and will originally launch with the headset only: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018...s-to-an-otherwise-familiar-looking-vr-system/. The new 2.0 lighthouses support up to 10x10 meters with four of them.
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Yeah, not sure who needs that sort of coverage. The ones now will work up to 20x20 fairly easy depending on the environment.

We will be doing some head to head stuff at an upcoming event with InsideVR. :)

17-1216_VRARENA_TEST2.jpg
 
MavericK said:
Waiting for price. Hopefully we can just buy the headset alone.
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You can, the headset alone will be sold as its on SKU before the new lighthouses comeout. It looks like the new lighthouses just add more coverage in conjunction with the Pro headset, so that's a nice upgrade path for existing owners. So I'm assuming that the Vive and Vive Pro will coexist at different price points with the difference being resolution and coverage area? Any other differences anyone's aware of?
 
heatlesssun said:
You can, the headset alone will be sold as its on SKU before the new lighthouses comeout. It looks like the new lighthouses just add more coverage in conjunction with the Pro headset, so that's a nice upgrade path for existing owners. So I'm assuming that the Vive and Vive Pro will coexist at different price points with the difference being resolution and coverage area? Any other differences anyone's aware of?
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Outside of sound enhancements and screen upgrade, the two forward facing cameras is a big deal when it comes to AR.
 
I have been waiting for this announcement! I WILL be purchasing once the Pro kit with new lighthouses (no mention of Knuckles today???) and the wireless adaptor are released. CAN NOT WAIT! (fortunately, I have to...because my credit cards can't take the pain right at the moment...this gives me 6 months to recover from Xmas spending!)
 
jnemesh said:
I have been waiting for this announcement! I WILL be purchasing once the Pro kit with new lighthouses (no mention of Knuckles today???) and the wireless adaptor are released. CAN NOT WAIT! (fortunately, I have to...because my credit cards can't take the pain right at the moment...this gives me 6 months to recover from Xmas spending!)
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Knuckles controllers are from Valve, not HTC. Nothing from Valve yet, but CES has not actually started.
 
my 1080 Ti is ready.. sure hope they don't ask way too much for the HMD alone my biggest complaint with Vive is the SDE and less so the god rays.
 
very nice, I am happy with my rift for now but will come back to this in 1-2 years, hopefully by then we have it all fleshed out and ready to rock. This is why I stick to steamVR for m VR purchases and not oculus store, love my rift but dont want to be locked their store only.
 
I'm waiting to see these bad boys the Chinese are producing: 8k VR headset. The only question remains, what kind of rig it's going to take to run those pixels.
 
Looks like a solid step forward, too bad the wireless module will come later. Wonder if either the current or just-annouced TPCast will work with it. WTB price and release date :) Guessing they're saving the 2.0 label for the new lighthouses and hopefully new controllers. I'd like a new controller design from them, even if it's not the knuckles concept.

Hope we see some new stuff from Occulus (or others) at CES in addition to this.

Round two, FIGHT!
 
Even if you upscale a lower resolution image, the reduction in screen-door artifacting is a welcome upgrade. People running older cards can still get a huge benefit. Run the thing at native resolution and expect a 1080 to be the minimum requirement.
 
KazeoHin said:
Even if you upscale a lower resolution image, the reduction in screen-door artifacting is a welcome upgrade. People running older cards can still get a huge benefit. Run the thing at native resolution and expect a 1080 to be the minimum requirement.
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I already run the Vive at 1.5x supersampling so it should be okay for this HMD at stock settings.
 
Ragenrok said:
very nice, I am happy with my rift for now but will come back to this in 1-2 years, hopefully by then we have it all fleshed out and ready to rock. This is why I stick to steamVR for m VR purchases and not oculus store, love my rift but dont want to be locked their store only.
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Yeah but some of the very best games for VR are actually only on the Oculus store such as Lone Echo and Robo Recall. And plus some of the Oculus store versions are actually more optimized for the rift and the steam version of some games have issues. That said I do try to get most games on Steam though too as who knows what headset I'll go with next.
 
well there you go, just so they can over price it to over a thousand they moved to entreprise, chances of success ? 0%
no wonder they went almost bankrupt, HTC is managed by idiots.
Valve's technology is wasted on HTC to be honest.
 
MavericK said:
I already run the Vive at 1.5x supersampling so it should be okay for this HMD at stock settings.
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The resolution is nearly 1.8x the OG vive, so it's possible but I hope that upsampling is an option.
 
OK money being prepared. I was a little disappointed that the knuckles controller isn't also available but I am looking forward to the higher resolution headset. I hope they improved the lenses also. the concentric circle things in the current vive are a bit distracting with bright lighting in games.
 
alamox said:
well there you go, just so they can over price it to over a thousand they moved to entreprise, chances of success ? 0%
no wonder they went almost bankrupt, HTC is managed by idiots.
Valve's technology is wasted on HTC to be honest.
Click to expand...

We don't have final pricing but the target but the original Vive isn't going anywhere. And yes, this is targeted at "enthusiast and enterprise" users as it's going to take considerable hardware to utilize the enhanced resolution anyway. We now have a range of PC headsets with at various price points, features and add ons.
 
I'm in for one of these headsets now. Didn't want to invest in first gen product but this looks like a solid, refined version. I don't really care about room scale or AR so being able to buy just the headset is perfect.
 
seeing at the VIVE is still 700 bucks expect this to be 800+
 
With the rise of gpu prices I'm very worried that uptake will be low. I have a rift and wish there were more pixels, but my 1070 is barely enough to push the current gen resolution. Unless crypto crashes, we'll have a nice vr headset but no affordable gpu to drive it.
 
I wonder if you get a reduction in screen door effect if you upscale a lower res signal, and try to take advantage from the blur that up-scaling results in.


In other words play on the Vive Pro using original Vive resolution. Any reduction in screen door effect or is it exactly the same?
 
Any mention of eye tracking tech? There was talk of this being used to selectively render at a higher resolution in the ceter of the FOV, and drop it down at the periphery.
 
I am game for using the same lighthouses and controllers, my space is too small to worry about the new lighthouses. This is exciting. Now some bundle deals as in Vive + Video card would be very nice plus allow uptake with the scarce available VR video cards or high price. Hopefully just the headset price is not too high as in less than $600.
 
A new system will be good dollar wise, but if you already own a Vive, not sure the small upgrade is worth it. I do like the lighthouses and that they will work with it. I can't wait for some good testing with some pics and specs.
Hopefully they can keep the price down since the system is 200 more than the Rift. But with the lighthouses and better res, it might be worth it.
I did not look but does it have the built in auidio?
 
noko said:
I am game for using the same lighthouses and controllers, my space is too small to worry about the new lighthouses. This is exciting. Now some bundle deals as in Vive + Video card would be very nice plus allow uptake with the scarce available VR video cards or high price. Hopefully just the headset price is not too high as in less than $600.
Click to expand...


Yeah, my space is too small even for the originals.

That's the one thing that has stopped me form going VR thus far. The only truly capable PC for VR rendering in the house is mine, and it is in my weird small oblong office 7'x18' office.

No real space here, unless people are going to VR themselves into my bookshelves and printers...
 
As soon as the full kit is available I’ll be buying my first VR setup. Now to look into the vision correction side of this. I wear glasses. :geek:
 
1440p per eye will still look absolutely awful. In fact, 4k per eye will still look bad.
 
0neTwo said:
It was the #1 reason I sold my Rift(devolper kit), Rift(consumer version), and Vive. All great tech that made me smile ear to ear(and everyone I let try it). The 1080p screens they are using now is like watching a video in 144p. Anything with text might as well be a smear on the screen.
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Can't say I've had that problem.
 
RogueTadhg said:
Not having glasses on in VR makes a HUGE comfort change. Even if you opt for a third-party corrective lens changer. You've gotta do it. I used to get bad headaches since the glasses would be forced into my nose. Not anymore.
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I found this after searching a bit.

https://vr-lens-lab.com/product/lens-inserts/

I’m sure they’ll make a version for the Pro if the current Vive design isn’t compatible.
 
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