HTC VIVE Turns 2 - VIVE Pro Starter Kit

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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When we talked about VIVE and its new VIVE Pro HMD here recently, more than a few folks were just a tad bit upset with how it was being sold as a standalone unit that basically pigeon-holed its use to current VIVE system owners, and rightfully so I might suggest. Many folks have been waiting for a better HMD to make its way to market, and those guys got crapped on assuredly. Valve is looking now to make all that right, a few days ahead of the VIVE's 2 year anniversary. Not sure this is going to go over well either, once you hear that the VIVE Pro Starter Kit will cost $1100 and be for sale on April 5th. Thanks cageymaru.


After reading your feedback, we’ve realized we created some confusion that we want to address today. First, we introduced Vive Pro as an HMD-only upgrade because it represented the quickest path to market for the new headset. Since Vive Pro works with both SteamVR 1.0 and 2.0 tracking, we believed an HMD-only upgrade was the right option for the most demanding VR user, as well as VR arcades and enterprises that already use Vive.

But what we didn’t outline was a clear path for everyone else. We have also seen feedback related to existing accessories prices for 1.0 base stations and controllers.

So today we’re announcing the Vive Pro Starter Kit available on Vive.com starting April 5. This bundle pairs the Vive Pro HMD and two Vive 1.0 controllers and two 1.0 base stations for $1099 (USD, regional prices vary).

We’re also sweetening the pack-in offer for existing Vive owners that have purchased Vive Pro, where we will offer a $100 Viveport content credit and extend the Viveport Subscription offer to 1 year.

We pushed for an aggressive price and value package here because we want our customers to realize the savings we’ve made in material costs since Vive was introduced and get the most content available.

We’ve got more in store soon on the full 2.0 Vive Pro kits, but it was important to us to get this out as quickly as possible. We’ll have more soon on SteamVR Tracking 2.0 and what it means for Vive Pro and ways for businesses to get more with their Vive purchase.
 
I still don't even know how to claim my free viveport subscription with my preorder. But this bundle is a huge waste, wait for the 2.0 tracker set if you're even going to get a Vive Pro at this point.
 
Anyone try this with glasses? This is only thing holding me back plus the price tag.
 
mickeykool said:
Anyone try this with glasses? This is only thing holding me back plus the price tag.
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I have 2 pairs of glasses

Ones that are narrow enough for the Vive and ones that aren't

Just make sure when you buy new ones you bring your Vive with you

Or have a general idea how wide the ones you are getting are
 
Master_shake_ said:
I have 2 pairs of glasses

Ones that are narrow enough for the Vive and ones that aren't

Just make sure when you buy new ones you bring your Vive with you

Or have a general idea how wide the ones you are getting are
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Thanks for the tip.
 
mickeykool said:
Anyone try this with glasses? This is only thing holding me back plus the price tag.
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Can't remember the company name, but they sold lens covers where you could have them made for your prescription. Only good if you are the sole user of it, but an option that is available.
 
hah $1100 -- fuck that .

My Oculus I picked up for $399 with everything included + 7 games is way more fun/affordable if you wan to get your feet wet in good VR. I could see the $1k+ price tag if it was truly next gen with eye tracking, wireless, higher FOV, and even better resolution.

Oculus sales shot through the roof when they decided to slash the prices to get adoption going, I would have never entered the VR world otherwise, and it blew me away the first time I fired up RoboRecall :)
 
With me I bought an Oculus but even a super thin pair of glasses would not fit. So back it went. There are 63 percent of the USA who were glasses or contacts these VR people need to take that fact into consideration. For now I am still using a PSVR at least my glasses work in them.....
 
zalazin said:
With me I bought an Oculus but even a super thin pair of glasses would not fit. So back it went. There are 63 percent of the USA who were glasses or contacts these VR people need to take that fact into consideration. For now I am still using a PSVR at least my glasses work in them.....
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63%? I'm guessing that figure includes those who wear them only for specific tasks... the figure otherwise would be much lower?
 
My glasses work just fine in the vive with the wide facepad that came with it. BUT that price is crazy...
 
collegeboy69us said:
Oculus sales shot through the roof when they decided to slash the prices to get adoption going, I would have never entered the VR world otherwise, and it blew me away the first time I fired up RoboRecall :)
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RoboRecall is much fun. The pricing on the Pro isn't what most were probably expecting, with the Pro taking the place of non-Pro in pricing with the new lighthouses. I did pre-order the Pro HMD, had allocated $500 for it so adding about $300+ on top wasn't thrilling but the early previews seemed to make the better resolution kind of a big deal.
 
zalazin said:
With me I bought an Oculus but even a super thin pair of glasses would not fit. So back it went. There are 63 percent of the USA who were glasses or contacts these VR people need to take that fact into consideration. For now I am still using a PSVR at least my glasses work in them.....
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2 words

Contact Lenses.
 
notarat said:
2 words

Contact Lenses.
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Yea I was gonna say, in that persons post they mention contacts, which those people would have no issue anyways. The only ones that would are those who wear them for correcting far distance, and are obnoxiously large glasses.
 
NickJames said:
I still don't even know how to claim my free viveport subscription with my preorder. But this bundle is a huge waste, wait for the 2.0 tracker set if you're even going to get a Vive Pro at this point.
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Viveport subscription is supposed to be a redeemable code in package.

My Understanding is 2.0 tracking is just a simplified cost reduction on 1.0, so why wait, in case it might drop by $100? I would chalk that up to opportunity cost.
 
zalazin said:
With me I bought an Oculus but even a super thin pair of glasses would not fit. So back it went. There are 63 percent of the USA who were glasses or contacts these VR people need to take that fact into consideration. For now I am still using a PSVR at least my glasses work in them.....
Click to expand...

You really didn't think that comment through.
 
zalazin said:
With me I bought an Oculus but even a super thin pair of glasses would not fit. So back it went. There are 63 percent of the USA who were glasses or contacts these VR people need to take that fact into consideration. For now I am still using a PSVR at least my glasses work in them.....
Click to expand...

That includes people with presbyopia(reading glasses due to age), who by and large are not going to be using vr. That number is probably 25% or less when you rule them out.

Now with that in mind...the Vive and I presume the Vive pro have an adjustment on the hmd that increases the distance of the unit from your face to accommodate for glasses. I have glasses with a 58mm eye width for each lens and they still fit in the Vive. I can't speak for the rift since I don't own one.
 
keep-calm-and-lets-get-back-to-the-topic.png
 
Darunion said:
Yea I was gonna say, in that persons post they mention contacts, which those people would have no issue anyways. The only ones that would are those who wear them for correcting far distance, and are obnoxiously large glasses.
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I can't use contacts and look at a monitor for extended periods, strongly recommend buying the prescription inserts, for yourself as the primary user.

On topic,

I want this, but renovating the house has eaten my budget this year, maybe Vive 2 will be out by christmas!
 
I have had no issue using the HMD with glasses removed (legally blind) but I am fortunate to be very near sighted.
The price is frustrating there should be a discount for those who already have the Vive or a trade in program to reduce costs would be amazing.
 
I'm glad they lowered the price (a little) for newcomers. I have a Vive with TPCast and a Rift. Now that I have wireless VR (and a nice sized room scale space) it's pretty hard to go back. I won't be buying a Vive Pro until the wireless piece shows up and the Knuckles controllers (fingers-crossed).
 
If they had offered a 'fair' HMD trade-in I'd have bitten their hand off.., what use is 'just' an old HMD to anybody?

I'll wait for the complete package update and also see what Oculus brings out... then sell or more than likely give my old Vive setup to a friend or family member.
 
n31l said:
If they had offered a 'fair' HMD trade-in I'd have bitten their hand off.., what use is 'just' an old HMD to anybody?

I'll wait for the complete package update and also see what Oculus brings out... then sell or more than likely give my old Vive setup to a friend or family member.
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Very much agreed. I just got mine for xmas so I am not going to just shelve this. The wife wants her own now but I don't think she will want the 'hand me down' if I get a new one.
 
I fondly remember the good old days when tech got better and cheaper. At that price, this does not even tempt me (and if newer games required an upgrade of my 980ti, well that nearly doubles the price :( ).
 
Ok help me out here since I'm not keeping up with this.

What bullet point differences is this from the existing Vive? Why does someone want this for $1100?
 
Advil said:
Ok help me out here since I'm not keeping up with this.

What bullet point differences is this from the existing Vive? Why does someone want this for $1100?
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Certain applications that fundamentally require higher resolutions - not just for a better look like a game, but for the critical task of READING text. In VR, you can have as many screens as you want, seriously, no limit. However, the resolution of the actual headset is the limiting factor. I should add, simulations, games were you aim a gun, it is a lot more difficult to use iron sights or any sights for that matter, when you only have a few blended pixels to use. More clarity means better aim for that type of game. I'm a VR developer and I'm trying to get my hands on one as a dev kit since I'm a broke VR developer but I'm not going to upgrade unless I can afford it. However, if I ran a VR arcade or was in some application that required it for my use, I'd pony up.
 
mrp said:
Viveport subscription reminds me of Gamestop/Gamefly not interested. As to "aggressive pricing" we aren't on the same page. As a Vive preorder owner, I'll wait for some real aggressive pricing. Let's see how the new wireless system works, I may bite on one of those depending on pricing.
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On console youyou h to pay for online access, but is offset some by monthly free games that in the case of PS4 (don't know about Xbox) are accessible as long as you keep your subscription active. I think that's kinda what they're going for but not sure if games from previous months will still be available.

I'll find out the as I was one of those that did pre order and hope to have it in hand later this week.
 
zalazin said:
With me I bought an Oculus but even a super thin pair of glasses would not fit. So back it went. There are 63 percent of the USA who were glasses or contacts these VR people need to take that fact into consideration. For now I am still using a PSVR at least my glasses work in them.....
Click to expand...
You do realize that for like $99 you can get a prescription insert for the Rift? It works awesome and can be changed in and out in less than a minute.
 
they have lost there fucking minds at that price, i may get the rift if it ever drops to 299, otherwise iv been pretty happy with psvr, was able to get it a few months ago when it went on sale for 199
 
I bought two. We will be using these at the next FRAG event in Frisco, TX starting on April 27th weekend. (site not updated yet) Doing Raw Data Deathmatch and Super Hot.

 
Hagrid said:
No Bullets and More? You can have up to 12 players I think.
Does Raw Data and Super Hot have bot modes too?
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Bullets and More, never heard of it. WIll check it out.

Raw Data does. Super Hot is one player.
 
Dregan73 said:
they have lost there fucking minds at that price, i may get the rift if it ever drops to 299, otherwise iv been pretty happy with psvr, was able to get it a few months ago when it went on sale for 199
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I would spend the extra $150 for an Oculus (Microcenter has had them for $350 a couple of times, might still be priced that now) over $200 for the PSVR just to have access to the steam library and much cheaper games.
 
Hagrid said:
No Bullets and More? You can have up to 12 players I think.
Does Raw Data and Super Hot have bot modes too?
Click to expand...

As far as I know it's straight 1 v 1 or two player coop. It's a wave shooter so you are going against bots. The AI isn't anything particularly special but the sheer physicality of the combat is quite frankly, groundbreaking. Most of us have twenty years or so of really shitty habits when it comes to playing a FPS. Pressing C is not going to crouch you in this game - what I love about videos like this that show new players is how you can see that at first they forget to duck. They forget to use cover.

It's a new experience -- the other fascinating part is the intensity multiplier seems to scale with the satisfaction of gaming. I can play a shooter for hours if I have the time but an hour of Onward and I'm spent. I also have reaffirmed my decision to avoid entering a firefight in the real world. Don't get me wrong, it's a game and orders of magnitude less than the real thing. But somehow VR begins to translate the finality of being shot.
 
Blakestr said:
As far as I know it's straight 1 v 1 or two player coop. It's a wave shooter so you are going against bots. The AI isn't anything particularly special but the sheer physicality of the combat is quite frankly, groundbreaking. Most of us have twenty years or so of really shitty habits when it comes to playing a FPS. Pressing C is not going to crouch you in this game - what I love about videos like this that show new players is how you can see that at first they forget to duck. They forget to use cover.

It's a new experience -- the other fascinating part is the intensity multiplier seems to scale with the satisfaction of gaming. I can play a shooter for hours if I have the time but an hour of Onward and I'm spent. I also have reaffirmed my decision to avoid entering a firefight in the real world. Don't get me wrong, it's a game and orders of magnitude less than the real thing. But somehow VR begins to translate the finality of being shot.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Bullets and More is pretty sweet. Lots of different weapons and such. The AI is ok, but I wish you could command them to follow you or just roam freely.
 
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