Confimed: TPCast is coming to Oculus Rift

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All I've heard from folks who've tried this is that it made a bigger difference than they expected and they really hope it's a default feature in the next generation of HMDs
 
While the concept of completely cable free VR'ing is very intriguing, I'm not 100% sold on it due to a number of reasons that everyone seems to be ignoring for the most part:

1) Cost: It adds at least another $300+ for the necessary hardware.
2) You are at the mercy of a battery pack - one that will need to be re-charged all the time. Want an extended gaming session? Well you'll then need to buy more than one battery pack. (More added cost)
3) Going wireless will ALWAYS add a slight latency delay to the VR signal. If your rig is already near the edge, this added delay may push you well into nausea land faster.
4) You'll have to wear/carry a battery pack around with you all the time. Remember, you are now powering BOTH the HMD itself and the radio transmitter/receiver hardware.
5) The high band RF signal can easily be interrupted by lots of things: AC/refrigerator/dehumidifier compressor motors firing up, microwaves, hair dryers, line-of-sight issues, etc. Expect glitches more often which ruins immersion.
6) The con of having an RF transmitter/receiver strapped to your head. (Ok, probably not too much worse than a cell phone, but the signal will definitely be a lot stronger given signal bandwidth/fidelity needed.)
7) While being tethered by a cable does suck, it does pretty much physically keep you in the designated VR play space. It will be a lot easier to physically leave the play area and loose tracking if you are completely wireless.

Now granted being wireless does get rid of the VR tether cable dragging around, and that's a very big PRO. No more tripping/pulling issues and the "tether" is gone, but it does come at the above costs.

I for one won't be pursuing wireless with Gen 1 VR and just live with the tether. For those that it really bothers, there's also the option of doing a ceiling mounted pulley system. The VR tether really doesn't bother me - I've gotten used to it.

Going completely wireless would be a very nice option though for Gen 2 VR hardware... but if considerably more computing power is going to be required in the HMD for things like inside out positional tracking, eye tracking for foveated rendering, and higher resolution displays, then it's also going to require much bigger battery packs, which will also suck. :D
 
^ I'm a cable man myself (in general). The annoyance is a known quantity at this point and it just always works.

Although I did recently upgrade to a battery powered weed eater and it was pretty liberating, but I digress......
 
Supercharged_Z06 said:
While the concept of completely cable free VR'ing is very intriguing, I'm not 100% sold on it due to a number of reasons that everyone seems to be ignoring for the most part:

1) Cost: It adds at least another $300+ for the necessary hardware.
2) You are at the mercy of a battery pack - one that will need to be re-charged all the time. Want an extended gaming session? Well you'll then need to buy more than one battery pack. (More added cost)
3) Going wireless will ALWAYS add a slight latency delay to the VR signal. If your rig is already near the edge, this added delay may push you well into nausea land faster.
4) You'll have to wear/carry a battery pack around with you all the time. Remember, you are now powering BOTH the HMD itself and the radio transmitter/receiver hardware.
5) The high band RF signal can easily be interrupted by lots of things: AC/refrigerator/dehumidifier compressor motors firing up, microwaves, hair dryers, line-of-sight issues, etc. Expect glitches more often which ruins immersion.
6) The con of having an RF transmitter/receiver strapped to your head. (Ok, probably not too much worse than a cell phone, but the signal will definitely be a lot stronger given signal bandwidth/fidelity needed.)
7) While being tethered by a cable does suck, it does pretty much physically keep you in the designated VR play space. It will be a lot easier to physically leave the play area and loose tracking if you are completely wireless.

Now granted being wireless does get rid of the VR tether cable dragging around, and that's a very big PRO. No more tripping/pulling issues and the "tether" is gone, but it does come at the above costs.

I for one won't be pursuing wireless with Gen 1 VR and just live with the tether. For those that it really bothers, there's also the option of doing a ceiling mounted pulley system. The VR tether really doesn't bother me - I've gotten used to it.

Going completely wireless would be a very nice option though for Gen 2 VR hardware... but if considerably more computing power is going to be required in the HMD for things like inside out positional tracking, eye tracking for foveated rendering, and higher resolution displays, then it's also going to require much bigger battery packs, which will also suck. :D
Click to expand...

That's probably why the heads Oculus respectively have (more or less) said we shouldn't expect wireless to be standard in any HMDs soon. Or at least not for gen2.
 
So far the wire really hasn't bothered me too much. Certainly not enough to make me $300 to go wireless.
 
Supercharged_Z06 said:
While the concept of completely cable free VR'ing is very intriguing, I'm not 100% sold on it due to a number of reasons that everyone seems to be ignoring for the most part:

1) Cost: It adds at least another $300+ for the necessary hardware.
2) You are at the mercy of a battery pack - one that will need to be re-charged all the time. Want an extended gaming session? Well you'll then need to buy more than one battery pack. (More added cost)
3) Going wireless will ALWAYS add a slight latency delay to the VR signal. If your rig is already near the edge, this added delay may push you well into nausea land faster.
4) You'll have to wear/carry a battery pack around with you all the time. Remember, you are now powering BOTH the HMD itself and the radio transmitter/receiver hardware.
5) The high band RF signal can easily be interrupted by lots of things: AC/refrigerator/dehumidifier compressor motors firing up, microwaves, hair dryers, line-of-sight issues, etc. Expect glitches more often which ruins immersion.
6) The con of having an RF transmitter/receiver strapped to your head. (Ok, probably not too much worse than a cell phone, but the signal will definitely be a lot stronger given signal bandwidth/fidelity needed.)
7) While being tethered by a cable does suck, it does pretty much physically keep you in the designated VR play space. It will be a lot easier to physically leave the play area and loose tracking if you are completely wireless.

Now granted being wireless does get rid of the VR tether cable dragging around, and that's a very big PRO. No more tripping/pulling issues and the "tether" is gone, but it does come at the above costs.

I for one won't be pursuing wireless with Gen 1 VR and just live with the tether. For those that it really bothers, there's also the option of doing a ceiling mounted pulley system. The VR tether really doesn't bother me - I've gotten used to it.

Going completely wireless would be a very nice option though for Gen 2 VR hardware... but if considerably more computing power is going to be required in the HMD for things like inside out positional tracking, eye tracking for foveated rendering, and higher resolution displays, then it's also going to require much bigger battery packs, which will also suck. :D
Click to expand...

Aside from the expected jankiness of being a product from a no name company (difficult setup, microphone doesn't work as of now), people seem pretty happy with the TPcast so far.


1) true, although the there is no official non-china price. Most people are expecting around $250, not $300+
2) you're already at the mercy of the controller batteries, which for vive at least are maybe 8 hours. The included battery with the tpcast lasts like 6. I would bet any amount of money that 99.99% of people will be fine with a single battery. I've had VR for over a year and I don't think I've ever gone more than 2 hours without taking a break.
3) I have seen no complaints about the added latency (from anyone who has it working correctly in Direct mode), and the power of your computer doesn't really have anything to do with latency. That is the whole point of timewarp and spacewarp.
4) yes, but putting a battery in your pocket or a fanny pack is going to be a lot less annoying than having a 15' pony tail
5) haven't seen any complaints about signal loss with a properly placed transmitter, do you have any sources for that? From what I've seen, the tpcast does a good job of bouncing the signal around your room and people have been surprised that you basically have to cover it with both of your hands in order to lose signal.
6) The signal is blocked by pretty much anything. It can't penetrate your skin
7) That is the job of chaperone/guardian, you shouldn't be relying on the cable for that. If you are using the cable and are standing at the edge of your place space closest to your computer, it isn't going to do anything to keep you from leaving

People have done ceiling mounted systems but that has its own drawbacks:
1) not free
2) requires mounting stuff to your ceiling, which is a deal breaker for many people
3) the cable can still get in your way "e.g. if it ends up in front of you then you will hit it with your arms)


The attitude of some VR enthusiasts toward wireless reminds me of non-VR people being dismissive of VR as a whole. The cable is a constant but subtle immersion breaker and I cannot wait for the tpcast to be easily available in the US. If you doubt its impact, I would hope you are at least able to try it.
 
pj- said:
Aside from the expected jankiness of being a product from a no name company (difficult setup, microphone doesn't work as of now), people seem pretty happy with the TPcast so far.


1) true, although the there is no official non-china price. Most people are expecting around $250, not $300+
2) you're already at the mercy of the controller batteries, which for vive at least are maybe 8 hours. The included battery with the tpcast lasts like 6. I would bet any amount of money that 99.99% of people will be fine with a single battery. I've had VR for over a year and I don't think I've ever gone more than 2 hours without taking a break.
3) I have seen no complaints about the added latency (from anyone who has it working correctly in Direct mode), and the power of your computer doesn't really have anything to do with latency. That is the whole point of timewarp and spacewarp.
4) yes, but putting a battery in your pocket or a fanny pack is going to be a lot less annoying than having a 15' pony tail
5) haven't seen any complaints about signal loss with a properly placed transmitter, do you have any sources for that? From what I've seen, the tpcast does a good job of bouncing the signal around your room and people have been surprised that you basically have to cover it with both of your hands in order to lose signal.
6) The signal is blocked by pretty much anything. It can't penetrate your skin
7) That is the job of chaperone/guardian, you shouldn't be relying on the cable for that. If you are using the cable and are standing at the edge of your place space closest to your computer, it isn't going to do anything to keep you from leaving

People have done ceiling mounted systems but that has its own drawbacks:
1) not free
2) requires mounting stuff to your ceiling, which is a deal breaker for many people
3) the cable can still get in your way "e.g. if it ends up in front of you then you will hit it with your arms)


The attitude of some VR enthusiasts toward wireless reminds me of non-VR people being dismissive of VR as a whole. The cable is a constant but subtle immersion breaker and I cannot wait for the tpcast to be easily available in the US. If you doubt its impact, I would hope you are at least able to try it.
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm not anti-wireless, just not jumping up and down like a giddy school girl for it right now. :D

Like I said, just not 100% sold on it yet given some of the things I mentioned.

I'm optimistic that a built-in/native solution or option will arrive with Gen 2 hardware.
 
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