HTC Vive

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DarrenM
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HTC Vive

Post by DarrenM »

Valve and HTC have partnered to produce a VR headset called the HTC Vive

http://www.htcvr.com/

Dual 1200x1080 screens with 90Hz refresh rate, 110 degrees FOV. Consumer release at the end of this year.

"A gyrosensor, accelerometer, and laser position sensor combine to precisely track the rotation of your head on both axes to an accuracy of 1/10th of a degree, allowing you to look around the virtual environment naturally. Couple the headset with a pair of Steam VR base stations to track your physical location (in spaces up to 15 feet by 15 feet) – get up and walk around inisde the virtual world!"



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Last edited by DarrenM on Mon Mar 02, 2015 9:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Exar Kun
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by Exar Kun »

I wonder who will have the first really viable consumer solution to market first? And how much work will be required from game devs to support each different device?
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DarrenM
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by DarrenM »

Not sure how much work it would take to support multiple headsets individually, but from what I understand the steamvr api is supposed to be able to support any headset without extra work by the developers.
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by wobblysauce »

The Api should be similar, maybe some of the calibration would be reversed.
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by DarrenM »

"Valve's push into VR will span many headsets from many companies"
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/04/valv ... nitiative/
Currently, the HTC Vive is the only virtual reality headset that's part of Valve's Steam VR push. That's not because it's the only one, but because it's the only one we know about thus far. "You should think of the Vive as the first in the same way there are multiple Steam Machines," Valve president Gabe Newell told me this morning. In other words, Steam VR is an open platform supported by Valve. "We're building tools and hopefully they're valuable to hardware partners who want to do it. In some cases, we'll take the leadership role in shipping stuff. But we're really just building tools for other people to continue. So you'll see more headsets."
They're also making their tracking system free for hardware companies to implement.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/04/valve-vr-input/
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DarrenM
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by DarrenM »

This video tells how the tracking system works.

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Cursed
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by Cursed »

Excited engineering geeks are amusing. But, you know... It has frickin' laser beams.

I'm only really interested in a "seated experience" (driving/flying) but this is still good stuff.
Image[url=steam://friends/add/76561197962772149]Image[/url]
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DarrenM
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Re: HTC Vive

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Re: HTC Vive

Post by DarrenM »

Vive release date is now April 2016 :(

http://blog.htc.com/2015/12/htc-vive-update/
In an effort to clear up speculation and misinformation surrounding the launch of HTC Vive this month we are excited to give the community an update on the status of HTC Vive. We remain committed to delivering the HTC Vive to a broader group of content creators and partners, and remain focused on delivering the very best experience possible for a consumer release.

Since announcing the HTC Vive in March of this year we have focused on developing immersive content, refining both hardware design and user experience, and building relationships with new partners both inside and outside of the gaming industry. In collaboration with Valve, we have been distributing the HTC Vive Developer Kits to developers and content creators, and are continuing to work with many other innovative companies to create content that spans gaming, entertainment, medical, education and retail. This includes hosting a developer conference in Beijing on December 18th, launching the second generation of the HTC Vive Developer Kit at CES and engaging audiences at key events including The Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, GDC and MWC while expanding our demo tours.

We will be starting the new year by making an additional 7,000 units available to developers, followed by commercial availability in April 2016. We are incredibly excited about the future and look forward to sharing more information as we move forward towards launch.
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by Duke »

Sorry for the cross thread, some new news on the Vive: http://www.arseforums.com/phpBB/viewtop ... 43#p415643
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by Righteous »

Probably a better place for it.

$799 for the kit. Has motion controllers but not built in audio. It's probably cheaper than I expected to be honest. I don't see me wanting/needing the controllers at all so I'll stick with the rift pre-order. Essentially this probably means that Oculus have $200 worth of wiggle room now for their controllers.

http://blog.htcvive.com/2016/02/unveili ... formation/
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by DarrenM »

Have to see what shipping will be and if they add any Aussie tax, but it's not too bad at the moment.

Rift is currently $781USD all up without controllers. $800USD isn't too far off.
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by Righteous »

I think you'll just be adding the same on top of this. I can't imagine they will have some magical tax dodge. Shipping may be cheaper?
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by DarrenM »

Yeah, GST at least. $900USD + shipping is more realistic. The (unconfirmed) UK price for the Vive works out at $982.92USD with 20% VAT so it seems they haven't added too much on top of tax.

As expected, recommended specs are basically the same as the Rift:

GPU: - NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970 / AMD Radeon™ R9 290 equivalent or greater
CPU: - Intel® i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 equivalent or greater
RAM: - 4GB+
Video Output: - HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
USB Port: - 1x USB 2.0 or greater port
Operating System: - Windows 7 SP1 or newer
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by Shonky »

Steam VR Performance Test now available.
The SteamVR Performance Test measures your system's rendering power using a 2-minute sequence from Valves Aperture Robot Repair VR demo. After collecting the data it determines whether your system is capable of running VR content at 90fps and whether VR content can tune the visual fidelity up to the recommended level. For machines that are not VR Ready the tool can help determine whether capabilities are bound by Graphics Card, CPU, or both.
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by Shonky »

:cry:

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Re: HTC Vive

Post by DarrenM »

My 780Ti gets me 4.3 average fidelity and about 80% of the way up the capable band. Hopefully nvidias pascal cards aren't too far away. AMD's next cards are looking good as well, but they're still no good for linux so I'm stuck with nvidia.
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by Righteous »

Pretty well the same for me too Darren. If things aren't great when I get the rift, I'm going to wait till the next gen of cards before I update. Looks like it should be the second half of this year.
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by DarrenM »

A price leak on reddit shows it'll be $899USD for us, plus any shipping cost.
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by Righteous »

Which way are you leaning? Vive or Rift? IIRC you were more impressed by the Vive. Do you imagine you'll want the room scale thing? At this stage I can't see myself being interested in waving my arms around yet.
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by c.j »

I know I don't want to be up moving about when I am gaming. Then it would be gayming. I am starting to swing more to the Vive, as I put in the Oculus thread, because of the connection between Valve and Steam. Most of my games on the PC are through Steam being Arma, AC, Pcars. I haven't found anything else I want to play on PC at the moment.
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by Righteous »

All of those games will work with the rift through steam. The only thing that you might be able to do is have all your steam library in some sort of VR interface to launch the games with the vive.
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by DarrenM »

I'm still more interested in the Vive. I'm sure most of my usage will be in sims, but room scale is very compelling. Having played the HL2VR mod and a couple other demos with a razer hydra, I definitely want tracked controllers as well. Seems there's occlusion issues with the Oculus ones, and I'm still not convinced camera tracking can be as good and 1:1 as the lighthouse system. Vive only needs 1 usb port as well, which is nice.

Pre-ordering both but tempted to cancel my Oculus order due to the exclusivity bullshit they're pulling. Trying to avoid getting caught up in the hive mind though. I have a march shipping date so I'll have no issues selling it.

Prices have been officially confirmed. $899USD for Aus. Tilt Brush has been added to the bundle.

http://blog.htcvive.com/us/2016/02/inte ... pre-order/
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by Righteous »

Does that include shipping? That's probably better value than the Rift if it does.
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Re: HTC Vive

Post by DarrenM »

Don't know. People have said HTC don't charge shipping on items bought online in the US, but that's for smaller, more widely distributed items like phones.

Guess we'll find out at 2am :)
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