Reports claim a wireless HTC Vive 2 could be unveiled next week

midian182

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2016 was supposed to be the year virtual reality became mainstream, but despite being technically impressive, the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive haven’t sold in huge numbers. However, reports from the Taiwanese media (via Android Headlines) say HTC could launch a second-generation Vive at CES next week. Not only will this model have a higher resolution and faster refresh rate than its predecessor, but it will come with a wireless transmitter, too.

I found that almost tripping over the USB, HDMI, and power cables was the biggest problem with the Vive when I first tried one at MWC. Going wireless would be a major leap forward for PC-powered VR; nothing breaks immersion like getting tangled in a load of wires and falling over.

The report also states that the Vive’s display is getting an upgrade. While the headsets’ 2160 x 1200 resolution 90Hz dual screens offer sharp, smooth graphics, HTC is apparently upgrading the visuals in the second Vive to twin 4K displays with 120Hz refresh rates.

Considering it takes a fairly beefy PC to get the best from the current Vive, it’s hard to imagine what sort of hardware would be required to run two 4K displays at 120Hz. Nvidia has said that VR applications require between 10 – 25 percent extra power compared to regular monitors, so these kinds of specs in a wireless headset sound like the stuff of fantasy.  

In reality, HTC may show off some Vive technology it’s currently working on behind closed doors at CES, which could involve a wireless solution of some sort. The company will be talking about the future of VR during its press conferences at the event, and will announce “something for U” in the middle of January.

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"Nvidia has said that VR applications require between 10 – 25 percent extra power compared to regular monitors, so these kinds of specs in a wireless headset sound like the stuff of fantasy."

That badly worded comment really needs clarifying as it sounds like they meant that VR apps / games need +10-25% extra CPU / GPU overhead in addition to the resolution difference. It's pretty obvious 2x 4K @ 120Hz VR displays with 8x the pixels at double the frame-rate (a 16x increase in pixels per second) are going to need a lot more than "10-25% extra power" vs a regular 1080p / 60Hz monitor.

"2016 was supposed to be the year virtual reality became mainstream,"

It was? Says who? The only people over-hyping this are those selling it plus tech sites churning out over-enthusiastic reviews informercials vastly disproportionate to both observable sales and market share... Bottom line is - VR is still niche as hell, costs a fortune to do it properly, needs cables or dorky backpacks with rubbish battery life, has a poor showing of games that aren't obvious tech demo's with paper thin plot / gameplay, and is very much "early adopter" toys bought for the novelty factor. Even 1440p displays or 120Hz games aren't "mainstream" according to Steam Hardware Survey, so God knows why anyone thinks "dual-head 4K 120Hz" is what 2016 mainstream was "supposed" to be about.
 
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How nice. Considering I took no notice of either brand, I doubt much is going to change for me with their "new & improved" version.
 
They will never sell many with spec's like 2x4K that to normal folk can't afford the systems to run let alone the VR headset and I bet the wireless one will be half the price more drop the spec's of the headset and system to run it then the all important one the f**king PRICE by 2 thirds or VR will be dead in the water in the next 2 years ..
 
HTC is not announcing a Vive 2.

>“There is no truth to the rumor of launching Vive 2 at CES 2017,” the official statement from HTC reads. “At Vive, we are laser focused on building out a strong and growing ecosystem for current and future Vive owners so they can experience the best room-scale VR with the most compelling content available.”

http://uploadvr.com/no-vive-2-at-ces-htc-confirms/
 
Just like 3D TV's, this VR novelty will run it's course within the next 18 months and after that we'll all be saying, "remember when..."

It simply isn't ready for prime time yet and probably won't be for at least another decade.
 
Cost and content are two major roadblocks for most people who are interested in VR. While we certainly need higher resolution displays, considering the cost of the Vive being $800 I can imagine this second generation model being around $1,500 - $2,000. Even less people in this niche market are going to buy that. Now if they can somehow make it around the same price as the first gen Vive, then awesome... but lack of content is still the other big issue. Unfortunately most of the big names in the gaming business seem to have no interest in VR, which is a shame because there is a TON of potential there. Perhaps in another five years when the price of tech and manufacturing gets low enough that one could get into VR for less than $300 we will actually get into the mainstream.
 
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