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HTC's latest VR headset, Vive Cosmos, is at your fingertips. This week RV Road had a preview of the headset before its launch on October 3rd.
At a meeting at HTC's Vive office in San Francisco this week, I had the chance to work with the Vive Cosmos helmet. Although the headset is only a few weeks away from launch, it was actually the first time the press started using the device since its announcement in early 2019.
While HTC has released a Vive Pro at a corporate price in 2018, the company claims that Vive Cosmos is the first consumer-oriented follow-up to the original Vive launched in 2016. The virtual reality landscape has changed dramatically between the launch From the original Vive And now, and HTC hopes that Cosmos will restart the Vive experience with a better product and easier to use.
Perhaps the biggest change to Cosmos is its use of upstream tracking. The headset is equipped with six onboard cameras that detect the position of the headset and controllers. This avoids having to use the SteamVR Tracking base stations used with the original Vive and Vive Pro systems, which brings the headset closer to a plug-and-play experience without having to worry about it. it is necessary to configure external monitoring equipment.
However, HTC deliberately does not give up on external monitoring, as Oculus decided when it opted for end-to-end monitoring with the R-R. The Cosmos was built with a modular front plate, and the company plans to offer a SteamVR follow-up faceplate. It's great that customers have this choice, but unfortunately, the release of the module is expected in the first quarter of 2020. That said, I worked with the headset and its default tracking system.
In my time or so in the headset, the tracking of head-to-inside movements was very strong and on a par with Oculus Quest and Rift S (both of which also use motion tracking ). I will have to test the system in more difficult conditions to understand its robustness, but the initial impressions are good.
Manual tracking is another story. While the controller's tracking seemed solid overall, it was easy to spot instants of jitter (where the controller deviated one inch out of position before quickly returning to position) even when you moved the controllers slowly. That said, my first impressions are that controllers are still in the "better than PlayStation Move" category, which means that they will probably be acceptable for a wide range of games, but may pose a problem for some cases. More accurate use such as virtual reality modeling and games where controller occlusion is common.
I'm going to need more time with the controllers to get an accurate idea of their performance in the most challenging use cases and environments, although it's worth remembering that if tracking does reduce not the work of a particular user, they will be able to opt for controllers that instead use the SteamVR bar tracking system.
The controllers themselves look a lot like the Oculus touch controllers and move away from the capacitive touch pad of the Vive Magic Wand controllers to the benefit of a controller. They usually line them up with the Touch and Index controllers in terms of buttons and be a boon for developers who will no longer need to juggle different input schemes when designing their games). However, HTC did not want to make life too easy for developers and chose to introduce a "shoulder" button over the trigger that is not shared by any contemporary VR controller. Although the "grab" trigger is actually a button, it is much easier to stay depressed than the original Vive controller buttons and it must be comfortable enough for the "keep alive" paradigm shared by Touch controllers and Index.
As for the ergonomics of the controllers, the controllers of Cosmos are particularly heavy (probably due in part to the use of two AA batteries) and their center of gravity is mediocre. Although they are certainly usable and close to wider chopsticks, they do not feel as good in the hand as tactile controllers of similar shape.
On the visual side, Vive Cosmos gets a solid upgrade from the screen to 1,440 × 1,700 over the Vive's 1,080 × 1,280 screen. Like its contemporaries, Cosmos also switches from OLED to LCD, which offers the benefits of complete RGB subpixels for each pixel, reducing the Screen Threshold (SDE) effect compared to OLED, but also leads to a worse contrast ratio, which is most noticeable in dark scenes. The mosquito net door is not invisible, but it's a pretty big reduction compared to the original Vive. As for SDE, Cosmos is definitely in the same class as Index, Rift S and Vive Pro, and could barely have the advantage over this group (but I can not say for sure before I'm sure). have made comparisons by side).
Although HTC claims that Cosmos lenses are new and improved, they adopt the same Fresnel approach as the original Vive and Vive Pro models, which means they produce reflections and god rays in high-contrast situations. expected. Cited at 110 degrees diagonally, HTC says that Cosmos has the same field of vision as the original Vive, but in my eyes it actually looked a bit bigger (which may simply be due to the fact that the headset is not a big one). fits my face compared to the original).
In my time with the helmet, unfortunately, it does not seem that the new lenses have done much to improve the notoriously small "soft spot" (the lens area with maximum clarity) of the Vive helmets. Although an IPD setting means you can enter the appropriate distance between your eyes, you do not have to look far from the center of the lens to make the world blurry.
The issue of waiting points is aggravated by the poor ergonomics of the helmet. Cosmos is moving towards a halo type head mount that is quite similar to what we see on the Rift S (crank on the back for tightening and a top strap). Also like Rift S, the Cosmos head frame seems to offer you two mutually exclusive choices: comfort or clarity. When I first wear the headphones, I naturally compose the information to get the best view possible through the lenses. I was not slow to feel a strong pressure on my forehead and want to replace the helmet for better comfort.
Unfortunately, placing it in a more comfortable position tilted the visor of my face and, in doing so, opened a large space for the light at the bottom of the visor and simultaneously shifted my eyes out of the ideal place. clarity and field of vision). It would appear that the halo type head mount may depend on a particular head shape, the main problem being apparently the impossibility of rotating the visor with respect to the face, regardless of the mounting position of the head. On the positive side, Cosmos has a "flip-up" visor, which is nice to peek outside the headset without balancing awkwardly on your forehead.
It will take me longer with Cosmos to know if there is a magical position that allows for a satisfactory level of comfort and clarity at the same time, but my initial impressions did not leave me particularly optimistic. Your mileage may vary (depending on the shape of your head).
Cosmos also comes with built-in headphones by default. The headphones are very similar to those of the Vive Deluxe Audio Strap accessory for the original Vive. They have a similar sound, although I did not have the opportunity to get into an audio quality analysis. I've learned that headphones can be removed and an integrated 3.5mm headphone jack will allow users to use their own headphones if they wish.
With changes to monitoring, controller design, and a modular concept that can increase headset capabilities over time, HTC wants to revive the Vive experience with Cosmos. We will offer you a thorough in-depth review of Cosmos in the coming weeks, but leave us a comment in the comments below if you have questions about our practical overview.
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