Virtual reality freed from cables – Get started with a wireless HTC Vive
In 2016 we spent a lot of hours in virtual reality thanks to the release of the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Playstation VR and Google Daydream and therefore we have a good idea of what works and what doesn’t work well in VR. One of the things we learned is that the more interaction there is with the virtual world, the more impressive the experience. Good controllers that you can use in the VR world are therefore essential. A second thing we found out is that cables are just annoying; every time you have to step over a cable or get tangled up it takes you out of the vr experience.
Both points were confirmed once again when we visited HTC during CES to get started with new accessories for the Vive. In the demo setup, the Vive was linked to an add-on from TPCast, which provides a wireless connection. No more messing around with cables. In addition, we were introduced to the Vive Tracker, a small device that can be used to bring even more physical objects to the virtual space in addition to the controllers.
When HTC and TPcast announced the add-on last November, alarm bells immediately went off. After all, there is a good reason that the Vive and Oculus Rift are wired: a lot of data has to be pumped between the glasses and PC, and that must also be done with minimal delay because the tracking is otherwise not responsive enough. Bandwidth and latency are exactly where you lose out on wireless connections, so we started our demo session with some skepticism.
That skepticism disappeared like snow in the sun once we started playing. The demo we were presented with was quite hectic, with a lot of shooting enemies that had to be shot or dodged, so there wasn’t much time to quietly evaluate the latency of the head tracking. And maybe that says it all; we were so busy with the game that the tech faded into the background, including the connection between the Vive and the PC running the game.
Does that mean there is no additional latency at all? No, but TPCast itself talks about 2ms of extra latency, so low it’s hardly noticeable. What was striking is that the tracking occasionally faltered, which could very well have to do with the technique used to forward the images. The transmitter and receiver communicate on the 60GHz band, on which speeds of up to 7Gbit/s are possible. Such high frequencies are very difficult to penetrate solid objects. A direct line of sight is therefore very important. It could well be that with the amount of people standing around the demo room it was sporadically disrupted.
We naturally asked HTC why they did not immediately equip the Vive with a wireless transmitter, after all, the technology used has been available for a long time. The answer is simple: stability and cost. Given the already hefty price of the Vive and the small hitches in the tracking, this is understandable. In theory, these hitches could be solved by mounting the receiver as high as possible in the room.
The unit is powered by a battery pack that is best placed in a trouser pocket. TPCast comes with different variants, with the smallest being good for two hours of use and the larger stretching to five hours of gaming sessions.
More immersion thanks to the Vive Tracker
During the demo we were not only able to work with the TPCast module, we also got a plastic machine gun pushed into our hands halfway through. The rifle featured HTC’s new Vive Tracker module. This is basically the circular part of the Vive controller that houses all the tracking hardware, but without the handle. Developers can attach this to anything and everything, allowing you to use all sorts of objects in the virtual world. At the HTC stand we saw a baseball bat, gloves, pistols, a camera and so this machine gun.
In the beginning of the demo there were some problems and the machine gun was not shown in the right place. That problem solved itself, after which we were immediately sucked into the game. Shooting with a physical gun feels more realistic than with the normal Vive controllers, especially since this model was also equipped with force feedback . As a result, we felt the recoil against the shoulder with every shot. Of course not as extreme as with a real gun, but the physical confirmation of each shot made the experience a lot more impressive.
Another demo was not focused on gaming, but a training simulation for firefighters. Beforehand we were hoisted into a fireman’s suit that was equipped with electric heating elements to simulate the heat of the fire. A real fire hose nozzle was fitted with a Vive Tracker and some other electronics to make it usable in the virtual world. The hose itself was attached to a pulley, which simulated the pressure of the water by pulling the nozzle as soon as the lever was pulled and the virtual water started flowing.
It was a good demonstration of the fact that virtual reality can be used for much more than gaming. Especially the addition of the heat suit and the fact that we really had to brace ourselves before pulling the lever made it very impressive.
Technical choices
Although it is of course a very good thing that you can get more interaction in the VR world in this way in the future, we do wonder whether HTC chose the right technical design when making the Vive. Unlike the Oculus Rift, which works with two external camera sensors and infrared LEDs in the goggles and controllers, the Vive uses two infrared emitters in space, and infrared sensors on the goggles, controllers, and now the Tracker. That means that any thing you want to track needs to be equipped with this hefty accessory, which due to the presence of sensors, a battery and other hardware, probably won’t be cheap. HTC does not want to say what the Tracker will cost at this time,
The future: all together in the VR hall?
As technology journalists, we have it easy at a fair like CES, which is full of great VR demos. However, real consumers must first have an expensive PC, then buy VR glasses and then have to spend money for each new experience. This has not gone unnoticed by HTC and the company sees something in the idea of a VR arcade. Just like you used to go to an arcade to play Daytona USA in a car cockpit, for example, or just a game of Mortal Kombat, HTC hopes that VR halls will be launched all over the world in the coming years. In such a VR arcade, people could do something with VR for a relatively low price, just as they might already be doing with laser gaming, paintball or go-karting.
To encourage this, HTC is working on various initiatives to make starting such an arcade as easy as possible. One of these is Viveport Arcade, intended for operators of a VR arcade hall. It is an extension of the existing Viveport app store, which contains all kinds of different VR games and experiences. HTC acts here as a link between the operator and the developer. The operator pays HTC for the use of the VR software, and HTC then ensures that part of the money flows back to the developer. A system of ‘points’ is used that you purchase in advance and can then spend on software. HTC expects that thousands of such VR halls will be opened worldwide in 2017.
It is a smart idea, which has also been suggested several times. With add-ons such as the Tracker and the wireless module from TPCast, there is in any case a good technological basis to get these types of experience centers off the ground.