HTC Vive Pro
The killer VR system _ at last!
PRICE Headset only, £666 (£799 inc VAT) from htc.com
Every new technology needs a tipping point before it explodes. In the case of virtual reality, we’ve been waiting for decades. So long, that many people - including several within PC Pro - have written it off. It may seem bizarre to herald the HTC Vive Pro as the breakthrough product, but at last we’ve seen what’s capable when hardware and software meet in the middle to create something genuinely great.
When I took delivery of the Vive Pro for an in-depth test – as I write these words, I’ve been living with it for two weeks – I didn’t have such amazing expectations. I’ve used the HTC Vive, played with the Oculus Rift through its various incarnations, and currently have three Windows Mixed Reality headsets sitting on a shelf behind me. They’ve all shown promise, but the Vive Pro – in cahoots with a slew of VR games – has taken me from a supporter of VR into a genuine fan.
So what’s new?
The reason my expectations were so low are simple: on paper, the Vive Pro doesn’t seem like such a huge upgrade on the Vive, Oculus Rift or Windows Mixed Reality. Who cares that the resolution per eye has been boosted to 1,400 x 1,600 – is that really so different to the 1,080 x 1,200 of the original Vive? After all, they both have a 110-degree field of view and 90Hz refresh rate.
The difference, it turns out, is huge. It’s all about clarity. It’s about reading instructions without thinking about it; about the obstacles hurtling your
way with added realism; about the world surrounding you looking smoother and more lifelike. I’m not suggesting you think that you’re in the real world, but this is the difference between Toy Story and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. For the duration of the game, you can suspend your disbelief. The other significant change is the integrated audio. Where the Vive relied on you plugging your own earphones or headphones into a 3.5mm jack, the Vive Pro includes an integrated set of headphones that you pull down and adjust to fit over your ears. These include 3D spatial audio for obvious reasons, but the biggest surprise was how well they blocked the outside world. There was one terrifying moment where I was immersed in a game and didn’t hear my son come into my office and call for my attention; when I felt a tap on my arm I was genuinely shocked. I could have avoided this by switching on the “conversation mode”, which uses an extra microphone to pick up sounds happening in the room. Or you can use this mic to enable noise cancellation in the headphones.
Heads up(grades)
HTC has also tweaked the design of the headset. This isn’t obvious from first glance, admittedly, where it looks like the only change is to its colour – it’s dark blue rather than dark grey. However, the Vive Pro is more comfortable thanks to HTC switching some of weight load from the front to the back. HTC has also made it much easier to adjust the headset, which is a relief when you’re having to fight your children to use it. Rather than having to fiddle with three straps, it’s now more like a bike helmet: you loosen the knob at the back, place it on your head, tighten it, and then make a final adjustment with a single strap that runs from the front to the back. This lifts the Vive Pro from the bridge of your nose. Having said all of that, it isn’t as comfortable as I would like. With my glasses on, I can feel the added pressure on my nose when I start playing. Once I’m in the games, all my other senses take over and I ignore it, but the pressure does still diminish the pleasure of using the Vive Pro.
What’s more surprising is that my three school-age children have no such worries. Had I allowed it, they would have been happy to keep playing for hours at a time.
Setup hurdles
If you already own an HTC Vive, installation is simplicity itself. Unplug your current HTC Vive headset, plug in the new one. (You’ll be delighted by the simplified cabling, too: where the Vive was connected by three wires to the link box, the Vive Pro requires only one.) If this is your first Vive, though, then you’ll need to go through a similar rigmarole as before.
The Vive system relies on two sensors that must be mounted diagonally opposite one another in your room, at approximately head height. I used two camera tripods to position mine, but you can mount them onto walls permanently using the supplied kits or plonk them on bookshelves and hope they work. Note that each one needs to be within 3m of a power socket.
These sensors connect wirelessly to a small link box, roughly the size of a Kit Kat, which plugs directly into your PC: one cord feeds into a USB 3 port, the other into a DisplayPort. Naturally, it also needs a power supply. Don’t forget that you’ll also need to keep the two wireless controllers charged too, but these only require a standard micro-USB cable.
HTC guides you through this process via its setup software, but it’s still a faff. There are a number of hurdles that can trip you up, from needing the latest firmware to downloading SteamVR to avoiding HTC’s efforts to sign you up to its Viveport subscription service (this works like Netflix, costing £8 per month but giving you access to a range of VR titles).
Fun times
But then we come to the good bit: the games. I stopped playing games on my PC almost two decades ago, but VR has sucked me back in. My current favourite is Beat Saber, which is a simple rhythm game where you have to scythe through approaching blocks – in the right direction, at the right time – and avoid obstacles. It’s simple, ridiculously enjoyable and gets the heart pumping. We’re also seeing more VR DLCs – that is, downloadable content – for “traditional” games. These are particularly powerful in stealth games such as Payday 2, where you have to pull off bank heists by avoiding guards. Some dedicated VR games employ a similar tactic, with the much-loved Budget Cuts being an obvious example. The key development over the past 18 months, though, is that the big games developers are now taking VR seriously. Two contrasting examples: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR for RPG fans, Fallout 4 VR for those who like a bit of post-apocalyptic fighting
“The key development over the past 18 months is that the big games developers are now taking virtual reality seriously”
(although note that the latter desperately needs an update to take advantage of the Vive Pro’s higher resolution). No matter which genre you favour, chances are that you will find a high-quality game developed by a big name, with more to come later this year.
The future is wireless
Nor is this the end for the Vive when it comes to hardware. HTC is already advertising a wireless adapter based on Intel’s WiGig technology, which means you can cut the cords entirely and roam around your VR environment freely. This begs two questions I can’t yet answer: how much will it cost and how long will the battery last? I can speculate, though, based on HTC’s own (more basic) TPCast, which costs £300 and lasts for around two hours. HTC’s marketing for the upcoming wireless adapter promises “long hours of VR freedom”, so I’m hoping for three to four hours and a more aggressive price. However, “hope” is the key word here, because HTC is already milking Vive customers for every cent.
Price to pay
There’s no clearer sign of this than the pricing structure of the Vive Pro itself. Existing Vive owners can upgrade to the Vive Pro for £799, which is for the headset only. I find that a staggering amount to ask when all you’re getting compared to the original is the upgraded resolution and headset design. Despite the many advances of this version over the existing Vive, which is still on sale at £499 for a system complete with controllers and sensors, if I was an existing Vive owner I’d wait for the price to come down before buying.
So what if you’re new to Vive? You’ll still need to buy the Vive Pro headset for £799, but also the Vive Accessory Starter Pack. This costs £480 on its own, but if you buy both at the same time then HTC will discount it to £249. That brings the total price to £1,048. There’s no way to sugarcoat that, although HTC does its best by suggesting you buy it on credit for around £48 per month over two years. This is too much money, especially when mixed reality headsets cost around £300 and you can invest in the Sony PlayStation 4 VR system for around £500 (including the console and VR headset). And don’t forget that Facebook must be feeling the pressure of the Vive Pro, meaning we would expect to see Oculus Rift 2 announced soon – even if its launch is more likely to be in 2019 than 2018. Despite this, I’m seriously tempted by the HTC Vive Pro. As is so often the case, you’re paying the price for being an early adopter, but this feels like an investment in a platform that’s going somewhere. Sure, you can wait a year for prices to fall and rival hardware to appear, but think of all those Beat Saber sessions you won’t have played in the meantime. If you love technology, you’ll love the HTC Vive Pro.
“You’re paying the price for being an early adopter, but this feels like an investment in a platform that’s going somewhere”