The virtual world is sharper

In three to four years is virtual reality (VR) is no longer visually from real can be distinguished: The estimated Atari founder Nolan Bushnell last summer. Half a year has passed since then, and a first reality check is: Still can clearly tell if you have a VR glasses on the head or not.

This will not change with a new Headset which was presented at the Tech trade show CES in Las Vegas. Vive Pro, the new model is, there is a revised and slightly lighter version of HTC’s Virtual Reality glasses Vive of 2016. On the market you should come in this quarter.

The crucial difference to the Vive, the new Dual-OLED-Display of the Vive Pro. The VR games and experiences are the same as for the previous model, you will have to land now, however, with a resolution of 2880 times by 1600 pixels on the screen inside the goggles (1440 times to 1600 per eye). For comparison: The Standard Vive and the Oculus Rift offer 2160 1200 pixels, with two glasses a pixel was raster sometimes clearly perceptible.

Sharper, but not dramatically better

HTC’s eyeglasses-Upgrade now to set the standards – and indeed the VR world with the new Headset sharper. But also part of the truth: Really thrilled with my first two-Vive-Pro-Demos don’t have me, of the higher pixel density, in Spite of. At the end, above all, the application itself must draw your attention.

In a virtual Garage anyway, which is inspired by the soon to a cinema’s upcoming novel, a film adaptation of “Ready Player One”, it was always clear that I’m looking at a Display. There was a similar situation to me in the Multiplayer-Shooter “Evasion”, which is still in the development. The Vive Pro is the first impression to a step, but not so large that you would have to exchange his previous Headset immediately.

VR enthusiasts, the ever 900 Euro or 700 euros – as the price of the Glasses currently – for a Vive have issued, first of all, by the way, the main target group. Will appear in the Vive Pro, therefore, for the time being, without base stations and controllers. So you have to have everything except for the glasses already at home.

The price is still unknown

What is the new Headset will cost, not HTC betrayed, first of all, a bargain it is. The company positioned the Pro model as a Premium product for people who want to have the best VR experience. Similar to last year, has tumbled Microsoft for the Xbox One X, to be refurbished Xbox-One model that can, in Essence, what is the Original, only better.

A rotary Knob, with its headquarters can be significantly more convenient to set on the back of the glasses now. Such convenience functions are little things, but practical, especially if the Vive is about attracted to measure, in VR Arcades or in a Museum by many people one after the other.

Recently, I visited about Jan böhm’s düsseldorf “Germany every day”-exhibition in which you can test by Vive virtual attraction of him and his Team devised the “Kingdom Park”. An entertaining experience, but in the absence of auxiliary staff of some of the exhibition visitors failed to put on and Adjust the headset. Self-explanatory, so have a VR glasses for laymen is, in fact, not necessarily, especially when the cable salad with attached headphones.

The Vive Pro would have helped, perhaps, By the new wheel is lightweight and normal goggles fit better under the Headset. In addition, the cable salad was defused a Problem, because the new model has built-in headphones, even tidy the ambient noise suppression.

Wirelessly costs extra

The field of view of the Vive Pro, however, seems to be, unfortunately, with the normal Vive identical and not larger. Also, the biggest problem remains the same, unless you buy additional accessories to: The Pro-model is connected as usual, by default, on a long cable with a PC – a dangerous tripping hazard, or at least an unnecessary distraction. As a solution to this problem, the Vive-makers in Las Vegas have presented a Wireless Adapter for the glasses, that is similar to that already in use by the company TPCast.

The HTC is not yet bepreiste Adapter is connected to the Vive or Vive Pro, it can be as long as the Adapter-battery holds out, without the hassle of cable to use. This should be welcome, especially to artists and company, the VR-experiences in larger rooms to create.

For those Vive buyer, a third HTC’s announcement is perhaps interesting: Soon new Vive base stations are coming on the market, with which VR game fields of up to ten times ten meters in size on the roadside. The truly something for professional users, with lots of money and, above all, a lot of space.