HTC Vive Exploration - Should you buy one?
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,672 words · ~8 min read
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on August 1st 2012 Oculus launched their groundbreaking Kickstarter project for
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the original Rift development kit 1 and changed the dialogue and the vision of
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future gaming ever since the majority of my personal excitement around gaming and
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computers has been focused on VR even
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just six or so months ago I'd say that the general excitement in the community
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was largely around Oculus and the rift
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but things started to change and in January of this year I posted a poll on
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Twitter and that poll resulted in a 50/50 vote between the rift and the HTC
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Vive out of a grand total of 3,400 is votes while the new poll I posted
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yesterday is overwhelmingly in favor of the Vive like 84% HTC Vive and 16%
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Oculus Rift after about 5100 is votes
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let's explore
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why Intel skull Canyon nuck features the sixth generation core i7 processor and
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Thunderbolt 3 learn more in the link in the video description down
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below now this isn't really a VI versus Rift Showdown but I'm going to preface
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it with some comparative information to at least lay some groundwork naturally
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the goal of VR devices is to give you an immersive experience to make you feel
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like you're a part of the game or the movie or whatever it is that you happen
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to be viewing or interacting with currently when comparing these two
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devices it's quite possible to look at it as a simple input output equation the
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rift doesn't require a lot of input the device shows up the setup is simple and
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Away you go it's a solid and rewarding experience that I would expect the vast
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majority of people to enjoy the Vive
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when fully utilized is a bit of a different story the setup requires
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forethought in regards to where the lighthouse sensors will be positioned if
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there is enough Headroom in order to swing the controllers around where the
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PC and your body will be positioned how
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you will manage the tether Etc it's also
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definitely not as comfortable or as lightweight what you get in return
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however is beyond a solid experience it's something to behold to say that
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being able to walk around and move your hands and have that translate to your
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character walking around and moving their hands in a virtual world was for
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me kind of a life-changing experience might not be the biggest exaggeration
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I've ever said this is a sensation that I have been eagerly awaiting for quite
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some time now but if you're a fan of this channel you've probably heard this
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from me before and I'm sure that you'd love to sit through me talking about how
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much I love VR for 10 minutes but let's hold off on that for a bit because I
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want to show you something better one of my favorite things about VR is sharing
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my enthusiasm with others enter Dennis
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and Nick
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what oh my
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God oh my God oh my
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God
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no
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you
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get so they were just playing a game called raw data from cios it's an alpha
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and definitely has some work to be done before it's a finished product but it's
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a hell of a lot of fun and even allows for co-op gameplay this seems like a
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pretty standard narrative for a lot of VR games right now even ones that are
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just more or less Tech demos can be tons
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of fun and a huge of them are still in Early Access although their prices don't
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necessarily reflect that and they've been taking a lot of flak for that fact
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I get it it's frustrating buying a rather expensive game that doesn't turn
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out to be this extensive project Masterpiece and I completely agree that
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especially for VR games there should really be an option to try demo but
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these guys have developed games and experiences for a very small audience
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and need to recoup costs so this is a time where I'll try to vote with my
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wallet and at least let them know that we do want VR games and it is worth
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developing them anyways moving on I'm not going to waste a ton of time going
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over the specific hardware specs of the screen and the sensors and whatnot this
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video has my rundown between the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive consumer versions from
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before they were released and only a couple things have changed first you're
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able to launch different games and control things through the headset
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because of the wonderful integration of steam VR you're even able to see your
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desktop and manage things easily this being combined with being able to
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activate the pass through camera in order to see your surroundings makes it
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so as long as it doesn't make you instantaneously nauseated that you don't
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have to take your headset off until you're done which is great for keeping
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things like grease smudges off the lenses and maintaining immersion next up
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you can use the dial on the side of the headset to control the ipd or inter
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pupilary distance settings and if you pop out the gray rings around the pivot
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Points for the head straps you can adjust the depth of the lenses as well
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this can be especially helpful for people who wear glasses and last is
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something that I was wrong about in my comparison video they included spare
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face foam in the Box in a slightly different size just in case you have a
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more narrow face structure I do hope that HTC makes Replacements available
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for purchase however as these are sure to sop up face sweat after a number of
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sessions playing something awesome like raw data so that's it the Vive is here
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and it's awesome should you buy one maybe not actually the $800 or
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$1,149 Canadian dollars that you would have to pay is quite the price and
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that's on top of having a high-end Enthusiast computer enough room in both
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the X and Y axes in order to move around
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and support the majority of games that you're going to want to play on the Vive
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the ability to properly place your Lighthouse sensors somewhere logical and
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the extra cash at the end of the day to
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essentially beta test most of the games that are out there that are just one or
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two steps Beyond a tech demo I am very happy with the experience that I'm
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having and I know a bunch of others that are as well and I'm sure a ton of you
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you are or would be but the Vive isn't
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necessarily something that I could recommend happily to everyone our
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artistic neighbor wants one so that he can make these amazing Creations in
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tiltbrush I've seen some of them they're great I recommended it to him but that's
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because he's a baller I just don't want people who are strapped for cash blowing
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the bank on this thing maybe wait till your local Tech Shop sets up a demo it's
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a lot of money it takes a lot of dedication in terms of space and
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planning and everything just make sure that it's the right purchase for you
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first wait wait wait okay I know you don't always watch the video ad part but
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this is important Silverstone makers of you know quality cases power supplies
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guys that we've been working with forever has finally decided to buy an ad
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spot on an LT video what could be important enough for them to do that
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these cables now we introduced these back at CES but they are now available
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on Amazon what could be interesting about a USB cable you might ask well
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they're really freaking cool they've got reversible a type connectors on the one
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side reversible micro b connectors on
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the other side it also comes in a lightning variety for the uh Apple
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inclined among you they're sleeved with nylon braiding they're 1 M long the
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connectors are constructed with an aluminum housing they feel really really
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nice and you will never screw up which way you are plugging in a cable again so
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for all the phone manufacturers out there that are not supporting USB type-c
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you don't have to wait to have a reversible connection on your phone
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they're affordable they're available on Amazon and it's at the link in the video
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description also silverstone's just a bunch of like really good guys so if you
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were going to buy a cable then you should check out their cable they're
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very nice people all right guys thank you for watching like this video if you
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liked it dislike it if you were like I hate VR and I hate you
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if you want to see more of our content get subscribed if you want a cool t-shirt like this this is new and stuff
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it's like silver there's gold ones I don't know take your pick check that out
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in the video description down below if you want to support us by using
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our Amazon affiliate code that's cool if you want to go to The Forum become a
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member there or even a contributor there that's cool as well check out this video
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which I did reference earlier but it's a good data point anyways is the
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comparison between the rift and the Vive pre-release please note that I made that
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video with the touch controllers in mind
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and they are not yet available for the rift that is a very important point