In depth stealth, HTC Vive virtual reality glasses experience
In depth stealth, HTC Vive virtual reality glasses experience

From WM to Android, HTC has always acted like a gambler, and has begun to bet on the next wave before the last wave has passed. Although it almost "gave up" its mobile phone business, which made many mobile phone users sad, it had to admit that its VR virtual reality field, which was wagered in advance, was about to harvest. Now, when we talk about VR, we will only think of two types: Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, and the other one.

HTC has begun to focus on game resources just after the hardware is available. It has set up four laboratories in San Francisco, Taipei, Beijing and Shenzhen Love to play computer games Just visited its VR application incubation center in Shenzhen, and had an in-depth experience of HTC Vive and the recently famous Sword Divine Domain homo game on Station B.


The incubation center is located in Weisheng Technology Building in Nanshan, Shenzhen, next to Tencent headquarters. HTC proudly packed the whole building and put down the logo of VIVE on the top of the building. Standing in the lobby of the building, we can feel that HTC, once an industry giant, is still there, but he has gone to other fields.

The VR application incubation laboratory is set up in the three floors of the building, which is near the top of the building, and requires a special work card to enter. Although it has just been established, it should be one of the four places with the largest number of HTC Vives on the earth except for production plants.


HTC Vive took the lead in selling Oculus Rift's retail version. Its national bank price is 6888. The package is quite large, with a 22 inch display on the front.


On the side of the package are the barcode and simple answer device parameters, dual 1080 * 1200 resolution, 90 Hz refresh rate AMOLED screens, which have become the basic threshold for real VR glasses.



In addition to the paired laser locators and remote controls, the packaging accessories include a large number of chargers and cables. It includes three power adapters with the same 18W output, and the line length is about 2m.



Because the number and length of wire rods are amazing, they are in a mess after being used once


Two laser locators placed diagonally are the key to accurate positioning of HTC Vive. Through the black panel on the front, you can see a very dense infrared light matrix inside. It is worth noting that the laser locator of the machine can support a diagonal line of 5 meters at most. As will be mentioned later, this will be a big limitation for actual use.


The HDMI, power and USB cables coming out of the HTC Vive glasses body need to be connected to the host through an adapter box, possibly due to power supply problems. The three wires themselves are made of sufficient materials and stick together side by side. When the machine is worn on the head or when walking, their sense of existence is very obvious.


There are many buttons set on the remote control: the direction button of the front prototype is also a touch pad, which has a setting button on the top, a pairing/power button on the bottom, a trigger on the back, and two buttons on both sides.


The remote control has a built-in 960mAh battery, and the bottom is a mirco USB interface for charging. There is really nothing to say about the feel, and it is very easy to hold. Although the battery life is very good, it is the only charging part on the vive. Occasionally, it is embarrassing to forget to charge in advance and lose power.


The left is the development version, and the right is the mass production version

There are slight differences between the two devices in the top cover, strap and bottom opening, but it is estimated that 99% of users are difficult to distinguish them.


There are many irregular holes on the fuselage for laser positioning, and it is still a bit difficult for phobic users to accept after watching it for so many times. There is a camera in the front of the machine. In developer mode, AR mode and real images can be superimposed, but the current games do not support it. In addition, if the camera angle is lower, the field of vision will be different from that of the naked eye.



The machine has a lot of sponge holes, which are very soft and collapsed, with thin straps and weak elasticity. The light blocking parts at the nose are simple soft rubber pieces. The material of these soft parts is not even as good as dozens of VR eyeglasses frames. The author is puzzled about this, perhaps to reduce weight? When using, the weight is scattered from the head bandage to the head, so the nose rest cannot be used. However, the author still has some light leaks when using, and can see part of the ground through it.

The lens area of the machine is amazing. Even if the gap in the nose is eaten, the overall area is still large. The Fresnel lens can be seen at a distance with obvious concentric circles. This design can significantly reduce the thickness and weight of the lens, but has little impact on the actual use. Now the high-end VR equipment has been equipped as standard.


The red box on the way is the laser locator and tripod (thank HTC's "Wu Model" for appearing)

When HTC Vive is used, two laser locators need to be placed diagonally, The retail version can only be placed at a distance of 5 meters at most, and the maximum is 3.5 meters * 3.5 meters square. After correction, they cannot be moved, otherwise the positioning of the machine will be affected. For users in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, such a large leisure space is really the highest cost.


Steam VR Control Procedure



Vive's own control software


Screenshot of the game

The machine can display the pictures in Vive on the screen in real time, which is very important for demonstration (at least screenshots can be taken). Because it runs on the PC platform, the way to open the game is to directly open the exe program. There is no threshold for operation, but you have to use the mouse.


user's experience

When actually playing, the handle will be rendered in the VR perspective, and will be produced one by one with the reality. It is no exaggeration to say that the handle is the most perfectly rendered and detailed virtual object in Vive. When you first see it, you will naturally look at, rotate, and shake the virtual handle. Watching the virtual world have a thing that responds to your actions in real time and is exactly the same as the real thing, it feels very wonderful. It will give you the pleasure of seeing new things for the first time and laughing from the bottom of your heart.

In the virtual world, when we approach the edge of the space enclosed by two laser emitters, there will be a green grid to remind us. However, in fact, a little running out of half a meter is also a response to a certain extent. However, after playing, I will soon feel that the space of 3.5 * 3.5 meters is too small. A few steps will bring me to the end. Without the help of a treadmill that supports 360 degree movement, movement will be the most unreal part in the VR world, and you have to rely on the handle for long-distance jumps.

The FOV (field of view) of HTC Vive is large enough to be close to the naked eye. In addition to the sense of urgency of the bandage and the weight of the machine when wearing it, the vision is very normal. The eyes do not have the pain of staring at the screen at close range, which is about to become "cross eyed". The eyes are relaxed. Its refresh rate and smoothness also make the machine play completely without dizziness. After more than half an hour of continuous wear, the stretch of the skin around the eye socket is the most obvious "side effect". Compared with a number of domestic VR, which is dizzy after ten minutes of wear, it will win several times.

Vive has a lot of archery, throwing and other projection games that highlight the accuracy of remote control. When pulling the bow, the remote control will have a grid of vibrations to simulate the taut state of the strings. The first contact has been a fake. When holding weapons, they are really fixed in space, and will not move a little with the rotation of the head. The effect is amazing. Both the angle of holding the bow and the angle of holding the arrow will really affect the trajectory of the arrow. The extremely real setting and response will virtually increase the difficulty of the game. Moreover, raising your hand to shoot arrows will not only win the second prize, but also make you very tired.

Although the game experience is amazing, there are still many slots on the whole machine, such as ubiquitous pixels, and some users with good eyesight can even see sub pixels. Although the problem will be ignored when moving, once there is a static picture, it can't help but tangle. In addition, the two remote controls are the players' weapons in the VR world. They can't really reflect the size of the remote controls. They often collide with each other when pulling the bow. For the same reason, the handle may often collide with the helmet. Considering the price of 6888 yuan, it's still heartbreaking.

The actual performance of HTC Vive will certainly be far beyond your expectations when you first contact it, and you will find many black technology surprises. But after playing for several hours, I calmed down and got used to it. In fact, Vive is not a magic machine. Yes, it can provide the most perfect civil VR virtual scene experience, which can be used to play games. However, this generation has cable and obvious space constraints, and VR game resources are still in the process of forming. The author's advice for the purchase of this early generation product is still: look again after fattening up

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Charles Fang
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