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$600 Valve Index Competitor - HP Reverb G2 Announced with 2160x2160 per Eye, Valve Audio/Lenses, Touch-like controllers, IPD Slider

DarthBuzzard

DarthBuzzard

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Jul 17, 2018
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Mr.Deadshot

Mr.Deadshot

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Oct 27, 2017
20,285
Good to see more headsets on the market. I am happy with my Quest for now and I am waiting for wireless options. But it's good to see that the market is moving.
 
bsigg

bsigg

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Oct 25, 2017
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For this year, HP, Valve, and Microsoft brought the following changes to Reverb G2:

  • Valve-designed lenses: Valve is bringing its expertise in VR lens making to the Reverb G2, delivering reduced mural, 2160 x 2160 LCD panels per eye at 90Hz. Text and textures are supposed to be more precise with a 114-degree field of view (FOV).
  • Manual IPD adjust: Users can now use a wheel to adjust the interpupillary distance (IPD).
  • Four-camera tracking: two new cameras on the side aide in motion detection and the two front-facing ones. This change gives 1.4x more movement capture over Reverb G1.
  • New controllers: New optimized button layout that more closely resembles a gaming controller. The design is more ergonomic, and is it supposed to be more natural and ergonomic. (Older controllers can be used with Reverb G2, but the new controllers are not backward compatible with Reverb G1.)
  • New headphones: Reverb G2 has built-in headphones like the previous model, but these are newly designed and sit 10mm off the ear for more comfort, making them "more spatial audio ready." HP claims they use its new spatial audio format "anchored in artificial intelligence, new signal processing, and psychoacoustics." The headphones are still removable, too, in case you want to use your own. Microphones are still built-in and unchanged.
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www.windowscentral.com

HP Reverb G2 brings four-camera tracking to its next-gen Windows Mixed Reality headset

Valve, Microsoft, and HP have teamed up to make the best Windows Mixed Reality headset ever. Here's why it's so great.
www.windowscentral.com www.windowscentral.com
 
Mechaplum

Mechaplum

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Oct 26, 2017
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As someone who owns G1, this is great news. Won't upgrade yet, as G1 has the same resolution. Maybe G3.
 
Skel1ingt0n

Skel1ingt0n

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Oct 28, 2017
8,714
I have a Valve Index, and plan to hold onto that until wireless is legit and works without a hitch or workarounds. Hoping for next year or two.

But this is really cool - I still think Valve's controllers are by far the best out there; but at $600, this is a great kit.
 
SunBroDave

SunBroDave

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Oct 25, 2017
13,135
No lighthouses needed? If so, this is very tempting for someone looking to jump into PCVR for the first time.
 

Deleted member 46489

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plagiarize said:
They increase the market of people they can sell software to.

Wait, that's not a catch.

This is like wondering why Microsoft work with other laptop vendors when they make their own.
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Yeah. Besides, Valve isn't really a hardware manufacturer. They've always preferred to work with other companies to produce hardware, whether it was Steam Machines or HTC Vive. Valve Index was more of a "Fine, I'll do it myself" from them since ultra high quality cabled headsets were missing from the market.

VR growth directly benefits Valve's main business, which is selling games (including VR games). Besides, the folks at Valve aren't suited executives who only care about money. Gabe Newell is a futurist. So he's happy to make choices that push VR into mainstream even if it comes at the cost of slight hardware competition.
 
Skel1ingt0n

Skel1ingt0n

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,714
signal said:
How's 90hz compared to others? I know Index is higher
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Just like on monitors, I've found the bump from 60->120hz to be huge; and can definitely tell a noticeable difference with 120 vs 90 on my Index. Anything past that, and as someone who is very particular, I don't really notice a big difference. But I'm a bit bummed this isn't 120.

THAT SAID - even on a 9900k + 2080 + 64GB, Half-Life Alyx rarely maintains 100+ FPS on max settings, anyway. It seems to hover around ~90-100 most the time in any combat.
 
Sleeping Lesson

Sleeping Lesson

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Oct 25, 2017
4,378
Skel1ingt0n said:
I have a Valve Index, and plan to hold onto that until wireless is legit and works without a hitch or workarounds. Hoping for next year or two.

But this is really cool - I still think Valve's controllers are by far the best out there; but at $600, this is a great kit.
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Yep for me, the Index Controllers are a bigger upgrade than the 4k displays very few people will be able to push. This is a great looking headset though.
 
Nzyme32

Nzyme32

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,245
loltna said:
So Valve codesigned their own VR competitor? What's the catch?
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OP has added the hyperbole.

Lots of great things about this hardware, best resolution, bringing in some of Valve's Index features, competitive with the mid end headset pricing.

This works out well for the PC VR marketplace. Grabbing the Vive users, and old gen WinMR users seems to be the actual goal, judging by their website comparison arrangement. Good for PC users with beefy systems now, and will scale well as the price goes down to remain relevant longer term compared to other headsets

vBSmQbE.png


Having the benefits of Index at half the price is also keeping it in line with the "gen 2" phrasing. Valve's lens, and BMR speakers, same IPD adjusting and seeming the same style and materials for the HMD strapping / adjustment system should make it extremely comfortable - one of the best parts of Index. So it's a great alternative.
 
plagiarize

plagiarize

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Oct 25, 2017
27,508
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snowhite said:
Yeah. Besides, Valve isn't really a hardware manufacturer. They've always preferred to work with other companies to produce hardware, whether it was Steam Machines or HTC Vive. Valve Index was more of a "Fine, I'll do it myself" from them since ultra high quality cabled headsets were missing from the market.

VR growth directly benefits Valve's main business, which is selling games (including VR games). Besides, the folks at Valve aren't suited executives who only care about money. Gabe Newell is a futurist. So he's happy to make choices that push VR into mainstream even if it comes at the cost of slight hardware competition.
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I look at the Index as a halo device Valve put out there to demonstrate what VR headsets should look like, not to try and dominate the market.
 
Bizzquik

Bizzquik

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Nov 5, 2017
1,503
Question: How is Revive these days?

I've been a day one Oculus Rift owner, but didn't jump at the 'S' because it didn't look like much of an upgrade. This headset here does, but I wonder about the experience of playing Oculus-purchased games on it. (The majority of my titles are now Steam, but Oculus exclusives are obviously on Oculus....and my early purchases were all Oculus.)
 
Alucardx23

Alucardx23

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Nov 8, 2017
4,711
DarthBuzzard said:
uploadvr.com

HP Reverb G2: 4K VR Headset With Valve Audio/Lenses, Touch-Like Controllers, & IPD Slider For $600

HP appears to be taking notes from both Valve and Facebook with its latest headset, the Reverb G2, featuring four outward-facing tracking cameras, Valve’s audio and lens technology and redesigned Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) controllers that look a lot more like Oculus Touch. Reverb G2 is...
uploadvr.com uploadvr.com

I know what my next headset is now.
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That RGB screen at that resolution must look incredible.
 
xyla

xyla

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,384
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Nzyme32 said:
OP has added the hyperbole.

Lots of great things about this hardware, best resolution, bringing in some of Valve's Index features, competitive with the mid end headset pricing.

This works out well for the PC VR marketplace. Grabbing the Vive users, and old gen WinMR users seems to be the actual goal, judging by their website comparison arrangement. Good for PC users with beefy systems now, and will scale well as the price goes down to remain relevant longer term compared to other headsets

vBSmQbE.png


Having the benefits of Index at half the price is also keeping it in line with the "gen 2" phrasing. Valve's lens, and BMR speakers, same IPD adjusting and seeming the same style and materials for the HMD strapping / adjustment system should make it extremely comfortable - one of the best parts of Index. So it's a great alternative.
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This looks pretty nice - as someone that just got an Index, I might sidegrade for inside out tracking. The lighthouses are a bit cumbersome. Even if that means loosing access to the index controllers, after Alyx, there's nothing on the horizon that uses them excessively atm.
 
1-D_FE

1-D_FE

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Oct 27, 2017
8,252
Didn't see this, I've been updating the other thread.

www8.hp.com

HP Reverb G2 VR Headset

The ultra-light, ultra-immersive HP Reverb G2 VR (Virtual Reality) headset delivers a more immersive, comfortable, and compatible experience. Learn more here.
www8.hp.com www8.hp.com

There's a wait list you can sign up for. Scheduled for fall release.

I've been on the Index wait list for 2.5 months (and still have "5 weeks or more). 99.99% certain I'll cancel it and just go with this for a new PCVR upgrade.
 
Nzyme32

Nzyme32

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,245
Bizzquik said:
Question: How is Revive these days?

I've been a day one Oculus Rift owner, but didn't jump at the 'S' because it didn't look like much of an upgrade. This headset here does, but I wonder about the experience of playing Oculus-purchased games on it. (The majority of my titles are now Steam, but Oculus exclusives are obviously on Oculus....and my early purchases were all Oculus.)
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I just started delving into Revive just for 2 Oculus games I had interest in and were on sale. Still works brilliantly, especially with SteamVR Input to mess with and get the perfect controls if they aren't there already.
Also love the Revive might as well be native when it's installed. It's just this nice integrated button in the dashboard for easy access, but doesn't get in the way of SteamVR stuff
 
1-D_FE

1-D_FE

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,252
Sebastian interviews claims less god-rays than Index. Not a double lens design. Single lens design from Valve.
 
DoradoWinston

DoradoWinston

Member
Apr 9, 2019
6,106
That is very tempting. Love my rift cv1 but a hardware upgrade plus removal of the cameras would be nice.

I'm curious about the controllers tho, my brother has an older Lenovo kit and the controllers are no where near as nice as the rift ones
 
Madjoki

Madjoki

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Oct 25, 2017
7,230
That looks like Index (but camera instead of lighthouses, I'd imagine this is where savings come from)

Price is really good tho.
 
HMD

HMD

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,300
1-D_FE said:
Didn't see this, I've been updating the other thread.

www8.hp.com

HP Reverb G2 VR Headset

The ultra-light, ultra-immersive HP Reverb G2 VR (Virtual Reality) headset delivers a more immersive, comfortable, and compatible experience. Learn more here.
www8.hp.com www8.hp.com

There's a wait list you can sign up for. Scheduled for fall release.

I've been on the Index wait list for 2.5 months (and still have "5 weeks or more). 99.99% certain I'll cancel it and just go with this for a new PCVR upgrade.
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Don't cancel, looking at the Valve Index subreddit, 5 weeks is basically as close as it gets before u get the order confirmation email.
 
Lazybob

Lazybob

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Oct 30, 2017
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Interesting. I have no reason to get since I have an Index but I will be interested in how the tracking works out with 4 cameras. This is the first WMR headset with more then 2 cameras, right?
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

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Oct 25, 2017
44,615
HMD said:
I was in... until I saw inside out tracking.
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Why? So much nicer than having a camera. Makes set-up sooooo much more easier.

Edit: Is there a way to play Oculus Store titles on a non-Oculus headset? That's my only worry getting this cause I'd want to sell my friend my Quest for cheap.
 
Fiddle

Fiddle

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Oct 31, 2017
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This is pretty disappointing after seeing the "No Compromises" slogan. Theres a fuckton of compromises, the tracking looks to be one of them, with only four cameras and none ontop of the headset. Only 90hz. Pretty awful and cheap looking controllers too. 4k per eye is the only great thing here, along with the Index's audio.
 
FSP

FSP

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Oct 25, 2017
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WMR rather than Steam VR? That's it dead as a VRChat headset, then. You get wireless on the Quest for $200 less and it'll still need to be manually synced to work with tracker addons.
 
Golvellius

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Dec 3, 2017
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Fiddle said:
This is pretty disappointing after seeing the "No Compromises" slogan. Theres a fuckton of compromises, the tracking looks to be one of them, with only four cameras and none ontop of the headset. Only 90hz. Pretty awful and cheap looking controllers too. 4k per eye is the only great thing here, along with the Index's audio.
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The great thing is having an inside-out tracking solution.
Having to place objects around me to enable positional tracking feels like technology from five years ago.
 
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