HTC VIVE Cosmos has launched - specs, reviews and impressions

[RuneSR2]

Moved this post from another thread - Cosmos deserves its own thread. And Cosmos is out - I kinda like the music, lol:

https://youtu.be/RmI8mLskRXs

https://youtu.be/5vkqM1hhs3A

$700 (includes free 12-month VIVEPORT Infinity membership,worth $99):
 

https://www.vive.com/us/product/cosmos/

So no phoneVR, but something much better:

Wireless Adapter

Untethered virtual reality is here. Remove cords from the equation. Move freely. Get powerful visual and audio transmission at 60GHz. Featuring Intel® WiGig technology. 
*Sold separately.

Thus untethered is still 90 Hz, but transmission is done at 60 GHz. 

And HTC did what Oculus failed to do - they've added support for external sensors too, this could be the most awesome tracking options ever made - this may also help HTC not getting a lot of criticism in case inside-out isn't working perfectly (like Rift-S in the beginning):

External Tracking Mod

Lighthouse tracking support. Combine the precision of Lighthouse tracking with the flexibility of VIVE Cosmos with this novel mod. Coming soon.

*External Tracking Mod sold separately.
*SteamVR™ compatible base stations and controllers sold separately.

Full specs:

Cosmos places itself between Rift-S and Index, probably a very smart move. You can upgrade the tracking to probably be better than Index, but you won't get the Index fov and refresh rates - and you won't get the Knuckles. 

Regarding the hardware Cosmos looks much better than Rift-S, but it's also nearly twice as expensive. And Oculus has a lot of exclusive content. Tracking and controllers may win greatly compared to Reverb, but of course Reverb still has the better res. 

Cosmos res is 33 % higher than Rift-S. And 6% higher than the Index. 

[DaftnDirect]

OmegaM4N said:

DaftnDirect said:

Very promising. I'm with you OmegaM4N , will need a good few trusted reviews before jumping to any conclusions but on paper the specs look reasonable for the price which is something I didn't expect to be saying for a device from HTC.

Having said that, I'm not in the market to upgrade just yet.

Well i was happy with the CV1 and was quite happy to keep it for the next few year or two before i looked at the Rift S, but after cablegate for the CV1, and with still no confirmation from Oculus either way, i am now seriously looking into replacing my beloved CV1 and just not take the chance of it becoming a £400 paperweight over the next year due to unforseen cable issues arising, i just feel like i don't want to take the chance at this stage.....plus the Cosmos might even lead to a drop in the Vive bundle, and we have OC6 in a few weeks, so i have a bit of breathing room to see what pans out....but from what i have seen, it does look impressive....this was not even on my radar until now, i thought it was a Quest clone. lol

Cablegate certainly has a lot of people excited in a bad way and I'm not going to get into that... only because it's covered very extensibly elsewhere on the forum.

I'm glad I upgraded to the S but it's taken a while to come to that conclusion. I was never really worried about inside-out tracking but the lack of headphones was a mistake and I've come to love my 5.1 speakers for VR... all over again. The screen and lenses were a joy from day one and I find the halo super comfortable, especially with my glasses. I feel for anyone with IPDs outside the optimal range though, so Oculus need to sort that out with the next headset.

Bottom line for me is performance, it's just fps's are great with all my games and apps with the S and my PC, so I'll probably only upgrade to a higher res headset when I upgrade my PC. I think, for me, GPS prices need to drop a tad before that happens.

[OmegaM4N]

^^You got a Titan X so i would have thought you would not need to upgrade until say the next millennium. lol

[nalex66]

snowdog said:

Whoever came up with the idea of the controllers not working with the headset when using Lighthouse tracking needs to be sacked tomorrow.

Unless you only play sims motion controls are a key part of VR gaming.

Now I perfectly understand that there'll be issues with the lights on the things but it can't be complicated to have both lights for the inside out tracking AND light sensors on the controllers. Switch off the lights when using Lighthouse base stations. Boom. Job done.

From looking at their web site, if you install the lighthouse mod, you're giving up on inside-out tracking completely--you replace the faceplate with a Vive face and lose the front* cameras, so you then have to switch to Vive wands or buy Index controllers.

*Edit: you lose the front top and bottom cameras. Probably passthrough view is retained with the Lighthouse face plate, but it's confirmed that you can't use the Cosmos controllers if you switch.

I think the whole "convert it to lighthouse" mod idea is a bit flaky--it's like they're saying "We don't have full confidence in our own tracking solution, so we're keeping the option to backpedal." If you're going with inside-out, commit to it and make it work well.

I'm sure it would be too expensive to build both tracking solutions into the controllers, so the whole lighthouse thing just doesn't make sense. The Touch-style controllers and the inside-out tracking are the features that set Cosmos apart from Vive.

[DaftnDirect]

OmegaM4N said:

^^You got a Titan X so i would have thought you would not need to upgrade until say the next millennium. lol

It's an old Titan mate I'm afraid, Maxwell generation, served me very well but I think it's equivalent to something between a 1070 and 1080 (definitely not ti). It's great for everything I through at it now but I know it would be pushing the limits with a higher res headset. Especially if the headset doesn't have the benefit of Oculus' ASW 2.

[hoppingbunny123]

https://youtu.be/hUpkVa4UkMg

https://www.engadget.com/2019/09/12/htc-vive-cosmos-hands-on/?utm_campaign=homepage&utm_medium=inter...

"

With the original Vive headset, for example, the blue whale in the well-known Wevr: TheBlu
demo looked huge and lifelike. With the Cosmos, however, it was much
more so, making the whole experience even more immersive. It really did
feel like the whale was right there next to me. I could see details I
didn't see before, like wrinkles around its eyes and warts and
imperfections on its skin. The colors also looked richer and more
saturated; the blue was deeper and the shadows were darker and more
nuanced.

"

"

When you flip the goggles up, the whole headset feels off-balance and
front-heavy, as if it was about to slip off. The HTC representative said
this was likely due to the slickness of my hair; the rear did not have
as much grip on my head. I hardly think people with straight, long hair
is a rarity, however, so I found this answer to be less than
satisfactory.

"

sounds fancy, i want one... owo

[Evileyes]

hoppingbunny123 said:

https://youtu.be/hUpkVa4UkMg

https://www.engadget.com/2019/09/12/htc-vive-cosmos-hands-on/?utm_campaign=homepage&utm_medium=inter...

"

With the original Vive headset, for example, the blue whale in the well-known Wevr: TheBlu
demo looked huge and lifelike. With the Cosmos, however, it was much
more so, making the whole experience even more immersive. It really did
feel like the whale was right there next to me. I could see details I
didn't see before, like wrinkles around its eyes and warts and
imperfections on its skin. The colors also looked richer and more
saturated; the blue was deeper and the shadows were darker and more
nuanced.

"

"

When you flip the goggles up, the whole headset feels off-balance and
front-heavy, as if it was about to slip off. The HTC representative said
this was likely due to the slickness of my hair; the rear did not have
as much grip on my head. I hardly think people with straight, long hair
is a rarity, however, so I found this answer to be less than
satisfactory.

"

sounds fancy, i want one... owo

That little tidbit might have sold me. I wish I didnt read it.

[RuneSR2]

hoppingbunny123 said:

"

With the original Vive headset, for example, the blue whale in the well-known Wevr: TheBlu
demo looked huge and lifelike. With the Cosmos, however, it was much
more so, making the whole experience even more immersive. It really did
feel like the whale was right there next to me. I could see details I
didn't see before, like wrinkles around its eyes and warts and
imperfections on its skin. The colors also looked richer and more
saturated; the blue was deeper and the shadows were darker and more
nuanced.

"

Hmm, sounds like the Index, but Cosmos will still be 90 hz scuba gear with the old fov - fun thing, a search for the word Index in current Cosmos hands-on reviews gave me nothing, so HTC said to the first reviewers "don't compare it to the Index"? Lol. 
Looking forward to some proper reviews, hopefully HTC won't have similar tracking problems like Rift-S in the beginning... 

[nalex66]

RoadtoVR and UploadVR both mentioned minor tracking issues with the controllers in their hands-on articles. I don't find that surprising--Oculus has been working on it for years and they still released with significant issues (that have thankfully been fixed since). I would be amazed if HTC had more reliable inside-out tracking than Oculus right out of the gate.

[nalex66]

Just saw on UploadVR that HTC has announced they're discontinuing the original Vive with the release of Cosmos.

[RuneSR2]

nalex66 said:

Just saw on UploadVR that HTC has announced they're discontinuing the original Vive with the release of Cosmos.

Kinda reminded me of a quote from a movie  :'( 

https://youtu.be/4L_3JrRSMQ4?t=32