Vive Pre May Be All You're Getting Come April...

[willste]

https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/41n3mw/i_posted_insider_information_on_vive_a_month_ago/

As far as speculation goes, this post and the ensuing discussion really line up with what we are seeing from HTC, mainly the delay from 2015 winter launch window, then the awkward release of a new dev kit, only months away from a public release which we assumed would be a consumer model. And also the glorified pass through camera which may have been meant to do more.

The vagueness of their language about the release as leaves room for this speculation:

"We will be starting the new year by making an additional 7,000 units available to developers, followed by commercial availability in April 2016."

Notice, they don't actually say consumer model release. They seem to imply that the they will simply make the DK2 commercially available. Maybe this is how everyone understood this, but it seems like there was an assumption that the April shipping device would be a consumer product. When really there is no implication in their blog on HTC to suggest they are shipping any device this year that they wish to call a consumer product.
http://blog.htc.com/2015/12/htc-vive-update/

[j82k]

"Peejle" wrote:
My question is, will Gabe Newell and the gang at Valve stick with the Vive if it's inferior to and more expensive than the CV1? Newell is a techie at heart and I''d like to think he'd have the integrity not to push something he knows doesn't give the best experience unless it had the advantage of being much less expensive.

Peejle

Valve has been pushing room scale hard. There is no way they'll switch to a device that is very limited in that regard.

[Hiro_Protag0nist]

by andyring » Wed Dec 09, 2015 1:55 pm

Absolutely no surprises here.

I await the next announcement.


viewtopic.php?f=26&t=27881&p=308160&hilit=vive#p308160


And from as far back as March 2015:

To all those raving about the Vive, don't be surprised when it either doesn't come, or isn't as expected.

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=21333&p=254792&hilit=vive#p254792


However much even i want the Vive to be good - they're aiming very high - maybe too high?

[EarlGrey]

Problem is that htc is a smartphone company attempting to sink its teeth into VR. While Oculus is from start a VR company. There are no legacy or culture issues for Oculus, Oculus is focused on one thing as a thing.

htc's focus is unknown, although they claim VR is big for them nobody knows really the breadth or depth of their commitment to being a VR company... and no VR isn't just about making another smartphone with a skinned android os and hardware components ready-made wholesale in China. Just about anyone can make a smartphone today, so it's not remarkable.

What I'm surprised about is why htc simply didn't do a GearVR or some cardboard version for its smartphones? That'd make them maybe relevant again for little investment. And it'd make sense for them as a company to do.

I just don't believe htc can grow and cultivate VR in their company long-term. If Vive doesn't pan out, the shareholders will get frustrated, change the CEO, and the new CEO drops VR and moves onto different pastures.

While Oculus has more of a long term vision for VR, has built up R&D departments, has probably roadmaps for where to go, and isn't counting on a mega-success for the CV1. And also counting on Zuckerberg's deep pockets.

From my stand-point htc seems to be rushing, anxiously, to get a product to the market, and stumbling, which can sometimes happen if you rush too much. I never believed their promise of a December launch anyway, it was quite moronic of them to even promise it.

And if their engineering team consists of non-VR persons, who are maybe good engineers to make smartphones, then htc doesn't stand a chance. Does anyone know if htc has a VR R&D department? Who's their Abrash? What are their plans beyond the Vive consumer version 1? I doubt they have one. While I doubt Oculus wouldn't have one for themselves. And that's the stark difference between those two.

And add to the fact that htc was basically "given" this tech from Valve, handed off to them. They didn't make this tech themselves, they're trying to make it work properly and make it consumer friendly. Like everybody agree the lasers are cool, but was it up to htc engineers to do lasers or was it valve engineers? IMO if you don't have ownership (not legal ownership, I mean the engineers feeling like this is their child that they can grow and develop) of the tech then you can't develop it further or make changes to fundamental things.

I wouldn't be surprised this whole valve + htc vive thing just blew up because of non-delivery and Valve would just support the Rift and the Vive would be history like so many other things, like betamax.

[VizionVR]

"EarlGrey" wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised this whole valve + htc vive thing just blew up because of non-delivery and Valve would just support the Rift and the Vive would be history like so many other things, like betamax.

The Vive isn't going away. Granted, it's not really going anywhere at the moment (I kid), but it's definitely NOT going away. As far as Valve supporting the Rift, well...that was originally the plan, but Valve got shafted when their contributions to the Rift were sold to Facebook without knowledge nor consent, then to twist the knife Oculus hired away Valve's VR dev team with Facebook money.

But that's all in the distant past. Now we should support whatever device is best for us. I'm glad we'll have a choice.

[HiThere_]

The Vive HTC Pre was supposed to justify it's Premium price by competing against ~400$ worth of CV1 hardware.

Now that it's competing against ~600$ worth of CV1 hardware, it's become harder, not easier, to justify the Vive HTC Pre's still Premium price over the CV1 : Palmer Lucky did mention the CV1's 600$ price tag was "Obscenely Cheap".

So the Vive HTC Pre is still set to sell for a few hundred dollars more, at the entry level most users won't have more VR dedicated space available then the CV1 can track (with a second camera), and at the high end level enthusiasts can go for a treadmill to go beyond room scale tracking : The Vive HTC Pre is going to be a tight fit if it can't no longer justify it's Premium price by it's superior Headset quality, but only by it's ability to track bigger rooms then the CV1 can, if most users won't even be able to put that ability to use.

I don't see that as bad luck, as much as the HTC Vive Pre having better cornered the use (what users want), while the CV1 has better cornered the user (what they will be using the most in 2016, right down to including a remote control).

[StreetPreacher]

The Vive seems to be marketing the camera as some sort of game changing feature. I've been thinking though, wouldn't the Rift be able to provide a similar live feed of other objects or people in the room using the Tracking Camera?

Rift already has this wide angle IR camera, so I don't see why they couldn't use this to create a 'map' of the room showing any furniture or other obstacles?

Also, a bit OT, but would I be able to put IR markers on my Racing Steering Wheel, so that I can see where the wheel is when wearing the headset? I'd also like to be able to put IR markers on a chair or couch so that I can easily stand and find a place to sit back down without removing the headset. 🙂

[maxpare79]

The VIVE must not fail, it is now a too well know product, and it got too much attention at tech shows and by the media to fail... If HTC fails to deliver it will hurt VR in general... If HTC can't do it, Valve must take it back and continue with someone else or get HTC the help it needs to finish it properly. If they release a half finish product with shaky controllers people will consider VR a gimmicks at best... We should all root for HTC, if they have to push back the delivery again, just do it... I bought a CV1 but I definitely think there is a market for VIVE too. I was even thinking the other day how great the VIVE would be for engineering and architectural drawings...

[ThreeDeeVision]

I think the higher-than-expected cost of the Rift will only help HTC in the long run. It allows them to price the Vive comfortably and still compete with the Rift. If they can offer the entire system for under $1000, they will be able to directly compete with the Rift. People will gladly pay that little extra for a complete VR setup.

Content is still king and the real battle will be played out in the exclusive VR experiences.

[StreetPreacher]

"ThreeDeeVision" wrote:

Content is still king and the real battle will be played out in the exclusive VR experiences.

And this is what will kill the VR market before it begins...

[ThreeDeeVision]

"StreetPreacher" wrote:

"ThreeDeeVision" wrote:

Content is still king and the real battle will be played out in the exclusive VR experiences.

And this is what will kill the VR market before it begins...

Nothing can kill the VR market now, it is already here. HTC could very well die as a company before they get their VR solution off the ground, who knows. They are far from the only option now, and many people are ready for consumer VR.

One killer app is all Vive and Oculus needs to be popular. The popularity of said killer app will most likely decide who is the king of this new market. Many developers will support multiple HMD's, so we can use their software on whatever hardware we decide on.