TPCast Wireless Add-in for Vive launches soon for 299USD

[redteam4ever]

This add-in was already discussed in the news section, but now it's launching and there is a brief review published. I'm not really into VR - I tried Vive for a couple of hours in a local VR arena and I have to say, that the cable is really annoying and the screen resolution is too low for my taste. It looks like that in this headset generation at least one of my concerns might get solved.

 

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The TPCast wireless kit includes a transmitter module that plugs into your computer and a receiver module that mounts to the top of the Vive headset and plugs in where the data cable would normally go. You also get one TPCast Power Box battery that provides up to five hours of continuous use between charges.

 

The Tom's hardware article is unclear on launch dates, but it appears that this add-in is launching in the US on 25th September (Microsoft Store). Price is 299$, but that product page has no useful info other than the release date (after adding it to the cart).

Spoiler

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The first round of TPCast kits sold  for the equivalent of $220, which seemed like a reasonable price to pay to remove the biggest nuisance from your VR HMD. However, TPCast appears to have increased the price for the European launch, which doesn’t bode well for the U.S. release. You can pre-order the TPCast kit from a handful of retailers in Europe, including Digitec.ch in Switzerland, and Webhallen.com in Sweden. Digitec.ch sells the kit for €379, and Webhallen.com sells the kit for 3490 kr. Those prices convert to roughly $440, which is twice the price of the original batch.

I would like to add that my local reseller in Slovakia - Alza.sk/Alzashop.com (Alzashop is their effort to go international) - has it listed for preorder for 447€. Expected shipping date is 21st September.

Spoiler

This picture shows the expected shipping date ("Očakávame 21.9.2017"). You can see a different price here - this is the Slovak version of their page and since I'm signed in, I see the discounted student prices. Also the prices between Alza.sk (490€ when signed out) and Alzashop.com (447.76€) are different.

All kinds of useful info can be found in this article at Tom's hardware.

 

What is more useful is a brief review posted on a website uploadvr.com. The things that matter, of course, are the picture quality and latency:

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...the visual fidelity of the transmitter did not disappoint. After many hours of usage I never noticed any bit of latency, which is a cardinal sin of VR. We played games with tons of particles, turned up settings to max, and upped the super sampling rate to 2.0, and did not notice any bitrate or compression issues on the image. We will of course put the caveat out there that we still have not done a straight A/B test where we ask someone to try and identify whether the headset is wireless or wired based on the visual fidelity alone.

This is a good sign. The lack of A/B testing worries me a bit, but if the latency was terrible, they would notice. For more info, visit the article.

 

And one interesting tidbit for the end of the post. The F.A.Q. section reveals that the battery supports hot-plugging:

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Can it be hot-plugged to change power portable supply directly during playing game?

Yes. But abnormal prompt will pop up on Wireless connection assistant for VIVE after changed power portable supply. Please select “Wait to restore”, and waiting about 2 minutes, system will restore connection automatically

 

So, what do you think? I think that it's great to see some progress, but we'll need to wait for more thorough reviews and see how well it performs and what the final price will be. For now, even 299$ is too much when you add it to the cost of the PC and headset.

 

This is also an opportunity for @Slick to appear in front of the camera. I think that this is a good review material. (PRESS CONTACT)

[sazrocks]

I'm still waiting for 3rd Gen VR.

 

At that point they will most likely have lowered costs, improved resolution, improved refresh rates, and improved usability.

[BingoFishy]

I wonder if this will be built into the next gen VR headset (Vive 2?)

[Shiv78]

22 minutes ago, redteam4ever said:

 

This is also an opportunity for @Slick to appear in front of the camera

where did he go haven't seen him in so long

[redteam4ever]

3 minutes ago, BingoFishy said:

I wonder if this will be built into the next gen VR headset (Vive 2?)

This company seems to be supported by HTC, so that might be the plan.

[redteam4ever]

Just now, Shiv78 said:

where did he go haven't seen him in so long

 

He's busy building Floatplane, but he said that he will appear in the videos occasionally.

[Shiv78]

13 minutes ago, redteam4ever said:

he said that he will appear in the videos occasionally.

well he hasn't > : o

[unsubscribed]

I'll get one integrated into VR headset when it'll cost that much all in with a decent game bundle.

As much as I love VR there are lots to be desired. For one, why doe noone realise that the way at least for now to play all content in VR is to have cinema like screen with room that you design yourself and sit in. As for motion sickness just play on big screen and when you want to take all glory in stop, press a button, be taken into complete VR, look around and then zoom back out into the room for action. You could play any game like this. VR problem solved. Steam? Hope you are listening. HTC and Facebook - you too. Microsoft, just work with them will you?

[redteam4ever]

5 minutes ago, edsdrafts said:

to have cinema like screen with room that you design yourself and sit in. As for motion sickness just play on big screen and when you want to take all glory in stop, press a button, be taken into complete VR, look around and then zoom back out into the room for action.

That wouldn't be more expensive than a headset at all When you make VR an option, I don't think that the level of immersion in the experience would allow you to even think about switching the modes (let's suppose that VR apps are more refined than now). The point of the headset is replacing your entire field of vision - unless the room would be the perfect sphere, I don't think that would work (or work better than a headset).

[unsubscribed]

1 hour ago, redteam4ever said:

That wouldn't be more expensive than a headset at all When you make VR an option, I don't think that the level of immersion in the experience would allow you to even think about switching the modes (let's suppose that VR apps are more refined than now). The point of the headset is replacing your entire field of vision - unless the room would be the perfect sphere, I don't think that would work (or work better than a headset).

I might have made a mess of my explanation but what I imagine is pretty much jumping into the screen. You play a game in VR room on theatre like screen (obviously in better resolution that we have now, maybe 4k per eye or so) and then as you decide to go full VR into the game, hit the button or do a hand motion etc. and literally get dragged right into the screen (some transition effect). Do your stuff in VR such as solving puzzles, looking around, whatever is the need in the game and then snap out back into comfort of the VR room.

 

Not everyone hardcore run and gun playing Doom in VR and laughing. Some people simply find VR scary but not necessarily want not to enjoy it overall. Such approach would for one let them enjoy their favorite game without shelling 1k+ on decent screen and also let everyone enjoy VR when they need and want to, not either 100% off or on approach that we see now. Going forward this would also give developers some data on how, where and when the masses switch from 3D to VR if you will.

 

Edit: I imagine this more of a seated experience and as time goes on maybe some sort of VR chair representing real world one so you could stand up and do your ninja stuff as needed without face planting. Need some sort of AR to track surroundings, VR tracking is good enough for consumer applications in my opinion (I have HTV Vive in mind here).

[redteam4ever]

1 hour ago, edsdrafts said:

Not everyone hardcore run and gun playing Doom in VR and laughing.

That's me, lol I played Escape the Space Station VR on Vive and if I leave out that it was very unfinished that it didn't even have any kind of menu (oh, and I couldn't get to the second part of the ship because the door glitched), it was a pretty good experience. I'm still not sold on the switching thing, though, maybe if it was automatic - like when doing puzzles that are right in front of you and nothing is going on around you? But it's an interesting idea.

[ZimFreak]

On 9/5/2017 at 6:29 PM, sazrocks said:

I'm still waiting for 3rd Gen VR.

 

At that point they will most likely have lowered costs, improved resolution, improved refresh rates, and improved usability.

Everyone's talking about 2nd gen but this just made me so excited for the future. ~10 years from now we will have 4k+ displays, all wireless, probably whole body tracking, eye tracking, feather-light HMD's etc etc... Possibly even haptic feedback in a pair of gloves that would stop your hand irl if you touch an object in game.