HTC Vive managed to beat Oculus in the race for the first consumer room-scale virtual reality headset. Vive came without much introduction and took the market by storm. Although it was more expensive than Oculus Rift, the freedom of movement that Vive offered was to many VR enthusiasts just too tempting to pass up. It wasn’t until last year that HTC was the only company that offered room-scale VR when Microsoft launched its Mixed Reality platform.
In this article, we’re going to give you a short history lesson on the development of HTC Vive followed by an in-depth review and a list of game titles you simply must try with this VR system. So, let’s start with a short history lesson.
The Rise Of HTC Vive
IT companies are always working on developing new devices that make our lives easier or offer us hours of entertainment. But rarely there happens to be a perfect storm of forward-thinking individuals, ideas, and events. The revival of VR technology is a product of one such perfect storms. Long before Vive was even a concept, Valve and HTC were interested in virtual reality. They were working separately on developing their own concepts of VR platforms.
However, John Carmack’s 2012 E3 presentation where he demoed Oculus Rift running Doom 3 BFG edition sparked a lot of interest in VR platforms. In August 2012, Palmer Lucky launched the Oculus Rift Kickstarter campaign, and it became the most successful crowdfunding campaign in history. Overnight, the Rift went from an interesting prototype to reality.
While Oculus Rift was receiving praise, other companies were working on their own solution. Valve was hard at work developing their own VR platform.
Early days of Valve VR
In 2012, Valve developed a system with a simple HMD, a camera, and a couple of AprilTags for positional tracking. AprilTags are similar to QR codes but are simpler and larger. AprilTags are commonly used in AR, camera calibration, and robotics. Valve wasn’t afraid of showing off their prototype, which is exactly what they did by showing it to journalists of the New York Times.
After they worked out tracking, Valve had to tackle the issue of providing a good enough resolution. The display was still quite blurry. Through extensive experimenting with different displays, Valve determined, that for gaming, a low persistence display was a must. This meant that they needed a display that turned on the backlight for one millisecond and then turning it off for nine, which would eliminate ghosting. So, the Valve team designed a custom board that outputs output high-frame-rate low-persistence images to any off the shelf AMOLED display.
These panels were then installed into oversized HMDs, and they continued testing.
The Valve team was very passionate about room-scale VR, they were still having issues with making it commercially viable and user-friendly. They specifically had issues with finding a good enough input solution.
Early Days Of HTC VR
HTC saw the great potential of VR technology, with Daniel O’Brien, the vice president of HTC, comparing the (then) current state of VR to the early days of smartphones.
Peter Chou, the CEO of HTC, wanted to branch out the business to other technologies that were opposite to smartphones. And so an advanced concept team was assembled, led by Claude Zellweger who was well known for working on the development of the One series of smartphones.
The team was tasked in designing a couple of different products, one of which was a periscope-like camera called the Re Grip. However, their biggest venture was the Vive. The Vive was originally named Re Vive, but the Re part of the name was eventually dropped as the development continued.
The development of the Vive gained even more steam when Peter Chou stepped down from his CEO position and took over the team.
The team explored both AR and VR, and after much consideration, decided to focus on the latter. While Samsung seized the opportunity with its GearVR, HTC quickly gave up on that idea as they were focusing on a ground-up solution. The team saw marrying your smartphone with a plastic helmet as a temporary solution. Instead, they approached this challenge as they approached smartphones: Get in early, and get in the high-end.
The Rift Between Oculus And Valve
By 2013, real-time tracking in VR became viable all thanks to Valve’s research and development. Although they had all the fundamentals fleshed out, Valve wasn’t interested in building its own VR system. And they didn’t have to. The people have already voted with their wallets in favor of Oculus Rift. And so, Valve announced that it would collaborate with the Oculus Team on real-time tracking in hopes of pushing PC VR systems even further.
Unfortunately, the collaboration between Valve and Oculus fell apart. No one can say what initiated this, some say they had differences in vision. Oculus Rift and HTC Vive certainly offer different experiences. It was also suggested that the communication between these companies came to a complete stop shortly after Oculus was bought by Facebook.
What can be said for certain is that in early 2014 Luckey was praising Valve’s concept and by late spring that same year, HTC and Valve were meeting to discuss their future collaboration. The details of this meeting are unknown, but it’s obvious it was a great success.
Valve and HTC – Together At Last
As soon as the representatives of HTC and Valve signed the agreement, work on the Developer Kit began.
The team worked at an unbelievable pace, installing a tag room in their offices in a week after the signing and immediately began brainstorming ideas of what the headset would look like. They went through a couple dozen iterations until they felt their vision was ready to be presented to Valve. Naturally, the early concept incorporated an early form of tracking.
Although Valve proved AprilTags were a viable solution to real-time tracking, Valve moved away from that idea shortly after the presentation to the New York Times. Instead of impractical AprilTag tracking system, a pair of alternate solutions were proposed.
The first solution was a dot tracking system. The system would utilize a stationary camera that would use computer vision to track strategically placed dots on the controllers and the headset and determine your position in the real world.
The second solution was laser tracking. Laser tracking would use sensors instead of dots on the headset and controllers, and a laser-emitting station. This type of real-time tracking offers the most accuracy, but to make it work on a room-scale, would put lots of constraints on the headset. The base station contains a couple of rapidly rotating emitters that send a beam across the room and LEDs that flash 60 times a second. The headset had sensors that detected the laser light and determined its position and orientation based on the gaps in time between the laser and the LEDs hitting each individual sensor. So, in order for laser tracking to work, the team had to develop a headset that featured a widespread of sensors pointing in many different directions.
HTC quickly decided that laser tracking is the most viable solution, and so they approached the Developer Edition pragmatically. Valve quickly cobbled up a working prototype of laser tracking, but it was very rough, looking more like a mess of wires than a high-tech device. This is where Zellweger’s team jumped in and started turning it into a product. They used 3D printing to speed up the prototyping process and determine the best positions for the sensors on the headset. They had to make the tracking perfect since that was the only thing separating them from their main competition, namely the Oculus Rift.
With tracking issues out of the way, they still had one last hurdle, that being the controllers. Valve’s early work on VR controllers was basic at best. Valve’s first VR controller more resembled unholy matrimony between a d20 die and a Steam Controller. The later versions of controllers that utilized laser tracking followed a similar path, combining an antenna-like sensor with a regular game controller. However, the team soon realized they needed to take a different approach to the design of a VR controller.
They didn’t want to make another A, B, X, Y controller. Instead, they wanted to design a controller that would work best for their vision of VR. So they came up with a design that resembled Sony Playstations Move controller but with the addition of precise input from Valve’s Steam trackpad as well as laser-tracking sensors.
The finished product was an elegantly designed controller that resembled a sombrero. The controller didn’t have a lot of buttons, and developers took issue with that. That is until they realized that they don’t need a dozen buttons to make their game work, they could use gestures instead.
Dev Kits
Less than six months after HTC and Valve started their collaboration, they were ready to share their vision with others. In late October of 2014, they invited a select group of developers to try out Vive. Valve used this meeting to gather lots of valuable feedback. Developers were adamant that HTC and Valve shouldn’t split the community. They proposed that they don’t offer the VR system in different flavors. There was to be no choice between 180-degree and 360-degree tracking, and most importantly, the product was not to be sold unbundled with controllers. They wanted one product, and one specification, which perfectly aligned with what Valve and HTC had in mind.
By late 2014, the first developer kits made their way to the developers. The first kits were hand made, delivered, and installed by Valve’s employees. Factory production went online in early 2015. The development of first VR titles began in 2015 and was famous for comradery between game studios. Developers would often call each other to discuss their mistakes and how to fix them.
Reveal of HTC Vive
With developers on board, the fast pace of the Vive project continued full steam ahead. HTC and Valve decided on MWC 2015 for the official reveal. The reveal was a complete success leaving many journalists impressed with its precise tracking capabilities and the design of the controller. Soon after the official reveal, the pre-orders were launched. Now HTC and Vive had to flesh out the product.
To flesh out the product, they did what they knew best, iterate. The headset and the controllers went through a dozen iterations that resulted in a system that was comfortable, responsive, and most importantly, fun to use.
The final version of the HTC Vive was much lighter than the dev kit, it had redesigned head straps for better comfort, the sensors were covered up, and it featured refined strap tightness mechanisms.
Aside from comfort improvements, the Vive had two additional features that were tacked on. Those are a front-facing camera and a microphone. The front-facing camera is a part of the Chaperone system that helps keep you safe and in touch with the real world. With a press of a button, you can switch from VR view to the view of the front-facing camera. The microphone is integrated so you can answer calls while using the headset.
And that brings us to the end of the story. The Vive became, and still is, the main competition to the Oculus Rift. Even though the HTC Vive Pro wasn’t well received as the Oculus Quest, it still garners a devout community and an ever-growing list of game titles.
Unboxing and Setup
The HTC Vive came unexpectedly and took the world by storm quickly earning the title of the main Oculus Rift alternative.
The main advantage Vive has over the Rift is the room-scale tracking. Oculus Rift is a stationary experience, you can’t translate your movement in real-world to the virtual world. The Vive long remained the only system that offered freedom of movement. Today you have a number of systems such as Microsoft’s Mixed Reality and Oculus Quest, but none of them are as precise as the HTC Vive.
So, let’s jump in and see how good this system is.
What You Get Out Of The Box
HTC vive requires some setup. It actually requires some time to set up, and this can be seen once you open the box. With Vive unwrapped and laid up for assembly, you will soon feel a bit overwhelmed. Here’s a full breakdown of what you get in the box:
- A Vive Headset (with pre-attached but detachable cables: HDMI, 12c Power, USB
- A Breakout box with inputs for 12v DC In, Mini Displayport, HDMI, and USB, and outputs to Vive headset for 12v DC, USB and HDMI
- An HDMI cable (Breakout to PC)
- A USB to USB (Breakout to PC)
- Two Lighthouse Laser Base Stations
- Two Steam VR Wireless Motion Controllers
- Two Micro USB to USB Cables (Controller Charging)
- Two USB Charging Plugs
- Two 12v DC Lighthouse base station power supplies
- A 12v DC for Breakout Box / Headset Power
- A ‘Narrow Face’ Headset Interface Cushion
- A pre-fitted ‘Wide Face’ Headset Interface Cushion
- Two Lighthouse Base station mounting brackets, rawl plugs and screws
- One Quick Start One-sheet
- – One Pair of HTC Ear-bud earphones
Setting Up
Despite the pile of hardware that greets you after unboxing your brand new HTC Vive, the cables and boxes are logical enough to assemble without any issues. Here’s a quick rundown of the steps you should take when setting up HTC Vive.
Step 1
For data, the Vive needs just a single USB 2.0 port to attach from your PC to the breakout box. For video, you need a single HDMI or mini-Displayport cable connected to the breakout box. All cables that are running from the breakout box to your PC are grey color-coded. Once you’re done connecting your PC with the breakout box, all that’s left is to hook up the 12v DC power supply with the box, and you’re done.
Step 2
Now take the cables leading from the headset and plug them into the appropriate ports on the breakout box. The cables are color-coded to orange so you won’t have problems with figuring out which cable goes where. Once you’ve plugged in the HDMI, USB, and DC cables into the breakout box, you should see the Vive’s headset power LED light-up red.
Step 3
Now you have to set up the Lighthouse base stations. We recommend you find an elevated position for both of the stations, and make sure they are positioned in the way they can both see most of the playspace and each other. You need to have a clear line of sight between the stations in order to wirelessly synchronize them. Alternatively, you can use a sync cable that is included in the box. Once you’ve set up the stations, hook them up with the power cables, and if they are in sight of each other they should light up green.
Step 4
With that done, it’s time to install the necessary software. The good news is that you’re already running the main component needed to run the VR experience behind the HTC Vive. That software is Valve’s Steam, specifically SteamVR. SteamVR provides you with a platform through which you will initiate mostly all your Vive experiences inside and outside VR.
If you launch Steam with Vive hooked up to the PC, it will prompt you to install SteamVR. Through SteamVR you will be able to install new and by new games, as well as configure the headset. Once everything is installed, you should see a VR icon in the top right of the Steam window. Press the button to start SteamVR.
Step 5
The final step includes setting up the playspace. This step is a little less straight-forward than the rest of the steps.
The process, thankfully, uses a clearly illustrated wizard. First, you’ll be asked to choose one of the tracking profiles: Room-Scale or Standing Only. If you choose Room-Scale you will initiate the physical room calibration steps. Room-scale is defined as a space over 2 by 1.5 meters.
You will have to pick up the controllers and point them at your PC’s monitor, then you’ll have to set them both on the ground for floor calibration. After you’re done with that, you will be prompted to define a playspace. You can do so by tracking boundaries with one of the SteamVR controllers. Despite the excellent coverage Lighthouses provide, this process pushes them to the limit, so don’t be surprised if it takes several tries to make it work properly.
Once you’re done, you will be presented with a map that represents the largest rectangular space that can fit the playspace you defined. Once you’ve confirmed everything, all games developed for the SteamVR platform will use the profile you set up in this step.
An In-Depth Look At HTC Vive
Now that we’ve shown you what you get out of the box and how to set up this VR system, let’s go over all the details that make it.
Features and Ergonomics
Despite not being a looker, the HTC Vive is an extremely comfortable piece of hardware. The cushion it comes with is sturdy and provides lots of padding. The head strap feels secure and supportive, allowing you to put on and remove the headset with relative ease. You can make adjustments via two Velcro straps, and an additional adjustable top strap.
Eye Relief and IPD Configuration
No two human beings are the same, and the same goes for the shape of our faces. Since VR strives to present the virtual world as naturally as possible, visuals are displayed in stereoscopic 3D, which is how we perceive reality.
In order to display a comfortable 3D image, the images for each eye must be presented at a distance that closely matches our interpupillary distance (the space between our eyes).
The HTC Vive features an adjustment option that physically moves the lenses and displays to match your IPD. You can adjust the IPD with a small dial on the right-hand side of the headset. Turning the dial will increase or decrease the distance between the lenses. The action itself is nice and precise, and you’re even presented with a view of the measurement inside the headset that tells you what IPD distance you’re setting in millimeters.
The eye relief feature moves the lens and displays further or closer to your eyes. To set the eye relief, all you have to do is pull and rotate two light grey dials located on the sides of the headset. Once you’ve found a satisfactory eye relief, push the dials in to lock the mechanism and you’re done!
Narrow or Wide Face?
The HTC Vive features removable face interfaces that are secured to the headset with Velcro.
Even though the interface padding stays firmly in place while you’re using the headset, you can easily remove it if you tug on it. This is also the only part of the headset that will require occasional cleaning since it is prone to collecting sweat.
Eyeglasses
For the most part, the HTC Vive offers plenty of space for eyeglass wearers. If you’re the type of person that prefers wearing eyeglasses with thick frames, you won’t have a fun time using HTC Vive.
Another thing you will have trouble with, no matter what type of glasses you wear, is the process of taking off the headset. You will soon find out that it’s impossible to take it off without it sucking up the eyeglasses from your face. This issue isn’t exclusive to HTC Vive, most VR systems on the market suffer from similar issues.
However, not many VR headsets offer the ability to adjust the eye relief. This setting is a boon to eyeglass wearers. You will be able to comfortably enjoy your VR experience with no undue discomfort such as nose bridge pressing down painfully.
Cables, Cables, Cables
Similar to the Oculus Rift, cables and interconnections are terminated at the top of the headset. A breakaway section reveals not only the ports for power supply, USB, and HDMI but also an auxiliary USB 3.0 port. Everything is neatly tucked away and easily accessible should you need to detach any of the cables.
Display and Specs
If you’ve been following the VR development closely, you will know that, apart from tracking and motion control, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are at a stalemate when it comes to the displays. Both headsets feature dual OLED displays with a resolution of 1080 by 1200 pixels for each eye, for a combined resolution of 2160 by 1200 pixels. Both displays run at 90 frames per second and together deliver the image in stereoscopic 3D.
When you first put on the headset, you will first notice how bright and vibrant Vive’s displays are. It can be uncomfortable to see fade-to-white transitions because of how bright the displays are.
OLED displays are best known for their contrast ratio, and this really helps make the scenes more vibrant. Unfortunately, OLED displays are also known for the ‘dirty screen’ effect. This effect usually occurs when displaying uniformly off-black scenes. To combat this issue, HTC integrated Mura Correction into the display. This helps a lot, but the effect can still be seen in dark scenes.
Screen door and pixel structure are visible, but unlike Oculus Rift, pixel density is good enough for the displays’ structure to melt into the experience seconds after you’ve put on the headset.
Lenses and Artifacts
Another thing Oculus Rift and HTC Vive share is their choice of lenses. Both products use Fresnel lenses, which are lightweight as well as compact but come with the disadvantage of causing artifacts to show.
The ridges on the lenses are quite visible, and if you focus on them, you will find them distracting in most scenarios. Thankfully, you will hardly notice them in practice, but there will be those moments when they become distracting.
The more distracting side effect of the Fresnel Lenses are the glare artifacts. Glare artifacts are caused by lens ridges scattering light. This effect occurs often, most commonly in high contrast scenes which, thanks to Vive’s bright OLED displays, is a regular thing. The worst thing is that you can’t do anything about it, aside from petitioning game studios to reduce the contrast in their game titles. However, once you’re fully immersed in a game, you will hardly notice the glares.
SteamVR Controllers
The Lighthouse tracking system is quite amazing, allowing for any peripheral integrated with photosensitive diodes to be brought to the virtual plane and tracked with 6 degrees of freedom with amazing accuracy. Vive’s full room-scale potential is unlocked when combined with the SteamVR controllers.
The controllers are quite large, especially when compared to Rift’s Touch controllers. With that said, the open design of SteamVR controllers means they are easy to pick up and use. The controllers are completely ambidextrous, meaning left-handed people are automatically taken care of, which is a plus in our book.
The controllers consist of the main body, with two digital grip buttons on either side, one analog trigger button, a trackpad, and Menu and System buttons located above and below the trackpad. Despite the comparatively large distance between the System and Menu buttons, shifting balance in your hand in order to reach them while in-game is quick and easy. The trackpad is very precise and also serves as a multi-point button, which can be configured for each application via the SteamVR.
Thanks to the Lighthouse tracking, you can put on the VR headset, find and pick up the controllers ease. It’s one of the magical moments with Vive when you connect with them as real objects mapped perfectly in VR.
The triggers are used by most applications as a means to grab objects in the virtual world, as well as a general action button. The triggers feature offer a perfect amount of travel for precise analog input, as well as a digital button once you’ve pressed it down fully. You will soon get used to the way the triggers work once you start playing around with the system.
The grip buttons are a nice addition. These buttons are used for gripping mechanics, which means you can use these buttons to hold a virtual gun or a tennis racket. They have a nice texture to them and are also perfectly placed to accommodate for most hand sizes.
The SteamVR controllers are wireless, with charging ports located at their base. Battery life is superb, offering more than 10 hours of gameplay when fully charged.
Audio
Besides good visuals, to have the best possible VR experience you also need good audio. Audio in VR isn’t just there to enhance the atmosphere, it is crucial to directing your attention to things that are out of your line of sight.
Unfortunately, HTC Vive doesn’t include integrated audio, and this is one of its biggest failings. However, the headset features a 3.5-millimeter jack that is compatible with any model, type of stereo headphones. A pair of earbud headphones are included with the HTC Vive, and they feature shortened chords to help avoid tangles. We are pleased to report that the audio quality of these headphones is more than serviceable, providing a decent enough bass and good imaging. They are also quite comfortable, although we found the only way to wear them comfortably is to feed them under your chin. Even though we are thankful HTC didn’t use the cheapest earphones, they offer little to no noise cancellation.
Thankfully, you are not bound to just the earphones you get with the headset. You can use your own earphones. We recommend you use a good pair of noise-canceling earbuds that offer a decent clarity of sound.
Conclusion
The HTC Vive is truly an amazing piece of hardware. It offers a freedom that you will rarely experience with other first-generation VR systems. Even though its display isn’t without fault, it’s more than serviceable for most VR experiences.
Although it’s pretty cumbersome and requires quite a bit of set up, it’s all worth once you fire up a game like Superhot VR.
We can’t recommend this product enough, especially now when you can get it at a heavily discounted price.
So, if you are looking for a VR experience with unprecedented precision and responsivity, look no further than the HTC Vive.
Now let’s go over the must-have game titles for this amazing piece of hardware.
Top 4 Best Games For HTC Vive
So, you’ve finally set up your brand new HTC Vive. You fired up the SteamVR, but too soon you’re overwhelmed with the sheer number of available game titles. Thanks to Steam’s minimum curation of content, you can easily make a mistake and purchase a game title that sucks. To spare you from buyer’s regret we’ve made a shortlist of the best games you can play with HTC Vive.
1. Superhot VR
Superhot VR is, without a doubt, the most instantly rewarding game to play in VR.
The PC version of the game was incredibly fun but, by bringing your whole body into this groundbreaking FPS, the developers have completely flipped this game on its head.
In SuperhotVR time moves only when you do. This means that when you stand still, the world around you stands still too. Each time you move your head or your arms, the game’s world comes to life making you a human video playback device. The goal of the game is to take care of dozens of baddies by shooting, slicing, and hitting them. The graphics are simple, yet tasteful and give the game a specific charm.
SuperhotVR is an experience in which you are aware of every inch of your body. It also makes you feel cool with every catch of a gun or toss of a ninja star. This game should definitely be the first game you try out with your HTC Vive.
2. Skyrim VR
When Skyrim came out, it was praised as one of the most immersive RPGs ever made. This can be also said for the VR port.
Although there are some quirks to the way this game plays in VR, it is all soon forgiven once you set foot in the magical world of Tamriel.
With hundreds of hours of content, the freedom to make the kind of character you want and a giant world to explore, Skyrim VR is the closest you can come to fulfilling every adventurer’s dream.
Thanks to superb mod support, you can have fun with this game until the day you die. Replacing dragons with Randy Savages never gets old!
3. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice VR Edition
Hellblade’s developer Ninja Theory may have been bought by Microsoft but that didn’t stop them from releasing one of 2018’s best game titles. You may be familiar with Hellblade’s intricately woven and incredibly tense exploration of mental health complete with stunning visuals and fantastic combat.
Hellblade VR Edition is all that but in VR. Ninja Theory pulled off the port perfectly, managing to mine fresh gold from the game’s most intimate moments. This game serves as a perfect example of how a polished VR port should look like.
4. Beat Saber
Not in a million years could we guess, with everything developers could do, the closest VR has gotten to a killer app is a rhythm action game with lightsabers. The concept might seem funny at first, but just one go on Beat Saber and you’ll understand why it became a best-seller. Beat Saber is an utterly entrancing experience that makes you feel like you’re a Shaolin blade master.
The game revolves around slashing notes that arrive on time with the beat. The concept is simple, but it’s incredibly fun and satisfying. A few minutes into the game, and you’ll be flailing around with controllers in hand trying to cut down the boxes that approach you with increasing speed.
The content is never ending since the game features a custom song editor and multiplayer support. Besides Superhot VR, Beat Saber is definitely one of the must-have VR game titles.
And that about does it. What do you think about HTC Vive? Do you own one? Are you thinking of getting one? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
Oculus Quest Review – A true Game-Changer
Best Free Mobile VR Games In 2019
