It’s been about three years since we met the HTC Vive Professional and it shook up the VR world. Now, we’re wanting on the HTC Vive Professional 2, the model’s newest entry within the PC VR market. And as soon as once more, the corporate is exhibiting favor to the enterprise market.
Whereas there’s nothing actually stopping players from utilizing the Vive Professional 2, the value level will undoubtedly deter many. At $799 (opens in new tab) for simply the headset or $1,399 for the entire package deal, you’d must be a devoted VR gamer with deep pockets to go for this resolution over different choices.
The Vive Professional 2 serves a particular objective, and sadly, that objective is to not be the perfect VR headset for gaming. As HTC has mentioned, the Vive Professional 2 is finest fitted to enterprise prospects. However even then, this headset serves a distinct segment inside the enterprise area of interest. Monitoring accuracy and the flexibility to usher in equipment are sometimes way more essential than visible high quality, and any headset with SteamVR monitoring offers you correct monitoring.
That mentioned, the Vive Professional 2 does ship a premium VR expertise general. The improve to shows with a 120 Hz refresh charge and almost the very best decision obtainable is good should you can overlook the value to get there. There are cases the place decision takes prime precedence, reminiscent of in product design the place minute particulars matter or simulations that contain interacting with advanced gear, reminiscent of an airplane cockpit. In these cases, the Vive Professional 2 is a significantly better choice than a regular Vive Professional.
HTC Vive Professional 2 Specs
Per-eye Decision | 2448 × 2448 |
Show Expertise | 2x RGB low persistence LCD |
Lens Expertise | Twin-element |
Refresh Fee | 90 Hz or 120 Hz |
Horizontal FOV | As much as 120 levels |
Interpupillary Distance (IPD) | 2.24 – 2.76 inches / 57-70mm |
Sensors | G-sensor, gyroscope, proximity, IPD |
Monitoring Expertise | SteamVR V2.0 (suitable with SteamVR 1.0 and a pair of.0 base stations) |
Cables | Proprietary cable (headset to Hyperlink Field), Hyperlink Xox cable, USB 3.0 cable, Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable, 18W 12V energy adapter |
Connectivity | USB-C, Bluetooth , dual-integrated microphones |
Audio | Hello-Res-certified headphones (detachable), high-impedance headphones assist (by way of USB-C analog sign) |
Weight (with out cable) | 1.9 kilos (855g) |
Meet the HTC Vive Professional 2
The Vive Professional 2 isn’t redesigned from the bottom up. HTC put most of its latest design efforts into the upcoming Focus 3, a standalone headset (doesn’t require a connection to a system). For the Vive Professional 2, HTC reused a lot of the previous design for the Vive Professional 2. The brand new headset shares the identical shell as the unique Vive Professional, in addition to the Vive Professional Eye and Vive Professional Safe (opens in new tab), which is designed for companies with excessive safety wants. The one distinction is within the exterior shade. You possibly can inform you’re taking a look at a Vive Professional 2 from the black housing that encases the visor and the contrasting blue accent across the entrance cameras and on the headstrap.
The Vive Professional 2 retains all of the options that Vive Professional customers have recognized since day one. The headset consists of the identical inflexible headstrap that got here with the unique Vive Professional, however the rear rigidity dial is up to date barely. The dial has a softer clicking sound than that of the unique Vive Professional. In any other case, the dial is an identical to what’s on the previous headset.
The Vive Professional 2 consists of built-in headphones which have multi-angle adjustment, so you may get the right match on your ears. The headphones are mounted to a 360-degree swivel. The arm they connect to has a vertical adjustment, and so they can flip out. Meaning you’ll be able to pull the audio system away out of your ears whenever you take the headset off, avoiding snagging. You’ll discover the amount and microphone mute buttons on the earcups.
The Vive Professional 2 additionally retains the attention reduction adjustment button and the IPD adjustment (extra on that within the subsequent part) dial, in addition to the twin monochrome cameras on the entrance that allow passthrough view. Sadly, HTC additionally retained the sub-par microphone from the unique Vive Professional headset. It could have been good to see an enchancment on that entrance.
The brand new headset even retains HTC’s Hyperlink Field system, which provides you a single proprietary cable that carries the ability, USB and DisplayPort alerts to the headset. The Hyperlink Field incorporates a Mini DisplayPort, USB 3.0 port, and a 12V barrel plug for energy. The brand new Hyperlink Field is suitable with the previous Vive Professional and HTC Vive Cosmos headsets, however the Vive Professional 2 is not going to operate with the older Hyperlink Bins.
Cables included are a proprietary knowledge cable from the headset to the Hyperlink Field, a Hyperlink Field cable, a USB cable, Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable and an 18w 12v energy adapter. The total package deal additionally consists of two 5W cost blocks, two Micro USB cables for charging the controllers.and two 30W 12V energy adaptors for the bottom stations.
The audio system within the Vive Professional 2 produce 3D sound that assist additional the immersion in VR experiences. However in comparison with the Valve Index, HP Reverb G2 or a Pimax headset with the proprietary DMAS headphones, the Vive Professional 2 doesn’t produce a lot bass.
HTC’s resolution to hold over the design of the unique Vive Professional could appear to be a lazy transfer, however we do not suppose it was a nasty transfer. The Vive Professional has all the time supplied good weight steadiness and luxury, and the Vive Professional 2 isn’t any completely different. We mentioned in our Vive Professional overview that HTC set an instance for consolation in an HMD with the unique Professional, and whereas the Index and the Reverb G2 could also be barely extra comfy, the distinction would not advantage the R&D funds essential to get nearer to perfection. The Vive Professional 2 is without doubt one of the extra comfy headset choices obtainable.
Upgraded Shows
The one actual improve that the Vive Professional 2 brings to the desk is a big step up in show decision and a brand new sort of lens, which allowed HTC to extend the horizontal subject of view (FOV) by a slight margin.
HTC says the headset gives a 120-degree FOV, which is 10 levels greater than the HTC Vive and authentic Vive Professional. The corporate is not fallacious when it says the FOV is wider, however that does not inform the entire story. The brand new form of the lenses within the Vive Professional 2 makes the form of the viewport slightly bit completely different than that of earlier Vive headsets, which alters the perceived FOV.
The brand new lenses provide you with extra horizontal FOV, however the lens form negatively impacts the vertical FoV. It is not considerably trimmed down in comparison with the Vive Professional, however should you’re used to the tall FOV that Valve’s Index gives, you will rapidly discover the distinction. The disparity is principally as a result of Valve rotating the Index screens vertically for a taller view. HTC’s shows have a fair pixel depend in each instructions, so you do not get the perceived top benefit.
With regards to the brand new lens sort dubbe dual-element lenses, implementation feels extra like an afterthought. The twin-element lenses have a considerably sq. form. HTC gave the lens housing a gentle redesign however largely retrofitted the brand new lenses into the area designed for the previous Fresnel lenses.
The brand new lenses are barely smaller than the previous design, which permits a broader IPD vary than earlier Vive fashions. The Vive Professional 2 helps 57-70mm IPD, with high quality adjustment to the decimal level.
As talked about, the Vive Professional 2 gives eye reduction adjustment just like the Vive and Vive Professional, however the brand new lenses protrude from the internal shell. So even whenever you deliver the lenses as near your eyes as attainable, you continue to get a little bit of a tunnel imaginative and prescient impact.
Changing the inventory foam with a skinny VRCover can deliver the lenses nearer to your eyes, leading to a gentle enhance in FOV in all instructions, however the depth of the lenses nonetheless provides it that tunnel feeling. One other difficulty with including a thinner cushion is the brand new lenses haven’t got a nostril cut-out, so individuals with slender pupil spacing could discover the lenses contact their nostril. Plus, the sting of the housing is comparatively sharp and may simply scrape your pores and skin.
No Extra AMOLED
The Vive Professional 2 consists of new excessive decision, excessive refresh charge RGB LCD panels. The brand new screens enhance the per-eye decision from 1440 x 1600 (2880 x 1600 whole) within the Vive Professional to 2448 x 2448 per eye (4896 x 2448 whole) within the Vive Professional 2. The elevated decision, coupled with the RGB subpixel panel, makes the thought of display door impact a factor of the previous.
RGB LCD panels typically have the numerous benefit of working at larger frequencies, and HTC’s new panels comply with swimsuit. The Vive Professional gives 90 Hz and 120 Hz modes, with the default configuration leaning in direction of the upper frequency to enhance efficiency. Usually talking, the upper the framerate, the higher your VR expertise will get when it comes to movement to photon response and diminished susceptibility to movement illness. The Vive Professional 2, just like the Valve Index and a number of other of Pimax’s headsets, means that you can crank up the refresh charge in case your finest graphics card can deal with it.
In case your pc would not have the ability to drive the headset at full decision, you’ll be able to nonetheless regulate the headset’s decision at 90 Hz to match your pc’s capabilities. The headset consists of companion software program, the place you’ll be able to management the panel decision and the refresh charge.
Wi-fi Suitable, However Not Actually
The Vive Professional 2 helps the HTC Vive Wi-fi Adapter. Nevertheless, with the wi-fi accent, you have to run the Vive Professional 2 at a decrease bandwidth configuration than even the bottom wired choice. Eradicating the tether forces the headset output to 2448 x 1224 at 90 Hz. HTC’s web site signifies {that a} firmware improve is within the works that can unlock Balanced mode over wi-fi, however on the time of testing, that replace has not but materialized.
The Vive Professional 2 requires the upgraded battery pack that HTC launched for the Vive Cosmos headset to run wirelessly. We had been in a position to flip the headset on with the battery from the unique Vive Wi-fi Equipment, however it didn’t keep on lengthy sufficient for us to run any exams. The battery dropped to a few of 4 bars inside a couple of minutes, and the sign promptly lower out, shutting the shows off.
Setup and Configuration of HTC Vive Professional 2
The setup course of for the Vive Professional 2 is comparatively easy although not as easy as the unique Vive Professional setup. Whereas the unique Vive Professional built-in straight with SteamVR and didn’t require extra software program, the Vive Professional 2, just like the Vive Cosmos, requires different software program from HTC to make it operate. The Vive Professional 2 software program setup installs HTC’s Viveport distribution platform, which you’ll opt-out of utilizing, however can not opt-out of putting in.
The setup additionally consists of the Vive Console software program, which provides you entry to the settings for the headset, reminiscent of decision and refresh charge. The software program has 5 show modes obtainable. Considerably annoyingly, HTC doesn’t help you configure the decision and refresh charge independently, and the pre-configured choices don’t help you use 120 Hz on all decision choices. The quick refresh charge is restricted to the very best and lowest decision choices.
Efficiency mode units the decision to 2448 x 1224 (decrease than the unique Vive Professional decision) and adjusts the refresh charge to 120 Hz. This mode would allow lower-end computer systems to drive a excessive framerate expertise with diminished picture high quality. Balanced (3264 x 1632), Excessive (3672 x 1636) and Extremely (4896 x 2448) function at 90 Hz. Because the title suggests, Excessive mode is essentially the most demanding choice, with the complete 5K decision and 120 Hz enabled.
However the decision settings in Vive Console are extra like options than exhausting settings. Regardless of the decision setting in Vive Console, SteamVR will select its personal decision, primarily based on the {hardware} in your pc. If Steam senses that your system is not as much as par, it should decrease the decision accordingly.
For instance, we examined the Vive Professional in Excessive mode and Extremely mode, which ought to give us 4896 x 2448 pixels at 120 Hz and 90 Hz, respectively. Nevertheless, with our RTX 2080, SteamVR’s 100% render goal for 90 Hz is 2138 x 2138, and for 120 Hz it drops to 1880 x 1880 per eye.
HTC Vive Professional 2 Picture High quality
When you’re coming from an authentic Vive, the Vive Professional 2 gives a big display improve, however it’s not as noticeable should you’re already working a Vive Professional or comparable headset.
Picture high quality is the first purpose to think about the Vive Professional 2. Throughout testing, the elevated decision made an enormous distinction in readability, permitting us to learn textual content or select high quality particulars in textures and 3D objects. The crispness of the Vive Professional 2 rivals headsets with the perfect picture high quality we’ve seen, together with the HP Reverb G2 and the Pimax 8K X. The Vive Professional 2 lands someplace between the Reverb G2 and the Pimax 8K X for most interesting visible constancy, with the G2 nonetheless holding that crown — that’s, in case your pc can drive the screens at their full decision.
If you should run the headset at decrease settings, you are not getting any of the benefits of the Vive Professional 2 and would probably be higher off with a Vive Professional or Valve Index.
The excessive decision RGB subpixel shows do wonders at hiding the gaps between pixels that often trigger the dreaded display door impact. If we seemed intently in some scenes, we might make out a faint dot sample, however we would have liked to exit of our approach to spot it. You wouldn’t discover an issue throughout regular use.
HTC could have beat the display door impact, however it has not vanquished each difficulty that plagued the unique Vive. Sadly, the brand new lenses don’t resolve the dreaded godray distortion impact. The godrays within the Vive Professional 2 are arguably worse than the unique Vive headset. When you’re taking a look at white textual content or objects on a black background, the distortion impact is distinguished, however it’s additionally seen in vibrant scenes, just like the SteamVR Dwelling setting. The refraction impact additionally works in reverse. In case you have any gentle leak from the bodily setting, it should refract off the lenses and have an effect on your view.
Godrays apart, the brand new lenses seem to have an outlined digital focal depth. When you get too near digital gadgets, the visuals begin to get barely hazy and out of focus. We discovered the sharpest photographs at roughly 1-2 ft away from the eyes.
The brand new lenses even have a really tight candy spot. If we didn’t dial the IPD in good and place the headset on the optimum top for our pupils, the screens received extremely blurry. The dramatic distortion makes it straightforward to establish the clearest place for you, however you will have a tough time seeing high quality particulars should you do not dial it in completely. While you line it up correctly, you will be greeted with distinctive picture high quality.
HTC Vive Professional 2 System Necessities
Header Cell – Column 0 | Full 5K decision @ 120 Hz | Minimal PC specification (3264×1632 @ 90Hz) |
---|---|---|
Processor | Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 1500 equal or better | Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 1500 equal or better |
Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 / AMD Radeon RX 5700 equal or better | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 480 equal or better |
RAM | 8GB or extra | 8GB or extra |
Video Out | DisplayPort 1.4 or larger (DSC required) | DisplayPort 1.2 or larger |
USB Ports | 1x USB 3.0 or newer | 1x USB 3.0* or newer |
OS | Home windows 10 | Home windows 10 |
Take a look at Setup
We put the HTC Vive Professional 2 to the take a look at on our devoted VR take a look at system, which consists of an Intel Core i7-8700K in an Asus Prime Z370-A, paired with two sticks of G.Talent Ripjawz DDR4-3600 RAM and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Version.
HTC says the Vive Professional 2 is suitable with any 2000-series or higher Nvidia GPU or 5000 sequence or higher from AMD as a result of the headset leverages show stream compression (DSC) to obtain the high-fidelity sign out of your pc. We advise focusing on the next finish GPU (if you may get your arms on one) as a result of our RTX 2080 wasn’t fairly highly effective sufficient to benefit from the full decision and framerate that the Professional 2 is supposed for.
We used Nvidia Sport Prepared Driver model 466.63, and the efficiency exams had been recorded on SteamVR model 1.17.12. Vive Console was up to date to model 2.0.17.0 (Beta).
As common, we examined the HMD with Beat Saber, Half-Life: Alyx, Pistol Whip and Shadow Legend VR. We captured our efficiency exams with the Vive Professional 2 configured in Extremely mode and Excessive mode.
We ran our efficiency exams with SteamVR’s 100% render worth, which might usually be near the precise panel decision. Nevertheless, SteamVR picked a a lot decrease render goal than the native decision. We additionally included exams at 150% render scale, which adjusts the pixel depend a lot nearer to the native decision. At 90 Hz, 150% gave us 2620 x 2620 per eye, and at 120 Hz, 150% gave us 2352 x 2352 per eye.
Supply By https://www.tomshardware.com/evaluations/htc-vive-pro-2-review