Author: Michael Crider / Source: howtogeek.com
We finally know when HTC’s new-and-improved Vive Pro VR headset is coming, and for how much. But what makes it better than the original Vive that debuted two years ago? Let’s break it down.
Higher Price
First, some very good news: the Vive Pro isn’t going to be significantly more expensive than the original Vive.
When it goes on sale on April 5th, it will cost $799 USD, the same price at which the Vive debuted. To lower stock of existing units, the original Vive is now on sale for $499 (a bit lower than its promotional price from last year). That makes the newer headset a considerable investment over the older one, but not an insurmountable one, especially if you already have the budget for high-end gaming. Remember, using either of these headsets requires a pretty beefy gaming PC, with at least a GTX 970 or better graphics card.There’s one big downside to anyone looking to get into the VR scene with the new Vive Pro: it doesn’t come with its own wireless controllers. In order to play games designed for motion controls (as opposed to an Xbox controller or standard keyboard and mouse), you’ll have to use the controllers from the original Vive or buy new ones. They go for a wallet-whomping $129.99 each on Amazon. The base stations, which allow more seamless 360-degree tracking, are also add-on. Those are $135 each.
All told, if you don’t already have the hardware in the original Vive bundle, it’ll cost you more than $1300 to get the full experience of the $500 model. That’s a real party foul, HTC.
Better Screens
Modern VR headsets are only possible thanks to tiny, dense high-resolution screens: they’re essential for keeping the illusion of immersion from breaking. The original Vive has a resolution of 1080×1200 in each eye, for a combined resolution of 2160×1200.
The new model will boost that considerably, up to 1440×1600 (2880×1600 combined). That’s not quite 4K, but it meets or beats most dedicated gaming monitors. The higher resolution helps to reduce the “screen door” effect of most VR headsets, where the user can differentiate individual pixels. The 90Hz refresh rate and AMOLED panels carry over from the previous generation.
What might be a bummer for some users, and subsequently dissuade them from an upgrade, is that the rather limited 110-degree field of view hasn’t been improved. To be fair, the competition from Oculus and Microsoft haven’t made big improvements here, either—a limited FOV seems to be one of the elements of the first few generations of VR headsets we can’t easily shake, like limited color palettes back in the NES days.
Better Connections
The original Vive used an HDMI cable for video, a USB 2.0 cable for audio, and a standard 3.5mm audio jack (with Bluetooth optional). The Vive Pro updates pretty much everything to standards with far greater bandwidth over USB-C 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.2. Audio will come over the data connection now, though Bluetooth is still supported.
The old design featured a microphone for multiplayer chatting, and so does the new one, but it includes an extra mic to enable noise cancellation on the built-in headset. There’s also “Conversation mode,” where the sounds of the surrounding room (like your significant other telling you to stop playing games) are allowed in on their own audio channel.
Speaking of audio, the built-in headphones now feature high-resolution and 3D spatial audio for better immersion. That’s an important upgrade, since the headset…
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