Today, HTC Vive has launched its latest virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display, the Vive Cosmos. Originally revealed during CES 2019 in January, the new PC-based device is on sale now for £699 GBP/£699 USD. The headset will be compatible with the Vive Wireless Adapter but not just yet, with HTC Vive revealing support will come by the end of October.
The company states in a blog post that: “We’re fine-tuning performance of the Vive Wireless Adapter with Cosmos and are very close to releasing official support.” So new owners will need to wait a few weeks before they can untether from their PC’s.
If you happen to be upgrading from an original HTC Vive and have the adapter then you’ll need the Cosmos Compatibility Pack which features a new 21W power bank, the connection cable for Cosmos, and a new pad to attach to the headstrap. The pack will retail for $49.99 USD when it’s made available.
The 21W power bank is needed for a number of reasons: “Due to the new inside-out tracking on Cosmos and other features, the headset draws slightly more power than the current Vive Wireless Adapter battery can support, so this battery is needed to power this headset wirelessly. In addition, Vive Cosmos processes all the camera tracking data solely in the headset and never sends the visual tracking data to the PC. While this means we are securing user privacy in their play space, this approach results in a higher headset power consumption.” Currently, there’s no confirmation on how long the new battery will last, the previous version gave around 2.5 hours of gameplay.
The Vive Wireless Adapter works across all three HTC Vive headsets, with the original version retailing for $299.99, the HTC Vive Pro version from $359.99, while the Vive Cosmos doesn’t have a price just yet – it’ll probably be the most expensive.
Vive Cosmos features six cameras for inside-out tracking, a hinged front, a combined resolution of 2880×1770 (1440×1700 per-eye) using an LCD display, removable front faceplate to add further modifications and new wireless 6DoF controllers.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Vive Cosmos, reporting back with the latest updates.
via Mint VR