As more premium VR headsets arrive, HTC’s new Vive XR Elite looks to challenge Metin’s Quest Pro as one of the best standalone VR headsets.
HTC’s new Vive XR Elite headset: my first impressions of trying it out #brief
Let’s dive into the details of these two all-in-one solutions that can also connect to PCVR gaming PCs.
Screen resolution and clarity
One of the most important details in the design of a VR headset is the quality of the screen. The immersive experience is built on vivid colors and sharp details, delivered fast enough to reduce VR motion sickness.
HTC’s Vive XR Elite uses thin lenses like the Meta Quest Pro. This widens the “sweet spot” to provide much greater edge clarity compared to the typical Fresnel lenses found in older VR headsets. The Vive XR Elite also boasts a slightly higher resolution, at 1920 x 1920 pixels per eye, while the Quest Pro has a 1800 x 1920 resolution. That’s only a 6% difference, and you might not notice it. Similarly, the Vive XR Elite has a slightly wider field of view: 110 degrees versus the Quest Pro’s 106 degrees. Both phones also have a 90Hz refresh rate.
The Quest Pro’s mini-LED backlight provides 500 dimming zones to increase dynamic range, while the Vive XR Elite uses standard backlighting. The downside to mini-LED backlighting is the inevitable blooming in high-contrast scenes with fine details. In most cases, a higher dynamic range is desirable.
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HTC has given the Vive XR Elite a unique display feature that you may like if you are myopic. There is a diopter adjustment in front of each lens for each eye. By turning the dial, correction of up to 6 diopters is possible. This will make the glasses unnecessary for many users who would otherwise want to keep them on their headphones.
However, wearing glasses can be difficult with the Vive XR Elite if it’s outside of that range for both eyes, as it’s tight enough that there’s no room for glasses with headphones. The Quest Pro is a larger headset with plenty of room for glasses.
independent use
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HTC and Meta both have great app libraries. However, there’s no doubt that Meta’s Quest app store has more premium games and apps than HTC’s Viveport. The Vive XR Elite fills that gap with the PCVR option, while that’s just a bonus for Quest Pro owners.
HTC uses the venerable Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 processor, which has served as a standalone solution for nearly every popular VR headset since 2020. Meta has added a bit more power to the Quest Pro with the updated Snapdragon XR2+, which Meta claims has 50% performance. % better than the XR2 in Questa 2.
Given the Quest 2’s significant acceleration, it’s unclear if the Quest Pro will be noticeably faster than the Vive XR Elite.
The HTC Vive XR Elite has inside-out tracking for the earbuds that is similar to Meta’s Quest Pro. This means there’s no need to track base stations. However, the Meta takes the lead with its advanced Touch Pro controllers that also track themselves.
HTC uses drivers that have tracking rings that identify the headset. This works fine in most cases, but fails when your hands are out of sight or when one controller is blocked by another.
CPVR use
Both the Vive XR Elite and Quest Pro have the ability to connect to a desktop or laptop computer to handle more demanding tasks than the energy efficient integrated processors can handle. Both the HTC and the Meta support USB-C and Wi-Fi 6E for fast PC connectivity.
Since HTC has been making Vive headsets for PCVR for years, it should be relatively easy to connect to a Windows PC to play SteamVR games or draw from HTC PC games on the VivePort. Meta’s Quest Pro can be connected to a Windows PC and is one of the few VR headsets that is also compatible with a Mac. Meta creates a remote desktop app that can be used to display three virtual Mac screens in your productivity app. , Horizon Workrooms.
With a nice screen, good connectivity, and a PC with a fast GPU, VR gaming will look great on the Vive XR Elite and Quest Pro. It’s hard to go wrong with any VR headset here.
Eye and face tracking
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This is a feature that could make a world of difference depending on how you intend to use your VR headset. For online meetings, bringing your virtual self to life by animating your avatar with natural eyes and facial movements is a game-changing experience.
Meta includes eye and face tracking in its Meta Quest Pro, but HTC will sell it as a separate module for the Vive XR Elite in the future. For most VR gaming, browsing, viewing content, and independent VR work, this feature currently doesn’t have much value. In the future, eye tracking could be used as a quick way to select windows, buttons, and direct movement.
mixed reality
Our first impressions were that the HTC Vive XR Elite had severe distortions on the mixed reality screen, especially around the hands. This could be fixed in the final release, but it was present in the first demos during CES 2023.
Quest Pro also combines multiple camera views to create its mixed reality pass, but the error in the area between the eyes is minimal.
On the other hand, the Vive XR Elite’s pass-through resolution is higher, which addresses a common complaint among Questa Pro users. Meta didn’t share the resolution of its MR pass-through camera, but HTC’s 16MP seems to be. better, at least under the bright lights of your CES booth.
Meta allows you to map your surroundings, and the HTC has a built-in depth sensor to collect this data automatically. In either case, you’ll be alerted to physical obstacles, so you don’t need to view them through the walk-through camera when in VR. Although mixed reality will become increasingly important in the coming years, the need for this capability in virtual reality headsets is currently limited.
The most exciting mixed reality experiences will come with AR headsets planned for 2023, 2024, and beyond. However, it is nice to see when you are approached by friends, family, and co-workers. Also, there are several interesting VR games and apps that make good use of mixed reality, such as Demeusthat puts the virtual table game on your real table.
Which one should you buy?
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The HTC Vive XR Elite is quite similar to Meta’s Quest Pro in many ways. Although it costs $400 less, the Vive XR Elite doesn’t have many of the advanced tracking features of the Quest Pro, and HTC’s selection of standalone apps isn’t as extensive as Meta.
HTC Vive XR Elite is expected to arrive within the next two months. After a brief period of use at CES, we found it to be an interesting VR headset that challenges the Meta Quest Pro in some ways. It’s lighter at just 625 grams (compared to the Quest Pro’s 772 grams) and has hot-swappable batteries to reduce battery life concerns. The Vive XR Elite glasses mode is an interesting way to reduce the weight of the headset when used for productivity, reducing the weight of the headset to just 273 grams. It’s the most unique feature of the XR Elite yet.
We’ll need more time with HTC’s latest VR headset before making a final recommendation. For now, the HTC Vive XR Elite looks like a welcome and competitively priced alternative to the Quest Pro.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn