HTC VIVE is meeting the promise of wireless premium VR with the official announcement and pre-order of the Vive Wireless Adapter. The adapter frees VR users from the tether back to their PC, while maintaining the performance requirements for premium VR on both the HTC Vive and Vive Pro. Pre-order starts Sept. 5. For customers in the UK, pre-orders will be available at Overclockers, Scan and Vive.com.
The Vive Wireless Adapter retails for £299. The base adapter works with both Vive and Vive Pro, however, Vive Pro owners will need an additional compatibility pack with a unique connection cable for the Vive Pro, as well as foam padding and an attachment device unique to Vive Pro. The package retails for £65.
“Since the launch of Vive, we have been figuring out how to bring a wireless experience to premium VR and it has also been a request from our consumers and enterprise customers,” said Paul Brown, GM Vive Europe. “We’ve listened to this feedback and are proud to collaborate with our talented partners, Intel and DisplayLink to deliver the Vive Wireless Adapter. Combining high quality, low latency and ease of use, the adapter delivers on our promise of premium wireless VR.”
Installation of the Vive Wireless Adapter occurs in minutes by installing a PCI-e card and attaching a sensor from the PC that broadcasts to and from the newly wireless Vive headset. The adapter has a broadcast range of 6 meters with a 150 degree field of view from the sensor and runs in the interference-free 60 GHz band using Intel’s WiGig specification, which, combined with DisplayLink’s XR codec, means low latency and high performance with hours of battery life.
The Adapter is powered by the HTC QC 3.0 PowerBank, which can also double as a charge pack for a smartphone. The retail package ships with one PowerBank and additional PowerBanks will be purchasable at Vive.com.
“I congratulate HTC and we are excited to see a flagship device and new user experience enabled by Gigabit, low-latency wireless,” said Dr. Cormac S.G. Conroy, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Intel Communication and Devices Group. “In building this mmWave solution, we had our eyes on the demands of VR and leveraged our deep 5G wireless experience. We understood the performance needs of VR and the gaming and enterprise markets. We can’t wait for everyone to bring what we’ve been working on into their homes and into their VR arcades.”
“DisplayLink’s heritage is in solving complex problems for enterprises all over the world,” said John Cummins, Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing, DisplayLink. “We’re very excited to deliver the freedom and complete immersion of wireless VR to businesses and the application development community that serves them. For gaming, arcades, training, and future applications yet to be developed, the promise of low latency, high quality wireless VR is available now.”
“Wireless represents the true promise of VR and Seeking Dawn,” said Freeman Fan, Founder & CEO, Multiverse Entertainment. “Our gameplay in Seeking Dawn capitalizes on the freedom of wireless, and we can’t wait to showcase how wireless changes the expectations around VR content.”
To celebrate the launch, all Vive Wireless Adapter purchases will include a two-month trial to Viveport Subscription, offering access to nearly 500 titles, including Seeking Dawn
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