Before getting to the heart of the matter, you should know that this helmet offers a lot of small subtleties and differences compared to its competitors. Indeed, where the Oculus Rift and the PlayStation VR offer a motion recognition system that uses a camera, the Vive has opted for a different system. Instead of placing transmitters on its helmet (like the light bars of the PS VR for example) and a receiver well in front (the camera for the Sony helmet), HTC placed the receivers on its helmet and its controllers , while the emitters are placed in the room. A difference that does not look like much on paper, but which is crucial on several points. First of all, as the helmet contains all the tracking devices, it is obviously more imposing than the competition, without being really heavier. Well done HTC! Upon unpacking, we find a very complete bundle since everything is included in the box, except the sturdy PC needed to be able to play quietly. We will use the machine used for PC game testing, equipped with a very solid configuration (Intel i7-3770K, 16GB of Ram and an NVIDIA GTX 980Ti) according to Steam's VR benchmark. We therefore discover in the box the mask, the controllers and their chargers, the interface box and all its connections, and finally the bases and their respective power supplies. For lovers of small details, know that the microfiber cloth for cleaning the lenses is included, as is extra foam if you ever have a thinner face and the insulation from the outside world is not perfect.
HOW DOES IT SET UP?
For the installation, allow a little time. Nothing is really complicated in itself, but there is work. Two options are available to us: a configuration which allows motion gaming and which requires a space of 2mx2m, or a configuration without space limit which allows you to play sitting in front of your PC. Whichever option is chosen, you must start by placing the transmitters facing each other, on a diagonal of your playing area. Each transmitter requiring its electrical outlet, remember to carefully study their location, especially that they should not be more than 5 meters apart. In terms of fixing, they can be placed on a shelf, fixed to the wall using the supports provided, or even use any tripod or photographic fixing system; each transmitter has two threaded holes to fit standard brackets. Then just connect the two power supplies, then wait for the two transmitters to recognize each other. The complete manipulation takes less than two minutes, and you just have to press the button on one of the two bases so that it displays a small "b", the next one will automatically display a small "c", the system being ready when the diode of each base has turned green. First step successful, we move on to the second: connect the box. The latter has two sides, the first with orange sockets for the headphones, the second with black sockets for the PC. On the black side, we therefore plug in the supplied USB cable to connect the PC and the box (USB 3.0 preferably, but 2.0 works just as well). Then connect the HDMI cable to the graphics card, then the power supply. If the HDMI port on your graphics card is busy, the box also accepts DisplayPort knowing that the cord is not supplied this time. Once these connections have been made, you have to wait for the box to download the latest firmware and install it on the PC. You don't touch anything and everything is done automatically.
STEAMVR POWERED
We take advantage of this respite to launch Steam and take a quick tour of the library in the tools tab, in order to recover the user interface named SteamVR. Once the installations are complete, all that remains is to plug the headset into the case and the hardware is ready. As soon as you launch SteamVR you feel at home, since the menus are those of Steam and the entire interface comes from its Big Picture mode. The software detects the helmet, it is then enough to turn on the controllers so that they are recognized. The last step is to configure the play area by running the SteamVR setup which requires you to perform several manipulations, such as placing your equipment on the ground to determine where the ground is, aiming your screen, then delimiting the outline of your play area using one of the controllers. When the setup is validated by the software, we are ready to play. No more adjustment will be necessary, except the definition of the playing area when you want to modify it. Everything is saved, and to dive into virtual reality, it will now suffice to connect the power supply of the box, to connect the Vive to the latter and to launch SteamVR. It's as simple as for a console. With the HTC Vive on the head, we can at this moment observe the basic white room which serves as a hub on the helmet, nothing else appears, except the pads and the famous blue mesh when approaching the limits of the defined play area. By pressing the menu button on one of the controllers, the SteamVR menu appears, and all that remains is to navigate using a hand-controlled pointer.
WELCOME TO THE MATRIX
Once the mask is on your head, you instantly understand where the large investment made for the HTC Vive has gone. The screen is simply the best on the market, and it is above all the one where you can see the LCD cells of the screen the least, even if you pay attention to them. The movement tracking is really imperial while the mask offers a very appreciable comfort. Despite long gaming sessions lasting several hours, we never suffered thanks to its three adjustable straps and its excellent support, even when looking at the ground, which is a notorious weakness on other models. Obviously, as the mask tightens the face, it feels good, a bit like a ski mask; without however having the impression of having a significant weight because of the good distribution of the masses allowed by the strap. Glasses wearers won't complain, thanks in part to the foam inserts for the temples of their frames. Finally, the most annoying remains the bundle of wires that goes down behind your head, which runs to the PC, and which you will have to take care to step over when playing. Moreover, to exit the matrix without having to remove the Vive, we can at any time press the menu button which returns us to SteamVR (without closing the game), then from there activate the front camera of the mask. The latter is displayed in an insert located on one of your controllers and allows you to monitor your friends, or your girlfriend who is trying to tickle you. If the quality of the image does not allow reading a book, it remains largely sufficient to extricate ourselves from the bundle of wires caught in our feet, or to catch the drink lying around on our desk.
FOLLOW THE WHITE RABBIT
In game, the comfort is undeniable, and our necks have never had to suffer; as for the promised immersion, it is there. Whatever the chosen game, we find ourselves literally immersed in the action and we completely forget that we look like a puppet from the outside. At least we do a little sport, and we're not slumped on a sofa. Moreover, on this point, some games require a lot, like the fabulous Budget Cuts which requires us to infiltrate a company guarded by robots. We constantly bend down, we bend to see behind corners of walls and we contort to enter air ducts. Our only caveat regarding the hardware is for the controllers whose batteries tend to drain quite quickly. Out of motion gaming, the headset defends itself very well too, knowing that once seated the bundle of wires is no longer a problem. Installed in front of his PC with a joystick in his hands, you can enjoy a camera subject to the cervical, and an appreciable reactivity. We also took advantage of the VR capabilities of Descent: Underground to see if a good nervous six-axis FPS could make us give up our lunch. Well no. As long as the framerate remains above 90 frames per second, our eyes remain stable and we feel no discomfort. Moreover, the game sitting in front of the PC is not limited to VR titles since any title can be launched on the HTC Vive, which adopts for the occasion a fairly well done cinema mode. The latter plunges us into a dark room facing a giant screen on which the game, the Windows desktop or even a film is displayed. Small flat however, since in this use the phenomenon of "dotting" (where we see the reflection of the LCD cells of the screen) becomes much more annoying. We would then prefer to remove the mask, leave SteamVR and play quietly on our classic screen.
SO, SHOULD WE BUY OR NOT?
The purchase of an HTC Vive remains a subjective decision, but in writing, we were won over by the device which, in our opinion, offers the best option for playing in virtual reality. With very good quality hardware and a royal user interface thanks to Valve Software and its SteamVR software, the VR mask has no shortage of arguments. In addition, the partnership with Valve allows the HTC mask to remain a peripheral and not become a platform, as will be the case with the PlayStation VR, and as is already the case with the Oculus Rift which forces players to use proprietary software and a dedicated software store. The other side of the coin, for the moment the HTC Vive has very few exclusions, which is not the case for the competition. Be that as it may, we are counting on the power of the HTC company to put forward its arguments, and thus attract many developers. Finally, if the price difference with the Oculus can tip the balance on the side of Facebook, the price of future Oculus Touch controllers should rebalance the balance. For us it will be the red pill without hesitation.
STRONG POINTS :
- The best image quality on the market
- Highly accurate
- L'interface SteamVR
- Supplied with two controllers
- Comfortable, even with glasses
ANNOYING POINTS:
- A repulsive price (899€ / 970€ with shipping costs)
- We trip over the cable quite often
- Have a large dedicated room at home
- No exclusive or impactful games yet
- The design of the helmet is quite missed
