HTC Vive

They're doing amazing things in augmented reality, along with Microsoft with HoloLens.

You've got the HTC Vive, you've got Sony with the PlayStation VR launching in two weeks.

Facebook, of course, with Oculus, and several mobile prototypes as well.

There's so much activity in this space, and the hardware side is really fascinating, but as we all know, hardware will eventually become commoditized, and it's going to be much more interesting to think about how things are going to develop on the software side.

Just a quick show of hands.

How many people here have tried VR, like the Vive? All right, good.

How many people have tried some form of AR, like the HoloLens or something like that? Okay, so these are very different industries.

I know we tend to group them together, and I think as time goes on, we'll start to split those.

about split between VR and AR.

Obviously, the devices are starting to come out this year.

The Vive, the Oculus both came out this year.

Next week's going to be a really big week for VR.

Um, but I n- I was, I was also in the, in the camp that VR was a gimmick, and I always said like I just didn't like it.

When I, I had a VR experience, my friend had like one of the HTC Vive ones, um, the one where you had to have like the sensors in the corner of your room and stuff.

Yep.

Like really cumbersome.

But

when they made it compatible with PC, so PC users could use it instead of like the HTC Vives or the Quests and that, we saw a massive uptick in sales because it is an extraordinary piece of kit at such a cheap price compared to other headsets.

And, you know, well, I mean, how much is the Vive? Which the, what, the Vive? The Valve headset.

The Valve headset

You could argue that the top strap makes that a little bit different, but...

most headsets by default before adding extra straps are kind of like that you know the original HTC Vive for example is a bit like that but again that's so definitional I think To me, it doesn't matter about the definition, what word you use, but it's about the functional aspect.

I think the industry needs to keep being mindful of that core sort of issue I come back to, which is, can you replace your prescription glasses and sunglasses with this product? And to me, the answer to both meta VR glasses and extra aura is no.

And I think that should be very obvious.

So I am so thirsty for, For VR, that is not meta.

I'm borrowing a buddy's HTC Vive.

This is the Vive Focus.

It's a little dusty because I cleaned out my computer case over the weekend, and my entire office is covered in dust.

But I'm going to double up Google's court cases.

And I really want to get to our hardware block.

Unless you have more questions about the HTC Vive.

Because in that case, we can derail the podcast even further and spend another 20 minutes talking VR.

I was an early adopter of

the HTC Vive.

This was one of the, really the first big...

This was the VR systems that had these like scanners.

I'm not as into the VR.

I had an HTC Vive early on, but...

Oh,

you did? Yeah.

yeah but i haven't really had anything since then is it because the glasses I mean, that's a little bit too, but yeah, just same thing with you guys.

I used the HTC Vive for maybe a month or two after I got it, tried all the new cool tech that was out, and then it just sat.

I had a whole room at that time dedicated to it because you had to have the trackers posted up.

Do you think that VEX, with VEX being more developed and coming and kind of trickling down to our hobby, I mean, what do you think about that? What do you think it's going to do?