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Review of the HTC VIVE Pro 2 VR helmet: a leader, although not ideal

Yousaf February 19, 2022

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Review of the HTC VIVE Pro 2 VR helmet: a leader, although not ideal

VIVE Cosmos remains the manufacturer’s flagship gaming HMD for gamers, but at the same time, the company continued to develop the VIVE Pro family, designed not only and not so much for games, but for professional visualization. The VIVE Pro 2 helmet retains its original design but now boasts the most outstanding performance rating of any consumer and semi-professional helmet.

Specifications and prices

Judge for yourself: each of the two screen matrices has a resolution of 2448 × 2448, and in the aggregate – 4896 × 2448, that is, 5K with 2:1 proportions. There is a huge increase in image clarity compared to older HTC products and most of the novelty’s rivals. So, the original VIVE Pro, as well as Valve Index are equipped with screens of 1440 × 1600 per eye, the resolution of VIVE Cosmos is 1440 × 1700. The closest analogue of VIVE Pro 2 in this parameter is the HP Reverb G2 with an individual resolution of 2160 × 2160. Pimax 8K X with two 4K- screens, but Pimax uses proprietary sensor technology and sells its HMD at a significantly higher price than HTC, Valve and HP, not least because of the low production volume compared to more popular solutions.

For the sake of increased resolution, the creators of VR helmets abandoned OLED panels in favor of liquid crystal IPS, and along with OLED, the PenTile subpixel layout, which implies two light-emitting elements for each logical pixel, instead of three subpixels of basic colors, is gone. If we compare VIVE Pro 2 with the original VIVE Pro in terms of the number of logical pixels, then the resolution has increased by 2.6 times, and if by subpixels, then by 3.9 times.

The next area of focus for HTC helmets was the refresh rate. The required minimum for VR is 90 Hz, but for example, the Valve Index reaches 120 by default, and 144 Hz in experimental mode. The HTC VIVE Pro 2 is also rated at 120Hz. A 5K image with such a refresh rate cannot be transmitted over the DisplayPort interface as is, so VIVE Pro 2 uses DSC compression. Although DSC is a lossy compression standard, it does not cause artefacts noticeable to the naked eye. The main thing is that the video card also has this function, which limits the list of accelerators compatible with VIVE Pro 2 to the GeForce 16/20/30 and Radeon RX 5000/6000 series. Older video cards will not be able to display a picture in full resolution, but in any case, users need very powerful hardware,

Finally, the updated VIVE Pro, following the example of the Valve Index, is equipped with two-piece Fresnel lenses, which made it possible to increase the horizontal viewing angle from 110 to 120 °. According to the Index’s passport (130°), it is still wider, but HTC managed to overtake the HP Reverb G2 (114°).

The leadership in features allowed HTC to set the VIVE Pro 2 at the highest price among its closest rivals. The helmet itself is sold separately by the company for $799, and the complete set with controllers and base stations for $1,399. The corresponding Valve Index offers are priced at $499 and $999, and the HP Reverb G2 kit costs $599. Finally, at a higher price point ($1429) is the Pimax Vision 8K X, which does not have its own set of base stations and controllers.

In the Russian market, the arrangement of rivals in general terms repeats the dollar prices. The recommended retail price of VIVE Pro 2 HMD is 79,990 rubles. and for this amount a helmet can really be purchased in many stores, although there are also many more expensive offers. A complete set will be delivered to the Russian Federation starting in October, its recommended retail price will be 141,990 rubles. At the moment, some sellers are assembling a ready-made system from VIVE Pro 2 HMD and individual accessories – this turns out to be much more expensive than the factory Full Kit planned for delivery, especially the seller chose Valve Knuckles as controllers (we met prices up to 169 thousand rubles).

Valve Index is finally available with us for more or less acceptable amounts of 70 and 125.5 thousand, respectively. The HP Reverb G2 kit costs at least 67.5 thousand, and a separate Pimax Vision 8K X helmet costs 120. In such a situation, the HP product looks like a clear leader in terms of price and performance ratio, but we need to emphasize that the Reverb G2 uses internal tracking, which still does not give the same high accuracy as external tracking using IR stations. But compared to the Valve Index, HTC’s offer justifies the extra charge for the best specifications – at least on paper, because we will still check the actual image quality of VIVE Pro 2 with specialized software. There is another point: the Index is not officially shipped to Russia and, as a result, the buyer will not receive a manufacturer’s warranty, while HTC helmets,

Until the official VIVE Pro 2 kit appears in our area, the “naked” helmet will become the most rational purchase – both for those who already use SteamVR-compatible equipment, and for those who will build a system from scratch. After all, as base stations, you can take cheap HTC base stations for early VIVE models of the SteamVR 1.0 standard (14.5 thousand rubles each). And most importantly, it will be possible to find a better replacement for controllers that, in fact, have not been updated since the original VIVE. Yes, HTC still does not have new controllers capable of working in an external tracking system! Valve Knuckles manipulators in our latitudes cost absolutely inadequate money (at least 42 thousand rubles per pair), but the VIVE Pro 2 self-assembly kit in this case will cost less than what sellers are now offering.

Design and ergonomics

Externally, the VIVE Pro 2 hasn’t changed much from the original HMD, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s still a perfectly balanced helmet with lots of padding. However, HTC switched to a different design in VIVE Cosmos helmets for a reason, and although it has been a year since I last wore Cosmos, the difference is immediately felt.

The obvious advantage of Cosmos is that it is fixed on the head with an inseparable hoop, and the block with screens and optics leans up on a hinge. As a result, the hoop can be tightened to the size of the head once and for all, raise the visor and remove the helmet, and then, to use the HMD again, repeat the steps in reverse order – put on the helmet, lower the visor. In the case of VIVE Pro 2, if after work you do not loosen the pressure with the rotary control on the back of the head, you will have to literally pull the eyepiece over the face (which is impossible if the user wears glasses) or first attach it to the eyes, and then lower the hoop to the back of the head. Finally, you won’t be able to quickly take your mind off the game by lifting your visor. However, the old design has its own important advantage. Due to the fact that the attachment points of the hoop are located at the middle of the height of the eyepiece, it fits more closely to the face,

All helmet pads – back, front and sides – are made of foam material. An alternative option is faux leather pads, sold separately. The HMD comes with a wide face gasket that will suit most users, and if needed, again, you can buy a smaller one instead. There is a triangular cushion at the back of the head on the VIVE Pro 2 headband, but some HMD buyers may find that it does not fit snugly around the edges of the head. As a result, the fit of the helmet will not be as resistant to sharp head turns.

VIVE Pro 2 optics allow you to adjust both key individual parameters – the distance between pupils (IPD) ranging from 57 to 72 mm and the distance between the eyes and lenses (the latter is not possible in VIVE Cosmos). Moreover, it is not necessary to guess what your IPD is: you can find it out using a mirror and a test with a paper ruler, which is included in the package.

The “native” VIVE Pro 2 speakers are close to the ears – this is not as comfortable as the Valve Index near-field speakers hanging next to the auricles, but better isolation from external noise. There are no complaints about the sound of the speakers – this is an excellent audio system for VR games. Theoretically, separate headphones can be hoisted on top of the HMD by dismantling the built-in ones, but the thickness of the headband is unlikely to allow using anything other than earbuds.

Finally, the VIVE Pro 2 has a microphone and a pair of front-facing stereo cameras that deliver 480p resolution at a 90Hz refresh rate. The latter are installed more for security purposes than for AR applications. But the quality of the microphone, useful both for joint games and for work tasks, here, frankly, could be betterVIVE Pro 2 optics allow you to adjust both key individual parameters – the distance between pupils (IPD) ranging from 57 to 72 mm and the distance between the eyes and lenses (the latter is not possible in VIVE Cosmos). Moreover, it is not necessary to guess what your IPD is: you can find it out using a mirror and a test with a paper ruler, which is included in the package.

Installation, setup, game

Whether you buy the complete VIVE Pro 2 set with controllers and base stations or a separate headset, the HMD always comes with a Link BOX 2.0 adapter. Old adapters of the first version from past HTC helmets to VIVE Pro 2 are not suitable due to the increased resolution and the requirement to support DSC. On one side of the adapter are DisplayPort ports, USB and a power outlet, and a common cable with custom connectors goes to the helmet. You can get rid of wires, because VIVE helmets that work in conjunction with a PC are the only HMDs that have a ready-made wireless solution from the manufacturer. This is a VIVE Wireless Adapter, a set of a receiver, a battery and a PCI Express card. The only pity is that the wireless mode still limits the resolution to 1224 × 1224 numbers per eye at a refresh rate of 90 Hz. Future firmware promises an upgrade up to 1632×1632.

If the user already has a system that is compatible with the SteamVR API, the base stations will not have to be changed: the new product is also friendly with SteamVR 1.0 base stations. However, the full VIVE Pro 2 bundle contains base stations version 2, which is an advantage for first-time HMD buyers: SteamVR 2.0 provides the base stations with a larger horizontal working angle and does not require them to be in line of sight from each other.

HTC helmets work in the SteamVR ecosystem, so the entire pre-launch procedure – laying out the playground and setting the neutral height of the helmet – is taken over by Steam. However, VIVE Pro 2, like VIVE Cosmos, requires its own additional software. The VIVE Console program is installed with the headset driver, without which it is impossible to change a number of key parameters, including resolution and refresh rate. The only thing that might be confusing is how the VIVE Console resolution setting interacts with the SteamVR resolution setting.

As we understand, the VIVE Console controls the characteristics of the signal between the video card and the HMD, and there is no reason to refuse the maximum. And SteamVR already determines the rendering resolution (which, by the way, does not have to match the native resolution of HMD screens) as a percentage of the base level. In the past, when dealing with relatively low-resolution HMDs, SteamVR took 100% for an image that outperforms the native sensor settings by 1.4x on each side. Thus, the system lays a margin of clarity around the edges for the upcoming geometry correction. The baseline now depends on the performance of the computer and can also change each time you start SteamVR. In order for the system to offer scaling at least with a factor of 1.3, you need top-end hardware of the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or RTX 3090 level, although nothing prevents you from manually setting SteamVR above the recommended 100%. However, it may also happen that if the computer did not pull the game with an acceptable frame rate, it will already lower the resolution on its own (this is exactly what, for example,Half Life: Alyx ). So if you are unhappy with the clarity of the HTC Vive Pro 2 or any other HMD, check the actual resolution of the image output – this will show the size of the screenshot of the game.

Another program, in addition to the VIVE Console, that you will have to install, but no longer have to use, is Viveport – the HTC game store and at the same time a VR interface for running them. Most gamers will be fine with what Steam has to offer, but if you can, why not check out the Viveport catalog. There are both paid games and a lot of free ones, as well as a Viveport Infinity subscription, which operates on the principle of Microsoft Game Pass.

After a short setup, the VR system is completely ready to play or work. SteamVR external tracking, as always, provides unsurpassed positioning accuracy, but HTC sticks no longer meet modern standards, because these are almost the same controllers that came with the very first VIVE model in 2016. Over time, manipulators for VR systems have become smaller, and an analog stick has grown in place of the round touchpad, like HTC. In addition, the buttons on the sides of the native VIVE Pro 2 controller are too narrow for squeezing the device in your hand to be a natural movement. Finally, it doesn’t have finger tracking and the ability to let go of controllers like Valve Knuckles does. For professional visualization tasks, which VIVE Pro 2 is focused on no less than gaming, the “wands” are quite suitable, but in complex games like Half-Life: Alyx, many functions are performed by a touchpad that is not very adapted for this. HTC has other, modern controllers, but they only fit the standalone VIVE Focus 3 helmet or VIVE Cosmos with internal tracking (each has its own). Fortunately, using VIVE Pro 2 together with “native” controllers is not at all necessary, but, it should be noted, they provide an opportunity to save money: if we are talking about controllers of the first version (a little less than 15 thousand rubles apiece), a pair will cost less than Valve Knuckles.

The horizontal viewing angle of VIVE Pro 2 is almost the same as the declared 120°, however this parameter depends on which definition of the viewing angle is taken as a basis and what are the settings of the HMD optics. We used the test scene of the TestHMD package, in which the viewing angle indicator is the visibility of vertical lines diverging from the center. So, with an IPD of 64 mm (in the center of the adjustment range) and a minimum distance between the eyes and eyepieces, peripheral vision distinguishes lines with an angle of 114 °. When viewed to the left or right, the corresponding line (left or right) is only visible at the 92° mark. The manufacturer, apparently, focuses on the first method of evaluation and, thus, we can say that with a certain degree of error and an adjustment for the influence of IPD, the specifications do not lie.

A vertical angle of view that is only 86° (or 76°) under the same measurement conditions. And even without any rulers, it is noticeable that the virtual screen of VIVE Pro 2 is pressed from below and from above.

Another important parameter of any HMD is the quality of the optics. Rays around objects against a contrasting background are typical of Fresnel lenses, but there are also new problems (apparently due to the two-component design of the lenses). In dark scenes, the reflected concentric illumination along the edges of the eyepieces is clearly visible, and most importantly, when the gaze moves from the center to the periphery, the image rapidly becomes cloudy. The field of high definition, befitting the resolution of matrices, in VIVE Pro 2, frankly, is unexpectedly narrow for such an expensive HMD, especially with the word Pro in the title.