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What is the new Microsoft VR platform? I never heard of it and it seems extremely unlikely to me that they would throw money to a VR platform after all their in

What is the new Microsoft VR platform? I never heard of it and it seems extremely unlikely to me that they would throw money to a VR platform after all their investments in AR.

fsloth 9y ago
This is kind of old news but the devkits are only now coming out - and who knows when the devices reach consumers en masse. The difference with these new devices and Hololens is that Hololens is a standalone selfcontained device with compute unit and display with AR capable optics while these new headsets are full block-the-real-world vr headsets, more like Vive, except they don't need beacons for head tracking but use device mounted cameras. In effect, they are lighter and need less setup than Vive. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/acer-windows-mixed-reality-headset-developer-edition/8pb4twx13m2n/7zt9 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/acer-windows-mixed-r... http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/141215-windows-mixed-reality-what-is-it-what-headsets-are-available-and-when-can-you-get-it.html http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/141215-windows-mixed-reality...
- tigershark 9y ago
  This has nothing to do with VR. I know very well hololens, and exactly for this reason I said that would be very strange for Microsoft to invest in VR given all the huge time and money investment in AR. Hololens is AR not VR.
  - fsloth 9y ago
    "I said that would be very strange for Microsoft to invest in VR..." The fact remains they are selling very VR capable helmets with display and optics which block the view completely. Maybe Microsoft is displaying a different page for you from the page I linked? I tried the new Asus devkit headset only last week. It's not the hololens. It's sold on the same page, though.
    - tigershark 9y ago
      They are selling it for AR as the "mixed reality" in the name of the product explains. The difference with the hololens is that it is getting the world images from a front camera rather than using a transparent display. Ergo, as I was pointing out from the beginning, MS is investing massively only on AR, could not care less for VR.
      - fsloth 9y ago
        Phew, so we are discussing the same thing, good. The cameras enable room scale head tracking. Projecting the camera image as a backdrop is optional. If I'm not using the camera image as a backdrop I think the experience would be characterized as VR. I don't really understand why you insist on this AR/VR dichotomy - a good AR headset is a pretty good VR headset as a basic requirement.
        tigershark 9y ago
        AR can obviously do VR but it is much more. And the opposite of course is not true. That said I don't think that anyone would choose to do VR when they can have mixed reality.

What is the new Microsoft VR platform? I never heard of it and it seems extremely unlikely to me that they would throw money to a VR platform after all their investments in AR.

fsloth 9y ago

This is kind of old news but the devkits are only now coming out - and who knows when the devices reach consumers en masse. The difference with these new devices and Hololens is that Hololens is a standalone selfcontained device with compute unit and display with AR capable optics while these new headsets are full block-the-real-world vr headsets, more like Vive, except they don't need beacons for head tracking but use device mounted cameras. In effect, they are lighter and need less setup than Vive. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/acer-windows-mixed-reality-headset-developer-edition/8pb4twx13m2n/7zt9 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/acer-windows-mixed-r... http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/141215-windows-mixed-reality-what-is-it-what-headsets-are-available-and-when-can-you-get-it.html http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/141215-windows-mixed-reality...

tigershark 9y ago
This has nothing to do with VR. I know very well hololens, and exactly for this reason I said that would be very strange for Microsoft to invest in VR given all the huge time and money investment in AR. Hololens is AR not VR.
- fsloth 9y ago
  "I said that would be very strange for Microsoft to invest in VR..." The fact remains they are selling very VR capable helmets with display and optics which block the view completely. Maybe Microsoft is displaying a different page for you from the page I linked? I tried the new Asus devkit headset only last week. It's not the hololens. It's sold on the same page, though.
  - tigershark 9y ago
    They are selling it for AR as the "mixed reality" in the name of the product explains. The difference with the hololens is that it is getting the world images from a front camera rather than using a transparent display. Ergo, as I was pointing out from the beginning, MS is investing massively only on AR, could not care less for VR.
    - fsloth 9y ago
      Phew, so we are discussing the same thing, good. The cameras enable room scale head tracking. Projecting the camera image as a backdrop is optional. If I'm not using the camera image as a backdrop I think the experience would be characterized as VR. I don't really understand why you insist on this AR/VR dichotomy - a good AR headset is a pretty good VR headset as a basic requirement.
      - tigershark 9y ago
        AR can obviously do VR but it is much more. And the opposite of course is not true. That said I don't think that anyone would choose to do VR when they can have mixed reality.