Cosmos Elite Overview Features Specs Pre-order PC-VR for elite gaming. So how do the games look? It grants you exclusive access – and discounts – to a free library of content on a subscription basis. Where the less precise tracking does work, however, is with games that require your hands to be in front of you at almost all times. Thankfully, once you get things working the Vive Cosmo Elite is a very capable VR headset. It’s a rich, expanding ecosystem and, for dedicated VR enthusiasts, it offers a lot of content.
The selection doesn’t match Oculus’s offering, but many of the main games are present – outside of a select few exclusives such as Robo Recall, which remains one of the best VR arcade shooters around. Bizarrely, the Vive Cosmos Elite does not come bundled with those more advanced controllers, instead opting for the original wands which is a very bizarre move from HTC. Please deactivate your ad blocker in order to see our subscription offer, We check over 130 million products every day for the best prices. After graduating from King’s College London, Alastair started his career covering government technology policy and cyber security at The International Business Times. The headset comes with a hinge design that lets you pop up its front part if you just need to quickly get your bearings while playing. Viveport Infinity is both the name of the service and storefront which you'll pick out games and apps to download for a monthly fee of $12.99 per month or just over $100 if you pay for the plan that renews annually. Compared to the original all-black Vive Controllers, the Vive Cosmos Controller has a light up ring that encircles the face buttons and give the front of the controller a bit of heft. In terms of recommended specs, HTC suggests using an Nvidia GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 480 or greater GPU, Intel i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 or greater CPU and at least 8GB of memory. The standard Vive Cosmos saw a fantastic controller upgrade, closely imitating the Oculus Touch. ft * . We’ll always tell you what we find. In most living areas this means you’ll end up having to physically screw them into the wall using one of the supplied fittings. You can see the Vive Cosmos Elite’s minimum specs below. The Cosmos Elite may appeal to developers and hardcore gamers, but most people will prefer the convenience of the Oculus Quest. Its hand-tracking ability isn’t perfect and its setup process can be hit-or-miss. The HTC Vive Cosmos released on October 3, 2019 and is available now to buy in its base package that includes a six-camera tracking faceplate for $699.99 (£699, AU$1,300).
It’s possible to get it working with less – we’ve had it running without issue on a GTX 980 – but you should try to stay within the recommended specs if possible. 1.
Cosmos Elite Headset Includes Cosmos Elite headset Headset cable Converter (Including Display Port and USB 3.0 cable) ... customize and personalize your VIVE Cosmos Elite with faceplates and add-ons.
That resolution is higher than both the Valve Index (2880 x 1600) and higher than the Oculus Rift S (2560 x 1440), which means you really don’t notice the screen door effect at all.
2. The setup process is fairly laborious, but if you have enough space then room-scaling works a treat; the Vive accurately picked up my movements in my VR play area. The plate, according to HTC, offers inside-out tracking and improved room-scaling accuracy when paired with the included base stations. He later joined Incisive Media as…, First-generation controls and base stations, Viveport subscription and Half-Life: Alyx included. Following this you need to download the Vive setup software and follow a series of on-screen instructions. Instead, games on Viveport Infinity range from some of the first big-budget VR games like Creed: Rise to Glory as well as a few newer hits like Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted and Fruit Ninja VR from Halfbrick Studios and other indie developers. If a title is available on Viveport, you’ll often find it cheaper on Steam.
All the HMDs in the Vive Cosmos family can be lifted up to see the world around you without having to take the whole headset off – which is great if you're someone who occasionally wants to use the computer in between VR games. Even though it uses the original Vive’s controllers and lighthouse base stations, it feels more precise in its tracking and therefore more practical use for most games and apps. For starters, before you even begin, you’ll need a fairly powerful gaming PC. On your PC you’ll need an open USB 3.0 port, plus a display port for the headset. (
Unlike other sites, we thoroughly test every product we review. Receive mail from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors? But even worse, its state-of-the-art inside-out controller tracking that used six cameras on the front plate was… ineffective at best. Not only are these controllers unwieldy because of their size, but they don’t do five-finger tracking the way the Valve Index can with its Knuckle Controller. It’s nice that the Cosmos’ unique modular design allows you to invest less upfront and upgrade as you go, but even the high-end HTC Vive Cosmos Elite isn’t better than the Valve Index. Screen: Dual 3.4" diagonal Resolution: 1440 x 1700 pixels per eye (2880 x … Switching to the HTC Vive Cosmos Elite is a significant upgrade – especially in terms of precise tracking.
Despite all of that, the elephant in the room is that a cabled VR connection is going to impact the level of immersion. When it was released late last year, the HTC Vive Cosmos was in a sorry state.
While other inside-out tracking headsets – like the completely untethered Oculus Quest – face similar problems and have a worse resolution, they’re cheaper, less bulky and can be taken with you anywhere. Add to this a cumbersome setup process, and it means it’s the cable-free Oculus Quest that remains Trusted Reviews recommended VR headset for most people. New York,
), Windows When you talk about performance with the HTC Vive Cosmos, you now need to specify which faceplate you’re using – a quirk that no other headset has, for both better and worse. Bought an Xbox One X instead of an Xbox Series X? Core™ i5-4590 or AMD FX™ 8350 equivalent or better. SteamVRTM Tracking enables precision and freedom of movements. That’s because, while your hand might occasionally drift outside the camera’s field-of-view in these games, they don’t require pixel-perfect tracking for you to be successful. The touch pads that sit on the controllers’ front work fine – but, again, aren’t as easy to reach or use as the console-like joysticks deployed on the Touch. As for the design of the headband itself, HTC decided to use a traditional halo design with a top velcro strap, and a wheel at the back back that tightens and loosens the headset. In addition, the system requires a fair amount of space if you want to take advantage of the headset’s advanced room scaling capabilities. Of the two HTC Vive Cosmos headsets currently available, the Cosmos Elite is the far better of the two. Next, you need to plug the headset into the included adapter, connect it to the power socket and attach it to your PC through USB 3.0 and DisplayPort inputs. Experience ultimate immersion quality with higher resolution and lens fidelity in the highest comfort. Otherwise there are better headsets for more money out there, and one or two available for a bit less. Not all of these games necessarily need the more precise tracking – in fact all of them probably could be played on the base Vive Cosmos – but the extra hand-tracking precision certainly didn’t hurt, either. The Vive Cosmos Elite is HTC’s latest premier virtual-reality headset. The only difference between it and the regular Cosmos is that it comes with, on paper, improved tracking thanks to a nifty preinstalled faceplate and sensor setup. Pair that with HTC’s Viveport subscription service and you can expect an ever-changing library of fun new titles to try on a headset that truly looks great despite some field-of-view limitations. Upped resolution and improved audio and tracking are impressive, but for a headset that’s twice the price of its nearest rival, the lack of obvious changes is disappointing. ... See the virtual world through 2880 x 1700 combined pixel resolution—an 88% increase over the original VIVE. To start, let’s talk about what the Cosmos experience is like with the six-camera inside-out tracking faceplate.
Some games work without a hitch, while others can break down without pixel-perfect tracking. The last part of the design worth covering is the set of connectors that run from the included connector box to your PC – though remember that Vive Cosmos has to be tethered to your PC, unless you buy a Vive Wireless Adapter (not included). *Refer to AMD or NVIDIA's VR Ready website for a list of VR Ready graphics cards.
GTX 970 4GB, AMD Radeon™ R9 290 4GB equivalent or better VR Ready graphics card.
The good news is that, all in all, games worked much better on the Cosmos Elite than they did on the base Cosmos, and look better here than they do on the Oculus Rift S. Going forward we’ll absolutely use the HTC Vive Cosmos Elite tracking faceplate for our VR gaming over the original Cosmos headset, but both pale in comparison to the Valve Index. 10. This is the one you get with the headset if you buy the base package, and the one you’ll probably see most often in stores and online. Setting up the VR headset on your PC was tedious and haphazard, and it sometimes outright failed the basic setup process. The fact Vive hasn’t managed to streamline the Cosmos Elite’s setup process is also a little disappointing. When you're playing sports games like VR Baseball, you don’t really want the controller to suddenly disappear then reappear after the ball has already slid past home plate. Similarly, the headset’s two front-facing cameras feature a passthrough mode that can be accessed by pressing the Vive button twice in any game or app, but if you’re feeling sick or want to see what's happening around you in the real world without taking off the headset, it’s handy to just flip the visor up. ® We never, ever accept money to review a product. ® The only time you’ll experience any issues is when you come out of VR.
This, alongside an elongated design, makes them feel less comfortable and immersive than their Oculus rivals. The grip controls work okay, requiring you to squeeze the wands when you want to grip something in VR, for example. Please refresh the page and try again. That being said, at $899, it’s a lot of money to spend upfront and, because it still uses old hardware, it doesn’t feel quite as modern or robust as the industry-leading Valve Index. Both versions use the same 2880 x 1700 resolution LCD display and halo-style headband, but the front faceplate swaps out to allow you to jump from one set of capabilities to another. All of the Cosmos family sports a 3.4-inch 2880 x 1700 resolution LCD display that has a refresh rate of 90Hz, and offers a 1440 x 1700 image per eye. But since the release of the Oculus Touch, the Vive wands have felt fairly clunky. ® Snap on this accessory to VIVE Cosmos to enjoy external tracking up to 1000 sq. As happened with the first-generation Oculus, I still managed to garrotte myself playing Arizona Sunrise trying to dodge a zombie – the mother-fudger came out of nowhere. © All that said, remember you’ll have to use base stations and the original Vive controllers to get this level of tracking.