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HTC Vive Deluxe Audio Strap: dont get it Wet

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
Funny read about HTC's new "Deluxe" strap:

http://www.revvrstudios.com/never-get-wet
I left my VR Dungeon and rejoined my family, I noticed some black
‘stuff’ on my shoulders and in my very sweaty hair. I just assumed that
I had brushed up against something in my garage on the way back to the
living room.

I was wrong.


This morning, I had to grab a few items from my VR Dungeon and I
noticed abrasions on the padding of my Vive deluxe strap. Uh oh. Another
quick trip to Twitter confirmed that I wasn’t the only one who noticed
this.

The fact that NOBODY noticed this, is probably a bad thing. I feel like
if I ripped this padding off (it IS completely replaceable) and tossed
it into a glass of water, it would dissolve surprisingly quick. Not the
best material to stick on a part of the body that loves to sweat.


Pretty funny that the makers of the Gadget of the Year, whose gadget revolves around standing room-scale experiences which does lead to sweat far more than sit-down experiences, didn't test their "deluxe" strap's ability to... get wet 😄

167 REPLIES 167

Sharpfish
Heroic Explorer
True OpticKing...

Ok So I see what Atmos is trying to imply, but it's misguided. VR isn't in any fit state just yet to playing idealism with high priced/high specced HMDs. I used to think it should be, then realised how hard a sell it is to get it to cross over to mainstream. And THAT will only happen if we have people making HMDs that can sell them at cost or low prices but with high quality products (Oculus).

That HTC can't compete with that is very little concern to the VR market right now, because IF prices were kept artificially (yes you read that right - the BOM for vive is half what they are selling it for) high, then very few people would buy them anyway, no matter how amazing they (or future high priced ones) may be.

In a chicken and egg scenario something had to give, and thankfully for VR in general, Facebook happened to have a ton of money they could burn to seed VR unlike many other companies. If HTC can't compete then HTC need to get good, or let some other guys have a shot who have deeper pockets (LG? MS?). Because if HMDS are NOT selling then it's all a moot point, the AAA software won't come, the users won't come, the industry will stall and we'll be stuck on Gen 1 for years. I don't think allowing an $800 price tolerance for VR is going to solve any tech issues in a meaningful way, even if gen 2 costs that much and brings a lot of great stuff with it, it'll still be the same geeks and nerds (like us) buying them until they are cheaper again.

Also I don't think facebook are losing quite so much per unit as you assume. It was never sold at cost when it was expensive, clearly, if you know what's in these things it's basically a bit of cheap plastic, SUPER cheap screens and mostly in the presentation of that stuff to appear high value (which HTC didn't even bother with! 😉 ). The lenses and controllers don't come 'cheap' no, but economy of scale factors in too. We can't hold back adoption/low prices just so every tom, dick and harry who wants to build a HMD can afford to (to sell it high enough to justify it).

Valve/HTC had their shot, many of us drank the kool-aid and got whupped in the wallet for it (or would have if we'd not jumped off the train early), stupid expensive replacement parts (cables, controllers etc) poor customer service, poor build quality and many reports of early faults/failures, They gave it a good shot but it wasn't good enough. And I think that was because they launched too early to beat Oculus with essentially a (barely)  tarted up dev kit. Oculus went the other way, accepted some gen 1 flaws but made a highly polished, beautiful executed product (who's ONLY glaring - pun not intended - flaw that shouldn't have been there is god rays) everything else on it is as spot on as you could wish for Gen 1, esp now at £400/£500. Vive? not so much.

Bring on the LG and I'll give it a fair go (if they ever do bring it to consumers). At least I hear that doesn't have god rays as doesn't use fresnel lenses. At this point I'd have to put my money on Rift 2 being the better product if/when it comes out... in the years.. decades ahead 😉

BTW I don't take any "fanboy like" pleasure in seeing HTC squirm, I accept we need competition and would hate Facebook to be the monopoly for VR, but right now while life is ticking away, the rift is the best for my needs at a price that makes sense for the flaws ALL gen 1 contains. I wish it weren't so, and that HTC did deliver as polished a product/experience as Oculus/rift does, and that they too could afford to sell it for far less. I doubt facebook pulled this stunt to price others out of the market, I think they just looked at the sorry state of VR adoption (esp vs Console VR) and did what needed to be done for VR not for Facebook. And it's not often I'll give Facebook the benefit of the doubt!
EX DK2/VIVE/PSVR/CV1/Q2/PSVR2 | Currently Quest Pro (PCVR) | VR developer
RTX 3080 FE / 12900k / Windows 11 Pro

Anonymous
Not applicable

Atmos73 said:

You say what matters is the today. Well as of today Oculus is a 3 billion black hole, Oculus makes nothing from hardware sales, HTC still sell at profit

Just an observation, you keep stating that as if it were fact. No one but FB/Oculus knows what profits they might or might not be generating from the current sales of the Rift bundle.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Atmos73 said:


dburne said:


Atmos73 said:

You say what matters is the today. Well as of today Oculus is a 3 billion black hole, Oculus makes nothing from hardware sales, HTC still sell at profit

Just an observation, you keep stating that as if it were fact. No one but FB/Oculus knows what profits they might or might not be generating from the current sales of the Rift bundle.



So unless some one can deliver a more accurate BOM I'll stand by these figures.



I wouldn't. Again no one knows but FB/Oculus what their true costs today are.


Anonymous
Not applicable

Atmos73 said:


dburne said:


Atmos73 said:


dburne said:


Atmos73 said:

You say what matters is the today. Well as of today Oculus is a 3 billion black hole, Oculus makes nothing from hardware sales, HTC still sell at profit

Just an observation, you keep stating that as if it were fact. No one but FB/Oculus knows what profits they might or might not be generating from the current sales of the Rift bundle.



So unless some one can deliver a more accurate BOM I'll stand by these figures.



I wouldn't. Again no one knows but FB/Oculus what their true costs today are.




Oh sweet Jesus, then no one can say how much the Vive costs or how much money HTC have in the bank or how much HTC will drop the Vive or pretty much anything because unless you work for HTC you don't know.

I have given you the most accurate BOM we have but you're still not happy. Oculus don't make the Rift with fairy dust!


Lol, say what? I am quite happy!! And very excited to see Oculus driving the price point for PC-VR, it is going to be good  for everyone overall as things progress. The more VR units that are out there the better for the industry.

Now maybe some day Oculus will start sharing their P&L statements with the general public, until that happens - if ever - no one can really say what they truly are.

So you say they are losing money on all these Rift sales. Perhaps that is true, perhaps not. That is all I am saying. But there certainly is no question FB/Oculus is throwing a ton of money into the industry to help get it growing. Again, that is good for the overall VR industry!

nalex66
MVP
MVP

Atmos73 said:


dburne said:


Atmos73 said:


dburne said:


Atmos73 said:

You say what matters is the today. Well as of today Oculus is a 3 billion black hole, Oculus makes nothing from hardware sales, HTC still sell at profit

Just an observation, you keep stating that as if it were fact. No one but FB/Oculus knows what profits they might or might not be generating from the current sales of the Rift bundle.



So unless some one can deliver a more accurate BOM I'll stand by these figures.



I wouldn't. Again no one knows but FB/Oculus what their true costs today are.




Oh sweet Jesus, then no one can say how much the Vive costs or how much money HTC have in the bank or how much HTC will drop the Vive or pretty much anything because unless you work for HTC you don't know.


Well, we know that HTC has lost hundreds of millions of dollars over the last nine quarterly financial statements. Even if they make a huge profit on every Vive sold, they're still hemorrhaging money, which suggests that they can't afford to drop the price. They're not in it for the future of VR, they're struggling to survive from one day to the next.

DK2, CV1, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Quest 3.


Try my game: Cyclops Island Demo

flexy123
Superstar
The idea that Oculus "is hurting" is just outright ridiculous.

You are still twisting things around, just for example your implication that it's hurting Oculus that they spend millions for exclusives.
It is correct that Oculus spent millions, say for getting RR made and then providing it free - but REST ASSURED they knew exactly why they did this...and rather than "hurting" them in any way (the same as with the price drop for the hardware)..what they planned worked out exactly how they wanted and works BRILLIANTLY.

For example, I think their idea to invest in an AAA title like RR and then provide it free for all Rift users is just absolutely genius, probably the best thing they did. Trust me, they had smart people coming up with these strategies, and none of them is out of despair...as you imply...and none of these strategies is "hurting" them. (Looking at the currently absolutely insane success of the Rift which goes like hot cakes currently, which even draws people into VR who possibly not even planned so just two months ago, merely implying how "bad" Oculus is doing and how things are "hurting them" is just a little insane).

Look at sentences like "Oculus gives away most of its software" <-- show us the numbers please. Do they really give away "most of their software"? They make money on EVERY SINGLE NEW VR USER (and its getting more every day), it doesn't matter whether the Rift is possibly sold "at cost" and that they get free AAA titles.

I am not one of these guys, but I have seen people saying that they just got a Rift not long ago and how they already spent many hundreds (one even close to $1000) on VR titles. Where do you think this money goes to? Do you rally believe that Oculus "does stupid things" which hurt them...and do you really believe that HTC with their antiquated HMD, their price and then the LG headset and others around the corner has ANY future?

Anonymous
Not applicable
Unfortunately LG are going to be in a similar (but not anywhere near as bad!) position that HTC are in when they launch their headset. It's going to be more expensive to produce than the Rift so will retail at a higher price. They have the advantage that it'll be using Lighthouse 2.0 technology which is going to be cheaper than HTC's current Lighthouse 1.0 technology to produce, and the advantage of manufacturing their own displays which reduces the manufacturing cost further but it's still going to be more expensive than a Rift.

The Constellation technology is A LOT cheaper to produce. You've got glorified black and white webcams and IR LEDs on the headset and controllers. These things cost peanuts.

And yes, I believe that Oculus are making a loss on each Rift sold for 400 smackeroonies but when they raise the price to 500 they SHOULD be breaking even because Hans Hartmann knows his proverbial onions. By the time of the end of Q1 next year or the start of Q2 we'll see a permanent price cut back down to 400 with Oculous breaking even on each Rift and Touch unit sold.

The clever thing that Oculus have done is with their Constellation system because it keeps production costs down and enables them to cut costs like mad later on down the line. The thing that was the Vive's advantage at the beginning has turned out to be its Achilles Heel. Kind of funny when you think about it lol 😄

Zenbane
MVP
MVP


Atmos73 said:
So unless some one can deliver a more accurate BOM I'll stand by these figures.



What about the $64 million dollars in Q2 losses HTC reported? Do you stand by those figures?

HTC’s Q2 Financial Report Shows a Loss of $64.23 Million, 9th Quarterly Loss in a Row

https://www.xda-developers.com/htc-q2-financial-report-shows-loss/


It seems like your village is burning, and you're just excited because your house is creating the highest flame B)

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

Atmos73 said:
I don't care what their mobile division is doing. If you read my last post I already shown you HTC Vive Corp is a seperate entity.



HTC has been reporting losses since 2015:

HTC Cards $101M Loss In Q4 2015, Its Third Successive Quarter In The Red
https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/03/htc-cards-101m-loss-in-q4-2015-its-third-successive-quarter-in-the...

You can cherry pick the facts by using the phrase "their mobile division" all you like, but it is the same company that is bad at business. Branching off the Vive to another division under the same failed business model. If that spells "hope" for you then you really don't understand how "failed business models" work; despite the fact that you've been trying so hard to judge Facebook/Oculus on their business model for years 😄

Also: HTC Vive Corp is brand new, but the Vive has been under HTC's main division since its release. As of right now, the truth is that HTC made zero profits after launching the Vive. No one can yet predict how HTC Vive Corp will perform since they haven't done anything other than give Vive owners like yourself a false sense of hope that "all is not lost" 😄


Atmos73 said:
It's like say ooh look at Sony they're not selling 3D TV's any more their whole Corp must be burning. 



The only difference is that Sony has not been reporting losses for 9 Quarters in a Row. But HTC has; and this isn't the first time in history HTC has back-to-back quarterly losses.


Atmos73 said:
I'm glad snowdog agrees with me that Oculus make no profit on the Rift as he's the expert here on the Oculus Forums.


Everyone knows that Oculus gets their main profit from software; which includes all the licensing fees and store percentages for Gear VR. You remember Gear VR right? That thing that outsells the Vive 2:1 ??

It's hilarious to watch you dance around the fact that HTC's business model has kept them on the verge of Bankruptcy for at least 3 years now. All of your attempts to criticize the Facebook/Oculus business model are pure fantasy and wishful thinking.

vannagirl
Consultant
Have missed you both fighting gently discussing  VR

Now just need @nalex66 with a over the top cute kitty meme and the forums are back!!!
Look, man. I only need to know one thing: where they are.