Windows Mixed Reality Headsets



  • Figured it's worth having this thread, since at least 3 of us will have some variant of this tech by the end of the day.

    So I got HP's model for $330, and they shipped it crazily fast yesterday. Inside the box was another box, which contained the headset and it's cable, and pretty much nothing else: They don't give you any excess.

    When you first plug it all in and it starts up, it asks you to move your head around so it can find a space it recognizes, but since you haven't taught it any locations, all you can do is start it in limited mode, with a mouse or gamepad or voice. (It has no mics, and cannot see your hands for gesture recognition)

    Then you're in desk-based VR mode, which is basically useless, and I couldn't even get it to show me my desktop.

    So then you just run the setup in the left bar on the Mixed Reality Portal app that turns itself on when the device recognizes you, tell it your height, stand in the middle of some space for ten seconds, then walk around the room (You need decent lighting, and a decent place for your PC, since the cable is short!) - And then the virtual house works. My area is too small, so the border walls always get in front of windows I place, unless I lean through them.

    I can't seem to get a second desktop to actually start up, and Edge seems temperamental, but it still works rather well.

    I just wish it wasn't so blurry. No one on the internet has reviewed this thing yet, and no experts have answered anyone about how to deal with the blur, so there's little I can do about that now.

    Still, I like it!


  • FoxDev

    They don't ship to the UK :sadface:



  • Apparently we're now on page 2 of google when searching for these things.


  • sekret PM club

    Is this supposed to be like a more consumer-level Hololens?


  • Banned

    @magus said in Windows Mixed Reality Headsets:

    Apparently we're now on page 2 of google when searching for these things.

    So we're still non-existent?



  • @e4tmyl33t Kind of. The Hololens is transparent, and is a full PC, and has a microphone and gesture support.

    These things run the same app platform, but have no visible-light camera and a closed front. (Not that models with differences cannot come into existence later)

    I got it mostly because I want to try development for this general platform, since it's the first VR/AR shared platform, and certainly the first one not specific to a hardware vendor.


  • sekret PM club

    @magus said in Windows Mixed Reality Headsets:

    @e4tmyl33t Kind of. The Hololens is transparent, and is a full PC, and has a microphone and gesture support.

    These things run the same app platform, but have no visible-light camera and a closed front. (Not that models with differences cannot come into existence later)

    I got it mostly because I want to try development for this general platform, since it's the first VR/AR shared platform, and certainly the first one not specific to a hardware vendor.

    Hmm. Interesting. Hope that something else that is either transparent or contains a camera to allow you to view your environment comes out, since I can't imagine AR being very useful without being able to see the reality you're attempting to augment...I'd imagine for a mixed AR/VR device a camera that can be turned off when going to full-VR mode would be more useful than a transparent display.

    ...and now I feel like I've been discussing Shadowrun things again.



  • @e4tmyl33t I wouldn't be surprised if people start doing that soon; my assumption is that Microsoft put out the minimum specs for their partners to release headsets with, and most of them rushed them out as soon as possible, with only HP and Acer hitting launch day.

    The fun thing will be the wars they have, now that this is a platform to compete for. Microsoft priced themselves out of competition with their partners, probably on purpose, and now we get to see what they come up with.

    The MR experience right now essentially involves mapping an area you can move around in, around which they place a wall of glowy dots that connect occasionally, and then they project a small home where the floor matches yours. You can teleport between locations in that home (It even has a nice theater) and place apps and desktops around the space. With a gamepad, you can walk around too, though I can't figure out how to rotate without physically rotating, which is annoying when you're at a desk.

    You can also launch full immersive apps that don't involve your environment, but I do like the 'shining modern office next to a beach with a floating island outside' style they have going.



  • So yeah, if I can find a way to deal with the blur, this thing could easily become my main form of display tech.


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