TPCAST Announced
An officially endorsed third-party add-on for the HTC Vive has been unveiled fully at CES 2017. The TPCAST is a wireless solution to those cable VR troubles.
This add-on peripheral removes the need for those wires to be sticking out the back of the Vive, which can also cause some comfort issues as it fights with the user trying to turn their head freely, or worse yet when using room-scale.
The TPCAST transmitter sits atop the persons head and beams the video and audio feed to the Vive headset through a wireless unit similar to the two light sensors that track the Vive's movement.
It is then powered through a battery pack that will sit at the back of the Vive's strap, where the cables usually hang off. The battery at launch of the TPCAST supports 1.5 hours per charge. A larger battery pack is being developed which is said to provide 2-5 hours of life with the design supporting battery swap-outs apparently. The real test will be seeing the impact of latency added to HTC Vive as you go from a wired to a wireless connection.
TPCAST will be launching globally in Q2 2017.
