32 PCWorld JULY 2020NEWS HP REVERB G2 UPGR ADES WINDOWS MIXED REALIT Y
display and an Oculus-like design—but
paired with the Windows MR
platform’s busted tracking
solution, you might as well
have been driving a
Ferrari with square
wheels.
But then I heard
Valve was involved with
the Reverb G2. Valve, who
helped HTC launch the original
Vive. Valve, who now makes the best VR
headset (go.pcworld.com/l0ud) money
can buy, the Index (go.pcworld.com/
vlin). Valve, who with the Reverb G2
apparently helped HP make the first Windows
MR headset to evolve the platform since
launch. They’ve done it by...well, by lifting a
lot of the Valve Index hardware. Oh, and
upgrading to four cameras.FOUR. CAMERAS.
To explain why the HP Reverb G2 matters so
much, I have to delve into the history (and
limitations) of the Windows MR platform. Bear
with me.
Being first has its drawbacks. When the
first Windows Mixed Reality headsets rolled
out in 2017, they had one major advantage
over the then-current Oculus Rift (go.pcworld.
com/ocrf) and HTC Vive (go.pcworld.com/
htvi): built-in tracking. No base stations. The
Rift and Vive required setting up devices all
around the room for tracking, but notWindows MR.
One device. One USB port.
Windows MR made setup easy. The
headset, with dual cameras and other
sensors, could track both its own position in
the room and the location of the two
controllers. You could be up and running in a
minute or two. Contrast that with the Vive,
which came with mounting hardware so you
could attach its boxy Lighthouse base stations
to your walls, permanently.
But while base stations were (and are)
ugly, they were also precise. The Vive set the
bar high, with rock-solid tracking even in fairly
large rooms. The Rift struggled a bit more
with its room-scale solution, but it was still
miles better than Windows MR. The dual
front-facing cameras on Windows MR
headsets simply couldn’t track a wide variety
of important hand motions.