TheStreet's Conway Gittens took HTC's Vive Focus headset for a test drive.
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00:00Augmented and virtual reality headsets.
00:02We've been hearing about them for years,
00:04but they still haven't caught on with everyday consumers.
00:08There's a wide variety when it comes to price.
00:10On the high end, you have the Apple ProVision,
00:13which will set you back $3,500.
00:15And on the low end, you have the MetaQuest 3 for $299.
00:19And somewhere in the middle, you have HTC.
00:22It's Vive FocusVision is $999 and $1,299 for the Pro model.
00:28For Dan O'Brien, HTC President of the Americas,
00:31that's the sweet spot for gamers,
00:33people who just wanna have fun.
00:36You're getting a headset that connects
00:38to all of your PC gaming, if you so wish to use it that way.
00:42You can use it as a standalone headset,
00:44and it has applications across thousands
00:47of different gaming applications.
00:49You know, anything from zombie to fitness
00:52to, you know, playful architecture games
00:55and things of that nature.
00:56And there's a lot of different gaming applications
00:58that can be a lot of fun and very entertaining,
01:01even mental health applications.
01:03We're definitely targeting a high-end PC gamer,
01:07very high 5K visuals, very easy to use.
01:11You no longer need external tracking now.
01:13It's all embedded on the headset.
01:15So it's very, very easy to use.
01:16We've now even included things like auto IPD.
01:20So the lenses inside the headset
01:22actually adjust to your pupils.
01:23So you always get the best visual quality and fidelity.
01:27And so from a consumer standpoint,
01:29we've really designed it for that, again,
01:31that PC gamer, high-end gamer, and that's a growing market.
01:35You have over 180 million active SteamVR PC gamers, right?
01:40That's a very, very healthy market
01:42to serve with that headset.
01:43Well, let's have some fun.
01:45That's it.
01:45Let's go for it.
01:46Show me how these headsets work.
01:50The setup is more than just putting on headsets.
01:53The technology within the headset
01:55has to acclimate to your eyesight,
01:57your height, and set safety boundaries.
01:59There's also the motion sensors
02:01so that when you move physically,
02:02you move within the software.
02:04There are also handsets for spatial concerns
02:07that allow you to push and move things
02:10within the virtual world.
02:11So the simulation I'm doing right now
02:13is walking the plank of an elevator.
02:17Yeah, so this is a consumer experience
02:19to have fun with your comfort level
02:24with heights and height exposures.
02:27So check your balance and walk your way out on that plank.
02:38Pretty good.
02:40How's it feel?
02:44Very focused.
02:47We talked about earlier,
02:48you were gonna make it all the way to the end.
02:53All right, let's go for it.
03:00There you go.
03:01You can do this.
03:12I gotta tell you that when you put these on,
03:16you really do get immersed into another world.
03:19It's hard to figure out what's going on
03:22and you really, really feel like you're in a different place.
03:28The HTC headset, however, is more than just fun and games.
03:31It's being used to aid in physical and mental therapy,
03:35to train a police force in Mexico,
03:37and is being used in the space industry.
03:40However, O'Brien is proudest of how VIVE Focus Vision
03:43is being used in the medical field.
03:45So you can train people over and over and over again,
03:48and they get through the training faster
03:50and retain it at a much higher level.
03:52So retention is at 75% versus a lecture style at 5%
03:57or reading at 15%.
03:59So really a lot of improvements there
04:02in those couple of industries,
04:04but we've also seen in the healthcare training simulation
04:07with different doctors like Yale University,
04:10they're getting their doctors or their student doctors
04:13through the surgeries 29% faster,
04:15and they're making six times fewer errors.
04:17So really significant impact.