When it was revealed late last year, HTC said that TPCast’s wireless adapter for the Vive VR headset would be arriving in Q1 2017 in China. The device hasn’t quite made that window, but it isn’t far off.
TPCast issued an update to those that pre-ordered the kit this week, informing them that their units were now expected to start shipping in batches around the end of April. As a thank you for customer’s patience, the company is giving away its TransQ device, which mirrors smartphone content onto a HD TV, with every Early Edition product.
TPCast also clarified that these first units will feature the larger battery offering over five hours of power before running flat.
A global release for TPCast’s kit is still planned for this quarter. The device connects directly to your Vive with an adapter that sits on the top head strap, communicating with your PC to stream images into the headset. We’ve had extensive hands-on with the device and we were impressed; we noticed minimal latency and image compression, and the freedom to move around without a wire pulling at the back of our heads was incredibly liberating.
The device costs $249 in the west.
TPCast isn’t without its competitors, though. A few weeks back QuarkVR revealed its own take on wireless VR, and we’ve gone hands-on with other solutions, though they didn’t appear to perform quite as well. While we wait for VR headsets to finally go truly standalone, it looks like these devices will be a good workaround for VR enthusiasts to take advantage of.
