Wireless Video/Tracking Link options

[mahler]

If I want to use a wireless video/tracking link option for the Oculus Rift, what would I need?
Would this be sufficient? http://sensics.com/products/low-latency ... ess-video/
Are there any better and/or cheaper options?

[EdZ]

Intel's WiDi is signiicantly cheaper. There's also WHDI (which supposedly has sub-ms latency) and WirelessHD (which seems to have a 2ms target latency).

[RoadKillGrill]

Anyone here tested any of these options? I would really like a solid wireless solution.

[brantlew]

A couple of guys on the forum (Palmer and I think pierreye) experimented with the Asus WAVI and had favorable impressions I think.

http://www.asus.com/Multimedia/Wireless_Kit/WAVI/

[Dycus]

Problem is you're gonna need a wireless USB connection too, and then batteries to power everything. Those wireless transmitters draw a lot of power!

Plus you gotta make sure the HDMI and USB transmitters have the same amount of latency (which, ideally, should be 0-2ms max).

[brantlew]

Problem is you're gonna need a wireless USB connection too, and then batteries to power everything. Those wireless transmitters draw a lot of power!

Plus you gotta make sure the HDMI and USB transmitters have the same amount of latency (which, ideally, should be 0-2ms max).

What's your suggestion for an HDMI/USB transmitter combo? Surely you've got all kinds of stuff littering that lab. Can anything substitute wirelessly for a backtop?

[RoadKillGrill]

Problem is you're gonna need a wireless USB connection too, and then batteries to power everything. Those wireless transmitters draw a lot of power!

Plus you gotta make sure the HDMI and USB transmitters have the same amount of latency (which, ideally, should be 0-2ms max).

I have the tracking solved for the most part, its mainly the video data I'm concerned about. In college I used a FatShark headset for some VR work combined with the school's Phasespace Motion Capture system. The FatShark is great as a self contained wireless HMD but the video quality was poor and would drop out and was static even in a rather small capture room.

I should see if I have any videos of that project. You got to walk around as a giant robot and smash buildings.

[Dycus]

What's your suggestion for an HDMI/USB transmitter combo? Surely you've got all kinds of stuff littering that lab. Can anything substitute wirelessly for a backtop?

Backtop? Like... a laptop on your back?

I actually haven't been able to try out any wireless stuff yet. We're still working on getting our office. Palmer tells me that most HDMI transmitters are <1ms, so getting a USB transmitter that does the same might be difficult. I'm not sure, like I said, I haven't been able to play with them yet.

[brantlew]

Backtop? Like... a laptop on your back?

Yeah...it's local terminology that's used on this forum. Can't remember who came up with it - but it's a perfect word.

[Fredz]

You're the one who gave this term its nobleness with your redirect walking video, so I'd say it's all yours...

[brantlew]

Here it is. pierreye thought of it. Gotta give credit where credit is due...

http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p ... top#p65466

[Namielus]

Problem is you're gonna need a wireless USB connection too, and then batteries to power everything. Those wireless transmitters draw a lot of power!

Plus you gotta make sure the HDMI and USB transmitters have the same amount of latency (which, ideally, should be 0-2ms max).

The Wavi device states that it has 2-way wireless usb. What am I missing here?

[Dycus]

Oh, I didn't see that. Well, besides that, it doesn't say it supports 1280x800. Maybe it supports every resolution from 480p to 1080p, or maybe just the ones it lists. I'm not sure.

Given it transmits 1280x800 HDMI and USB with sub-ms latency, there's still another problem. The spec page says it draws 24w, which would be 2A at 12v. Our Rift prototypes draw about 500mA-1A at 12v, so you're looking at a max of 3A being drawn. You're gonna need some huge batteries if you want to play for more than an hour!

I don't know if you know, but Palmer and I have been in the "portablizing" hobby space for quite a while. (Link, you can actually see one of mine! It's green with the gold triforce on the back.)

Anyway, if I were doing this, I'd use Li-po batteries. They're light and last a long time, but are pretty expensive. I'd probably go for something like this. That should last you 3-4 hours.

[Namielus]

The battery link you provided is not working for me.
Actually I already have a vest for power tools I made with a 12v battery reservoir in the back. It's 12v 20ah if I remember correctly.
Sort of a wired/cordless tool hybrid.
It weighs a good 11 lbs, but that's not really a problem for my back. If it can transmit 1280x800 and usb at the required latency I might be interested.

[Dycus]

Dang it, I hate battery space's page navigation. Does this work? Edit: Nope. No it does not. It was a 11.1v, 9Ah Li-po pack.

And the battery pack you have would work great! That should last a good 6-8 hours. As long as the transmitter is good, you're golden.

[brantlew]

You lose the weight of a backtop, but you gain the weight of a transmitter and battery pack. Probably a wash. And the wiring is just the same. So really the main benefit is that you are able to use a high power computer to render high quality graphics. Of course you give up some latency in the trade and on the Rift - high quality graphics are not that difficult to achieve. So maybe there is no compelling reason to use a transmitter versus a laptop with the Rift ??

I guess if you don't own a gaming laptop, then it would be much cheaper to augment an existing PC with a transmitter than to buy a laptop.

[Namielus]

For me one big reason is I don't use laptops and it would be a extra expense to get a high end laptop.
Here its all pads, slates and desktop.
And I would never get 10+ hours of playtime running the gpu on a laptop/backtop anyway, Would I?
If I scale down in weight to match an average watt hour of a laptop I think my battery pack will weigh much less.

btw,
Is that 24w in total for the send/recieve unit or 24w for each?

[Dycus]

I prefer desktops to laptops by far. Easy to upgrade, cooler, more powerful. Sometimes you just need something portable, though.

I'd guess they're 24w each. It says it includes 12v 2A power adapters, so you're probably looking at an actual current draw of 1.5A or so (you have to include a little overhead, just in case).