HP Reverb G2

VR Cover Starts its Black Friday Sales Early

November 9, 2021 From vrfocus

The annual Black Friday sales event may not officially start for a couple more weeks but that doesn’t stop retailers from kicking a few deals off early. And that’s exactly what VR Cover has begun, rolling out loads of discounts across its range of virtual reality (VR) accessories.

VR Cover has a huge range of addon’s for most VR headsets, with Oculus Quest 2 the biggest beneficiary. Out of all the deals, 20 are for the standalone headset, whilst there are also discounts to be had on accessories for the original Quest, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index, and Windows Mixed Reality devices including the HP RTeverb G2.

None of VR Covers’ prices are overly expensive so the discounts aren’t huge but it’s worth a gander if you’re after a few bits. For Oculus Quest 2 owners some of the best deals can be found on the Controller Grips or the Facial Interface & Foam Replacement Set, both of which are down from €29/$29 to €20.30/$20.30. Or then there are the Silicone Covers in various colours currently retailing for €8.10/$8.10. VRFocus reviewed a few of these accessories and found most to be of a decent quality.

As for the other Oculus headsets, there are foam replacements for Oculus Rift and Go, a cotton cover for Oculus Quest and Rift as well as head strap replacements. It’s a similar selection for PC VR headsets, Silicone Covers for Valve Index, HTC Vive gets foam replacements and cotton covers whilst HP Reverb G2 gets silicone and cotton covers for its facial gasket.

They may all be dubbed Black Friday deals but as they go through until 3rd December 2021 it’s more of a discount month.

Hopefully, there will be plenty of VR Black Friday deals this year with the Oculus website already suggesting signing up to be notified. An offer is already available: “beat the rush and buy a Quest 2 today and get £10 off of a Quest 2 Elite Strap With Battery,” but is it worth holding off?

As more VR Black Friday deals are announced in the coming weeks, VRFocus will let you know.

Hands-on: New Reverb G2 Tweaks Make a Solid Headset Even Better

November 2, 2021 From roadtovr

Last month HP announced that it was releasing a new Reverb G2 headset with some tweaks designed to improve field-of-view and controller coverage. We got out hands on the new headset and put it through the paces.

Reverb G2 is a decent headset and in our review we really loved the clarity of its display and lenses, but were a bit let down by the limited field-of-view. And even though the headset had notably better tracking coverage compared to prior Windows VR headsets, it still had some blind spots that were easy to notice during regular use.

Now HP has released a slightly updated version of the headset in the US which hopes to specifically address these issues, along with improving compatibility with AMD GPUs. We got our hands on the new Reverb G2 and compared it to the original.

HP is still calling the new version of the headset the ‘Reverb G2’, but for clarity let’s call the original the G2 and the new version the G2.1.

Eye-relief & Field-of-view

The Reverb G2.1 comes with a new facepad which can be reduced from the original fixed eye-relief distance of 15mm to 9mm. This is accomplished with a simple spacer which comes pre-installed in the G2.1. In my experience with the original G2, there was a good deal of field-of-view left on the table because of the fixed eye-relief. In theory, removing the spacer to drop down to 9mm should help people like me get closer to the headsets maximum field-of-view.

Indeed, removing the spacer brought a noticeable improvement in both vertical and horizontal field-of-view. Here’s a look at measurements comparing the field-of-view of the G2 and the G2.1.

Reverb G2 vs. G2.1 Field-of-View – Personal Measurements
(no glasses, measured with TestHMD 1.2)

	Horizontal FOV	Vertical FOV
Original Reverb G2 Eye-relief (15mm)	82°	78°
Reverb G2.1 Eye-relief (9mm)	98°	88°
Absolute Minimum Eye-relief (facepad removed)	98°	88°

You can see that using the 9mm setting on Reverb G2.1 increased my horizontal and vertical field-of-view by 16° and 10° respectively.

Compared to running the same field-of-view test with the facepad completely removed, I got the very same results (because at that point the screen becomes the limiting factor over eye-relief). That means that the 9mm setting of the Reverb G2.1 allows me to perfectly maximize the headset’s field-of-view.

Now I want to be clear… this might not be the case for everyone using the headset; it depends entirely on the topology of ones face. Some people may already be getting the maximum field-of-view (or close to it) at 15mm, and going down to 9mm would only serve to reveal the edges of the display instead of expanding the field-of-view.

As for me, the 9mm setting was just right in that it maximized the headset’s field-of-view without revealing the edges of the display—which is generally preferred because the hard boundary of a display is somehow more immersion-breaking than the soft boundary of a lens.

There’s really only one downside to this change and that’s a slightly smaller nose cavity, no matter if you’re using the spacer or not. If you have a big nose and the original G2 feels tight there, the G2.1 could put bothersome pressure on your nose.

The spacer itself is such a simple part and I’m really glad HP went out of its way to include it in the new version of the headset to make it easier for everyone to dial in the eye-relief to get the most from the field-of-view.

The spacer of the Reverb G2.1 perfectly fits the headset’s shape | Photo by Road to VR

The spacer is perfectly formed to the headset and snaps onto its magnetic attachment points, and then the facepad snaps over top of it using the same magnets.

If you’re curious, yes you can use the new spacer and/or the new facepad with the original Reverb G2; both will fit perfectly onto the headset (you can also use the old facepad with the new headset). However, using the new spacer with the original facepad (which would take you to a 21mm eye-relief) sort of works, but the two parts lack a perfect seal which causes some light leakage that can be annoying.

Continue on Page 2: Tacking Coverage »

HP Launches Updated Reverb G2 in U.S. with a Host of Commonly Requested Improvements

October 21, 2021 From roadtovr

HP announced today that it’s launching an updated version of its Reverb G2 headset in the US that brings improvements to controller tracking, eye-relief, and AMD compatibility. Alongside the headset’s improvements, changes to the Mixed Reality Portal software in Windows 11 aim to streamline the experience for SteamVR users and improve performance.

When HP launched Reverb G2 late last year, it was a major upgrade to its predecessor. In our review we loved the headset’s improved image clarity, ergonomics, and audio, but weren’t so keen on the controller tracking coverage (which was improved but still not quite up to par), nor the lack of an eye-relief adjustment (which limited the headset’s field-of-view).

Now HP says it has updated Reverb G2 to directly address those concerns; unfortunately the new version is only available in the US for the time being (we reached out to ask if there are plans to expand availability).

Controller Tracking

For controller tracking, the company says it has adjusted the Reverb G2’s cameras to improve vertical coverage by 30%, specifically “resolving blind spots above and below the waist.” We don’t have many details on exactly what changed with the cameras (angle, field-of-view, etc), though the company did confirm that it was a hardware change rather than merely software.

Eye-relief & Field-of-view

As for eye-relief, the updated Reverb G2 will include a new facepad with a removable spacer. With the spacer attached, the eye-relief is set to 15mm (same as the original Reverb G2), but when removed the eye-relief is reduced to 9mm, which will help more users achieve their maximum field-of-view.

When I measured the field-of-view of the original Reverb G2, I found that the default eye-relief left a fair bit of field-of-view on the table for my particular face shape. I also measured the field-of-view with the facepad removed entirely to see how much I was missing; in the table below you can see that I could significantly increase the vertical and horizontal field-of-view if only I could get my eyes closer to the lenses.

Reverb G2 Field-of-View – Personal Measurements
(no glasses, measured with TestHMD 1.2)

	Horizontal FOV	Vertical FOV
Standard Eye-relief (15mm)	82°	78°
Absolute Minimum Eye-relief (facepad removed)	98°	88°

The difference between the 15mm default eye-relief and the new 9mm setting won’t be as pronounced as the above test with no facepad at all, but it will surely help.

AMD Compatibility

At launch original Reverb G2 had some spotty compatibility issues with AMD hardware. HP says the updated Reverb G2 includes a new cable for “increased compatibility with AMD systems, resolving connection issues.” There’s not a lot of detail at this time about exactly what has changed or which previously problematic AMD hardware has been addressed, but we’re in touch with HP with the hope of learning more.

The new cable will ship with the updated Reverb G2 and HP says it will also be available for purchase to be used with the original Reverb G2 for customers who had issues with AMD hardware (if you bought your G2 recently you might even be able to get one under warranty).

Windows 11 Improvements to Mixed Reality Portal

For users who are primarily using Reverb G2 (or other Windows VR headsets) as a SteamVR headset, the Mixed Reality Portal software can feel like a bulky burden standing between the headset and the SteamVR library.

Microsoft has shipped a range of improvements to Mixed Reality Portal with Windows 11 which aim to streamline the software, especially for SteamVR users.

For one, users can now essentially bypass the Mixed Reality Portal home environment and jump straight into Steam VR.

If you do want to use the Mixed Reality Portal home environment, there’s now a new space called Infinite Expanse which Microsoft says is designed to use less system resources in order to maximize performance when running other VR applications.

The updated Mixed Reality Portal software in Windows 11 also give users more control over when the software launches itself. Previously it liked to launch whenever the headset was connected or power-cycled. A new option allows you to change this behavior so that it only launches once the headset’s proximity sensor is triggered.

Updated Reverb G2 Availability

HP says the new version of the headset will be sent out for any new purchases of the headset in the US, apparently starting today. The headset is conveniently discounted by $50 from the usual $600 MSRP. So far the company hasn’t said if it plans to sell the updated G2 outside of the US.

We’ve also reached out to HP to ask how users can tell the original G2 apart from the updated G2 so that they can be sure which version of the headset they’re getting. We’re awaiting more details on that front.