Consumers all over the world dislike the idea of tethering their VR headset to an external device. It is rather easy to trip over a cable or lose your balance, which can lead to major injuries. Displaylink may have the key to solve this problem once and for all. The company wants to offer fully wireless VR experiences to both single and multiplayer gaming setups. An ambitious goal, but the company’s demonstration at CES 2018 has many people excited.
Displaylink and the Future of Wireless VR Gaming
Once the first VR headsets came to market, most consumers were somewhat disappointed. Not only because the top models are very expensive, but also because they required a tethered connection to a computer or laptop. It is far from an ideal situation. Manufacturers of such headsets have been looking for ways to cram more technology into the HMD. That is not easy, although some companies have made major progress. In most cases, a wireless VR experience comes at the cost of convenience or quality.
Displaylink claims they have come up with a solution to make wireless VR gaming possible. Their XR setup offers total freedom of movement, without requiring cables or anything along those lines. This also means users can game pretty much anywhere in their home, rather than remaining very close to the PC at all times. With Intel’s 802.11ad WiGig radios and the Displaylink XR codec, we finally may be able to cut the cord to our VR headset once and for all.
Intel’s WiGig technology is like a regular WiFi connection, but it offers much more. There is no interference with existing wireless networks, as the system uses its own frequency band. Moreover, there are no major bandwidth fluctuations, according to Displaylink. This should allow for a gaming experience at 90 frames per second. In the future, that may even be upgraded to 120 frames per second. It all sounds very promising, but we won’t know for sure until these adapters come to market. That will apparently happen in Q3 of 2018.
One question a lot of people have is whether or not Displaylink XR is compatible with first-gen headsets. The answer to this question is “probably”, as the company purposefully remains vague on this front. Considering how it is just an adapter, it shouldn’t be too problematic to make any VR headset use this technology. Thena gain, all headsets are proprietary technology and not every manufacturer may allow such third-party “tools” to be used. For now, we will have to wait and see how the situation unfolds.
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