If you don’t like having to use separate cables with separate virtual reality headsets for PC then rejoice because you may not have to in the future. A new standardized spec has been confirmed by the VirtualLink Consortium, a group that includes GPU manufacturers NVIDIA and AMD as well as Microsoft, Valve, and Oculus. All three are competitors in the virtual reality market but have come on the same page for this single cable spec for future VR headsets.
This single cable spec relies on the USB Type-C connector’s “Alternate Mode capability to effectuate different data protocols such as Thunderbolt 3 data or DisplayPort and HDMI video coupled with its power delivery support.
This new specification combines four lanes of high bitrate 3 DisplayPort video with USB 3.1 generation 2 data channel for on-headset cameras and sensors in addition to delivering 27W of power.
It’s enough to power two 3840×2160 streams at 60 frames per second and if Display Stream Compression is used, even higher frame rates can be supported. If the resolution is dropped to 2560×1440 then two uncompressed 120fps streams become possible.
What this means for future VR headsets is that they will have consistent connections regardless of the manufacturer. It will eliminate the need to use multiple cables as one has to currently. Separate cables will no longer be required for USB data and display data, for example.
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