HMD prices

HenFre · #1 06-09-2009, 10:39 PM

Take a look at this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIuzv8XcqmQ

More interesting is the fact that he mentions the VR 1440 for gaming. I have read that it will have a resolution of 800x600, but this product is not yet mentioned on the Vuzix homepage, so it might be a long way off..

K_Freddie · #2 06-09-2009, 11:16 PM

Sorry I don't do youtube (my bandwidth costs), but did a search for that product... no results = no promise

I have the vuzix VR920.. and these are my personal thoughts about it.

- optics are mediocre
- the head position sensors were not engineered well resulting in reference instability.

I'm a hardware 'nut', if you wish and I stripped my VR920 to check out the inner workings. I really thought that they did half-a-job on this one. The optics and lcds came in a module, and they added their head sensoring thing to it.

My impression is that they did not know what they were doing, as there were much better position sensors on the market before the VR920 was announced. With their new products they might have learn't a few things, but I'm not holding my breath.

Another thing you must be carefull of, is that there are all types of promises about the resolution of the LCDs, essentially saying that it is greater than the physical (actual LCD elements) res. This is so called 'achieved' by interpolation (averaging across pixels) but results in poor image definition.. ie: your 1024x768 (promised res) image is really a 512x384 (physical res) LCD. And when you realise this..512x384 is not what you wanted because it's a crappy res for IL2/BoB

These guys think it's OK not to tell you this and promise you the earth, resulting in smugdy images and shitty LCD frame rates. It's essentially because these guys have no clue about the hardware they're selling.... or they're just lying.

So be carefull

K_Freddie · #3 06-09-2009, 11:36 PM

Sorry I don't do youtube (my bandwidth costs), but did a search for that product... not results = no promise

I have the vuzix VR920.. and these are my personal thoughts about it.

- optics are mediocre
- the head position sensors were not engineered well resulting in reference instability.

I'm a hardware 'nut', if you wish and I stripped my VR920 to check out the inner workings. I really thought that they did half-a-job on this one.
The optics and lcds came in a module, and they added their head sensoring thing to it.

My impression is that they did not know what they were doing, as there were much better position sensors on the market before the VR920 was announced.
With their new products they might have learn't a few things, but I'm not holding my breath.

K_Freddie · #4 06-09-2009, 11:43 PM

Don't know where the 2nd 'half reply' came from... Can the mods delete it please !

Buster_Dee · #5 06-10-2009, 01:00 AM

Count me in. I hate to hazard a price guess, but I would be willing to part with the price of a decent gaming monitor. I would suggest including a small, semi-transparent area near your cheek bones to help find controllers/ keyboard buttons.

Foo'bar · #6 06-10-2009, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buster_Dee

Count me in. I hate to hazard a price guess, but I would be willing to part with the price of a decent gaming monitor. I would suggest including a small, semi-transparent area near your cheek bones to help find controllers/ keyboard buttons.

And of course there has to be a small cut/hole that you can see if your wife is coming or sombody is standing beside you

Feuerfalke · #7 06-10-2009, 09:02 AM

That's true - LOL.

If you don't see your wife/girlfriend closing in on your six, you'll be ejected from your virtual cockpit a lot faster and violent than getting a direct hit from an 8.8!

nearmiss · #8 06-10-2009, 03:48 PM

Interesting stuff

Looks like virtual reality may come to consumers soon.

Being able to see buttons and keyboard = not an issue

all you need is a voice command software with ability to program macros.

Just like in a cockpit with a co-pilot verbal instructions should work well.

It might be a departure from reality,but it would work as well with pilot only.

The video looked very shaky, so I'm thinking that may just be frame rate problem with the video.

800 x 600 is pretty lame at this point since you can't render best graphics, but it is a start.

I don't get too excited over anything that applies to games anymore. LOL

There have been so many schmaltzy products and stuff pushed at us.

HenFre · #9 06-10-2009, 06:32 PM

K_Freddie:

My biggest concern is also the resolution of the unit. I have seen a great deal of reviews on different products and all of the users have said, that these HMD's was useless in fligtsims because of the low resolution. The low resolution caused the player to not being able to read gauges or find the enemy planes, which is escential in these types of games.

I have never tried to use an actual HMD, so I have no idear if the resolution of 800x600 is enough for me to satisfied with the graphics.
So I just have a question: If I wanted to test how it looked, can I set my own display to 800x600 and then align it to one of my eyes. Distance my head from the display, so that it fills 30 degress in my field of vision and thats how it would look??

Would it not be better to use a display with say 1280x1024 straight away? Or are these dispays simply to expensive at this point in time. I have seen several units using this resolution and they have been produced since 2003, but still cost the same as they did when they where first revealed: 24.000 $