Slashdot Mirror


Big Screen Viewing Effect For Mobile Phone Videos

Clarinase writes "Cellular phone subscribers can now view TV, movies, photos and broadband Internet content with a big screen viewing effect with Kopin CyberDisplay video eyewear from MicroOptical. This sleek eyewear allows users to privately view large-size video or pictures equivalent to a 12-inch screen as seen from three feet away, delivering crisp, full-color video with a 17-degree field of view. This eyewear is connected to a cell phone through a thin cable, and allows up to five hours of video with three AAA batteries. Since it accepts composite video input (NTSC or PAL), the eyewear can be plugged into other devices with composite video outputs such as portable DVD players."

14 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. Great styling.... not by gbulmash · · Score: 4, Funny
    I can't decide if these make you look more like Geordi LaForge from TNG, or a Cylon from the original "Battlestar Galactica". Since video glasses are nothing new (I remember a friend planning to buy a pair for a wearable computing rig in the late '90s), I can only assume that these are newsworthy because they look so ultra-geek.

    Greg

  2. Overkill? by imaginieus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does anyone else think that 12inches is overkill to see the number youre dialing?

  3. plus.. by spyder913 · · Score: 4, Funny

    you are immediately qualified to be Chief Engineer of the USS Enterprise-D!

  4. Cell Phones and Driving by SeanDuggan · · Score: 5, Funny

    And I thought people using cell phones while driving was a menace before...

    --
    This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
  5. worse than drunks! by bugnuts · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I have to worry about people having a cellphone stuck to their EYE when driving?

    I can just see the legislators wetting themselves now.

  6. Re:Thin cable? by justforaday · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why does it not surprise me that the irc.goatse.cx troll wants thick cables?

    --
    I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
  7. Re:Thin cable? by MoonBuggy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Score: 4, Insightful!? Aren't we supposed to be geeks? Aren't geeks supposed to like problem solving? There's a simple fix here: use a thin wire (with associated size, flexibility and weight advantages) which has plugs on both ends and will, as such, disconnect under tension. It's also easy to replace if it does break.

  8. One more thing by jfengel · · Score: 4, Informative

    The other thing it's missing is resolution. At 320x240, that's not really enough to see the visual details you'd want if you're going to play the game well.

    Presumably that's part of the reason it is so much smaller and lighter than your present unit (in addition to the lack of motion tracking.)

    1. Re:One more thing by jfengel · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Colors, perhaps? If "230k" pixels means "76k blue pixels, 76k red pixels, and 76k green pixels" that would make the math work. It's not what I call a pixel, but it's exactly the sort of thing that marketing departments are likely to come up with.

  9. Re:Hello, Headaches by wowbagger · · Score: 4, Informative
    Five hours with your eyes focused at two inches away? No thanks.


    It does not work that way. The optics adjust the needed eye relief such that the focus distance is a couple of feet - so this is no worse than looking at your monitor.

    That's why these displays aren't just the LCOS display hanging in front of your eyes - you need the lenses to change the focus.
  10. Can it do phone stuff? by Jim+Hall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Cameras, streaming music, web browsing, PalmOS, txt chat, games ... and now, television. But I wonder how good it is at being an actual phone? You know, the kind we use to make calls.

    I was on campus for a meeting today, and had to make a call on my all-digital phone/camera/appliance. The quality was pretty bad (it would go silent for brief periods, so I missed part of the conversation.) This while I was outside, with 5 bars of signal!

    When I look at all the cool stuff you can do with a mobile phone these days, I'm unimpressed. I just want something that lets me make a clear, uninterrupted phone call.

  11. Very LaForge by JamaisVu · · Score: 5, Funny

    Butterfly in the sky
    I can go twice as high
    Take a look
    It's in a book
    A Reading Rainbow

    I can go anywhere
    Friends to know
    And ways to grow
    A Reading Rainbow

    I can be anything
    Take a look
    It's in a book
    A Reading Rainbow
    A Reading Rainbow

    --
    "When the solution is simple, God is answering." -- Albert Einstein
  12. Re:IMAX movies make me want to puke by wowbagger · · Score: 4, Informative
    Having larger than life moving pictures in front of me makes me really motion sick.


    That is one of the things that displays like this are very GOOD for - they don't induce motion sickness as much as an IMAX would.

    The problem with IMAX is that your entire visual field is filled with the movie - your eyes tell you "we are moving" and your inner ear says "bull! We are sitting still." This confusion of input overstimulates the vestibular system, and Ralf's your uncle.

    With head mounted displays like this, you see the real world around you as well as the display - so your eyes no longer indicate you are moving, but report "This object in my view is moving - we are stationary." Your inner ear agrees, and you don't get sick.

    This is also why people are advised in IMAX theaters to look at their feet if they get sick - this brings your eyes and inner ear into sync again. The problem is that too many people don't keep looking at their feet until they are fully resynced.
  13. GOOD video glasses? by jaredcat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've seen at least 6 or 7 different video glasses advertised since the late 90's (there's one currently in SkyMall too), but the real question for me is, are any of them halfway decent?

    My primary application would be using my laptop on an airplane or at a Starbucks without having everyone around me seeing whats on my screen.

    I think GOOD video glasses should:
    - give me at least 800x600 res in 16bit color
    - VGA, SVIDEO, and composite inputs
    - simulate a screen size of at least 30"
    - have option for opaque or translucent background
    - not look completely ridiculous
    - price point under $600

    I've seen glasses that do some of the above, but I've never seen a pair that matches all of my criteria.

    Has anyone had experience with devices like this? Any recommendations?