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Where Are the High-Res Head-Mounted Displays?

Posted by kdawson on from the i-want-my-i-want-my-i-want-my dept.

vivian writes "Ever since 1996, when I first set eyes on a Sony GlassTron head-mounted display in Japan, I have been awaiting a lightweight, head-mounted display that actually has decent resolution and doesn't look like a brick tied to your face. The closest contender to date seems to be the WRAP 920AV from Vuzix, and they are partially transparent too, which is great, but as with every other unit I have found, they only offer video quality — 640x480. Given that there have been a number of other discussions on Slashdot, I can't be the only one here who is eagerly awaiting something that could actually be a viable alternative to a PC monitor — especially for gaming or 3d graphics work. Perhaps we could petition a manufacturer to make what we actually want? Something with a minimum of 1024x768 @30-60hz refresh, say, and capable of stereo vision. Extra karma if they incorporate head tracking."

3 of 384 comments (clear)

  1. Re:VR was more hype than reality by shogun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The VR of the 90's is dead. Long live augmented realtiy.

    Augmented reality != Isolated VR rooms as you have described above.

    Augmented reality requires transparent HMDs or something similar so that visual reality can be augmented with extra information and not hugeass displays in a room somewhere.

  2. Re:VR was more hype than reality by DaleGlass · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why spend thousands of dollars smooshing a high resolution display to your face when you can blow up a flatscreen to epic proportions and get all the resolution you need? Practically speaking, the HMD does nothing additional other than give you headache.

    Because it just hangs on the wall, probably doesn't provide 3D, and I stop seeing it the moment I turn around or leave the room.

    Take the Wii Remote as an example. Accelerometers and IR sensors work together to provide precise positioning. A gyroscope powered attachment called the Motion+ is coming out to close the gap on orientation difficulties. That's the low-end and look at what has already been achieved. The high end stuff allows researchers to build entire rooms where gyroscopes and camera tracking provide location information while the subject is surrounded by projected images or large flat panels.

    That's a very restricted solution. It works if you have a room to dedicate to it, and you're happy enough to interact with the system in one unique place. I think that's a pain and very limiting. Technology advances towards being portable. Making a huge investment in something I can't use most of the time seems the wrong way to go for me.

    The end goal is to blur the line between man and machine rather than having the machine trick man into believing he's in a different world. As it turns out, bluring the line between reality and unreality is hella lot easier than trying to replace the current reality.

    Er, a room covered with displays is exactly the old concept of VR. You're replacing reality completely there, except that instead wearing hardware it's all around you.

    In short, don't hold your breath. The VR of the 90's is dead. Long live augmented realtiy.

    My understanding of "augmented reality" is precisely an HMD that mixes reality with VR. Things like:

    Constant Internet connection that can be used at any time in any place

    GPS overlay right over your vision while walking on the street

    Vision enhacement - take the normal vision and modify it, by highlighting important things, removing ads, allow attaching a virtual sticky note on any building, extra cameras that allow to see from the back of your head or in infrared, easy lookups of data about things you see.

    AR games: Merge reality and a game, playing say, a FPS in a park. Create a chessboard on any surface.

    Merging RL with another world: I'd really like to be able to for instance merge RL with Second Life and make it so that somebody from SL can virtually sit near me and appear to be there.

  3. Re:VR was more hype than reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's depressing. I can't recall having been so disappointed in /.'s "geek" credibility. Anyone who reads/posts here has NO business being confused about a) why a head-mounted semi-transparent display is FUNDAMENTALLY different than a large wall-mounted LCD or b) what augmented reality is.