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Where Are the High-Res Head-Mounted Displays?
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."
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.
Even head tracking has taken a back seat. Interface design has moved away from the idea of strapping gagetry to your body and moved toward motion sensing devices that provide excellent spatial control and immersion without cramming you into a latex glove. (Bow chicka bow wow.)
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.
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.
In short, don't hold your breath. The VR of the 90's is dead. Long live augmented realtiy.
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The main issue as I recall with all of the projection glasses were the concern of eye strain because of too much light. I had a pair of the old sony classes, and they were no doubt hard on the eyes. In fact, I think they had a 4 hour limit of usage as I recall...
In short... Unless the business world converts to a French way of living, I dont think that your glasses will every find their way into high end applications anytime soon.
http://www.kopin.com/about-cyberdisplay/ (Tiny LCDs.)
http://wearcam.org/ (More complex than regular 'partially transparent' displays, but _far_ more capable - look up Mediated Reality / Augmented Reality.)
I feel that to bring up motion tracking blurs the line between VR and a more mundane wearable display. I could see countless uses for a wearable display.
/. have other people in their rooms)... and i guess it might be fun to be able to watch pr0n with no one around to be the wiser.
For instance the ability to watch/play with out disturbing anyone else in the room (yes some people that read
I demand my pr0n glasses!
my hopes lie here - hopefully HD in the release... http://www.microvision.com/pico_projector_displays/
"You are still innocent until proven guilty. What's changed is what they do to innocent people." by notnAP (846325)
I think that head mounted displays face something of a chicken vs. the egg situation. Simply put there just aren't currently any real applications for such a device. Traditional video obscures your vision. So, in order to watch it on one of these you must be standing (or sitting) still in one place. In which case traditional displays are simply a more economic way of showing the video anyways.
I suppose that the "killer app" for head mounted displays is augmented reality (or AR), in which you would overlay digital data on the real world. But such technology is very much still in the laboratory stage of development (although some of it is just starting to make its way onto smart phones).
I want some sort of HMD or wearable computer so badly. I want a camera to record where I go and what I do and act as a backup for my cranial memory. I want it to recognize faces to keep track of my history that person. I want an internet connection everywhere so that I can call up an alternative recipe on the fly when I realize at the last minute that I'm missing an ingredient. I want to use the sum analyses of my automotive commutes to recommend ways I can change my driving behaviour to extend the life of my car and use less fuel. I want ubiquitous, always-ready, augmented reality. I want to evolve and extend my senses beyond what any human has ever been capable of, and I want to keep my private matters private.
Is that so much to ask?
People just don't want to be teased with "hey Geordi" everywhere. It's bad enough at my job... I have a Linux box and a Windows box, each with dual monitors (not particularly big ones) and it's always "hey Houston, are you sure you don't need another monitor?" Everyone else
I always thought HMDs sounded like a great idea, too. I guess they won't be socially accepted until they're integrated into eyeglasses without any noticeable extra bulges anywhere, and wireless too. How to get the battery into such a small form factor will be quite a trick to pull off.
The headmounted displays were accidently left in the flying cars in parking lot of the lunar hotel.
> 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.
It will still look like a brick tied to your face but it will be from Apple so it will be cool.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
HMD's are so retro-chic. Don't you know that all the cool research is now tapping the brain's retina layer to augment/alter vision?
These days, I'm waiting for the hat/camera/socket that allow for text overlay, enhanced-spectrum cameras, and novel perspectives to our existing firmware.
Remember, when dreaming go big.
Microvision have all the patents for HMD/Retinal display, and is currently working with the US Army... for a few years. ;)
So you won't see any good HMD that doesn't give you an headache this year. Please retry later
I can't call that English
Its not Hi-Res but its something people would wear more than some bulky goggles:
http://www.digilens.com/products.html
Its more for augmented reality than virtual reality.
Of course if you've a thousand dollars to blow there is always one of Emagin's products:
http://www.3dvisor.com/
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
a 2" screen a half inch from your eye was not the way the human eye was intended to work. no offense to how cool it would be though, but our eyes just have not evolved for that type of input.. things like depth perception, spatial awareness and stereoscopy break down. the best we can do is overlay projections which have been used in broadway musicals for years, and HUD which has been used to help old people drive cars and young people blow up third world countries.
Good people go to bed earlier.
I bet weight and size has something to do with this. When OLED screen tech becomes commonplace, we'll see plenty more of these things. In addition to the other advantages of OLED, the high aperture ratio is useful (to avoid the screen door effect), the size and weight is reduced compared to even LCD, and perhaps even more importantly, the viewing angle issue is solved completely.
Perhaps more importantly, OLED can probably obtain a much higher pixel density more easily (considering this source, and also how small the 11" TV from Sony is...). The former mentioned a 0.38" display with a resolution of 560,000 pixels (1.7 million subpixels) in a press release. Anything even remotely close to that would be amazing.
Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
Now, if it can work wirelessly with an iPhone (or similar device), include the camera and head tracking attachments, you have an entire platform for augmented reality right there.
Personally, I have found myself wanting the ability to use my iPhone while walking or having it in my pocket without having to take it out.
I mean the walking part I can do... Just not well seeing having to look down at the device or making my arms tired holding it up in my face. If I could some how use the iPhone in my pocket to text or surf and see the text in front of my face rather than looking down all the time would be a plus.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Um... As a boomer I have to agree with you... Our generation was promised a lot too and what did we get? An 2nd rate Actor with dementia and later a village idiot from Texas... not that we weren't warned (see Gladiator at Law and The Space Merchants).
We didn't get to cruise in Cyber Space we got Snow Crashed in AOL.
Who cares for places like Face Book? What happened to the cool places? Who's running Simulacron-3?
We've been talking about AI for 60 years but it appears the Ghost in the Shell is still born (regardless of those promoting a Singularity... unless it's name is Rush)
It ain't cheap, and I doubt you could even buy one if you had the cash, but for state of the art, do a little research into the HMD for the JSF (helmet mounted display for the Joint Strike Fighter / F-35). From the Rockwell Collins website:
"Vision Systems International (VSI), a joint venture between Rockwell Collins and Elbit Systems Ltd. of Israel, is developing the Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) for the JSF. VSI's HMD offers a compact, versatile, lightweight and extremely rugged display with low power consumption. The JSF HMD is a binocular off-the-visor display providing the pilot with a large field-of-view video/calligraphic image to both eyes."
http://www.vsi-hmcs.com/f35.htm
From what I've read, it's simply amazing. The pilot will be able to look in ANY direction (including straight thru his body or the bottom or rear of the cockpit) to see augmented reality - with data fused from multiple sensors including infrared and radar, overlaid on the real world.
http://uscockpits.com/Jet%20Fighters/F-35_Cockpit_(dusk_with_virtual_HMD).jpg
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/f-35-hmds-pulls-the-gs-04088/
By the way, "calligraphic" is worth noting. A normal video image simply cannot create very bright and precise light points, because it's a raster image. But a calligraphic display effectively overcomes this limitation, by using a separate CRT gun to hit the same phosphors with much more power in a non-raster format. So the display is a combined raster and beam system, providing some ability to provide very precise details at much higher brightness, while also allowing normal full-color display.
--Brandon / Split Infinity Music
I'm not sure about you, but at that low a refresh my eyes would walk right out of their sockets and donate themselves to science in protest.
Which, in foresight (heh) would be proceeding the rest of the body by only a few hours if I was lucky enough. By dying horribly in one of the following ways: flattened by a Hydrogen powered bus for wandering into traffic, skating right off the skytrain platform and falling the 60 meters or so to my doom or rolling onto the train right-of-way and becoming instant mincemeat. All because I was checking my daytimer and was too airbrained to realize where I was roller-blading.(obtuse old telus ad reference, I *hated* that ad.)
-m
-Magdalene --"there are 10 types of people in the world, those who read binary, and those who don't"
Emagin Visor z800 - 800x600, built in tracker, ~1600 USD If you want better resolution, look at Kaiser Electro-Optics HMDs. However, this is pro-stuff, not for playing games at home or watching video. The prices start at ~20000 USD and higher, without trackers (the built-in trackers are crap - if you are spending this much, you have an external magnetic/optical tracker anyway).
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The PiSight HMD promises 187 degrees horizontal and 84 degrees vertical FOV by tiling DLP chips. I have yet to see it myself, but the units start somewhere around $20K and go up depending on how much FOV you want). 1900x1200 per eye (kind of low, but higher than anything out there).
The problem to solve with HMDs is not just field of view or resolution--you also need to solve the convergence and accommodation problems.
I envision a future HMD unit integrating eye tracking and auto focus which exploits the way the human eye really sees (few degrees at a time, in extremely high resolution) instead of trying to render a very high resolution image at interactive frame rates. I imagine the fact that this has not been built is due to the catch-22 involving low demand and high cost [when only the military can afford your hardware and is willing to pay for it, there is absolutely NO incentive to mass produce it]
In the meantime, the state of the art in VR is still in systems like the CAVE. I think the Iowa State VRAC CAVE has something amazing like 16 Mpixel resolution...
I am waiting for one of the game companies to start exploiting this. In the meantime, get yourself a pair of NuVision Cinema LCD shutter glasses (around $100), a $500 emitter, and a DLP 3DTV device for under $3000 if you are serious about home-based VR. If you can drive the 3DTV device (NVidia is releasing drivers for it ... there is also hardware available from RealD), the quality is stunning. (You're on your own with head tracking...but there are cheap solutions out there such as the WiiMote based hacks...I've only used the more expensive solutions).
Ah, Gia. That was back when Angelina Jolie looked perfect.
JC Denton:"My vision is augmented."
I've been involved with wearable computers since 1994. Further, I have been designing and fabricating head mounted displays for an academic client who is highly regarded in the field of optics since 2004. To say I know something about this subject would be a coy understatement.
What is clear from reactions to all my previous demos is that people want a head mounted display that is inconspicuous, fits well, has high resolution, full color, wide field of view and produces a high quality image. Oh, yeah, it should be inexpensive as well. Because I've been working with world class optical experts, I know the physical reality of the optics. These criterion conspire against one another; improving one diminishes the others. So, one must prioritize these and do the best we can.
Here is one potential ranking:
1) unobtrusive
2) fits well
3) image quality
4) wide field of view
5) full color
6) inexpensive
7) high resolution
Your request for high resolution with acceptable field of view and image quality makes the unobtrusive criterion impossible with today's technology. This is unacceptable to the public at large.
I am working on a display system now that fits behind an ordinary looking pair of sunglasses. We have compromised resolution and, to some degree, field of view. I'm bound by a confidentiality agreement but I can tell you we are making advances with each successive project. The HMD is the last remaining barrier to a compelling wearable computer. One day your cell phone will be in your sunglasses.
I had no trouble finding a high-res HMD. The price made me choke a bit, though.
In the 90's I worked with Sony, and had access to the cool stuff before it was publicly available.
I designed a telepresence robot for Sony Wonder in New York. It had video cameras in its eyeballs that fed what was then a state of the art high res headmount display prototype.
A motion sensor was mounted to the operator's head, so when the operator moved his head, the robot moved in sync. It was given the name "BB Wonderbot" and became a very popular attraction.
When the operators first put on the headset, they were excited and thought that it looked really cool. But after days of operating it for several hours a day, problems appeared. Operaters complained of headaches, dizzieness and feeling sick. We first tried limiting operator time, but later abandoned the entire idea.
Even though the display was excellent for the time, it was still a bit fuzzy. The motion control system had a little delay, and the stereoscopy was not perfect.
We suspect that there is a phenomenon similar to the "uncanny valley" at work here. To be comfortable, a headmount display must be perfect, or really, really close. If it is a little bit off, the brain won't tolerate it for long.
Gordon Bell is a supercomputer expert who migrated over to MicroSoft Research. His recent project is MyLifeBits, a complete digital record of one's life.
I am not sure where I read this, but some peopel are experimenting with wearable cameras to take snapshots of your entire day. The camera has a motion sensor in it to increase rates when the wearer appears more active. I suppose an iPhone could be programmed to track both motion and vocal activity of its host.
I further read that psychologists are using this for memory studies. Some hosts report an eerie telepresence effect when they review recent day or two's video. Researchers are studying the effect of periodic memory reinforcement. Perhaps an appliance could be developed for those with memory defects like early Alzheimers.
Seems like there are a lot of problems to solve still - I just find it frustrating that there seem to be products out there that seem so close to my requirements, only lacking in resolution, and probably refresh rate.
I don't wear glasses, despite years at a screen since the Apple //e appeared on the scene, and years of reading books in the dark before that, so I have never had to worry about whether you could wear glasses with some particular hmd in my quest for the perfect one, but I suppose that also adds another whole level of complexity to trying to bring a product to as wide a market as possible.
Is there really such a passive price difference between the LCD's they use in these systems that do 640x480 compared to one that could do 1024x768 though?
I could live with it still looking about the same apparent size and distance as a 24" monitor sitting on my desk, but I just don't want to wear a device that looks too out of place on a train or in public, hence the requirement for them to also look passingly like a regular pair of sunglasses.