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Sony To Sell 3D Head-Mounted Display
angry tapir writes "Sony says it will start selling a head mounted display that provides a 3D theater for music videos, movies and games, targeting people who prefer solitary entertainment rather than sitting in front of a TV with family or friends. Sony Corp said on Wednesday that the 60,000 yen ($A730) 'HMZ personal 3D viewer' is set to go on sale on November 11 in Japan, and is planned for the US and Europe, perhaps in time for Christmas, although dates have not yet been set. HMZ uses Sony's own OLED screen."
Also known as EUR 542 or USD 654.
From TFA: "It seems unlikely that most people — or even technology enthusiasts — will want to buy a product that involves sitting alone and wearing a little helmet."
Apparently they don't know very many /. readers.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
For solitary porn viewing, incase you need BOTH hands free.
Resembling a futuristic visor, HMZ, which stands for "head mounted display," is worn like chunky goggles-and-earphones in one.
Looks kind of uncomfortable. I guess we'll have to wait a few years for Apple to "invent" a user friendly version (or would that be visor).
I can't wait seeing people wearing these, walking down the street and saying "awesome dude, i see everything in 3D!"
From TFA: It seems unlikely that most people — or even technology enthusiasts — will want to buy a product that involves sitting alone and wearing a little helmet.
Really? What about gaming? What about porn?
Still quite a few years off yet but the by 10th generation of this and the Kinect plus some brain sensors(/simulators) and you would be getting pretty close.
If your not aiming for perfection it might only be a few years away before someone tries.
"...HMZ, which stands for 'head mounted display'..." In other news, DMZ now stands for "demilitarized display"
That would be an awsome feature for a flight simulator *yaw/pitch/roll sensing*, so you could really be able to, you know, "look around".
But this is where content consumption is eventually going. Someone is simply going to invent a set of eyeglasses that connect to your cell phone that provide a complete visual interface including augmented reality. Maybe Steve will be able to complete that cloning technology in the next few years and his clone will return as CEO and invent the iGlass. Then suddenly, as if almost overnight, four-eyes will change be a compliment on your style and taste.
Until then, we can laugh at people who wear these impractical and goofy looking things. But at least it's not a TV Hat
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
WIll I be able to hook it to my PC and get my nVidia card to drive it? If so, I'm sold.
Otherwise, forget it. There are only a few PS3 games in 3D, and only a few BluRays, too. It's a pretty sad market at the moment.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
I'm also curious why they hardly mention a word about virtual reality. Seems to me like an OBVIOUS application for this device. Put it together with a Kinect sensor and you'd have a pretty kick-ass setup.
I'd be surprised if they didn't have at least some optical adjustment. Most cameras have had adjustable viewfinders for a long time.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
Except this time, there's actually relatively mainstream content for it. 3D movies and a few 3D games. For Gran Turismo 5 alone this could be awesome. If the price is under £500 (should be £480 if they did a direct conversion from yen) I'd seriously consider it..
which is totally what she said
Well, first of all this is Japan, where they're at least supposed to be more social than that. People retreating away from society and being self-sufficient are considered a major problem and dysfunction, rather than a core demographic to market to.
In fact all through Asia you have a surprising number of people going to Internet cafes to play an MMO because apparently somehow it's not enough to play a social game if you don't also play it surrounded by other people. Sometimes to such... strange extremes as in the story we had recently about that Chinese couple who sold their kids for money to play MMOs. But while that is weird by itself, it's not what I'm talking about here. Apparently they actually used to leave their baby alone at home so they can go play their MMO from an Internet cafe. I think at that point most people would have realized that withdrawing from the crowd to take care of a baby may not be so antisocial after all, but there we go.
Second, there's an AND there about having to wear a little helmet. Having some goggles where you ONLY see the image in the game/movie/porn sounds great until you realize that you can't even see the mouse or keyboard, your mug of coffee, or the ashtray, or really where the desk is to put that mug of coffee back on it.
And while your built-in proprioception sense may help you find your mouth or, when browsing for porn, your dick, it doesn't help with anything else. Even the 3d model of your room doesn't seem to actually make it past short term memory, which means that in 8 seconds flat it's purged out of the buffer. Oh, you'll still remember what is in your room, and what's to the left of what else, but as a conceptual scene composition, not something where you can judge exact coordinates and positions. In 8 seconds you'll be at a loss whether you're putting the hot coffee cup where you want it on the table, or you're about to put it on the corner of the keyboard and make yourself the next Stella Liebeck.
And that's assuming that there is no randomness element out of your control, i.e., that you're literally alone. If you also have such randomness as having to guess whether or not the cat just curled up on the warm spot where the coffee cup used to be, well, may the FSM have mercy on you.
That's some pretty strong limitations right there.
So I'm not convinced if the /. demographic is the best to sell this to anyway. I mean, on one hand, we do have enough loners and people who must have the latest gadget, but on the other hand, I'd assume there also are a lot more people who can think deeper than "oooh, shiny" and figure out such limitations. Not to mention enough nerds who can remember whole domains worth of trivia, and remember stuff like that some other such gadgets actually caused eye damage.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
I tried a VR helmet prototype at SIGGRAPH in 1996. Even with the vector graphics of the demo the immersion was impressive, but in less than a minute I had a headache. I am sure the technology has greatly improved in the past 15 years, but headaches was still one of the main complaints of the Nintendo 3DS when it was released. I can watch a 3D movie and do not get one, so maybe this device has overcame that problem.
I'm also curious why they hardly mention a word about virtual reality. Seems to me like an OBVIOUS application for this device. Put it together with a Kinect sensor and you'd have a pretty kick-ass setup.
I'd be surprised if they didn't have at least some optical adjustment. Most cameras have had adjustable viewfinders for a long time.
That's a kick ass setup right up to the point that you pretend lightsaber through the front of your TV :)
Things like this have been around for ages. For example you could have bought some MSP-209 video glasses ages ago. I tried a few brands when I live in Japan and they all had the same problem. You were able to see the grid or mesh the pixels sat in. I hope these solve that and compact the screen down.For a decent price and when not made by Sony I may even get a set.
No you see. If the marketing does it right, it is both a 3D display and a weight loss tool... Put this on after you finish eating, play a "weight loss video", withing seconds you have cut the consumption of hundreds of Calories, bucket cost extra.
And if you want to avoid other illnesses, you may try doing it when you are hungry, it may stop you from feeling hungry.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Is this just a wearable 3D display? I mean, in the article i see no mention of any head-tracking sensors... Not sure how it would feel to *not* see the image change when i turn my head...
A kinect-style sensor would be a start; but to really make best use of this, rather pricey, display you'd really want to have some inertial sensors in the helmet and gaze tracking.
Plain-old stereoscopic "3D" is ok, and is a comparatively simple step to take(in terms of production and data storage) from a simple single-screen 2D image; but the fact that turning your head or moving your eyes doesn't change your perspective really tweaks your suspension of disbelief if you aren't careful about it. Given that movies rely so heavily on directorial control of camera angle and perspective(and often don't have the budget to fill out the rest of the "world" that should exist around every little soundstage set...) it makes less difference there; but in a 3D game, having the player's perspective change naturally when they turn their head or glance out of the corner of their eye would markedly improve realism...
It would also be useful for increasing the "useful" resolution of the screen for non-game applications: Consider, if you have, say, a triple monitor setup, you can really only focus on one screen at a time, the others will be peripheral vision at best. If you had motion/gaze tracking, your computer could provide a fairly large number of screens in software(say a 3x3 array), each one the same resolution as the monitor goggles, and switch which one is visible to you as you adjust where you are looking. It wouldn't be 100% equivalent to 9 actual displays; but it'd get you much of the benefit in a rather more compact unit...
I wonder how much it weighs? Should I start exercising my neck muscles now so I'll be ready? Who's the pencil neck now?
That's exactly what I plan to do. Clip a TrackIR Pro head tracker to this thing, and I have the most balls-to-the-wall home flight sim setup available. I already have a pair of stereoscopic wearable display goggles (Vuzix), but the low resolution makes them practically useless for combat flight sim use because you can't pick out aircraft at long range.
If these are even 720p... we're in business.
Sony says it will start selling a head mounted display that provides a 3D theater
Fucking already
The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.
Sony releases a Head mounted display and acts like it invented it...
Call me when they release a VRD
Not only will they only accept Memory Stick, but they'll install a rootkit in my eyes.
Look at the upside of this, if it sells well then it'll prompt non-Sony companies to try and compete.
Personally I would love to get a set of those HMZ, I have the Glasstron PLM-S700 and the native 832x624 res picture quality is very good due to excellent optics, something which many of the cheap'n'cheerful LCD video glases manufacturers have overlooked, and hopefully the HMZ have the same high-grade optics as the Glasstrons.
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
Of course, I have a family member who has a battery powered TV in the passenger seat so she can watch her soaps. (She swears she only watches at stoplights.) So maybe I'm biased.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
The thing does not seem to include a head tracker, so while it's ok for viewing 3D content, it doesn't look all that useful for full virtual reality (unless you tape a TrackIR, PlaystationMove, Wiimote, whatever to the thing).
Will it have more colors than just red and black? Because we all know how well that worked...
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
in 1996. it only cost 100 bucks, had head tracking and was 1/3 the size sticking out front.
but this is sony so yea keep making 700$ headsets that the people in "the lawnmower man" would snark at, see if we give a fuck if you disappear a little quicker
Well, you obviously cared enough to take the time to write that response. ;)
I've had personal experience with this.
I bought a pair of MyVu glasses, and they work great! But only if you have contact lenses, and don't have astigmatism. I don't have the former and do have the latter, and these things don't fit over my glasses.
Considering how many people need corrective lenses these days, unless the helmet specifically says it can accommodate glasses, I don't see it becoming popular or much of a success.
[End Of Line]
Usually there's some kind of optics in front of the screen to make it seem several feet away without making it look smaller.
Because the glasstron sold sooooo well...
~Syberz
I'm interested in a pair of glasses that are suitable for use as a monitor replacement. I'm not particularly interested in 3D viewing or augmented reality... but I would like to be able to connect my glasses to my laptop, lie on my back and do computer programming work with either a split keyboard that straps to my wrists or a chording keyboard. I would also want to be able to watch movies using them. I would also want to be able to use this in public places, like while I'm riding the bus or sitting on a park bench. Anyone got any good suggestions?
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
...from ten years ago.
"Given the pace of technology, I propose we leave math to the machines and go play outside." -- Calvin
And unless it does 800x600 or better, the gear from Vuzix is cheaper and better looking.
It does 720p. That's a lot better than 800x600
Now the Virtual I/O iGlasses true stereoscopic in that they had two distinct displays, one for each eye, and each display could be run separately to show the correct offset for stereo vision. They were fairly lightweight, and it had a few design features that made them very nice. First was that they used have silvered prisms to display the image to the eye from the LCD displays. This meant that it could be used not just for VR type games, which is what the place I worked at used it for, but for augmented reality. This was before GPS was generally available, but with a head tracker, plus a GPS, you could have had a full augmented reality that was transparent, and didn't need you to hold your tablet in front of you! No need for cameras either....since you could easily see through the half silvered prisms. The other feature that I really liked about the iGlasses was that you could wear corrective glasses using them.
ttyl
Farrell
CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
I'm bald, and that looks uncomfortable. I'm also wondering how much the final product will weigh.
Two Rules For Success:
1) Never tell people everything you know.
I apologise, i did not think the title would have fitted.
Appears Science Fiction VR would have.
I do. I sure as hell won't be hading money over directly to Sony. It's cool, but I'll wait until another company makes it. Or I can get free. And OLED screens are epic!
1995 called, they want their product back: http://www.giantbomb.com/sega-vr/59-17/
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Doh. Looks like a sony fanboi modded me troll. Apparently they don't know or care about Sony's history.
What do you mean by 'get it free'?
Too late for that, have you heard their recent music?
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?