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Another Head-mounted display
Dylan Greene writes "Tom's Hardware has a quick blurb on a color head-mounted display from Daeyang E&C HMD which says the company will start shipping their SVGA HMD in Q1 2000. Details on the HMD are here." Darnit. I really need one of these, need, of course, being a relative thing.
The manufacturers site is Already bogged down!
/.ing Sites now?
Tom's Hardware
I need this to. Need Need Need Need Need Need Need!
Is anyone listening? I need this Someone buy one for me!
I need this too! I can't wait for the day I can strap my notebook to my back , with a keyboard strapped to my belly, wireless ethernet, and a HMD and walk around the office. Oh to see? I'm sure a quckcam will duct tape nicely to the right side of my head.
Oh look, another overpriced vaporware HMD.
it'll be really niceone of these years when one of these things is actually cheap enough and of decent enough quality to take off in the mainstream market, then we can get on with HMD-Backlash. Frankly, I'm already tired of the things, but there's never been a product out there to revile.
Although it's not 3D (no separate image for
each eye) the two screen (one for each eye)
would appear optically, at a focus point of
2 meters away. Which is probably a pretty
comfortable focus point. Obviously you can't
focus on a screen that is 1 inch from your
eye, so the focus point is acheived through
optics that I don't really understand myself.
I've seen other 3D headsets, where if you sent
the image to each eye, it would be a 6 foot
screen, don't remember the distance away (but
further). Then if you send separate images
away you could make some things appear closer
making true 3D. Actually I've written programs
for them. Fun stuff.
For $800 it seems like it wouldn't be as good as Sony's higher-end HMD (forgot model#, not the made-for-TV one). But the features are comparable. Equivalent size, refresh, resolutions. I might get it. For those of you who couldn't find the price, just read both links. The Sony model I'm thinking of is $2500.
Ok, 52 inch virtual size would be a scream for games, but what about real-world apps?
800X600 is overkill on a 21" monitor, on a 52" monitor it would be silly. It's easy to imagine that you would get RSI of the eye, swiveling your eye back and forth reading a document that is 4 feet wide.
Actually if you think about it the format of a book is way smaller than your average computer screen, yet people prefer reading text from a book. Perhaps what is needed for everyday use (browsing, programming, email, etc) is not bigger virtual displays, but displays of higher quality.
The web page does not mention head motion detection or 3D, so it is hard to imagine how these could be usefull in a non-game simulator.
I guess if you spend a lot of time on subways or airplanes, or hiding from your spouse, a 52" portable T.V. would be a blast.
Anyone with ideas on how these would enhance real-world, non-gaming computer applications????
Thanks!
motjuste@briefcase.com
The page doesn't seem to list the weight of the unit anywhere. It gives the dimentions (fairly small), but if it weighs more than a few ounces it will be uncomfortable to wear for extended periods of time, like say the length of a movie you're watching on a DVD.
I read the internet for the articles.
Its the equivalent of a 52" monitor *two meters* away. In terms of relative distance, that's not any closer than I sit to my 21" monitor... It might actually appear to be a hair closer. You might sweep your eyes back and forth across four feet of space, but that's not very far seven feet away!
You're right though, this is not a 3-D unit, nor is it immersive. I don't think there's a big market for those right now.
I think the HMD's that can be switched to an overlay mode where you can see through them are a lot more useful. I hate people sneakin up on me while I'm working, it'd be even worse with one of these!
Something like this might be useful anywhere that you want to block out distractions... maybe stock traders -- put on your headset phone and one of these and shut the world out... Sitting on an airplane watching movies would be good, don't have to see that annoying kid jumping up and down in front of you. Probably would improve productivity in any high-distraction environment (call centers, tech support, and a bunch like that...)
I'm not sure why its worth posting on Slashdot without 3-d or immersion capabilities, since there's probably 30 companies selling units just like this one...
What gets me about these devices is, they seem to be (at least initially) aimed at niche markets like industrial uses. If this doohickey is priced competitively with a 19" monitor, it'll rule the world. But if it's another multi-$1000 highly specialized product, here we'll all be standing with our noses pressed against the window.
Here's one of the few instances where Microsoft's insidious reach could do consumers some good: I'd like to see Billy Boy co-opt this puppy for M$ as part of a gaming headset. If it had motion detection (and maybe 360-degree sound) added, it would make quite a package in tandem with Flight Simulator and whatever else they're shoveling anymore.
By the way, does 25mm eye relief mean I can wear my eyeglasses with this thing?
"How many light bulbs does it take to change a person?" --BMcC-->
...what HMD's are here and now, and for what price? (and for those who tell me that I don't want things that big, I'm typing this on a 30" TV set atm. sure, the definition kinda sucks, but i love LARGE :P)
Commodore 64, Loading up the dance floor!
Dammit Jim, I'm a geek, not a cyborg.
I'm not sure why they specify a size of 52" screen size at 2 meters.
Why not just say 26 inches at 1 meter? I look at my screen from a distance of about 1/2 meter, so that makes the apparent size of the screen 13 inches. Right now I work on a 17 inch monitor, so the apparent screen size will be somewhat smaller than what I've already got. An 800x600 resolution is probably just about right for this device.
If I was the marketing guy, I would put it like this: This display produces an image that is exactly like looking at a huge billboard 13.2 light years across, orbiting the bright star Sirius!!!! I'd buy that for a dollar.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
In the article they gave and estimated retail prive of $800, but you will have to wait till the 1st quorter of 2000 for availability.
This unit will be good for personal TV/etc, but for a HUD for general work, it unfortunatly blocks seeing past it. As far as I've been able to determin, for doing computer assisted work it's necessasary that one be able to see past the display to the real world. This usually means a display that is either see through, or only uses a portion of the field of view of one eye.
Resolution is also something that needs to improve. The display needs to have atleast 100dpi at viewing distance for the eye to not notice much. This means a 1024x768 display really only can be shown at 32.5cm diagonal at 1 meter or 65cm diagonal at 2 meters.
No m.s.r.p. anywhere, the ones they use with the m.i.t. project (out of production too i might add) cost in the niehborhood of a Gee. this lil beauty with all it's capabilities ... weeeeeell.
I guess if i have to ask i can't afford it anyway.
use Signature::Witty;
I suspect you can pretty much assume (its normal to do so) that the aspect ratio is the "standard", 3/4, so you can calculate the vertical and horizontal FOV from that.
On a "3/4/5" triangle then you get
vertical FOV = (3/5)*38.5 = 23.1 deg
horizont FOV = (4/5)*38.5 = 30.8 deg
Where are the 1.44 MegaPixels?
.96M. Sounds pretty fishy.
1200x1200 resolution would be 1.44M. Even if there were two seperate panels of 800x600 for 3D games it would only be
They give something like a 39.5 diag FOV - what kind of crap is this? Give the individual vertical and horizontal FOV - so it can be known what kind of immersion we can expect.
I have never understood why so many HMD manufacturers are going the route of high quality display/low FOV - W Industries (now Virtuality) had the Visette - it was OK on the res, and great on the FOV! Focus was crap, but as long as you took the thing off every no and then, you were OK.
Now, as then, it is still cheaper to build your own HMD than it is to buy it (with the exception of a used Victormaxx Stuntmaster off of EBAY)...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
There's already a guy over at MIT that's got everything you need. Technology Review has this article about him. He has a *really* nice setup, too much to describe hear. Oh, and it runs Linux (he said that Windoze made the processor run to hot)! Life doesn't get much better than this!!
I would love one for reading news or watever on my back on a radioLAN in the park, but for a proper werable I wold stil prefer the Private eye, or the M1.
-- We plunge for the slipstream the realness to find
-- We plunge for the slipstream the realness to find
The incredible String Band
"Interactive Imaging Systems" http://www.iisvr.com has a nice HMD the VFX3D. The price is a bit high($1795.00") but ohh well we can't get everything in life. The specs are pretty good IMO.
.05 degrees (12 bit)
3D Stereoscopic Smart VisorTM
Field of View: 35 Diagonal
Dual 360K pixel AMLCD
Displays (789X480)
High Contrast, Full Color
Multi-sync capabilities to
Support the following resolutions:
640X480 60, 62.5, 60, 75 hz (refresh rate)
800X600 60, 62.5, 70 hz (refresh rate)
1024X768 60, 62.5 hz (refresh rate)
VOSTM (Virtual Orientation System) Tracking
Pitch & Roll Sensitivity
+/- 70 degrees ~+/-
Yaw Sensitivity
360 degrees ~+/-.1 degrees (12bit)
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