Slashdot Mirror
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 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...