Where Are the High-Res Head-Mounted Displays? 384
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."
VR was more hype than reality (Score:3, Interesting)
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 [youtube.com]. 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.
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Funny)
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?
Well, as someone who's been waiting for an affordable HMD that I can use for an augmented reality project I've been thinking of starting, let me just ask you one thing: How would I go about mounting a 50" LCD monitor or a projector + screen on my head in a way that doesn't make result in me constantly falling over?
/Mikael
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:4, Funny)
If falling over is the reality your trying to experience, I'd say your all set!
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Funny)
One word: Counterbalance.
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How would I go about mounting a 50" LCD monitor or a projector + screen on my head in a way that doesn't make result in me constantly falling over?
Well, the WRAP linked to in TFS claims to be equivalent to a 60" monitor as viewed from 9' away - So I think you're there. Unless of course you're really dedicated to the actual physical size, but the boom mount that you'll need to get that 50" display far enough away to see is going to cause some serious neck strain...
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The 60" figure is just some market-drone BS they made up of what its equivalent would be if you imagined you were looking at a TV in your living room (i.e. sitting 9-12 feet from the screen). But bigger != better. There's a reason nobody wants a 640x480 display: it looks like total crap, and it's the exact same tech they had for sale at the sharper image in the late 80s. I didn't want it then, and I don't want it now.
The trouble is: bigger means worse in this context. If you have 20/20 vision, then you woul
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While I absolutely love the idea of having google, wikipedia, wolfram alpha, and a host of other information tools and search engines at my eyes' disposal, they are nearly entirely useless if the system can't readily recognize what I'm looking at.
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How would I go about mounting a 50" LCD monitor or a projector + screen on my head in a way that doesn't make result in me constantly falling over?
Use it sitting down?
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Informative)
I suggest googling "augmented reality" to get an idea of how what I mean, the purpose is to take video input (and other sources of input) and augmenting with information from say, a computer, before displaying it on a head-mounted display. Or say, to have an IR camera mounted on the HMD in addition to the regular cameras, thus making it possible to use that video input to "see in IR".
/Mikael
Re:VR was more hype than reality (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.
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Of course being able to superimpose stuff on the vision field can be very useful. Esp for the military - semi occluded weapons and vehicles getting highlighted. Snipers being located either from the weapon recognition or via the "crack and thump".
Anyway such stuff will also be good for those with memory impairment.
They've already got mind reading stuff - after training
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No, it's not necessary. It can be calibrated with user feedback.
Ever play a light-gun game where they ask you to aim at and hit a few dots on the screen to align it all?
Look at a screen, and project a dot on the screen and a reticle on the perceived image. Have the user use something (as simple as a mouse will do) align them so they overlap as perfectly as possible. Do this a few times in a few key points, and the computer can compensate without an eyetap.
Re:VR was more hype than reality (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.
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Funny)
Dammit, I want my Terminator HUD explaining objects to me as I look at them.
That crunching sound? Oh, that's the sound of you crushing MY WILDEST DREAMS.
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Funny)
While that would be cool for us, it was really pretty ridiculous for the use it was given in the Terminator movies. I mean, come on... the most efficient way to get information from a cyborg's archives into working memory is by displaying it in English in the visual field? In the peripheral vision, no less?
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Funny)
Especially the constant reviewing of commented 6502 source code for reading and writing to floppy disks by track and sector! Why possible purpose does it serve to be reading that while shooting up a police department?
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He's obviously got some extra CPU cycles to burn.
What, he couldn't spare a few for SETI@Home?
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Funny)
Hmmm ... So Skynet started as a DeFragging tool that moved on to become a Fragging tool? Neat!
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Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah - ridiculous for a cyborg, but awesome for me. I can't tell you how useful it would be for me if, when somebody walked up to me at a party, I received the following tips on my head's-up:
* Name: John
* Relationship: Husband of wife's co-worker
* How well known?: Talked 3 times informally
* Drink/Smoke: Y/N
* Topics to avoid: Christian (fanatic), Janet (knocking her off behind wife's back)
* Suggested topics: MMA/UFC, Italian food
Would save me a lot of awkward conversation lulls.
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There was a movie where the video phone would do exactly this for you. It would give you info like you've mentioned, plus birthday, kids' names, employer, and so on.
I can't remember the movie, though. Go go Slashdot hive mind!
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I think that would be Back to the Future 2. IIRC the scene where old/crippled Marty gets fired.
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Funny)
Sure, but it would also provide inspiration for epic conversation lulz.
So, John, I ran into Janet the other day at the pagan sex festival, where she and your wife performed unspeakable acts on a pentagram. Care for a smoke?
Or, alternatively: So, John, I herd u liek Christ, so I put some 'body of Christ' into the body of Janet.
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Obviously not, but that is the best way to get the concept of whats going on, into a form us humans can understand, duh! Like when the communications of the 2nd foundation are transcribed into words because their form of communication is so advanced we wouldn't understand it!
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Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Interesting)
While that would be cool for us, it was really pretty ridiculous for the use it was given in the Terminator movies. I mean, come on... the most efficient way to get information from a cyborg's archives into working memory is by displaying it in English in the visual field? In the peripheral vision, no less?
The original Cylons were even better. What's the best way to pilot a raider? Strap in three robots, give them manual controls! And how do they communicate? By vibrating air molecules inside the ship! Wait, why was it pressurized again? So I take it if Cylons were in a ship that lost atmo, they'd have to communicate with sign language?
That's right up there with Transformers, robots sitting in chairs at control panels, looking at video screens, and talking into telephones.
How, having had our good laugh at this, I wonder how a Terminator-style robot would perceive that kind of information? I suppose any sensory recording from the unit would have a visual component as well as shitloads of onboard and environmental data that would be impossible for a human to fully appreciate. For humans debugging the prototypes of what Skynet eventually refined, I figure we'd probably see all shorts of HUD data that could be overlaid on top of the image for our benefit but Skynet wouldn't need it, nor would the terminator. I remember seeing a few years back an example of what sensory fusion and augmented reality could represent for a pilot. It showed transparent nested bubbles overlaid on the landscape representing the detection and engagement range of SAM's.
If we're talking about technical problems with the basic terminator design, I think the hydraulics and exposed interior of the chassis is probably the worst. To pass for human, a terminator would need to have muscles attaching to the endoskeleton at the right spots and flexing naturally along with the motion of the form. The superhuman strength would come from motors enclosed within the joints so as to keep them from becoming rusty and gunked up with the blood and bodily fluids. Still, thems jus some nitpicks. It still looks badass and terrifying.
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, I've been wearing glasses since I was 12 or so and all of this time they have always been a hindrance. They fall off, get crushed by a passer-by when I'm swimming, get scratched up, press up against my face when I fall asleep in the chair, fly off when I get on a roller coaster, get in the way when kissing and cause all other kinds of trouble. It would be nice to get something extra out of the bit of wasted realestate on my face.
Nerd rage, baby!
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I had LASIK a couple of years ago, and have been tickled pink with the results. I went from -7 diopters in both eyes to 20/20. I'm in my mid-forties, so it was likely I would need reading glasses, but so far, I have not.
I hear they can help correct farsightedness now as well.
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My right eye almost permanently sees the world in a blur (glasses never could get it to see things in sharp focus) but my left eye compensates enough to cycle/drive/solder SMD without any magnifying optics (though I do use a magnifying glass
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Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:4, Interesting)
Have you read "Rainbows End," by Vernor Vinge?
I know it's not what you want (reality), it's fiction, but it's got some interesting concepts.
For example, that computer display might as well just be on a contact lens instead on some bulky headset.
Moreover, more than describing objects, you can color the world any way you want... want it to look medieval? It'll change the houses you see while walking down the street into huts and castles; someone riding a bike looks like they're riding a horse... and always online and always communicating with your friends.
I'd hate it, but can see some applications that would be cool.
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Silly to have it on a contact lens.
There are already neural interfaces. They're not very good - since the brain moves about, and there are other issues to solve.
But I'm pretty sure the brain can learn to use extra input and output channels especially if "installed" at a young age.
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Insightful)
Because I'd rather they hacked my glasses (which I can take off) than my brain?
(Find me an OS or similar level project with zero security breaks, and I'll consider letting that team of programmers near a system I'd install in my head.)
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Have you read "Rainbows End," by Vernor Vinge?
I know it's not what you want (reality), it's fiction, but it's got some interesting concepts.
For example, that computer display might as well just be on a contact lens instead on some bulky headset.
Screw contact lenses. If you want an awesome Vernor Vinge innovation in user interfaces, consider the A Deepness in the Sky [wikipedia.org] and its version of localizers: smart dust which can "learn" to directly stimulate a user's optic nerve to create computer graphics with
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:4, Informative)
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Giant flatscreens aren't very portable, which makes them less practical for on-the-go applications (including, but not limited to, augmented reality) compared to HMDs -- presuming, of course, you can get a good HMD. Which is one reason why people want HMDs.
Re:VR was more hype than reality (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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You thought people talking to "themselves" on cellphones was bad now...
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I don't think it'll be much worse than the bluetooth headsets that are already pretty common.
Though interacting with an invisible person will probably look really funny to everybody else.
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Take the Wii Remote as an example. Accelerometers and IR sensors work together to provide crappy, laggy as hell, positioning.
Fixed that for you.
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The shoot your eyes out!! (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
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Unless the business world converts to a French way of living ...
A premise for a good joke, no doubt, but I'm having trouble getting the one that was already made. It's sunny in Paris? The French wear expensive glasses? R&D can't be done without long lunches and a pack of Gaulloise? Resenting the English increases market share?
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R&D can't be done without long lunches and a pack of Gaulloise?
Personally I'd leave out the cigarettes, but otherwise that's spot-on. :-)
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Unless the business world converts to a French way of living ...
A premise for a good joke, no doubt, but I'm having trouble getting the one that was already made. It's sunny in Paris? The French wear expensive glasses?
Ahem... He's referring to the synergistic effects of merging Amero-Dilbertian corporate dress codes with french clothing optional beaches, obviously.
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Too much light is trivially easy to solve. Put a layer of material like sunglasses inside the glasses to cut the light down to whatever is tolerable.
While it's true that too much light can give you eyestrain and headaches (talk to any skier), there is no HMD that puts out anywhere close to that much light. It's not the light that gives you problems, with HMDs. It's the refresh rate, and ever-so-slightly screwed up optics that don't match your eyes closely enough. Human binocular vision isn't simple. An
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I'll make up a second one for you after I'm done making the first. I need it as a HUD for my battlesuit.
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Why emit light in the first place?
Some display technologies, such as electronic paper, don't.
WRAP 920AV (Score:2)
That looks seriously cool. 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.
I suppose if you needed extra horsepower, you could put straps on a laptop and wear it as a backpack...
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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 te
Kopin, as used by Mann (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.kopin.com/about-cyberdisplay/ [kopin.com] (Tiny LCDs.)
http://wearcam.org/ [wearcam.org] (More complex than regular 'partially transparent' displays, but _far_ more capable - look up Mediated Reality / Augmented Reality.)
Wearable display â VR (Score:3, Funny)
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!
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and i guess it might be fun to be able to watch pr0n with no one around to be the wiser.
Unless it also induces temporary erectile dysfunction, someone's gonna notice. At least until you get desensitized to it due to constant exposure.
lasor pico projector (Score:4, Informative)
Chicken vs Egg (Score:3, Insightful)
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).
Re:Chicken vs Egg (Score:4, Insightful)
I think what you're saying is that until PORN comes available on HMD, it isn't going to take off. You'd be amazed at how much porn drives technology.
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That's exactly what I was thinking. If you're using porn for virtual reality, no one else can see what you're watching.
As long as you can convince then that you just happen to like watching Finding Nemo with your pants down.
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With some of the Finding Nemo fanfiction I've read^H^H^H^H heard about, you wouldn't even need to lie. You'd be pleasantly surprised how well Dory's lack of short-term memory becomes a useful plot device for introducing more fish to the gangbang.
my laundry list (Score:5, Interesting)
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?
Yes too much to ask :) (Score:2)
In a shopping mall with copyrighted music playing in the background? Then backup for your cranial memory is only allowed if you pay per recall and for the "format shifting".
Radio playing somewhere? Same.
Watching a movie in a cinema? Sorry, please check your auxiliary "brain" at the counter first before you are allowed in.
A penny for "your" thoughts would be considered too cheap.
Better fix copyright first, otherwise this augmented stuff isn't going to
Gordon Bell's group is doing this (Score:3, Interesting)
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
the problem is purely social... (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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"hey Houston, are you sure you don't need another monitor?"
That's a good one. I am going to have to remember that.
Prognostication (Score:5, Funny)
The headmounted displays were accidently left in the flying cars in parking lot of the lunar hotel.
Just wait until Apple comes out with one. (Score:3, Funny)
> 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.
glasses? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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That's the deal before any surgeon touches my eyes: if I can't get night vision, thermographic imagery, zoom and a HUD, nothing gets done.
To hell with laser surgery, I want cyber-eyes.
Microvision (Score:2, Informative)
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
IT'ssssss (Score:2, Funny)
in the trunk of my anti-grav car parked in my luxury mansion orbiting Uranus.
DigiLens? (Score:5, Informative)
Its not Hi-Res but its something people would wear more than some bulky goggles:
http://www.digilens.com/products.html [digilens.com]
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/ [3dvisor.com]
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:because we soon found that (Score:4, Insightful)
You know, some of us would be willing to have the display involve a lens as well as the actual display element. Then your eye could focus at a normal distance (2m or so, for example) and see the tiny display in-focus.
OLED to the rescue (again) (Score:3, Insightful)
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 [wikipedia.org] 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 [microoled.net], 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.
Virtual Boy (Score:2)
The problem was that Virtual Boy had terrible games and gave users a headache.
Had Virtual Boy succeeded, we might see more of this kind of thing.
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Had Virtual Boy succeeded, we might see more of this kind of thing.
Virtual boy was VR "done wrong".
It was monochrome and it was basically used a spinning mirror to simulate the 3d effect.
No wonder kids got headache's after an hour.
Joint Strike Fighter helmet (Score:5, Interesting)
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 [vsi-hmcs.com]
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 [uscockpits.com]
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/f-35-hmds-pulls-the-gs-04088/ [defenseindustrydaily.com]
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.
Sony Glasstrons (Score:2)
Trying to use a PC with them for any length of time is frustrating, the screens are clear and the optics are excellent (most of the cheap LCD glasses you get nowadays have atrocious optics), but something just doesn't seem quite right, I guess it's to do with how the screen is always set directly in front of your face no matter how much you
Head-mount displays are the next "big" thing (Score:2)
Why bother with a head-mount display? Because it is the next progression in portable ubiquitous computing. Just as we are seeing smaller and smaller netbooks and smartphones with not-full but ever-expanding internet capabilities.
The biggest draw of power
Sony Glasstrons (Score:2)
30 - 60 hz headache (Score:2, Funny)
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 minceme
There are some 1024x768 is not really high-res (Score:3, Informative)
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These work pretty well (Score:2)
I have been using a Myvu crystal ( http://www.myvu.com/ [myvu.com] ) for about 6 months now with my iPhone, and I love it (other than how ridiculous I look wearing them.) It can take a bunch of different video sources, and it has 640x480 resolution (which works fine mostly). I use it to watch movies. The most use I get out them is watching movies lying in bed or while riding a stationary bike at the gym. They work great for that.
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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
Right Here... (Score:5, Informative)
The PiSight HMD [sensics.com] 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 [wikipedia.org] and accommodation [wikipedia.org] 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 [mechdyne.com]. I think the Iowa State VRAC [iastate.edu] 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 [dlp.com] 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).
I earn my living working on HMDs (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Oh, you wanted to be able to afford it? (Score:3, Informative)
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Ah, Gia [imdb.com]. That was back when Angelina Jolie looked perfect.
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Double-blink the restaurant to see the menu!
Double-blink the shopping window to see product specs
I've been waiting for this since sometime 1998!
And a small blast of compressed air can momentarily blind a user, followed by the user frantically trying to close all the pop-ups before he crashes his car.
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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
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> You know I'm the son of the baby boomer generation. We were promised a lot.
Bullshit. You weren't promised a bloody thing. Predictions were made as to what you would accomplish. You screwed up.
> We were all told we were special and that we'd have all these new things to do things
> with and new ways to do stuff.
And so you sat on your ass waiting for someone to create them for you. And there you sit still, whining. Get over it. You aren't special and never were.
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Coding while commuting (on a train) sure, but while walking?
Have you ever tried to web browse or text while walking? I avoid doing it unless I know very well where I'm going, and even then there's the danger of walking too far or crossing the street on a red light.
I'm also not sure what sort of code you'll produce like that, but I doubt it will be very good. I find that any kind of distraction or discomfort makes coding a lot harder.