eat your little cyberpunk heart out .. just wait all the K Pop bands will be sporting them too in their viral videos ... For 2012 is set to be the year of the head mounted display , well it is if siliconmicrodisplay who (finally) announced a tentative March pre order plan , for a hopeful May delivery plan of their ST1080 , and Carl Zeiss Labs who are sending out invites to see their Cinemizer OLED HMD at CeBIT 2012 have their way. Not forgetting the Sony HMZ T1 which has been around since last November ...
Some argue that without an Apple iViewer real HMD revolution is still some time off , but we have in a few months gone from the bulk and lack of portability ( not forgetting availability) of the Sony HMZ T1 , to two soon to be here portable consumer level HMDs.
The main reason to go for the HMZT1 is that Sony delivered on what they promised , and you can actually read a real review about one , but it is in no way the HMD dreamed of by the geek legion. They dare to dream of light weight glasses sized , HMDs with augmented reality features with onboard cameras. But then again neither are the ST1080 or the Cinemizer...
Sadly none of the 3 current HMDS from Sony , Carl Zeiss or siliconmicrodisplay will incorporate all the features you Johnny Mnemonic types want but then Johnny and Onno Sendai Decks are still science fiction aren't they ? And in todays world your cyberpunk is more likely to be a part time chai walla called Jamal and those Decks are more likely to come from Shinzen, Chennai ,Bangalore or Mumbai than a fading Japan... missed that train Mr Gibson did'nt cha? Anyhoo ...
Lets take a look at the pros cons and promises of all 3 HMDs...
The Sony HMZT1
I have been using the Sony HMZ T1 for short 3D youtube video bursts and longer health damaging gaming binges since December 2011. Currently Sony cannot make enough of them to supply demand and when you get lost in one you can see why . It is a toy , a luxury toy but oh what a toy...
The Sony HMZ T1 gives you a small cinemas worth of amazing OLED picture quality and surprisingly well simulated 5.1 sound , with effect if not sound as good as my Astro A40 setup ( I have to justify my £300 A40s somehow..every day...), the 3D in films and games surpasses movie theatres and the finest 3d flat screens but the HMZT1 lacks portability and can be less comfortable than wearing a Half Life Head Crab on heat, until that is you find the correct fitting for your noggin. The HMZT1 works effortlessly with your PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 , as well as PC 3D video ( I can`t stop watching that Avatar 3D trailer).
There are actually very few 3D enabled console games , you can count the good ones on one hand and if you start including Ubisofts Avatar and others you can probably include another handful for the moment.. : I played Uncharted 3 , Crysis 2 , Wipeout HD , Killzone 3 , Ico Shadow of the Colossus testing out the stereoscopic 3D of this device , basically everything with 3D sticker has been played through by myself on the HMZT1 .. and you know what I found most astounding about this self contained cinema/ personal home theatre unit ? I found the 3d impressive on 3D games as expected . It basically comes down to you going oh that`s the bit that is meant to be 3d , when your character in Uncharted 3 is standing outside the background scene , or you gun appears "outside" the background in Crysis 2 ...albeit without any cross talk which gives you another shot at justifying the expense to your other half... . But stow those negative waves soldier soldier , because the most amazing aspect of of the HMZT1 has nothing to do with its cross talk free stereoscopic 3D ....
The most interesting discovery I made using the HMZT1 is that it excels in immersing you in non 3D enabled games including First Person Shooters and RPGS ( yes Skyrim) , like nothing else before. For example I find myself playing the Battlefield 3 mission where you are trapped ( I have been stuck there for several months) in a mall expecting to be ambushed in the dark, hiding behind some sand bags looking down on the Mall floor and it FEELS like you are there . With the weight of the ST1080 it feels like you are wearing (slightly uncomfortable ) Spec Ops night vision goggles and head set communication . I take out the lighting in the mall ,because that is what Sam Fisher or Snake would do, then I hit the night vision button on my joy pad I am totally there in that game world . The illusion of immersion being created not by fancy 3d stereoscopic fx but by a first in gaming wearing both your sound and video ..like sitting really really really close to your plasma in the vacuum of space ,but you can hear people scream ( here in Farsi) , and it ruins your eyes too !.. Wearing the HMZT1 I am completely enveloped by the excellent 5.1 sound , the game world is inches from my eyes and is a large enough fov to create the illusion of being in the game world. I am used to having gaming experiences enhanced by wearing surround headphones like Astro A40s ,and playing multi monitor pc games , but uniquely the HMZT1 manages is also to place you closer to the game world and visual queues that make you feel like you are a spec ops soldier with night vision goggles strapped to your head .The criticism that you feel like the only person in the cinema when watching a movie becomes a boon when playing games , there are no obstructions or distractions to shatter the abject delusion that you ARE a spec ops soldier trapped in a bombed out shopping Mall in Iran with the fate of the world resting on your head (plus the 600g or so of the HMZT1) , you are just itching for something to go boom visually and sonically. Now you can get lost in play and there is no one that can walk across your field of view or distract you with screams of your house is on fire stop playing games and save yourself....
This is not full wrap around immersion , but it is a new experience for your now jaded core gamer . Then let us consider Skyrim (this time on PC) , again just in normal 2D connected through HDMI you can set the res to the 1080p limit of HDMI , and suddenly you have a your own OLED cinema screen playing the game of last year , with amazing colour depth and sound , that our 30 inch 2560 1600 cannot match. Again immersion is the thing that gets you.
Tolerance : using any HMD is going to take getting used to , the first day or so and after you will feel dizzy , your head may even ache a little , but after a few days I started to adjust and built up a tolerance , of course like all good things too much will damage you..
Harry Potters can rejoice as the HMZ T1 will accommodate your glasses quite well , in fact all my play tests were done whilst wearing glasses , handy as the unit will not correct for myopia.
For the film buff or console gamer the HMZ T1 is the HMD of choice , you are by nature harder to move than most mountain ranges , so sitting still or being rooted to one spot is actually going to a requirement for your dream HMD. Seriously with Sony`s backing this is the one to go for if you want a rock solid warranty and reliability. It is also the only proven HMD that has been released to wild and for some time , and I can confirm has refused to die over the last 3 months or so I have had it.
Buy the Sony HMZ T1 from thegameveda ebay store now
Now we come to the future and promised HMDs, the ST1080 and Cinemizer OLED originally hinted at around the same time as the Sony HMZ T1 was wowing tech journos.
The first thing to note is that neither Carl Zeiss or siliconmicrodisplay have delivered retail product , and you will not be experiencing either till May or June at the earliest.
The second thing to note is both are going to be portable , Carl Zeiss also has a proven record with HMDs , and of course legendary quality.
The Carl Zeiss Cinemizer promises the OLED quality of the HMZ T1 , in a more portable form with head tracking but without a camera or transparency for augmented reality , but with a wide range of inputs. Both these come from established players , and they will be sold locally where ever you are , so warranty and return issues are not a problem , very important if you realise your shiny new HMD does not actually fit …
The Carl Zeiss is going to be €649 Euros , €749 with head tracking
but the Achilles heal here is the 870 by 500 res with 30 degrees FOV , these are not 720p OLEDs and you are not going to push 1080p res PC desktops through them at the speed you can on the 720p HMZT1s with true 720p res , I can tell you Skyrim looks gorgeous through your HMZT1 not to mention sounding great too.
 |
| fascinating! |
If you must have portability in your HMD , then there is another hope , but before we get to that check out Endgadget having a play around with a Carl Zeiss Cinemizer OLED not too long ago :
The siliconmicrodisplay ST1080 is the great hope of augmented reality portable HMD fans everywhere. It will not do 1080p at 60fps , it does not bring 5.1 sound , but our PCs and other devices can simulate that through stereo anyhow. And you can get in the line right now for one . It will do 1080p natively , and do 3d at 720p with 10% transparent LCOS panels it can be used for augmented reality applications in a way the HMZT1 and Carl Zeiss Cinemizer cannot. And it can connect to all your favourite gadgets too as you can see below...
Just got my pre order in for the ST1080 at $699 , for a May delivery , which is going to be a very liberating month for me if it actually works !
The 160g weight of the ST1080 is also a great plus point for this promising device . But the thing about startups is they seldom last past the first generation of tech they deliver , let`s hope for the sake of our neck vertebrae that siliconmicrodisplay acutally deliver with this and promised 4k tech , or I will be walking in to many a lamp post or tree,suffering from severe neck pain with my HMZT1 strapped to my head connected to my iPad 3 in my back pack ... with a very long power cord ... hmmm may be I can plug it in at Starbucks an impress some impressionable Macolytes ...
Check back in May when I compare the HMZ T1 to the ST1080 .. for the me the Carl Zeiss Cinemizer is a non starter with too small a FOV and a res that even Vusix fans laugh at...
this content is © and originated from thegameveda http://the-games-veda.blogspot.com/ if you are reading it from any other site that has not provided a link back it has been leached
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét