Wrap 1200 (+VGA Adaptor) first thoughts

[3dvison]

3DVision, If you set the resolution to 800x600 or 1024x768 you can see the entire display - nothing is cut off - it's just stretched across the 16:9 screen. Of course you can select the 4:3 option, then you have the correct aspect ratio, but you're wasting a lot of space.

Last question about resolutions ShawmK.

With the Wrap 1200 set to 1024*768 in 16:9 aspect ratio is it usable for working in Windows such as reading text in Windows and on the web, thats if I can live with the stretched picture ?
Also, is 1024*768 just too small/fuzzy, when set to 4:3 aspect ratio in Windows or is it still OK for reading text in windows and the web ?

I think you addressed this in an earlier post to me, but I was just wondering if anything has changed with more time to use and tweak the Wrap 1200.

[ShawmK]

3Dvision, at lower resolutions I am able to read text without too much trouble, but I wouldn't say it was ideal. I would compare it to using a Standard Definition television set as a computer monitor. You can select icons, open programmes etc. but I can't imagine using it for extended periods to write emails, work in spreadsheets or do anything else that requires fine print.

If you set the aspect ratio to 4:3 and lower the resolution you get a decent image - actually better than the image on the Wrap 920 because they have drastically improved the scaling - but again, I wouldn't want to use it as a work monitor for extended periods.


Ancjob, although the colours are not as vibrant as the colours on the Headplay, they are much better than most of those generic "Ebay" HMDs. I personally think the quality of the display is surprisingly good; it's the lenses that let down the image a bit. Colour and contrast are both very decent, and it's possible to make out subtle details in skin tone, surface textures etc.

I keep thinking back to televisions I have owned at earlier times of my life. I'm old enough to have built up a large library of films on VHS (and laserdisc - yes, I was one of those people!) which I then gradually replaced with DVDs. In the late 1990s I had a huge steamer trunk of a CRT television set that cost me a small fortune and took up half my living room. I used to play my DVDs on that set and stare in awe at the quality of the image. If you had shown me the Wrap 1200 back then I would have been astonished that such a product was possible. A pair of sunglasses that runs on AA batteries and produces an image better than my monster home cinema set (and does 3D)? Surely that's the stuff of science fiction! Of course since then we have had HD television and Blu Ray, so our standards have changed a bit, but I still get a thrill from seeing a DVD quality image in a pair of sunglasses.

[3dvison]

Thanks ShawmK,
I am getting a much better idea of what you are seeing wih the Wrap1200.

The fact that I still sometimes use an old 15"CRT monitor in a pinch, makes me think the Wrap 1200 set to 1024*768 might not be as bad as I first thought it would be from reading earlier post.

[Fredz]

A CRT monitor isn't like a LCD monitor though, the former doesn't really have a native resolution although the latter has one. Upscaling is used with LCD when using a higher resolution than the native one, which explains why it doesn't look good and small text becomes unreadable.

[3dvison]

Yes I know how different CRT/LCD are.

What I ment was, my 15inch, 12year old CRT running at 1024*768 is not pretty. 800*600 is OK but with a 12 year old, 15inch CRT, it still has that CRT fuzzy look.

I would not be surprised if the Wrap1200 looks better.
You see, I have a very low standard to live up to...LOL

I think if I could get by with the 1200 for very lite windows use, it would do more than fine for video and game use.

Can anyone with a 1200 snap a pic of the windows desktop just for fun. I know that must be very hard to do. Think someone did it years back with the VR920 ???

[cybereality]

Well, the picture quality on the Wrap 1200 is about DVD quality. For watching 2D videos, this might be acceptable. Certainly its not horrible in that situation, and probably better than previous Vuzix HMDs. However the quality in Windows, or web-browsing, etc. leaves much to be desired. At 800x600 is manageable. But at 720P it is really difficult. Granted, you can do it, but its just not fun.

As a test, I took a photo of the 1200VR on my desktop. I also uploaded, copied, and edited the picture with Photoshop, all using the 1200VR (at 1280 x 720). I am even writing this post, still with the unit on and not adjusting the text size or anything. So you can do it, but just barely. I would not do this on a regular basis.

And although 800x600 looks better, its the wrong aspect ratio. I would like to be able to set a custom resolution (for example 854x480) but Windows doesn't seem to do that. I know the glasses support, as I can run test with the Nvidia panel. They just don't seem to be active as resolutions in Windows. Also, no matter what, the screen looks fuzzy to me. Not sure why.

Anyway, here is a picture of my desktop. Note that this is more blurry than real life, but its all I could get. I will try to get better pictures for the review.

Wrap_1200VR_01.jpg

[3dvison]

Thanks so much for that cybereality.
Even with that not being the best picture, I am surprised how large the text and icons look. I thought they would be smaller in size. If the real thing is not as blurry as that picture, it seems it would be usable for short stretches of time. I take it, text, is not as blurry as in that picure or it would be totally usless.
The color also seems richer than I thought it would.
Look forward to your review and more pictures.

[cybereality]

Hopefully I can take better pictures for the review. That one should only be to give you a rough idea (at least you can get a feel for colors/contrast). I would not want to try to do work or anything on this kit, but it works decent enough to load up Steam and choose a game, or quick things like that. I wish there was a widescreen resolution in between 854x480 and 1280x720. Maybe like 1067x600, but I highly doubt that oddball number will work.

[3dvison]

Hey cybereality,
In the picture you took, It looks like if the window of this website was opened to full screen, I would be able to read it pretty good if not for the blurry photo.

Good job on the picture, that can't be easy...never is..LOL

[cybereality]

Well like I said, I made the post using the headset. It can be done. Its just not particularly fun or productive. The issue is that the text (or really everything I guess) is always a little fuzzy. Not necessarily blurry, but fuzzy. It has a good down-scaler, but it can only do so much going from 720P to WVGA. So don't be fooled: text is really hard to read BUT you can read it if you want to try. Also, increasing the text size in the web-browser or Windows will help. But this really is NOT a monitor replacement.

[3dvison]

Do you turn off smooth type vision or whatever it's called in windows ? Might make a teeny tiny tiny differance...?

[ancjob]

cyber - plz do post the best pic possible of wrap 1200 in action

since you got me started - i will try to do some snaps of Headplay in action using my digital camara...lol

btw cyber - contrast of the hair/face seems way out of balance [reddish] in the pic you posted

tried with my camera on phone but it's really hard to take the photos as headplay screens being so reflective....seems like a challenge...let's see if i succeed using my digital camera....so that people 'd compare both in action.....also i will try to get the image of the z800 in action as well

[cybereality]

Here is the same shot taken on an ASUS VG236H, just so you can see how its supposed to look. Keep in mind that the Vuzix shot was overly blurry, but it still was not crisp even in real life. So don't compare the sharpness (which obvious cannot compete with 1080P) but just look at how the colors/contrast is supposed to be.

ASUS_VG236H_01.jpg

[ancjob]

Here is the same shot taken on an ASUS VG236H, just so you can see how its supposed to look. Keep in mind that the Vuzix shot was overly blurry, but it still was not crisp even in real life. So don't compare the sharpness (which obvious cannot compete with 1080P) but just look at how the colors/contrast is supposed to be.

ASUS_VG236H_01.jpg

there goes all my expectations with this HMD....i thought i was your device which captured the pic....
cyber - you have taken away one perspective vuzix consumer from Vuzix and made them poorer by usd600

after all who's stopping vuzix from making an HMD with 1280x1024 SXGA with millitary optics and huge FOV- clearly from the sony example an HD HMD can be made < usd900 if mass produced....

and i think anyone will pay usd1000 if the HMD has the 'real' quality...at least i will...

clearly making sub-standard thing is bad company policy and for consumers like us we seems ripped-off !

just [usd200 more +shipping + taxes] away from the ultimate sony 'thing' and my search for ultimate HMD will end

[WiredEarp]

@ancjob: 'z800 exp. makes me cautious trying any OLED based units.....i guess z800 uses cheap quality OLEDs though emagin makes better OLEDs refer here : http://www.emagin.com/oled-microdisplays/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; '

It sounds like you have both Headplay and Z800? What exactly has been your problem with your Z800? You mentioned you had fuzzy edges or something like that?

I ask, as I have a secondhand, repaired Z800, and it still is crisp, bright, and clear, right to the edges (well, all except the edge that now has some sort of OLED cancer). Basically, its no worse than the 23" CRT thats attached to the same PC. I really don't see how it could be much brighter or clearer without an increase in resolution.

Did you have a problem with the OLED crapping out on yours? Mines developed a black spot cancer on one side that is a little annoying, just wondering if you had a similar issue...

Also, does the headplay support any page flipping modes such as that provided by iZ3D? IE, can you still use Headplay with drivers such as IZ3D and Tridef?

[ancjob]

@ancjob: 'z800 exp. makes me cautious trying any OLED based units.....i guess z800 uses cheap quality OLEDs though emagin makes better OLEDs refer here : http://www.emagin.com/oled-microdisplays/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; '

It sounds like you have both Headplay and Z800? What exactly has been your problem with your Z800? You mentioned you had fuzzy edges or something like that?

I ask, as I have a secondhand, repaired Z800, and it still is crisp, bright, and clear, right to the edges (well, all except the edge that now has some sort of OLED cancer). Basically, its no worse than the 23" CRT thats attached to the same PC. I really don't see how it could be much brighter or clearer without an increase in resolution.

Did you have a problem with the OLED crapping out on yours? Mines developed a black spot cancer on one side that is a little annoying, just wondering if you had a similar issue...

Also, does the headplay support any page flipping modes such as that provided by iZ3D? IE, can you still use Headplay with drivers such as IZ3D and Tridef?

z800 gamma control has 5 step brigtness control which changes brightness and contrast etc...
for to get good image i need to use TMT v5 [nividia GPU support] to enhance image further....

i will try to post screens of both z800 and headplay soon..

now regd headplay - my laptop ain't capable for 3d gaming so i never tried tz3d drivers so i use both headplay and z800 for 2d movies only infact headplay always - z800 is in box.. all the time...

somehow the image is NOT sharp as compared with that of headplay , in headplay every detail -skin tone , texture is detailed and colors are rich and wonderful ,extremely pleasant to look at - for me headplay HD-LCD for me

i think we have one challenger here which has the same screen quality and huge FOV and HDMI input - Sony HMD

refer here : http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/seri ... 78744.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

so far only headplay had the screens of this quality or higher

thought of gaming - may be after i got sony HMD

[ShawmK]

Did you have a problem with the OLED crapping out on yours? Mines developed a black spot cancer on one side that is a little annoying, just wondering if you had a similar issue...

Also, does the headplay support any page flipping modes such as that provided by iZ3D? IE, can you still use Headplay with drivers such as IZ3D and Tridef?

Is the "black spot" a common fault for OLED screens? I bought a cheap emagin on Ebay recently and the left-hand display had exactly that problem:



Thankfully the seller took it back (there was no mention of the Black Spot of Doom in the auction listing).

It's a pity, because apart from the Black Spot, I thought the picture quality was excellent.

The Headplay (at least with the Firmware update that I have) can accept pageflipped 3D over VGA. I don't have the IZ3D or Tridef drivers installed, but I can set Stereoscopic Player to "Software Pageflipping" and the Headplay will accept that.

[ancjob]

ShawmK - well too bad the z800 of yours was faulty - mine is ok but i do not get the sharpness in image which i am addicted to - says thanks to headplay for that.....

trust me - except for new sony HMD - i do not think any HMD - including z800 can beat the screen quality of headplay

they 'd have made headplay better with SXGA screen and refined optics further - too bad they gave up

no reason to order 852x480 LCD when 800x600 with rich colors is already there unless downgrading! - that's why i did NOT order wrap model yet...i failed to convince myself !

emagin is using cheap OLEDs contrast 200:1 whereas they themselves MFG. OLED-XL with contrast up to 10000:1

as for z800 - there will be plenty on ebay once sony HMD starts to sell ....no reason to keep crappy HMDs and block money when the same can get you HD HMD [HD-OLEDs] with HDMI input[read sony]..be on the look out if you still want z800

as for headtracker - ext headtracker can be used - almost all 3d laptops have HDMI 1.4a and adding a head tracker is not an issue so sony HMD will rock anyway

z800 excels only in optics [ease of viewing without strain] being light weight and usb powered - that's it...emagin is ripping people off with a tag of usd$1799 [price of usd$500 is ok for new] - an obsolete over-priced product!

[cybereality]

To be honest, after seeing the shots of the Sony I am not sure I can be happy with the Wrap 1200. The quality, to me, is just sub-par. The only thing thats really good about the device is the headtracker. But I am not sure that is enough to save the device. And I really do want to like this kit, but its theres only so much I can take.

[ancjob]

since cyber posted for wrap series i thought i do the same for headplay and z800 so that everyone can compare....

see attachments for headplay and z800 for display resolution @ 800x600

z800 is a little bit more clear becoz of large eye-piece without scratchguard on it...while headplay pic was difficult as the scratchguard is on the eye-piece and screen being highly reflective so getting the focus was extremely difficult...but that's the best i can do with my 12 mp digital camera..i am sure without scratchguard on the headplay eye-piece image 'd have been more vibrant.....[i have the scratchguard on permanenetly as the image otherwise looks extremely bright! - too bright for my tastes]

but notice the colors - headplay colors/contrast look cool , worldly & real [looks like a real person drinking] , skin textures is more pronounced that on z800 while z800 color looks kinda unreal colors overly-balanced and contrast having more 'white' for the buff for my tastes..

till date - i still reckon as headplay as the best HMD - a true 2D HD-LCD for me !

of course the only challenge for headplay is from Sony HMD [some Sony HMD 'in action' images posted here somewhere...which i have seen] so i will wait for sony HMD for an upgrade from headplay.......wish that headplay 'd upgraded the LCOS with SXGA resolution and refined optics further - but they gave up and a great concept of 'single' screen binocular HMD died with headplay

hope this helps...