What HMD should i buy?

Post by **popninety** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:24 pm

I'm looking for a quality HMD for gaming. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Post by **cybereality** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:17 pm

Hey popninety!

If you are looking for an HMD than the Vuzix VR920 is probably the one you want. Its relatively affordable and includes a decent headtracker. Its also supported on Vista and also ATI cards. There are a few others, like the Z800, i-glasses, etc. but the VR920 has its own stereo driver and thus better compatibility. Otherwise you will need the nvidia 3d driver, but that comes with some issues. The new nvidia 3d driver only supports the Zalman Trimon 3d monitor, and only under Vista. You can run an older version of the driver, but only on 7xxx series nvidia cards and XP. Some users have found ways to hack the registry and things like that to get it to work, but its not exactly plug-and-play. However, if you happen to have a nvidia series 7xxx or lower card with XP, then you can just run the old drivers. So its not so bad, however some newer games will require bug fixes that are only in the new drivers so be warned.

Like I said before, the VR920 does have its own 3d driver, while mostly all the other HMDs will be relying on the nvidia driver. Plus those other headsets are even more expensive, so the VR920 is really the smartest choice right now. There is another HMD called the TDVisor, which is the first HD headset and is available for pre-order but it costs over $1000 last time I checked (should be closer to $500 when actually released). I think someone here had got to try one, look around. I couldn't speak for the quality myself but, on specs alone, its a better headset.

Another option you might want to consider is the iz3D 22" 3d monitor. It looks like a standard 22" widescreen lcd but when using special glasses you will see the stereo 3d effect in supported games. Its compatible with a lot more recent games than the VR920 and would probably be easier to use if you are just getting into stereo3d. Since iz3D has their own driver you are not limited in your choice of video card or OS. It is slightly more, at around $600, but still reasonable considering the price of other products on the market (like the rip-off Z800). I don't own one myself, but other users here seem to be happy with theirs. Theres also another 3d monitor, the Zalman Trimon, which is a similar 22" 3d monitor. However this one is only for nvidia/vista like I explained above. There are reviews for all these products if you search around, it depends on what you are looking for. But from what I understand the iz3D monitor will probably be the solution with the least issues in terms of compatibility.

Don't get me wrong, the VR920 is a fine piece of hardware for what it is. The 3d effect is very nice and totally ghost-free. It also includes headtracking on some supported games if you're in to that type of thing (flight-sims, etc.). If you really want an HMD, then the VR920 is not a bad buy (if only because most of the other stuff on the market is over-priced junk). The TDVisor is the only other headset I know of that is current (because its not out yet). So you could wait for that I guess (or splurge on a prototype), but otherwise the VR920 is your best bet in terms of HMDs.

Post by **LukePC1** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:08 am

One of the biggest problems is drivers right now. If you chose the TDVisor: it has support for dual-input. That means you need two outputs of the graphics card and can make drivers for it more easy, than say for pagflipping devices like VR920 or Z800.

Long speach short result: The TDVisor is also supported by Iz3D driver with HMD output.

Post by **popninety** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:58 pm

So i think im going to go with the TDvisor but is there any news what so ever about it's release?

Post by **cybereality** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:45 pm

Heres the site for the TDVisor:

http://www.tdvision.com/tdvisor.php

They are accepting preorders now (I believe the 800x600 version may even be available) but the HD headset isn't out AFAIK. They were originally slated for release at the end of last year, but have been pushed back a few times. They should be coming out sometime before the end of the year, might be next month, might be December. I don't think they've said anything official yet. However the TDVisor does not include headtracking so if thats a feature you want you'd need to spend another $200 on something like the TrackIR.

Post by **android78** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:12 pm

cybereality wrote:However the TDVisor does not include headtracking so if thats a feature you want you'd need to spend another $200 on something like the TrackIR.

Or use Free-track http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p ... highlight= (If you're willing to kill a $20 webcam and buy $3 of LEDs)

Post by **crim3** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:25 pm

You need 360 degrees head tracking when you are wearing a HMD, the optical trackers are of no use in this case.

Post by **cybereality** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 3:50 pm

crim3 wrote:You need 360 degrees head tracking when you are wearing a HMD, the optical trackers are of no use in this case.

Thats assuming you are playing standing up. In that case you would also need some sort of wireless controller, mouse/keyboard wouldn't work.

Post by **Tril** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 4:48 pm

But if you play sitted, you want to at least be able to look sideway left or right. You need at least 180 degrees for that.
If you play fighter planes games, you often look over your shoulder toward your back to keep an eye on enemy planes behind you. You wan close to 360 degrees for this.

You can play without that and use a small head movement to get big movement in the game (TrackIR or other) but it's a bit less immersive and I think I've heard before that you can feel ill because how much you move and how much the view move is not the same.