TrackIR is good if you like simulation titles. They sadly don't support really any FPS games.

Yeah, TrackIR seems aware of this problem...but it looks like Arma II is the only FPS they have "enhanced" support for. I read with older software TrackIR can emulate mouselook. What other solutions are there for first person shooters?

Why do they not support FPS? That's a potentially more lucrative market.

It make sense that TrackIR can't support FPS as it can't do 360 degree tracking. The max is like 120 degree but it can do 6DOF. Can't remember which simulation game, but if you move your head near the monitor, it will zoom in, pull back and it will zoom out.

Depth is supported on a lot of games...just take a look at the games list.

I'm trying to piece together space flight games that I can play in S3D with TrackIR. So far all I've found is Freespace 2 Open.

Well if you like sim titles, then the TrackIR may be of interest. For me about the only game thats even remotely appealing to me (that I have) is the DIRT series. I wonder if the TrackIR software can do mouse/joystick emulation so you could use it in more games (aka FPS titles). That might make it a little more appealing. That and if the SDK was available for hobbyists/indie developers.

Lots of sims support 6DOF TrackIR. Black Shark, A10, FSX, etc.

Its probably the best supported interface, really, if you wish to use any other trackers with existing windows games, you will need to create a tracker -> trackir 4 interface. Although Naturalpoint have tried to lock down all the new releases to only use 'real' trackIRs, there are patches you can run against those games to re-enable TrackIR4, which then allows you to use your tracker with those programs.

@Cyber:

TrackIR used to fully support mouse emulation. I believe they removed it after TrackIR3 to drive sales of their ridiculously expensive 'headmouse'. Someone else wrote an interface to do the same thing with a TrackIR 4. TTT, if you want better TrackIR support than TrackIR provides, your best bet currently is to use the TrackIR headset (TrackClip Pro etc) with a good webcam and Freetrack. Freetrack is actually much more powerful than stupid TrackIR - you can assign 'zones' so that when you turn your head to a certain position or angle, it presses a key or does a joystick movement. This means you can make even games that dont allow view panning to allow you to look out other views easily. I also believe it supports mouse emulation. You'll probably need to 'patch' any newer games to work with Freetrack however, but as long as you dont wish to play online, this isn't really a problem.

Engadget's mid march hand's on reports not 720p, but way lower resolution: 870 x 500
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/06/zeis ... -hands-on/

The Z800 OLED's I used to own did something like that.

I call this the Cinemizer Fauxled, for Zeiss being cagey about the resolution for over a year.

Yeah, not sure there is really room for sub-HD HMDs anymore. Not with the HMZ and ST1080 coming soon.

A statement which would've been unthinkable a year ago!

my first post and a harbinger of BAD news - sorry !


they r accepting pre-orders here : http://easy-entertain.com/shop/en/cinem ... /index.php
i tried to pre-order just to check how much for this and it came to usd$700+ tax+shipping - omg
obviously i declined to proceed
slated to be shipping in july

tech details :
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compatibility:
HDMI: 720p, 1080p and 3D (Frame Packing)
video-capable iPod and iPhone models (component, composite)
AV-in: yellow RCA cable (composite video, PAL / NTSC)

Diopter adjustment:
each eye separately adjustable from -5 to +2 diopters
the lens supporting a pupil distance of 59 - 69mm

Screen resolution:
High resolution 870 x 500 OLED display for each eye

(FOV engl.: Field of View):
30 degrees - equivalent to a 40-inch (102 cm) large image in 2 meters distance
16:9 widescreen

Power supply:
Rechargeable lithium-ion battery, USB charging
voltage : 5 V, current consumption: 450mA

Light source:
LED class 1

Battery life:
Battery life of up to 6 hours when fully charged Battery charge time 2.5 hours

Weight:
battery box 80 g weight on the nose 80 g glasses total about
120 g package approx 1000 g

Ports:
Mini-USB for charging the internal battery
3.5 mm audio jack for external stereo-headphone jack
3.5 mm AV (4-pin) for connecting external video sources

environmental conditions:
Operation at 5 ° C to 35 ° C storage and transport at -20 ° C to 60 ° C
humidity 10-90%, noncondensing
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

30FOV now whereas 32fov for cinemizer+[previous version] , why ? - 32fov was ok - was competing with vuzix products but 30fov now puts it in a different league altogether

dunno what to say but not for me

30 degrees is pretty shabby. Even the Vuzix 1200 is 35 degrees. This is just getting worse and worse.

wrong post - sorry

it takes composite video so it could become a seller in the FPV community, but for gaming or VR, no thanks!

edit: I think its too expensive for FPV only, so it might not even sell for that either

Yep, not to mention theres a bit of a debate in FPV circles as to the best FOV.
Personally, I wouldn't think a camera taking 90 degrees having its image shoved into a 30 degree FOV would be very satisfactory, but maybe thats just me and my love of high FOV.

I'm wondering also why you'd bother with this over that Vuzix Wrap piece of junk for FPV... it just seems like a high quality version of the same thing.

For my FPV needs, I think i'll probably go buy a ST1080, and use a cheap converter to make it accept a composite signal. That, or just keep using my Z800's since they do the job...

Most people dont like high FOV with FPV because they do not want to miss information in the edges, a missed branch or a leaf can be the death of your Quadrocopter

Fatshark is the most used FPV HMD and in their latest revision they lowered the FOV because of community feedback.

My plan is to mod my Sony HMZ to take its power of a 11.1v Lipo battery and then find a good, low latency composite>HDMI converter

Oh yeah, actually, now I remember. Thats one reason, a bigger one is OSD's. Most OSD's need legible text and that is easier to achieve on low resolution screens like Fatsharks by shrinking the FOV. I wonder however if you lose detail due to shrinking a 90 degree screen into a 30 degree display - at the minimum it is going to shrink everything down.


Fatshark got a lot of community 'feedback' about the lowered FOV on the new series however. Many can handle it/like it, but a large amount prefer the immersion of the old series. I suspect this is along the utilitarian vs telepresence crowd, ie those who want to fly and film vs those who want to feel like they are actually flying. I don't think I could handle a 30 degree FOV after the 42 or 46 (cant remember which) of the Z800. No matter what, I still think 30 is way too low, even for readability and edge vision etc

A cheap/easy way to get your HMZ running off a 3S lipo, is to get a car cigarette lighter USB socket thing (actually, get several, they only cost a few $ off dealextreme etc). You can then solder leads to the terminals on it and put a JST or whatever at the other end, and plug the USB cable for your HMZ into it. That way you get a nice green LED 'on' light, a cheap power adapter etc, and dont have to modify anything on the HMZ. As you can guess, I came up with this one out of the 'I WILL BUILD IT NOW' mindset, scrounging for stuff around the house . I also made a custom USB cable that tapped into this 5V out, and use it to run the video converter (dealextreme again as well off a single USB cig lighter adapter.

My plan now is to build another complete circuit including batteries, and add a couple of switches to control it without plugging/unplugging. Then, if I have an issue, I'll be able to just switch quickly to the other circuit with a swap of a plug or two (normally, the 2nd receiver will be running on the main circuit to provide a diversity setup). Ideally, i'd have a spare or headset in the box as well in case my headset packed up.

Does the HMZ have a USB port?

No.

Well, that wont help then! Crazy, you mean it is powered by an actual wall wart? How primitive! I thought it would have used the same method as the Z800, using USB for the power.

What voltage does it use? If its 5V, you can just use the method I mentioned and make a USB to HMZ plug adapter. That way, you have a portable USB source, and can just use different cables to connect different devices.

Not even a wall wart, the regulator is internal. A few of us have opened ours and added a USB plug to there 5V goes into the main board.

have you been able to power it from a USB plug? Then the 15Watts that Sony states is wrong, that would fry the device you try to power it from since the USB standard is 500mA

Or did you power it off something not following the USB standard like a phone charger or something?

Hello everybody i'm new here !

I'm just having a look at all HMD on the market and got one question about Cinemizer.

Did the head tracker module (apparently sell separatly) will be available in July too ?

Because i will develop an application and i need 360 degree of head tracking
Something pretty much like this:

Hey JoJoX!

Don't have any news to share, but the Zeiss tracker does look pretty nice. Otherwise the specs aren't great, but probably acceptable if you need an all-in-one kit.

Thanks for the answer !

I'm looking for other solutions.
I saw the TrackIr device but i need a 360 horizontal degree tracker.
Is there some solution with gyroscopic tracker wich is not sold with glasses ?
The Vuzix tracker look acceptable but the quality of the glasses seems a bit weak.

Well check around this forum, there are a few trackers people are using. For example from Hillcrest Labs or Sparkfun. I haven't tried these personally, and they may require hardware and software development in order to utilize them, not really a plug-and-play kit. The Vuzix 1200VR has a decent tracker on it, but the display quality is not great. However, based on the specs for the Cinemizer, they may be comparable (at least in terms of resolution and FOV). Unfortunately there is not really a perfect all-in-one solution available. Your best bet is to get something like the ST1080 and figure out how to do the tracking somehow yourself (again, there is info scattered around this forum). Hope that helps.

Not a lot of detailed how-to information but here is a quick survey of your options.

http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=120&t=14649

Like cyber said. Nothing really out-of-the-box but you can get some fairly easy results utilizing something like GlovePIE or FreePIE with supported trackers and game devices.

Thanks!

Yes that what i was thinking for all in one solution.
I will read your post for the tracking (i did'nt saw it when i was searching on this forum )

Hiya! Just bought the Cinemizer and didn't realize it didn't come with the head tracker - I've seen blogs reviewing it, but can't seem to find a link to purchase it anywhere (I searched these forums, but no dice).

Does anyone know if it's out and if so, where one can purchase the Zeiss headtracker attachment?

Thanks!

it's not been released as of yet, don't know when it will be released but it is due very soon, looks very responsive.

Thanks, I was driving myself crazy, because I kept seeing reviews of it (some kinda outdated by this point0 and thought maybe it was available.