I'd like some personal opinions on Vuzix vr920 and 1200

[Typheus]

Ok, so I've almost made up my mind, but I wanted to ask a group of people who specialized in this.

Basically, I LOVE first person shooters and first person games in general. I love motion controls, I love mouse/keyboard, and I love the typical console controllers. I'm a big gaming nerd, go figure.

One thing I've always wanted, which would be the greatest form of immersion, is something like the Vuzix head mounted displays.

Now, I know they're not actually VR, and the only interaction you get with them is that head tracking software, but I do like the thought of the action being all around you, right in your face, and totally immersing you in the experience.

Now I've HEARD that the vr920s aren't the best idea to go with for a gaming experience, but that's only what I've heard. I'd like to hear some of your opinions on it as well.

I'd also like to hear your thoughts on the upcoming vr1200. Any predictions you have based on the specs, considering you know a helluva lot more about these products than I do.

And this question isn't directly related to 3D, and I'm sorry. I've heard that turning on the 3D for these HMDs can reduce quality by a lot, so it's not something I'm planning on doing.

[cybereality]

Well I own the VR920, which I've had for like 3 or 4 years, and I do plan on getting the VR1200. Clearly I can't give an opinion of the VR1200 since it is not out yet, but I can tell you about the VR920. The concept of the HMD is indeed very cool and with a properly configured and compatible game its a pretty immersive experience (ie stereo 3d with head-tracking enabled). Certainly the 3D experience is one of the better you can get, since there is no ghosting like with other solutions which use a single display. So the 3D is cool. Head-tracking is also cool, when it works, however the tracking on the VR920 is not perfect. At times it can work nice, but it can be jittery and there is some drift. Due to the jitter it can also become headache inducing, so it cannot be used for long periods. It also doesn't add too much to games in terms of gameplay. I mean, its cool to stop and look around with your head, but its not an advantage in any way. If you had a completely mobile, wireless setup, then that is a different story. In that case head-tracking will add a lot. But if you are still stuck in front of a keyboard and mouse sitting in a chair, then head-tracking is not all that useful and is mostly a novelty. The only exception might be in simulation titles (flight sims, racing sims, etc.) where you are in a cockpit and the head-tracking is only used to look out the window. In that case its OK, because its only really for peripheral use. Trying to aim in first-person shooter games is really hard using head-tracking, though. And not every game is supported, only a few dozen.

The main issue I have with the VR920 (and I guess most low-end headsets) is that the virtual screen size is not very big at all. I would say it appears to be similar to like a 19" screen at an average seated distance (half meter). So it is not the huge field of view (FOV) experience you might imagine from the movies. It still looks like you are staring at a screen, just a rectangular display floating in space. It doesn't exactly feel like you are there. I mean, with the stereo 3d visuals it can get pretty immersive. But it falls short of the promises of VR from back in the 1990's. We are just not there yet. The VR1200 should be marginally better in this respect, with a higher resolution, higher FOV, and a wide-screen display. But it is still not like you are going to jack into the matrix with this kit. Far from it. As much as I am a huge fan of HMDs, and do still plan on buying the VR1200, I don't want to set unrealistic expectations for people. So its not exactly a bad piece of hardware, but if you are searching for immersion you might find a better experience with something like a 3D projector, which might only be a few hundred dollars more.

But really, you are going to want the 3D. If you don't like or wish to use 3D then there is no point whatsoever in getting an HMD. The entire purpose of the dual-LCDs is to provide the stereoscopic 3D experience. If you want to play in 2D, just get a nice 27"-30" 2D monitor and call it a day. The 3D can somewhat diminish the picture quality in respects to 2D standards. But I think the addition of an entire dimension more than makes up for it. For example, on the VR920 the refresh rate gets halved in 3D mode (only 30Hz per eye). With the VR1200 it appears that the resolution is diminished, possibly by as much as 50%. So you still get the full 60Hz per eye, but with reduced resolution. It should still look decent though. And this will happen with any 3D solution: 120Hz monitors will only give 60Hz per eye, interlaced 3D monitors half the resolution per eye, etc. So I don't think that is a valid reason to write 3D off completely. The 3d adds a lot and if you are looking for immersion then 3D is a necessity.

Honestly, though, other 3D solutions can provide as good or better an experience all things considered. For example, a 3D projector can create a 100" 3D screen in your living room. If you sit close enough, this will blow away the FOV of cheap headsets like VR920. If you have money, you can even look into triple 3D projectors like with Nvidia 3D Vision Surround. Admittedly only a small number of games are supported and even with a beefy rig you might only be getting 30fps, but it will be pretty immersive. Hell, even a 24" 1080P 3D monitor will probably provide a more impressive experience than the VR920 (disregarding the headtracking capabilities). So as much as I love the VR920, its just not very competitive with other modern 3D solutions on the market. Maybe the VR1200 is a little better, sure, but I don't think its going to be revolutionary. Just a baby step forward. But I still plan to buy one, so I will reserve final judgment until I see it with my own eyes.

You can also read a full review I did for the VR920 here:
http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=120&t=12193" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Typheus]

Guess that means I'll be waiting for a few more generations. I guess I'll watch the HMD market and see if one comes out that seems to fit my expectations, cause there's no way I'm spending $300 on something that's not what I'm imagining it to be.

Thanks for the info.

[Fredz]

The Cinemizer OLED should be available in summer 2011 for $515. It's made of two 720p OLED screens and should have a 30-35° FOV, it should be compatible with 3D Vision, YouTube 3D and the PS3 but I'm not sure it does have head-tracking.

[cybereality]

The Cinemizer OLED should be available in summer 2011 for $515. It's made of two 720p OLED screens and should have a 30-35° FOV, it should be compatible with 3D Vision, YouTube 3D and the PS3 but I'm not sure it does have head-tracking.

Yes, the Carl Zeiss Cinemizer OLED looks like a nice headset and should be a step above the Vuzix VR1200. Not sure if I can afford all this crap, but I would like to buy one of those as well. It does indeed have a head-tracker, but it seems to be an optional add-on. From the videos I've seen the tracking is significantly better than what is on the VR920, but it remains to be seen how good the tracker is on the VR1200.

[Typheus]

That head tracking would go great with an FPS. Definitely wouldn't be an advantage, but it would definitely be fun as hell.

I'd love to see someone get the head tracking to work with something like Playstation 3. Combine that with PS Move for FPS games. Recipe for awesome.

[Fredz]

Head-tracking has already been done on the PlayStation 3, it's available in Sony SDK and has been presented to the GDC 2008 and in a real time ray-tracing demo on a Linux PS3 with IBM Blade servers. It's been said that Gran Turismo 5 has support for this but I didn't find any video on the Web showing this yet.

Linux PS3 + QS21 Blade servers :
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SDGG9HhbgQ[/youtube]

GDC 2008 presentation :
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFN8cW1mSVY[/youtube]

[Okta]

Guess that means I'll be waiting for a few more generations. I guess I'll watch the HMD market and see if one comes out that seems to fit my expectations, cause there's no way I'm spending $300 on something that's not what I'm imagining it to be.

Thanks for the info.

If your expecting the Holodeck for $300 then you had best adjust your expectations.

[cybereality]

If your expecting the Holodeck for $300 then you had best adjust your expectations.

Yeah totally. Maybe it sounds like I really don't like HMDs, but I am just trying not to hype people up and have them be let down. Current gen HMDs are probably still worth $300-400 just to experiment with. But they are only a glimpse of the dream that was set by VR researchers in the late 80's early 90's. Which is why it is important for people to actually buy current gen headsets like VR1200. Because if all these products fail then no one will ever try to bring out anything better. If you want to see VR actually happen one day then vote with your dollars.