PalmerTech was nice enough to send me the PR4 prototype for review. I just got to check it out tonight. This this is amazing!
PR4.JPG
This is the first time I actually felt like I was using a serious virtual reality device and not just looking at a laptop screen through a toilet paper roll. The FOV is HUGE! This is great. The immersion is just wild, there were a few moments where I was getting sucked into the game. Not 100% perfect, but the closest I have seen to real VR immersion, and it doesn't even have a headtracker!
In terms of vertical FOV, it was more than sufficient, and I don't think going further would matter. The horizontal FOV could still be larger, but it seems to cover at the full stereoscopic overlap. It seems there was still even some space on the side that the optics covered but there was no screen. So maybe with a wider screen it could go further. Even so, it was massively massive. Totally took a crap on all the 30 degree junk we've had on the consumer market. Even the Sony is not looking so hot anymore.
In terms of resolution, it seemed decent. I believe the panel was 800x600 or something close to that. I got the best results from that resolution anyhow. With the magnification so high, you could see individual pixels, but it wasn't too bad. The display at least looked fairly crisp in the center, and it blurred as it reached the edges. Certainly good enough to play a game, even if reading the health/bullet-count was problematic. Maybe not as sharp as the Sony, but way better than the 1200VR. Another issue was the aspect-ratio needed to be in a strange format (I think 4:3 half width but NOT squished). There is not really any software available that does this. I could play games with the IZ3D driver in SBS mode, but the aspect ratio was a little off. In the Stereoscopic Player I could set the right aspect ratio, but then there were huge black bars, which killed the immersion.
I did an unboxing video, and will probably take another quick video showing the display quality. Will have to upload for tomorrow. Will post more thoughts soon. Please, ask questions.
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