Vuzx Wrap VR Owners... possible rant...

[vulkan]

Just want to see if any other Vuzix Wrap 1200VR owners are having the issues I'm seeing... as I'm getting close to sending my wrap back.

- tracking pitch is distorted by yaw and roll
- inverse ghosting on the LCDs (ie move your view and a light ghost image persists where a dark image was)
- can't get the Aces High tracking working natively (dinput8.dll causes the game to crash), works with stereo though (and can use glovepie with it to get non-native tracking via trackir emulation)
- can't get the MS FSX stereo working (d3d9.dll causes issues) but tracking works
- an interference pattern in the middle of the left LCD panel appears, might be power related

I've tried WIn 7, Win XP, different USB ports and hubs and stuff to try and sort these issues out. Support want my headset back to see if it is causing the issues with the games.

The OpenGL support seems a little fishy as well, I tried to get an OpenGL app working and at one stage it seemed the app was working but in frame sequential 3D. The VR Manager did pop up a couple of times and say it couldn't detect a VR920 - so I'm wondering if the OpenGL support is not for the Wrap models.

Has anyone had similar issues/overall dissatisfaction with their Wrap VR?

[Synexious]

Yes, send it back and wait for an ST1080.

[cybereality]

Yeah, I kind felt the same way. Ended up selling my 1200VR a little while ago. I mean, it had a lot of good features on paper but the quality and execution were sub-par. Some games that were supposed to be supported didn't work (at least for headtracking like HL2 and L4D). And even when the 3D worked it was kinda low-quality and not that great with the VRManager. No way to adjust the 3D settings, what were they thinking? As much as I'd like Vuzix to succeed, they are going to have to try a lot harder next time.

[brantlew]

Seen in the light of the ST1080, the 1200VR doesn't seem very interesting. I'm relatively happy with my 920VR because it was cheaper and I really don't use it heavily, but I wish I had waited a couple months because you can now find them for just over $300. At that price, I think the 920VR is a pretty good deal.

[3dvison]

Seen in the light of the ST1080, the 1200VR doesn't seem very interesting. I'm relatively happy with my 920VR because it was cheaper and I really don't use it heavily, but I wish I had waited a couple months because you can now find them for just over $300. At that price, I think the 920VR is a pretty good deal.

Hi brantlew,
I know I got an answer from cyber but I am not shure if I asked you ?
Could you tell me how good/bad you feel 3D pictures and video look on the 920 ?
I have a Fuji W3 and know the 920 would be low rez. but I would still like a cheap HMD to view 3D pictures/video on.
Guess I just like the idea of two separate screens, one for each eye, as opposed to a single screen 3D monitor or projector.
If my thing is to see my 3D pictures & video with easy on the eyes 3D, with low to no ghosting and high resolution not being as important to me, could the 920 do an OK job with this cameras 3D ?

[PalmerTech]

If you just want a picture/movie viewer, I would be glad to sell you one of my lower FOV prototypes on the cheap. It would be better res, better color, and better contrast. Not that it would matter for your W3, but it would be better for portrait format 3D images, too.

@Vulkan: Regarding your second point, the inverse ghosting: Does it happen equally when the unit has just been turned on vs when it has been on for a while? What kind of temperature range are you using it in?

[3dvison]

If you just want a picture/movie viewer, I would be glad to sell you one of my lower FOV prototypes on the cheap. It would be better res, better color, and better contrast. Not that it would matter for your W3, but it would be better for portrait format 3D images, too.

I think a huge FOV would also be cool for the fuji w3 stuff...But I am thread-jacking here. Send me a pm PalmerTech about what you may be able to sell..Thanks

[brantlew]

3dvision: I'm a pretty terrible source of information about real-world usage of the product. I own it but I only use it for research and not for any real scenarios - and I almost never enable 3D. However...for Christmas I treated myself to a new 55" passive 3D technology LG 55LW5300 television and a new copy of Avatar 3D and was blown away by the quality. Much crisper and brighter than my theater 3D experiences. The 920VR is not in the same league as that display, and I would not recommend it over a good 3D "screen" solution.

[ShawmK]

Hi, folks,

I just thought I would jump in with this, because I feel as if I may be the only person on the planet who is actually reasonably happy with the Wrap 1200.

Obviously the ST1080 and the Sony both have higher resolutions, but the ST1080 still isn't available (and no release date in sight) and the Sony has a number of other drawbacks (for me, at least).

The display of the 1200 is perfectly fine for photos and videos, making it a television screen, not a computer monitor. I often use it for casual viewing of the Sky 3D channel here in the UK. When connected via component video, the quality is excellent, and it is a lot simpler to set up for 3D than my Acer projector. I also use it for 3D work on my netbook, which has VGA, but not HDMI (so both the Sony and the ST1080 would be of no use).

With the 1200, Vuzix managed to solve the biggest problem of the 920, which was the variation in contrast from one edge of the screen to the other.

I would still love to have an HMD with better resolution, but unlike the Cinemizer and the ST1080, the Vuzix is real; it's actually out there, now, and isn't just a hypothetical future product.

I use mine almost every day, and I certainly feel I'm getting my money's worth out of it.

[vulkan]

@Vulkan: Regarding your second point, the inverse ghosting: Does it happen equally when the unit has just been turned on vs when it has been on for a while? What kind of temperature range are you using it in?

Hard to tell but within immediate use, ie, boot PC, load game, and it's there.

If you can imagine your in a flight sim, the cockpit has a frame (dark coloured), when you turn your head to look a blue sky you see a light outline of where the cockpit frame was (ie very light blue on medium blue). It's quite odd.

Temp is not hot, we're in summer here which is 20-24 degrees celsius.

I've also fluffed around with different USB ports, powered hubs etc. Problem for me is if I send it back I want to make sure they can fix it, otherwise shipping is going to sting me. Seems to be not an uncommon issue with the Wrap products from the sound of it.

[WiredEarp]

@ vulkan: that sounds like a driver issue to me. What 3D drivers are you using?

[vulkan]

@ vulkan: that sounds like a driver issue to me. What 3D drivers are you using?

Nvidia 285.62, I suspect the d3d9.dll issue is driver related but I passed that info onto vuzix and they really don't seem very responsive other than 'try it on a different pc'. Although remember the d3d9.dll works with Aces High. So it's a FSX/Vuzix/Nvida combo that is the issue. And then Aces High doesn't work with the dinput8.dll library.

[PalmerTech]

Thanks for the info, Vulkan. I am sorry to say that I cannot help with the problem, but I have been seeing a very similar one in a cheap chinese HMD I own (Kopin based), so I know what you are talking about. It might be a combination of luck and the placebo effect, but it seems like the problem goes away when I heat the unit up using a hairdryer, for some reason.

My time with a VR1200 has not been very good, either. The tracker was decent, the displays are decent, but I just can't like the optics. I appreciate that they want to build low profile stuff, but even the low end Kopin optics like in the VR920 are much higher quality!

I wish Vuzix would actually engage with their customers on this kind of feedback. They even have a "Social Media Manager" who has the duty of "Building an interactive community around our products." Call me a crazy, but a dead official forum and almost no outreach or posting anywhere seems a pretty odd way of building a community. Not slamming that employee in particular (For all I know, it is just a part time or temp position), but Vuzix comes up really short, community wise.

[WiredEarp]

Does 3D Vision work fine when you run it in other modes, such as shutter or 3D Vision Discover? If you dont see the same problems with this, its pretty much def the hmd.
I'd uninstall everything vuzix (if you have anything of theirs installed) first.

[cybereality]

That doesn't sound like ghosting, it sounds like burn-in. I did not notice this with the 1200VR, but I have seen it with previous Vuzix headsets. Usually it was a matter of the screens being on for too long. You have to make sure to unplug the USB cord when you are not using it, otherwise they start to "overheat" or something like that and then you get the burn-in more frequently. At least it was like this with the VR920.

[tomtom2012]

quite sometime since vuzix 1200vr was released - still no auctions on ebay for new
i haev the feeling that they shelved it but wrap 920 still being sold - seems more popular than vuzix 1200 may be i am wrong