At CES, I saw a lot of stuff, and the most exciting thing I saw (from a consumer standpoint) was probably the ST1080. I did not see SMD's booth until the end of CES, and was wondering why none of the big gadget sites seemed to be covering it. It ended up being pretty obvious: They were stuck in the Hilton exhibit hall, which is dominated by component vendors, raw hardware developers, and other things in that vein. Not much reason for the average press pass to venture in there, and I think that really hurt their coverage.
I spent most of my time talking to Wally Phillips, the Principle Engineer of SMD. He was a pleasure to talk to, and said that SMD would be paying attention to feedback made on MTBS3D, woo!
Comfort: It was good for what it is. They did not clamp your head, stayed on pretty stable, and were lightweight. They do rest the weight on your nose, though, but that is unavoidable with glasses-style HMDs. More comfortable than the VR920, though, which is no small feat considering the weight differential. Us VR nerds might want to mod these into a pair of ski goggles for long term use, but the average person will probably be fine.
Optics: They showed me several different models. One of them was the white ST1080 we all know and love, 10% transparency. On the showroom floor, it seemed a little dim for AR use, but that is probably a good thing. The other one I was was a black model that had effectively no transparency, which I tried out both display Toy Story, and hooked up to a PS3 running Gran Turismo. Truth be told, this is the model I want, being into full immersion VR and all. The optics had a very large exit pupil, much more than I expected! You can shift this thing all over the place, jump up and down, the image is still clearly viewable from edge to edge. It wipes the floor with the HMZ-T1 on exit pupil! The field of view is also really nice for what it is. 45 degrees is still far higher than anything from most consumer HMDs, particularly for a unit this small. I am spoiled by the kind of gear I get to work with, so I am not sure if I can have an objective opinion on FOV anymore.
Displays: It uses LCOS, and it looks fantastic. No screen door effect at all, you can't discern the pixel structure! Colors seemed a little washed out with the Toy Story demo, but Gran Turismo looked much better for some reason. I need more time with it so I can use all my test patterns, but my initial impression was good. Black levels were not that great, but I am willing to bet a dark environment or light blockers would help with that, based on my other LCOS based HMD, the Cy-Visor. Definitely worlds better than the Emagin Z800, but not as good as the HMZ-T1.
Speaking of the HMZ-T1, the ST1080 is brighter. A LOT brighter. The Sony has great contrast and black levels, but to be honest, there is just not much light coming out of those panels. I was also shown a prototype 3D printed unit that was around 50% transparent, I believe, and even in the bright showroom floor, I was still able to clearly see the image.
Finally, the 4K prototype: AMAZING! It was being driven by 4 HDMI inputs, and it was hard to believe what I was looking at. It was beyond not seeing the pixel structure, it may as well have been a tiny window into a real life scene. The resolution was incredible! I only wish that it was spread out across a 90+ degree FOV, but that is not going to happen with microdisplays.
I wish I could go on, but it was about the same as the ST1080 in all regards but resolution. All in all, I am very excited, and am 100% going to be a day 1 pre-order. That is not even including my work, I mean for personal use! This HMD is going to change mobile computing for me, I am tempted to go buy some high end netbook with a cracked screen to dedicate to this.
Any questions, fire away. I took pictures, but they are not nearly as nice as the ones SMD has now put up. I will post them if people still want them for some reason, though.
