How many waiting for HD?

[TeraBit]

As a matter of interest, how many others here are waiting for the TDVisor-HD to become available for purchase before taking the HMD plunge? Or is the price the most off-putting aspect?

[cybereality]

I've been waiting for the TDVisor-HD to officially come out to make a decision. I currently own the VR920, which is only 640x480, but can downscale an 800x600 source pretty well. It wouldn't really make sense it to buy another HMD unless it was a significant upgrade (ie HD, widescreen). Although I might be willing to upgrade to the TDVisor-HD assuming the price was right ($700 or below). Currently, the prices on the pre-order prototypes are just a tad high. Especially considering the VR920 can be had for around $350 these days.

[android78]

This may be unreasonable at this point in time, but if I could get the TDVisor-HD (1024*768) for $500-$600 AUD then I'd probably take the plunge. I think that $1000 for 800*600 is way too much, especially since it doesn't have head tracking, and yes I'm aware this price is not for full production unit.
I also would not get one of these until they are in full production since I wouldn't want there to be some change in the processer or other component that would prevent further firmware updates or something similar.
I'd love a HMD but I feel they are currently rediculously priced for what you are getting. Before you shoot me for saying this, it's not that I don't appreciate that this is a niche market and it is difficult for manufacturers to make money for low volume products like this, but you're also not going to get widespread exposure or acceptance of a product by over-charging either. I'm not sure of the production costs, but I'm sure it doesn't cost $700 for the components to make a dual 600*800 HMD.

[TeraBit]

I agree about the cost aspect. If it were cheaper I would likely have purchased one already, but if you're investing huge sums of money, it makes sense to wait for the better one from my perspective. So here's hoping the HD one goes into full production as a mature design and comes down to around $600 - $700 (£350). If that happens, I'm sure there would many more interested than currently appears to be the case.

Actually, considering the cost, I'd be interested to know what the warranty on a TD Visor is too, as it's hardly something you can get fixed locally if it goes ping!

[Xerion]

None of the poll options applies to me; I'm waiting for a hmd with 180 degree fov

[chrisdfw]

I won't even consider HMD's unless they provide at least a 45 degree field of view and 1024X768 resolution in each eye. Anything less than that and it just isn't immersive enough and won't compete with a DLP projector.

[crim3]

None of the poll options applies to me; I'm waiting for a hmd with 180 degree fov

I'm waiting for that too, but at this pace we won't have enough force to hold a HMD when it's available as we will be too old.

[cybereality]

None of the poll options applies to me; I'm waiting for a hmd with 180 degree fov

I'm waiting for that too, but at this pace we won't have enough force to hold a HMD when it's available as we will be too old.

No worries, there are already bionic devices on sale today:
http://www.berkeleybionics.com/

[crim3]

Cool! That kind of things will give us a chance to enjoy future gaming with our grandsons

[SuperDre]

I've grown a bit suspisious about the TD-Visor, I mean, last year januari they claimed they would ship a <$500 HD capable HMD early summer 2007, but they still haven't even shipped a 800x600 for that price, and that one is still a prototype..

[eschur]

I've had many times where users have mistaken the TDVisor-SD for the HD model.

The current TDVisor has unrivaled picture quality, brightness, and pixel count.

The indisputable fact is that at this exact moment in time, even at 800x600 TDVisor is the best device in the market.

The TDVisor is a digital convergence point, a window into gaming, 3D movies in the home, and much more.

Recently enabled in IZ3D drivers the TDVisor works with hundreds of PC games.

[android78]

I believe that SuperDre has the same concern that I have regarding the TDVisor. It does appear that the initial press statements about selling the 800*600 for arround $500 may not have been honest. From an end user/consumer I don't feel comfortable purchasing products when the manufacturers are not honest about the expectations of price. By indicating a price that is half the purchase price (be it a prototype version or full production) almost a year after the stated ETA and without any announcement as to the reasons for the delay, doesn't make me feel confident in the company and their ability to support a product into the future.
If the initial statements were made with a lack of foresight and set the expectation too high, this should have been ammended. The news section on your web site would have been ideal to convey the reasons and set expectations accordingly.
I'm trying not to bag TDVision too much for this, because as I understand it, it is a very small, new company and I understand that some of the information may hav initially been miscommunicated. I also like the innovation with the products being developed and do believe that, so long as the company can get them selves sorted out, they will probably be the best S3D visor on the market. The Specs are great! BUT I don't believe this is a good way to do business, creating a misconception and not correcting it when it becomes apparent that it is incorrect. Also, if you don't know, you should just say that it will be confirmed at a later date!
Please Ethan, it would be appreciated if you can give honest answers to the following. Call it in the name of public relations if you like:
1. When is this product expected to go into full production for SD/HD vistors?
2. Do you expect a dramatic price reduction when this happens? Are you still aiming for the Sub-$500 mark when in full production?
3. What has been the delay in getting these into production?

[cybereality]

Eschur is right, AFAIK there is no commercially available HMD that rivals the TDVisor. Although I've never seen the unit, based on everything I've read this seems accurate. However, I am not sure if the TDVisor could be considered commercially available at this point in time. Until the final production units of the TDVisor go on sale, this will remain to be true. When I say "available" I mean for sale not only directly but from online vendors (newegg, etc) or retail outlets. Not many people are going to take a chance with the high price of the current prototype. Right now the price is just too much to even consider, from a gamer's standpoint. If you are catering to the academic or medical communities then the prices may look cheap, but not for the mass market.

I think the main thing is that people are waiting for the sub-$500 units that were promised. I've been following the progress from the beginning, and you don't forget something like a $500 HD HMD. I would not very much like spending $1000+ and then find out next week the real units come out for half the price. This is likely what is holding other people back. Much of the initial publicity was for a sub-$500 HMD, I think people are waiting on that more than the HD aspect. Personally, I would be willing to spend maybe $600-$700 at the most. Anything over a thousand is just out of most peoples budgets (even $500 isn't exactly "cheap").

Also, not sure if this is relevant, but I thought I'd mention. I remember last year Icuiti (now Vuzix) also had some delays with shipping their product. However they handled it very differently. First off, they took pre-orders months in advance. I know I ordered one that first day it was available for pre-order, and many other people did as well. At $400, that is just low enough to be an impulse buy for some people. Keep in mind this was before the unit came out, so there were no reviews. Anything over $500, and I'm going to want to read at least like 3 reviews from trusted sources like TomsHardware, etc. Basically what I am saying is I think there are people that would be willing to pre-order the device right now if it were at a sub-$500 pricepoint and assuming there was a clear picture as to when the final units would ship. That just my opinion, something to think about though.

Also, can they come in black?

[Neil]

Gentlemen,

I think it's necessary to share a few words.

First, are you aware that TDVision is one of MTBS' core sponsors? Still in the throws of prototyping their product to better meet the needs of their customers, they have taken financial responsibility for this community. You accuse them of dishonesty, and you fail to respect that had it not been for their financial investment in MTBS, this conversation would not be possible.

Let me refresh your memory for those who are new to this community. Would you like to venture a guess on how much the original prototype Neurok Optics 17" iZ3D monitor was sold for? This grainy imaged monitor prototype that was strictly sold through their website and became the seedling of their now popular product line? $500? No, higher. $800? No, higher. $1,000? No, higher. Try $1,200 US for a 17" prototype monitor that was 100% based on NVIDIA drivers.

Let me share something about Emagin and Vuzix.

When I worked to raise money for the first MTBS website, Emagin got my proposal, and refused to take my calls or discuss this further. Vuzix? While always welcome to participate, they have yet to take an interest in supporting the S-3D community at the most modest levels. Frankly, unless your favorite S-3D manufacturer is sponsoring MTBS or getting involved in some fashion to support our efforts, they have no claim for superior ethics against our existing sponsors.

Out of all the high highfalutin S-3D manufacturers people talk about here, TDVision and iZ3D are the only ones who have had the guts to step forward and back our organization, the only community that makes this industry possible. When growing companies spend hard earned dollars on ideas like MTBS during the riskiest times, there is no greater measure of honesty and business ethics in my book. When you figure in that all members have the freedom to talk about their favorite manufacturers as they see fit regardless of who is financially involved with MTBS, that's a measure of honesty too. Questioning their personal ethics? That went over the line and is not welcome in this community.

I would be appreciative if you could apologize for your remarks accordingly out of respect to our community supporter and be mindful in your future posts.

Thanks in advance,
Neil

[cybereality]

I'm not sure if you are referring to me, but I apologize if my comments were taken the wrong way.

I have been very interested in the TDVisor for some time, and was just offering my opinion as a potential customer.

[TeraBit]

Hi,

The poll was intended to see how many people (like me) are excitedly looking forward to the new TDVisor-HD. I understand the cost concerns (as noted near the top of this thread), but as I see it, sometimes the best starts off expensive. I'd rather that it be expensive at first, than selling a few thousand of them at below cost, only to go out of business. I only wish I didn't live so far away (UK), otherwise I would have paid a visit myself. 8)

[android78]

I don't believe Neil was talking about you, cyber. It would have been my comments.
I am sorry if anyone felt this is a personal attack. To me what makes a comment dishonest is if it is proven incorrect and it is not acknowledged as having been incorrect and/or corrected. I would like to make it clear that I don't believe that anyone at TDVision is a dishonest person. And maybe dishonest is the wrong word for what I was trying to convey, disloyal would probably be more appropriate. My concern is if a company makes wild claims and then are unwilling to correct this, it makes me unwilling to purchase their products (even if they do sponsor a fantastic forum like this).
Also, on re-reading my questions (after the blurb I wrote) I can see that they can be interpreted as an attack. They are not meant in this way, but as questions I would like to know the answer to. It may be seen as a little rude to ask about the price and when they will be in production, but this has only been raised by the claims by a TDVision representative to which I am responding. Basically, I'll be honest, I am not prepared to spend $1000 on a HMD. Therefore, I ask if they are likely to soon be priced around the $500 mark because, if not , I will look elsewhere and not wait to see what happens with these, even though I've been following the progress of this product with much anticipation. My question about the delay is out of curiosity, not an attack. I retract the last two questions as they are rude . Sorry.
To those at TDVision, I do appreciate the support of this community, but I hope you can now appreciate the source of my comments. They are not meant as disrespect, but as an expression of my concern and, to quote myself:

I'm trying not to bag TDVision too much for this, because as I understand it, it is a very small, new company and I understand that some of the information may hav initially been miscommunicated. I also like the innovation with the products being developed and do believe that, so long as the company can get them selves sorted out, they will probably be the best S3D visor on the market.

To Neil, while I appreciate your position, I hope you also appreciate that I would hope this can be an unbiased forum where we can express both appreciation and concern of ALL the S3D solutions. If we are unable to express cencerns about the sponsors products, maybe this isn't as open a forum as I had hoped.

[Okta]

Now that the TD visor will be supported in the IZ3d driver it has been given a chance, but it will then be a matter of resolution vs fov vs usability vs price.

I know very little about these factors but if the mix is rite we have a winner that should sell like hot cakes.

[Neil]

Hi Android78,

Don't worry about it. Yes, we are unbiased in that you can express your concerns, etc. Similar to iZ3D, I'm sure TDVision takes your concerns into account. Myself included, it's very easy to come across the wrong way in writing, and in a public forum one comment follows another and things can get compounded.

No worries,
Neil

[da_giz]

Ok first of all, yes I am also waiting for the HD version to become available at a reasonable price.

I've had many times where users have mistaken the TDVisor-SD for the HD model.
The current TDVisor has unrivaled picture quality, brightness, and pixel count.
The indisputable fact is that at this exact moment in time, even at 800x600 TDVisor is the best device in the market.

Yes Ethan, I trust you on that statement, but:
I own an iZ3D and am really happy with that.
So when I spend another lot of money on a 3D device I want to have something that gives me a better experience. An HMD is the best thing for immersion that is available right now, but with an iZ3D I play at a resolution of minimum 1024, mostly higher up to the 1680*1050 the display provides.
With an HMD where the FOV is much bigger than with a 22" LCD I don't want to step back to resolutions of 800*600. I mean the last time I played a game in that resolution was back in Counterstrike 1.1 or so and that was a 15" CRT!
GFX-cards are able to provide the stereoscopic output at a much higher resolution than 800*600 so I wouldn't want my newly achieved and expensive 3D device to be the minimizing factor of the experience.

I trust you that most people won't see a difference in resolution if they wear the SD-visor, but I think that is because they are blown away by the size of the screen and the 3D effect.
I guess (I don't know since I don't own one) that if you compare the 2 versions SD and HD after using one of them for a longer period of time you will definately see a difference.

Since I never will be owning both versions if I go with the SD I will always think in the back of my head that the HD version would be better (even if i wouln't see a difference)
So for that reason I am waiting for the HD visor, simply because I know of it.

I won't even consider HMD's unless they provide at least a 45 degree field of view and 1024X768 resolution in each eye. Anything less than that and it just isn't immersive enough and won't compete with a DLP projector.

Did I get something wrong or does this not make sense at all?
If I take a look at the specs of the visor which are 108" @ 3ft and I draw that on a paper that gives me a FOV of more than 45°, actually from left to right it gives me about 115° (just a quick measurement)
Is that kind of correct?

Together with the 720p resolution that all would be better than what chrisdfw is waiting for...



I understand that, as Ethan mentioned, the 800*600 is probably the best HMD available on the market right now.
But does that also mean TDVision is waiting to release the HD-version until this is not the case anymore?
Is there an estimated release date for the HD visor? This would interest me the most

I hope this went not to much off-topic but it seemed to fit into the discussion that came up in the thread.

[da_giz]

Okay I think I just found a mistake on the TDVisor specification sheet.

If you look here:
http://www.tdvision.com/tdvisor.php it says 72" @ 10ft

but if you click on the "View Specifications" link you get this pdf:
http://www.tdvision.com/Specifications/TDV_TDVisor.pdf there is written 108" @ 3ft (scroll down to the bottom)

I guess this should be 108" @ 10ft for the HD-visor, which is still more than 45° FOV

look here http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=769[/url]

[eschur]

1) The SD 800x600 will enter mass production by Aug 2008, reducing the cost near to $500usd. We must explain that the $500 priceline has always been our target objective, this depends on so many variables: the manufacturing process, the volume, the demand. To make TDVisors in less than 1000 units is costly, as in $1000usd per unit, we're actually selling the units at cost. There are some breaking points and to make TDVisors in a volume over 5000 reduces the cost considerably, targeting around $500 just because of the cost reduction on plastics and electronics mfg. The TDVisor HD is a different beast due to the complexity on electronics, bandwidth, and the high level of integration for the display and we're facing several technical challenges, still, we'll have the HD ready before the end of the year and the price is yet to be determined. . Even when we have 20 working units as prototypes in our labs, the HD will reach the market at this point like we did with the SD prototype.

2) The reduction in price will happen, it's imminent, we'll be around the $500usd per unit since we'll target now the higher volume (>5000) and this leads to a cost reduction. Let me give you an incredible example: The current set of plastics costs us $500usd per unit! due to the low production silicon mold we use and the prorate of the mold cost. This price will be reduced to 50usd when we enter the high volume production.

3) We all here at TDVision and all our shareholders wanted to see this market response happening to accelerate, we needed some indicators of the interest for users in the immersive arena on different applications like consumer electronics. Since we started (back in 2004) we promoted the adoption of our 3D technology but the content was not ready, the hardware didn't have the performance and the industry was so focused on HD that we had to wait, wait to see some indicators (we were probably we were expecting this a to happen several months ago though). The delay was more about technology evolution, about market readiness. Now, market is ready with demand, the industry is ready with content, the technology is ready with drivers and we'll be ready in August. We now have the Blu-ray compatibility, the AlterSpace, the collaboration agreements with key companies and nothing will stop us now, we'll provide the next logical step to personal immersive stereoscopic 3D HD visualization.

I want to formally and publicly apologize with all our enthusiasts for the delay on delivering the production unit to the market. We have faced very interesting challenges regarding development on both, business and technology. It was our main intention to have the high volume production units ready before and thus reaching the price reduction before and the 3D ecosystem was not ready so we had to wait. There were no blogs talking about TDVision a year ago, now people all over the world is buying our products. We will keep the channel of communication open to the public, and we'll keep you posted. We want to propel the adoption of 3D, what we have always promote as the next logical step. Now is the time to accelerate and we won't let all our customers and enthusiasts down, we'll provide you with the best immersive 3D HD experience ever at the best price, it's our mission.

Sincerely,

Manuel R. Gutierrez Novelo CEO and Founder of TDVision

[SuperDre]

Well, I'm definitly looking forward to the $500 TDVisor by end of august, but just to comment on what I was refering too in my earlier statement about having doubts about TDVision.. Last CES 2007 (januari 2007) they claimed 720p Visors by march/april 2007 for around $500, 720p means 1280x720 displays not 800x600, so about more than 1.5 years after the intended release of a 1280x720 visor there will 'only' be a 800x600 visor.. (see interview http://video.i4u.com/ces.php?url=ces/In ... TO.wmv&p=1) that's just the explanation I based my 'doubts' on..

BUT I want to thank Manuel of TDVisor for his very honest and open answer and I do hope the TDVisor will be a great succes for him and his company.
with headtracking it would certainly be a great gaming/virtual reality visor...

good luck..

[LukePC1]

Thanks for the information.
If I got it right, the HD version will remain a little more expencive (prototype costs) but the SD version will be around 500$ soon. I think that's a fair price.

Unfortunatly things from US are highly expencive (shipping and vat) to us europeans. Is it possible to have a 'shop' in Europe, to reduce costs? I think that would make it even more affordabel

[android78]

Thankyou to Manuel and Ethan for the update. WOW!!! I should have been more direct in asking the questions sooner.
That gives me much hope, almost to the state of excitement... Aug 2008... that'd be 2 months, don't know I can wait that long ... although, if the HD unit will be out by end-of year, that's just dangling the carrot for me to wait a little longer to see what users feel about these and what they will retail for. Will this be still the prototype of HD by year end though? Guess I'll wait and see how impatient I feel when the 800*600 unit comes out. I also hope these come in tidy, not too over-sized packaging to keep the shipping costs to Australia down.
What you say with regards to the current unit does make sense given the cost of molding the plastic components individually and having to assemble them by hand.
I think that, if the 800*600 units can be sold for close to $500 USD, even without inbuilt head tracking (which would be nice) these should be a success. I think i stated before my appreciation of things like the adjustable inter-ocular distance, which I feel is something important after I tried looking through a viewmaster as an adult. lol

[TeraBit]

August for $500 ish SD-Visor is very tempting.

I agree that having a Euro reseller for the TDVisor would be an advantage!

It's also shocking to hear of the costs involved in just the plastics

I suppose if the TDVisor-SD goes down in cost due to economies in scale, then some of that will bleed through into the HD (shares most of the same plastic casing I'm assuming).

With Pixar and others aming for 3D releases of Films in the near future, things are definately looking up for 3D, and I hope that TDVison is going to get their fair share of the pie 8)

[genetic]

1) The SD 800x600 will enter mass production by Aug 2008, reducing the cost near to $500usd.

Hi Ethan, Does this mean that a head tracking solution has been developed? I really don’t see how this product would do well in the gamer market without one. Even if no head tracker is advertized, most buyers would have just assumed that it was included and then be very disappointed with its absence.

It is true that most professional HMD don’t include head tracking and it is up to the user to add a motion tracker such as flockofbirds for often thousands of dollars but that really isn’t a solution for the rest of us.

Trackir pro 4 is a great tracker but you would not have 360 degree turning unless you attached the sensor to the ceiling and I don’t really know how well that would work. The other solution is Carl’s awesome glovepie with a sony PS3 sixaxis controller (Wiimote has no Yaw) but unfortunately it must be wired when used on a PC and as any HMD geek can tell you, more wires, more problems.

I think that an HMD without tracking is like a car without wheels. You have said before that you didn’t like the gyro + compass method used in the Z800 but I will tell you right now that of all the problems associated with a VR setup, the gyro + compass head tracking has been amongst the least of them.

But then again, Im a bit of a nut. Maybe most gamers wont even want to stand and turn when playing. I on the other hand use four wiimotes smashed onto my body so that I can walk (in place) jump, duck and dodge without pressing a single button. I for one require a head tracking solution.
I will buy the HD with 48 degree FOV (or more) the day tracking is available.

P.S. You already have my money.

[cybereality]

I think that an HMD without tracking is like a car without wheels. You have said before that you didn’t like the gyro + compass method used in the Z800 but I will tell you right now that of all the problems associated with a VR setup, the gyro + compass head tracking has been amongst the least of them.

I'd have to disagree there. I would much rather TDV offer an affordable solution without headtracking and maybe have a high-quality add-on module that you can buy seperately. Although it would be nice to have it built-in, I'm not sure how they would do that for under $500. I've got the VR920 and it uses a similar setup like the Z800 you mentioned. It is usable on some titles, but it could be a lot better. Specifically the yaw is just jittery. The other two axis are totally fine (pitch/roll), its just that a compass wasn't meant for gaming. If TDVision could produce an accurate headtracker then surely that would increase the cost. Although if they did I might be willing to spend a little more on the "pro" model, provided it came in black.

[genetic]

I will just quote Carl here because I have never tried the VR920

The Z800 uses gyros BUT it also uses a compas.

The VR920 went the cheaper option and ditched the expensive gyros entirely, and only uses the compas.

For pitch and roll they both use accelerometers.

I play Virtual Reality standing up (with a Wii Remote and Nunchuk), so I wouldn't really mind that drift. Although for my VR920 it is impossible to drift. Also for most games I'm just emulating the mouse, which introduces its own drift.

If people want a head tracker, they can try sticking a Sony SIXAXIS on their head. It has a significant amount of drift, but it is reasonably smooth.

Tracking on the z800 is very much good enough

[crim3]

Emagin got my proposal, and refused to take my calls or discuss this further.

Yes, that's emagin, deaf as a wall.

Just to avoid a possible mistake: in my lasts posts in this thread I was talking about what market and technology allows nowadays regarding HMD evolution in the future with some sarcasm and joke to deal with the sadness of seeing that I'm getting more and more old and something that a wanted when I was a child, 2 decades ago, still doesn't exist. Nothing about tdvision. Threads touch a lot of topics very quickly, you know.

I like very much to see companies like tdvision and iz3d around here talking with us like normal persons.

[cybereality]

I like very much to see companies like tdvision and iz3d around here talking with us like normal persons.

Yeah, its really nice to see things changing a bit. I think TDV and IZ3D are doing a great job and I'd love to see more sponsors active in the community. Such a simple concept that you make more money when you actually listen to your customers. But if you want to talk about interacting with the community, check out Novint (makers of the Falcon haptics controller). The actual CEO of the company literally replies to every single post or question on their forums personally! He's even got a blog and everything!

[pierreye]

I don't mind spending USD 1000 on a HD version with 1280x768 resolution. Prototype is fine as long as TDVision is willing to upgrade or trade it with the commercial version when finalize so that those early adopter or beta user do get the final version when it's officially launch. I believe there are some users that are willing to spend if the support is guaranteed.

[TeraBit]

I'm looking forward to August, when the TDVisor-SD is planned to go into production and go down in price. Once this happens I will be looking to see if any of the economies of scale bleed through into the TDVisor-HD.

If HD comes down to around $700 as opposed to the SD's projected ~$500, then I'll get the HD (even as a Prototype, as long as it works.) as soon as it's available.

If it looks as if the HD will stay >$1000 for a while then I will likely have to wait until sometime next year to get it.

[koshien]

Italy wants it too.
I vote for a shop in Europe! It' s a change we can believe in

[Denaris]

Hi Folks,

I too am waiting for the HD version. I would have purchased the Vuzix VR920 long ago but 640x480 is just too low of resolution. With the 720p we'll finally have an HMD that could be reasonably used for gaming. I have so many questions about this product but I will wait until someone actually gets their hands on one and can give us some first impressions.

I share concerns about the head tracker, but I suppose I would rather settle for the TrackIR separate purchase than delaying the HMD any more. I think the first company to get a hi-resolution product that works with current 3D drivers--and can offer a reasonable price tag--will win over the gaming community.

[SuperDre]

I would have purchased the Vuzix VR920 long ago but 640x480 is just too low of resolution. With the 720p we'll finally have an HMD that could be reasonably used for gaming.

It's clear you never seen anything in action on the VR920 in 640x480, otherwise you wouldn't have said what you said... Suprisingly 640x480 is very good for gaming on the VR920, I also had some doubts about the resolution, until I saw the bugger in action... and I must say playing Crysis or Call of duty 4 (in 1024x768 downscaled to 640x480 by the VR920) is absolutely great.. ofcourse it will be even better with higher resolutions, but dismissing the vr920 just because you think 640x480 isn't good enough is a dumb thing to do... especially for the very low price it is..
talking about 720p as 'reasonable' for gaming is really just someone who IMHO doesn't know anything about VR and gaming...

[TeraBit]

It's clear you never seen anything in action on the VR920 in 640x480, otherwise you wouldn't have said what you said...

After having done quite a bit of research, I found that oppinions on this vary from person to person, even on those who have used the VR920 quite extensively. Some say the two screens give more detail than one at 640x480, others say it feels a restricted.

I also tend to think that a wide aspect 720p resolution is a good fit for games as well as a good fit for movies. So it's not dumb, but rather a matter of preference. I agree though that it's always good to have a go before you dismiss something though

[Denaris]

I must say playing Crysis or Call of duty 4 (in 1024x768 downscaled to 640x480 by the VR920) is absolutely great.

Ah, perhaps I misspoke. It really depends on the kind of games you play. For first person shooters, I actually prefer lower resolutions for better frame rates and the blurry, chunky effect that reminds me of old TVs. However, I tend to play strategy and role-playing games that require the player to read text... and down-scaled text is really hard to read.

Just out of curiosity, is the head tracking on the VR920 any good?

[Tril]

I would have purchased the Vuzix VR920 long ago but 640x480 is just too low of resolution. With the 720p we'll finally have an HMD that could be reasonably used for gaming.

It's clear you never seen anything in action on the VR920 in 640x480, otherwise you wouldn't have said what you said... Suprisingly 640x480 is very good for gaming on the VR920, I also had some doubts about the resolution, until I saw the bugger in action... and I must say playing Crysis or Call of duty 4 (in 1024x768 downscaled to 640x480 by the VR920) is absolutely great.. ofcourse it will be even better with higher resolutions, but dismissing the vr920 just because you think 640x480 isn't good enough is a dumb thing to do... especially for the very low price it is..
talking about 720p as 'reasonable' for gaming is really just someone who IMHO doesn't know anything about VR and gaming...

Please stay polite. There's no reason to be offensive.

You can't deny that 720p looks better than 640x480. You said it yourself. Even downscaled from a higher resolution, 640x480 is still 640x480. I would only recommend the VR920 to someone that wants to get a taste of using a HMD and that's not too picky about using low resolution. The VR920 is probably only the beginning. One day (6 months, 5 years, never, who knows when it might happen), Vuzix might release a higher resolution HMD.

I've got a Wii. It's a sweet toy but the low resolution is limiting his enjoyability. It would be even better if it were higher resolution. I tried the Wii set to 480p on a 720p projector. I could set the projector to not scale the picture and only use the pixels necessary for 640x480. This gave a picture of about 40" diagonal. It was not enjoyable, the picture resolution was too low resolution (I have to say that I'm used to 720p on the Xbox 360).

I've got a VR920. It's really nice but the low resolution is very noticeable. You can get good results by scaling from 800x600 or 1024x768 to 640x480 but it can't replace real resolution. Also, the picture quality is good but not the best (probably because of the LCD technology on such small screens). I completed Crysis on my CRT monitor (hp p1230). It's not the best monitor but to me, it feels superior to the VR920 (because of the colors and resolution). I tried to play the game again with the VR920 and I could not quite enjoy it because I could tell the resolution was lower than what I was used to and the range of colors displayed was not quite as good. Also, you can't see the laser sight on enemies very well at a low resolution.

I have a 720p projector connected to an Xbox 360 so I'm used to seeing what 720p gaming looks on a big screen. It looks definitely higher resolution than what the VR920 can offer but off course it's not in the same price range.

Support for 720p resolution is also interesting for watching HD movies. This area is gaining in popularity, in few years more people will have blu-ray players in their homes and they will want display devices that can display their movies in full resolution.

When I got my VR920, I thought I could use it to watch videos while lying on my bed (I'm a bit lazy ). It could work but sometimes I watch subtitled videos because they are in languages I don't understand. The resolution of the VR920 is a bit too low to watch subtitled videos.

I finally built a passive projection system this weekend with two DLP projectors, two polarizers, a polarization preserving screen and a shelf with adjustable tilt. The two projectors are not of the same model but I did a quick test with jps screenshots and it works quite well once aligned. I haven't tried games as I need to get a wireless keyboard, a wireless mouse and a table for the couch but I'm sure it will look better than on the VR920 (totally not on the same price range so that's normal).

Now, would the TDVisor HD give a picture quality equal or better than my two projectors? Probably. I've seen the picture quality on the SD model and it's very good. It can only be equal or better on the HD model.

[Tril]

I must say playing Crysis or Call of duty 4 (in 1024x768 downscaled to 640x480 by the VR920) is absolutely great.

Ah, perhaps I misspoke. It really depends on the kind of games you play. For first person shooters, I actually prefer lower resolutions for better frame rates and the blurry, chunky effect that reminds me of old TVs. However, I tend to play strategy and role-playing games that require the player to read text... and down-scaled text is really hard to read.

Just out of curiosity, is the head tracking on the VR920 any good?

I think it depends on which VR920 owner you ask the question. Some of them have better luck than others with the usability of the headtracking.

I have a VR920. To answer your question, no or I got a defective unit. It seemed to work a bit for the first day then after that it became unusable. I don't know what changed. The yaw uses the magnetic of the earth and it works very badly. On my unit, the yaw jumps suddenly and badly at some specific angles and it does not track very fluidly. The other two axis use accelerometer and they sense the gravity so they work much better.