Meant to be Seen

I'm considering the IZ3d monitor, but may hold out for the TDVisor 720p. However, I've looked all over the place and can't find a single review on these visors from anyone - only a few mentions here and there of 10 second previews at trade shows. They look very intriguing but I need to hear from actual consumers about them before I make any kind of buy commitment. Has anyone used these units at home and how do they peform/build quality etc.??

Thanks,

George

Yeah and maybe a comparision to other HMD's would be nice (Z800, iGlasses or icuiti's VR920).
I know that the ones mentioned above are all older (&cheaper), so the TDVisor should do well

Umm....anyone?

I bought one 800x600 prototype unit, received it today and tried it out this evening. I'll give some comments on the unit I got but this may not reflect the quality you'll get if you wait a few months and buy an improved version. The model I received uses HD15 connectors and not DVI connectors. This is the first HMD I ever tried.

The picture quality from the displays is excellent and the displays are very bright. I looked at many jps screenshots from games and a few S-3D videos filmed with S-3D cameras. It looked very nice. I did not try any games. I have a 8600 GT and the Nvidia stereo drivers don't work with it (last time I tried, my computer locked up).

The eyes distance adjustment worked well.

Unfortunately, because of the optics, it is a bit blurry in the corners. I tried to adjust the lenses but I could not completely eliminate the blurry spots. It also looks like the lenses diameter might be a bit too small or they are not close enough to the eyes because the corners of the displays get cutted a bit. There's enough room to wear glasses if required. I usually wear glasses (can't see well from far away) but it was more confortable not to wear them with the TDVisor.

I'm personally very sensitive to flicker and unfortunately the TDVisor produces some visible flicker. It was flickering badly when using a refresh rate of 60 Hz but it got almost flicker free when using 85 Hz. It's not completely flicker free but it's very close.

For now, there's no connectors on the box to connect monitors at the same time as the TDVisor. I would have liked to connect my two crt monitors at the same tima as the TDVisor. It's impratical to use windows in 2D when you use dual view because you have to close one eye at a time to move around in Windows and see what you are doing.

After trying 800x600, my opinion is that it's not enough. I don't like using Windows in such a low resolution. There's too many programs in my start menu and I can' t see them all, it's impractical to browse internet and lots of Windows programs have interface that work better at higher resolutions. The perceived FOV is smaller than I expected. In 2D, it looked like a 21" monitor at 1 m. However, when using them for S-3D, it looks very nice because the depth goes up to infinity. It feels like looking at the world through a large diameter pipe that has a short length. After a while you don't see it anymore and all you see if the world in front of you. A bit like you don't see the cockpit of you car when you're driving in real life if you're concentrating on the road.

I would recommend to wait for the HD version of the HMD. Mainly because of the higher resolution. That reaolution is a 16:9 aspect ratio so you will get a larger display and a larger FOV. Since it's a newer model, it will probably improve on the weaknesses of the 800x600 model and be a very good product.

I have a warning to those that buy a prototype 800x600 TDVisor. Don't unscrew the lenses and stick your finger in the HMD. There's an almost totally invisible plastic sheet placed at 45 degrees inside that's very easy to get dirty and absolutely impossible to clean. I touched it by mistake in one eye and got it dirty and was not able to clean it. There's some kind of sticky coating on it and you'll just make it worse if you try to clean it.

Unfortunately, I don't like the 800x600 TDVisor enough to keep it. I decided to return it for a refund but I'm glad I tried it. Maybe I'll buy the HD version when it's out.

If you want a second opinion, something tells me Neil might have one.

Very informative review Tril, thanks! I really appreciate all the info you provided. A couple questions for you - what type of refresh rates does the visor support up to? You mentioned bumping it up to 85 hz so I assume that is the top refresh rate on the model you got? I guess my main concerns with visor would be the limited FOV you describe - I wonder if the 720p model FOV will be increased enough? Guess I'll continue waiting for the new model to come out and hear what other people say about it! Not sure I want to spend the $ on being an early adopter...

I'm not sure 85 Hz is the maximum vertical refresh rate. I need someone from TDVision to confirm this. I tried 60 Hz, 75 Hz, 85 Hz, 100 Hz and 120 Hz.

60 Hz, 75 Hz, 85 Hz : Worked.
100 Hz : worked but there seemed to be some visible distorsion so this did not seem to be a supported refresh rate.
120 Hz : did not work.

The reason for the slight blurriness in the corners and my inability to see the displays completely might be because my eyes were located after the relief distance. Basically, the optics were too far away from my eyes. The glasses are molded in plastic and they sit on your forehead and nose. I guess the shape of the mold does not perflectly suit my head shape.

better than e-margin z800
clearer picture (no fog), easier on the eye,
nice telephone and email support.

I am confused about the refresh rate causing problems. In theory, 60hz should be flicker free since you have two seperate screens that you are viewing with each eye seperately. Shouldn't the visor be fed 2 completely seperate VGA feeds from two ports on the graphics card?

the instructions state 85Hz refresh
extract from user manual:
You must set up both monitors to be running at 800x600, 85hz for the
TDVisor. The software we are sending works in horizontal span mode with
nVidia stereo support disabled.

hope that helps.

do they have their own stereo driver or do you have to use nvidia?

they do not have there own drivers and would rely on nvidia to view stereo
in games.
the suppied software gives some functionality with the 800 series.

We are working in our R&D labs on hardware based driver solutions from multiple graphics card manufacturers. We also are evaluating certain software driver solutions. Either way we won't leave you guys hanging.