Well that's cool, but I think what VR needs more is to become lighter, cheaper, and more convenient. Pixel density is icing on the cake.
Earlier this year, Clay Bavor, VP of VR/AR at Google, revealed a “secret project” to develop a VR-optimised OLED panel capable of 20 megapixels per eye. The project was mentioned during SID Display Week 2017 but has gone largely under the radar as little information has surfaced since....“We’ve partnered deeply with one of the leading OLED manufacturers in the world to create a VR-capable OLED display with 10x more pixels than any commercially available VR display today,” Bavor said. At 20 megapixels per eye, this is beyond Michael Abrash’s prediction of 4Kx4K per eye displays by the year 2021. “I’ve seen these in the lab, and it’s spectacular. It’s not even what we’re going to need in the ‘final display’” he said, referring to the sort of pixel density needed to match the limits of human vision, “but it’s a very large step in the right direction.”
https://www.roadtovr.com/google-developing-vr-display-10x-pixels-todays-headsets/
For a while now I've been saying the same thing. Pixel density is easy. It's also the least-useful fix.
ReplyDeleteYes, high density screens in headsets are going to look amazing. But that requires a significant amount more graphics processing power on the backend and that's a pretty hefty hurdle to widespread adoption - even if these 20Mpx devices take a couple of years to come to market.
Totally agree with you that lighter, cheaper and wireless is the thing VR needs at the moment. The second-gen Oculus headset is cheaper, but it's not quite cheap enough. My prediction is that third gen hardware is wireless, fourth is cheap and wireless and that's the breakthrough device, I think. That's the sub-£100 headset you buy your parents for christmas so they can tour Naples from their armchairs.
I am convinced it's going to become mainstream though. A couple of headsets in every house, that kind of thing. But higher density screens aren't going to tip that particular set of scales.