When I tested the prototype - looking round the virtual cockpit of a passenger plane - the level of detail in the small central area of vision was certainly impressive - as close to the real thing as I've come across. Image quality outside this area, simulating standard VR headsets, was noticeably fuzzier.
Founder and chief executive Urho Konttori says the firm has managed to achieve this by mimicking how the eye sees. "The human eye only focuses on a thumbnail-sized area of vision - the brain fills in the rest," he says. "Our peripheral vision is less detailed, at a much lower resolution." So Varjo's headset provides very high definition images only of the objects our eyes are focusing on at any particular moment, the rest of the scene is at lower resolution. It uses eye-tracking technology to tell which parts of the image it needs to render in high definition.
Another obvious drawback with VR is the inconvenience of having to put on a clunky headset that can become uncomfortable after prolonged use. VR headset makers are beginning to address all these issues. For example, HTC is releasing its Vive Pro headset in April, which features a much higher-resolution screen, high-performance headphones with noise cancellation facility, and a more comfortable strap. It will cost £799. Users will also be able to unplug the headset from the computer and move freely thanks to a wireless dongle accessory.
Pimax has even produced a headset with ultra high-definition 8K image resolution and a 200 degree field of view (humans can see 220 degrees without having to move our heads).Cheaper headsets - think Samsung's Gear - use your smartphone as the screen, but new products such as Facebook's Oculus Go and Lenovo's Mirage Solo will "eliminate the need for a phone or PC altogether," says Mr Mainelli. "These products will drive a much different experience and will ship in notable volumes this year."
I dunno, I would have thought the better solution would be to have a fancy PC doing the bulk of the processing with the headset itself providing only the realtime sensors and a display. Keep the heavy stuff off the user's head. People who want a VR headset are going to tend to be the kind who have a beefy PC anyway (or so I'd guess, but then, people are weird and confusing things).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42963408
The primary problem with keeping a computer away from the headset is the high bandwidth that rendered high-resolution video signal requires. There's only so much unlicensed frequency space.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Perhaps li-fi could help.
ReplyDelete