HMD prices

[Feuerfalke]

That's true - LOL.

If you don't see your wife/girlfriend closing in on your six, you'll be ejected from your virtual cockpit a lot faster and violent than getting a direct hit from an 8.8!

[nearmiss]

Interesting stuff

Looks like virtual reality may come to consumers soon.

Being able to see buttons and keyboard = not an issue

all you need is a voice command software with ability to program macros.

Just like in a cockpit with a co-pilot verbal instructions should work well.

It might be a departure from reality,but it would work as well with pilot only.

The video looked very shaky, so I'm thinking that may just be frame rate problem with the video.

800 x 600 is pretty lame at this point since you can't render best graphics, but it is a start.

I don't get too excited over anything that applies to games anymore. LOL

There have been so many schmaltzy products and stuff pushed at us.

[HenFre]

K_Freddie:

My biggest concern is also the resolution of the unit. I have seen a great deal of reviews on different products and all of the users have said, that these HMD's was useless in fligtsims because of the low resolution. The low resolution caused the player to not being able to read gauges or find the enemy planes, which is escential in these types of games.

I have never tried to use an actual HMD, so I have no idear if the resolution of 800x600 is enough for me to satisfied with the graphics.
So I just have a question: If I wanted to test how it looked, can I set my own display to 800x600 and then align it to one of my eyes. Distance my head from the display, so that it fills 30 degress in my field of vision and thats how it would look??

Would it not be better to use a display with say 1280x1024 straight away? Or are these dispays simply to expensive at this point in time. I have seen several units using this resolution and they have been produced since 2003, but still cost the same as they did when they where first revealed: 24.000 $

[K_Freddie]

Yeah! I was horrified at those prices too, and the cheap ones fudge the resolution numbers.
I'd say 800x600 is the bare minimum res, and if I can get the LCD manufacturer to sell them cheaper, using the 'upgradibility thing' for the HMD as motivation. all the better.

I'm thinking along the lines of what I'd want from a HMD...
- Decent real resolution, I'll start at 800x600 as this is a mixture of min res and costs. Greater resolutions would be great and might be used from the start, but I'd want to get things going first.
- LCD upgradibility by just replacing the panel. I don't want to buy a whole new HMD.
- I'd like to be able to use it either with an existing graphics card (or two), making it flexible for use in either normal or 3D visualisation. OR for extra POWER to be used with a 'black box' that consists of number crunching cpu modules.
- As the higher res screens become available, the CPU module prices should decrease in 'real terms', so scaling up costs can be minimised.
- Like IL2 I'd like to be able to use this product for at least 5 years, although most electronic devices are only guaranteed for 1-2 years. Looking after it makes it last a lot longer.

[HenFre]

Your plan sounds great. I would buy it Just do not ask 24.000 $ for it

You wrote earlier that you could not find any mention of the Vuzix VR1440, which I found on their website:

http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/products_wrap920av.html

Take a look under the Features tab and open the Product Sheet, which is a pdf file, that contains information about the VR1440.

Do you have an explanation for the titel VR1440?? Does the 1440 stand for anything about the resolution?

[K_Freddie]

That really looks nice... but judging from their other products the number doesn't have any relevance to the resolution. Also take notice of a few things here..

The name of the PDF file is 'Vuzix_Wrap_920AV_Brochure.pdf'. AV usually stands for Audio-Video, and I summise that it's probably HDTV format compatible res of 720x572 upwards, but not higher than 800x600 Real res.

Another give-away here is .. from their website.

PCs & Laptops with S-Video

S-Video is an analogue interface and inferior (resolution wise) to the digital I/Fs of todays graphics cards.

This tells me that the product is more geared for the Audio/Visual market where lower resolutions are more acceptable.
edt: A bit of sarcy here - Why would I watch TV through a pair of 'sunglasses' ? Then again I don't suffer from 'gadget-mania'

One thing that one must consider when looking for high-res, and good picture quality lcds, is that the LCD must have a digital interface (analogue I/Fs are generally not good enough). This makes this type of HMD a bit more bulkier than Vusixs glasses, but I think the trade-off will be worth it.