VR - Page 19

Panasonic has unveiled a new VR headset prototype during a private demonstration in Japan. The device, which is similar to Oculus' VR headset uses a large AMOLED display that realizes large field of view (viewing angle of 90-degrees) and a fast refresh rate of up to 75 fps.

Panasonic says that the prototype, unlike Oculus Rift's product, can be hooked on the ears like regular glasses (Oculus' headset uses a strap). The company did not disclose any information regarding the commercialization of the new headset.

Samsung announced today that the Gear VR (Innovator Edition) will arrive in the US next month. The Gear VR will cost $199 ($249 bundled with a Bluetooth gamepad). Of course you will also need a Galaxy Note 4 (with its 5.7" QHD Super AMOLED) to use this VR HMD.

Samsung's Gear VR is a Virtual Reality Headset (developed together with Oculus VR) that uses a Galaxy Note 4 for the screen, processor, sensors and audio.

OLED Microdisplay maker eMagin announced that it is developing a new VR head mounted display (HMD) that use the company's latest high resolution (2K by 2K) OLED microdisplays and patented optics. These two technologies will enable eMagin's HMD to be significantly smaller, lighter and higher in resolution than competing HMDs (such as the Oculus Rift one) that are based on cellphone-sized OLEDs.

eMagin seems to be very excited by the new HMD, which they currently term Immersive HMD, or IHMD (the company will conduct a contest to name the IHMD for the product launch) - saying that their non-traditional approach will achieve a "radically improved and unique form factor".

Oculus VR recently unveiled their 3rd-Gen VR HMD development kit, codenamed Crescent Bay. Oculus would not reveal any details regarding the display panel used, but they did confirm it is a new OLED display.

Oculus adopted a low-persistence AMOLED display for their 2nd-Gen VR HMD - and it was later discovered that it is the same Super AMOLED display used in the Galaxy Note 3 (complete with the touch layer and all).

In March 2014, Vrvana (TRG back then) announced the Totem Virtual-Reality headset - a competitor to Oculus Rift's OLED-based HMD. After months in development, Vrvana launched a kickstarter campaign to raise $350,000. As of the time of writing, they raised almost $100,000 - with 28 days to go so this looks like a promising project.

The headset includes a Full-HD RGB-Stripe AMOLED display, HDMI input and 11 sensors (including 2 cameras and 3 gyros). It supports the Unreal, Unity, Havok and CryEngine engines, and can be used with a PC, A PS3/PS4 and Xbox One & 360. An early-bird edition via Kickstarter costs around $400.

Last month Oculus started to ship their second-gen (DK2) development kits - for over 40,000 pre-order customers. Those Gen-2 devices switched the 7" LCD used in the first-generation headsets to newer AMOLED panels. Back when they unveiled the DK2, Oculus explained that they wanted a low persistence display, as it makes an incredible difference. Oculus said that their OLED runs much faster than any other OLED panel on the market.

It was always assumed the panel maker was SDC (they even announced a co-development effort later on), but the actual display was unknown. Today iFixit posted a teardown of the DK2, and it turns out that the display is the same 5.7" FHD Super AMOLED panel used in the Galaxy Note 3 (you can see it in the lower-left part of the image above). In fact, Oculus uses the exact module, with the touch-controller in tact and the camera holes and all.

In March 2013 Oculus started accepting pre-orders for the second-gen development kit (the DK2) - which adopts a new low-persistence OLED. A couple of days ago, Oculus said they are starting to ship the first batch $350 kits. In the first stage they will ship 10,000 units ouf of the 45,000 pre-orders they got (the rest will have to wait a bit, probably till August).

Oculus changed their design from an LCD to an OLED because they really want a low persistence display. They say that "it’s incredible the difference low persistence makes... It’s mind-blowing". The OLED display runs at a high refresh rate - it switches in well under a millisecond. This is the fastest OLED on the market, supplied by Samsung.

Last week Engadget reported that samsung is developing a new virtual reality headset, which will be similar to Oculus VR's headset - and will also sport an AMOLED display. Today Engadget reports that Samsung's headset is actually developed in collaboration with Oculus VR.

In this collaboration Oculus provides the software while Samsung provides the hardware. As part of the collaboration, Samsung gives Oculus early-access to its next-gen high-resolution (larger than Full-HD) OLED displays.

Engadget reports that samsung is developing a new virtual reality headset. Samsung's headset (which will be similar to Oculus Rift's headset, seen below) will sport an AMOLED display, and will only work paired with a next-gen Galaxy phone (probably the Note 4) and tablet (hopefully the upcoming AMOLED ones).

Engadget doesn't have a lot of information - but according to them the OLED display will as good or better as the one used by Oculus. This isn't surprising as it was always likely that Oculus are using SDC's panels. In any case, Samsung is set to beat Oculus (and other players such as Sony) to the market and release this headset by the end of 2014.

Sony's third-gen HMD, the HMZ-T3W is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com for $999, and Sony will ship the first units in November. The T3W includes the new wireless functionality and it features HD audio (virtualized 7.1-channel), micro-HDMI and MHL connectivity and better lens and software that improve the image quality over the previous-gen HMZ-T2. The T3W uses two Sony-made 0.7" 1280x720 OLED microdisplays.