Snow Crash.

Posted at 12:21 am on Jun 8th, 2008 by alex

oh, please…

Posted at 12:30 am on Jun 8th, 2008 by visionetiks

I wonder if 640*480 is the biggest they can go from a focal aspect.. like could you see somethign smalelr then 640*480 and im sure it cant be good for your eyes focusing that close. But stillw ant one :P

Posted at 1:06 am on Jun 8th, 2008 by eraser

eraser: the point is they are supposed to use optics to make it appear that you are focusing on something that’s in the distance, so in theory it’s not like you are focusing on something close at all. and you can definately see higher resolution than 640×480, otherwise why would monitors have higher res, when they are much further away from your face than the goggles?

Posted at 2:29 am on Jun 8th, 2008 by David R

crap that’s sweet! i want to see a HUD written for that. one that looks like half life and has a cross hair on it and a button so i can shoot people…. and the time and temp….

Posted at 2:32 am on Jun 8th, 2008 by Freshnessninja

What about the new apple patent for HMDs, It definitely has applications for increasing the resolution above what the LCOS panels in standard HMD’s. I have a pair of iGlasses HRV and they are definitely not immersive in any way, I’ll wait and see what Apple have up their sleeve.

Posted at 3:34 am on Jun 8th, 2008 by VTX

What about

http://www.headplay.com/

At least the native res is 800×600, so 640×480 is not “best in class” ;-) On the other hand, Headplay looks quite ugly compared to the other two products…

Posted at 5:51 am on Jun 8th, 2008 by sMiLe

The Zeiss Cinemizer comes in black, which looks a LOT better than the white IMO.

Posted at 6:49 am on Jun 8th, 2008 by gm

that headplay webpage sucks monkey balls
thers all PR and hype but no actual info
very suspicious, almost makes you think they lie when they say its 800×600 native because thers something about “rescalling” line above the resolution info.

Posted at 8:46 am on Jun 8th, 2008 by rasz

Got good news for all you HUD fans. BTW, I’m not affiliated with these guys.

See KOPIN Corp. Website-

http://www.kopin.com/commercial-display-products/

Yes, super high rez display units exist, 1280×1024 is the max so far (3000$, 800×600 is around 400$). Kopin’s the actual supplier for almost every one of these type of HMD’s display units, as well as most camcorders etc. on the planet, I belive. If you go right to the source, you can BUY either single displays, or as pairs in full depthing modules like you see here. Unlike most parts manufacturers, they actually put all their prices on their site in the open.

Unless you got a SERIOUS budget, you can’t afford the 1200+ version yet since those prices are what the industry buys them at, even their bulk prices are listed. The tech to make them is still, apparently, expensive as hell, so that’s why they haven’t shown up in stuff like this yet. Plus, Ipod junkies already give a shit about sound quality, I’m sure that’s another reason these don’t go too high rez- the customer doesn’t care about quality when they deal with an Ipod perhephrial.

So, if you have about 400$, or even a bit less, you can BUY these really nice 800×400 displays straight from them (le, totally hackable into ANYTHING you can imagine. If you want an immersion display like these, get one of their dual module lens units.

I’ve been into HUDs for years, KOPIN is the best there is, and they give you their prices. Check them out! Maybe noone here knew them… And now, HUD hacks are going to supernova!

Enjoy their site.

Posted at 10:11 am on Jun 8th, 2008 by Joe

“It has composite input so you can hook almost anything up to it.”

Uhh many of your readers can hook anything up to anything I don’t see why that comment is relevant :P

Posted at 11:17 am on Jun 8th, 2008 by Edward Nardella

thanks Joe
apparently Myvu Crystal is based on their modules
http://www.kopin.com/commercial-picture-gallery/

they list it in the low volume ( i assume its one uinit too) as
VGA $240 KCD-VDCF-BA Framed
just dont know what they mean by “Framed”? does this mean you get the whole thing just without the Myvu Crystal printed on the side? or the bare guts?

Posted at 11:18 am on Jun 8th, 2008 by rasz

The module versions are 2 displays mounted to an optics block/unit, all self contained, basically the working guts of the myvu and other such units. Think of it as the hacker’s delight- I believe they are ready to plug and play, you can make your own custom mount for it (ie: : fit it to the inside of a mask, cover it with shapelock and make a custom molded frame to mount to your head that looks less “jordie” like, etc.)

Framed versus frameless- the framed versions have a plastic bezel around them to protect the edges and fill space to mount to camcorders/consumer gadets better, the frameless versions are the barebones glass-ended displays with no protection bezel- as big as the display itself is what you get on a ribbon cable.

Basically, yeah, the same 640×480 module unit is used in both of these HMDs in the review, and you can buy it for 240$ bare from Kopin, and make your own frame from stratch, via shapelock molding, lost wax casting, etc. Save money, and get the smallest possible form factor for hacking it into another device!

Hope that helps.

Posted at 12:19 pm on Jun 8th, 2008 by Joe

Edit- the MODULE version as used in these is 400$, the singular displays only without the optics are 240$ each. My bad. So, it’s up to you- you can pay as much as the more expensive ziess, but get the smallest form factor out of the box. It looks as though there are volume discounts, or these 2 HMD makers wouldn’t make any profit…

If you want just a single HUD, the Kopin site is the best way to buy single displays of any rez. Otherwise, canabalize! (my motto).

Posted at 12:24 pm on Jun 8th, 2008 by Joe

anybody interested in this kind of thing should take a look at http://eyetap.org/. They’ve been doing some serisouly cool things with wearable displays for many years now.

Posted at 12:51 pm on Jun 8th, 2008 by giskard

myvu units aren’t just contained modules, they have custom, smaller very specialized (plastic) optics than those standard modules. I doubt the standard Kopin dual display would fit inside of the myvu frame.

It’s like the HMD monocles from the Spygear line, 320×240 B&W kopin, but they went the other way, with cheaper and bulkier (I suspect) optics instead.

ANother SVGA model is this: http://www.3dvisor.com/

I forgot about headplay, technology looks interesting. It appears that they may actually be running a “true” 800×600 display instead of (800×600)/3 of a typical color masked LCD. It looks to use a projector type technology(LCOS), as it has 120Hz framerate, but 360 color fields per second, so each color gets its own full field. Should be OK if they’re using RGB LEDs like they should be (although hilarious if they had a spinning color wheel in there!). This also explains why you MUST use their external box, it needs very special drivers. They just had spare horses so they provided a mini media player inside. Hmmm… technically, this technology should scale linearly with DLP projector prices and color capability.

For daily use, however, I believe you either need a translucent display (Heads up Display) or a sidelook display (Heads Down Display). If you can’t operate with the HMD on, what’s the point? The myvu comes close, and will probably cause the least nausea. They focused on making the framework around the display translucent so you don’t get as disoriented as normal HMDs. A lightweight sidelooker for the non-eyeglass crowd is the eyetop.

http://www.tekgear.com/index.cfm?pageID=90&prodid=247&section=83&nodelist=1,83&function=viewproducts

Posted at 1:07 pm on Jun 8th, 2008 by SOI Sentinel

thanks for the info Joe, so I guess you also have to buy the controller (another $90)
that makes the Myvu Crystal the best deal so far

Posted at 1:20 pm on Jun 8th, 2008 by rasz

let’s not forget about this great hack:

http://www.hackaday.com/2007/10/07/25-head-mounted-display/

sadly, the hmd is no longer available from the manufacturer’s site as a replacement part for $25, but you can still get the whole “spy car” kit off ebay for a little over double that. the hmd takes composite input from a headphone-sized plug that can easily be wired up to the jack for a standard RCA cable.

as the proud owner of one of these (admittedly lo-res) hmds, I’ve got a question for the hackaday crowd: how can I get my laptop (compaq presario 2200, ubuntu hardy) to provide this 320×240 hmd with graphical input? the hmd is connected to the laptop via a rca-vga convertor, and stuff occasionally pops up on the hmd when I change the laptop’s display mode, but telling the laptop to display stuff on the hmd via ubuntu’s screen resolution doesn’t seem to have any lasting effect. any suggestions?

(my goal is to have my laptop take input from a camera mounted on top of the hmd, run that input through my homebrew facial recognition software, and display the output on the hmd.)

Posted at 1:37 pm on Jun 8th, 2008 by astebbin

I found one on http://www.DealExtreme.com for about $180. It says it’s the equivalent of a 38″ screen. I don’t know the resolution, but you can check it out. It’s a cheap thing, but better than nothing if you want to toy with one.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6087

Posted at 9:45 pm on Jun 8th, 2008 by treefrog

I have the Headplay. It works pretty well and supports 1024×768 input (though resolution is still 800×600) Honestly the real issue is not resolution but field of view. The Headplay is a good compromise, and certainly a lot better than most of the “iPod airplane” goggles, but it’s not like the huge 20lb 1980’s style hmds with near total immersion.

I got it after realizing making my own hmd was prohibitively expensive, and most of the other commercially available products were seriously lacking in one area or another (resolution vs f.o.v. vs price vs size vs reliable reviews.)
The headplay was a good compromise (for me) though I had to implement my own motion tracking using a ps3 controller. Currently dismantling it for a ben heck inspired virtual boy casemod. Will submit in about a month.
If you are looking to make your own hmd though I suggest you start with the work of Steve Mann…
http://genesis.eecg.toronto.edu/head-mounted-displays.html
Severely dated, but incredibly, incredibly brilliant.

Posted at 11:32 pm on Jun 9th, 2008 by recombinator

How is this DIY or hacked or… well… related to this site at all?

Posted at 5:03 am on Jun 12th, 2008 by Louis

I\’m just waiting for a pair of sunglasses with an OLED substrate on em… way higher resolution can make em transparent OR opaque, no backlighting needed, better on power, and hopefully cheaper.

Posted at 4:19 pm on Jun 24th, 2008 by sagron

Let’s not forget http://www.vuzix.com

I’ve got one. Why don’t you?

Posted at 8:41 pm on Jun 26th, 2008 by DataPhreak

I have come across some kopin bdm-230k modules shown here – http://www.kopin.com/bdm-230k/ – I will be using them for testing I am doing with tracking hardware. They are similar to the spy car kit but have two color displays. I will be getting rid of the extras for very cheap so if anyone has interest in them just comment below.

Posted at 8:26 pm on Jul 27th, 2008 by tnt

Thought I should add to this, even though its a bit old. A company called Sensics now makes 1080p modules for HMD’s better yet they have a 85degrees field of view, which is more then double most HMD’s. Here are some links with more info, but I cant find a unit that uses them yet.
http://sensics.com/products/HDSight/HDsight_overview.php
http://athloneglobalsecurity.com/PDF/sensics.pdf

Posted at 4:30 pm on Oct 8th, 2008 by Jeffrey