Future of 3D gaming and media *spawn

[KongRudi]

my wife will give me the evil eye look ).

You won't see that if your wearing the 3D Helmet..

 

[patsu]

Oh I can see it fine. The authentic evil eye look penetrates all matters, and can appear readily in one's imagination and dream. I think the D&D folks will say the all-seeing eye operates on all planes.

 

[MfA]

So you're basically saying that because of peer pressure you're going to waste money on a fashion accessory instead? (ie. new iPhone.) Weak.

PS. lead blocks scrying.

 

[tabs]

Yeah, apart from the wife just don't tell anybody. They're for your eyes only, Mishta Patschoo.

I don't buy a new GPU / monitor so I can invite the neighbours round to look at my pixels.

 

[patsu]

So you're basically saying that because of peer pressure you're going to waste money on a fashion accessory instead? (ie. new iPhone.) Weak.

PS. lead blocks scrying.

Eh... Is iPhone 4S a fashion item for guys ? *shrug* My phone contract is up. It's just a natural next step for me to upgrade to the next phone. Besides, I'm curious about Siri.

Yeah, apart from the wife just don't tell anybody. They're for your eyes only, Mishta Patschoo.

I don't buy a new GPU / monitor so I can invite the neighbours round to look at my pixels.

I play in my office mostly. Co-workers will definitely see the HMZ-T1 should I get one. They are hounding me for my steering wheel too, but I lent it to a friend. ^_^

 

[patsu]

Sony HMZ-T1 3DTV Headset Review: An Amazing Toy
http://gizmodo.com/5857709/sony-hmz+t1-3dtv-headset-review-an-amazing-toy

...

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First, it's very fun technology. It's just neat to have the TV take over for you. This has some serious future shock going for it as well.

The video performance is exceptional. That's largely due to the 3D. Crosstalk or ghosting is one of the biggest problems with 3D. Sony claims that the two displays make the personal viewer crosstalk free, because the image is only merged in your head and never on a single screen It works. I saw none, and looked hard. Meanwhile, the display was bright and vivid. Colors popped.

You won't be totally immersed in a world. You won't feel surrounded by gunmen when you're playing a 3D game, because the display doesn't completely take over your field of vision. Don't expect that, it won't happen. (Which is preferable, given that 3D content is designed for 16x9 screens. If the display was large and close enough to take over your vision, you'd miss things at the edges.) At 45 degrees, the viewing angle is more than ample.

But it does immerse you to a much greater extent than sitting in front of a TV, even a very large one.

That's also due to the sound. The speakers sounded quite good, and were loud enough to completely drown out external noise in my apartment. The clanging of buttons in the dryer, the sound of a radio playing at low volume disappeared. The 5.1 virtual surround sound was... okay. I certainly heard directional noises.


No Like

But the surround sound pass-throughs could have been better.

And let's talk wearability. While it's far, far more comfortable than any other headset we've tried, it isn't exactly like wearing your favorite hat. If you don't spend a lot of time adjusting it, it will rest poorly on your face, falling down on the bridge of your nose.

Even if you do adjust it, it's still heavy. You can't wear it for prolonged amouts of time—literally a warning pops up after 3 hours and it automatically shuts down at 6. Your neck gets tired. I kept wanting to rest my chin on my hand, or to sit back completely in my chair, with my head draped over the back. At half an hour my neck felt strained. At just over an hour, I really noticed the pad on my head. By the time I took it off, 90 minutes later, I had a large red spot on my forehead.

...

 

[Arwin]

I sooo want this. But currently the wife is spending too much money on the house ... And then there's the car to pay for too. *sigh* But I'm going to try this in the store at the first opportunity (i.e. when it is available here) and when it is as good as I am half expecting it to be, I'll start saving up for it so I can get it for my birthday at least, in 6 months time. But we'll see ...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

An hour tops? Way too limiting to become mainstream. I'm surprised it's that heavy TBH.

 

[Arwin]

An hour tops? Way too limiting to become mainstream. I'm surprised it's that heavy TBH.

It's not that heavy. I am willing to bet that these things just take getting used to. Still can't wait to try.

 

[patsu]

It's a personal thing. Also depends on what they were watching/playing. The other reviewer wore it for 1.5 hours. I'll probably do it in 15-30 minute chunks since I usually multitask.

As long as the headset is lifted above your nose, then you can actually wear it "comfortably". If you wear it wrong, the weight of the headset will rest on the bridge of your nose, which feels awkward after 5 seconds.

 

[tabs]

Looks like I'll be doing neck weightlifting exercises for a couple of years until I can afford one.

 

[patsu]

If the first batch sells well, we will be looking at new revision. HMZ-T1 seems like a limited-stock run.

Weight is not the problem for me. It's the closed design. I want something that can take plugins (e.g., head tracker, retina tracker, 3D camera), and proper pass through mode. Would be rad if I can see Internet overlays over live 3D video feed.

 

[patsu]

Peter Jackson reveals the Red Epic secrets behind The Hobbit (video)
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/05/peter-jackson-reveals-the-red-epic-secrets-behind-the-hobbit-vi/

Diet and filmmaking legend Peter Jackson's given us another insight into the making of the Hobbit movies, and this time he's talking about his envious collection of tech. Filming with no less than 48 Red Epic cameras at 48fps in full 5k resolution might sound fantastic, but it hasn't all been a bed of cotton candy. Two 3D cameras need to be mounted at the same "interocular" (the inch-or-so distance between your eyes) which is impossible given the size of the Epic and its lenses. The team had to hire specialist firm 3ality to build a rig where one camera shoots the action and the other is pointed vertically at a mirror.

...

Video on Peter Jackson's facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150451523596807

 

[Arwin]

Oooh ... definitely pleased about the Hobbit being in 'proper' 3D from start to finish.

 

[patsu]

Here's a user impression on HMZ-T1:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32570055&postcount=1732

Ok folks, I've been messing with this for about 6 hours straight in my basement, and have a lot to say on the subject, so hang on.

First off a little background. I am an immersion whore. My friend and I custom made a 160" fixed frame screen for my home theater room. I have a Panasonic pt-ax200u projector. I sit in a beanbag with my wireless controller, roughly 5' away from the screen. I tell you this so you can understand where I am coming from in terms of my interest in immersion.

Ok, here goes. I am so excited right now, and not necessary for the reason you might think, as the Sony HMZ-T1 is not quite there yet. I am excited because it has truly given me a glimpse into the near future, and there is greatness there. The fact of the matter is, all of the short comings that I've found in the visor are going to be remedied in short order as a matter of technological advancement. I wish I could convey the moments of sheer greatness that even this first of tech provides.

First off I'd like to say that I feel sorry for anyone on this Earth that has yet to experience Coraline 3D on the HMZ-T1. If there was a definition of the perfect 3D presentation, you can be sure that this device is mentioned in there somewhere. OLED is the real deal, and a 3D image with absolutely no cross talk, and no dimness has got to be seen to be believed! This is the first time that I've actually had a 3D experience that rivals those old viewmasters we all had as kids. I simply cannot describe the image quality in every respect. The sharpness, the black levels, the perfect 3D rendition. There it is. When you decide you want to see what 3D can truly be, grab a copy of Coraline, an HMZ-T1, and make it so! I'm simply stunned.....

We have a lot of ground to cover, so maybe I'll just go in the chronological order of my experience.

I unpacked the thing and had it powered up very quickly. It has you run through a series of simple calibration steps, and you are ready to go. I was immediately irritated to have something bulky strapped to my head, a feeling that has yet to subside. It really is going to tax people to have this thing strapped on for any real length of time. There certainly are any number of things you can do to lessen these issues, but you'll never get away from the annoyance entirely. Sony has provided a veritable cornucopia of different forehead attachments, adjustment bands, and so on, so as to lessen the burden. But strap yourself in, cause it will cause fatigue over time.

Also, once you have everything calibrated for comfort, over time slight movements will produce a sub optimal image, as now the optics are not perfectly aligned which introduces blurriness of varying degrees all over the image! This is something that everyone needs to be aware of. We now have a whole need frontier of viewing angle joy to deal with. Due to the way the optics are setup, if the image isn't perfectly aligned with you retina, (both horizontally and vertically), annoying blurriness is introduced to the image. When perfectly centered, the image quality is near perfect, which only accents the image problems when the visor is moved! I haven't had such a feeling of 'Don't move!' since my honeymoon!

Now onto the image size, (or impressions of image size, because that's what we are really talking about with this). I would expect someone who is not used to the projector setup that I am used to will find the image to be quite large really. Normally people do not have a setup that produces a 45 degree field of view, and as such, will be very impressed by the sense of size it produces! I personaly am not in that camp, as 45 degree is not even close to what satisfies me and what I used to on a daily basis. However, I will say that after 30 minutes of use, the lack of size perceptually disappeared and I was completely absorbed! So the initial impression for most will be, "Wow, that is a massive image!". For some it will be, "I wish it was a bit larger". And for almost everyone, "The screen was large enough, and wasn't a factor after several minutes of use".

So, I kept my promise and fired up Shadow of the Colossus first thing! My impression of the 3D was that I wish the game had more adjustments for 3D. I was able to crank of the depth effect to the max, but was still left wanting a little more in terms of depth and scale. What I mean by scale is, for anyone that has played World of Warcraft using NVIDIA 3D vision, you will know that there are multiple adjustments that can be made to the rendering of the 3D image, not just a generic 'Depth' slider. It takes multiple adjustments for you to get the image to the point where you really do feel like you are in the world. So far my experience with 3D games on the ps3, is that the quality of the 3D experience is all over the place, (the best game so far being Motor Storm). Even with the depth slider set to max on Shadow of the Colossus, one gets the impression that they are looking at a 3D board game with small pieces being moved around the board, as opposed to actually being in the world. This is entirely down to the method that they used to render the second image. As I said, Motor Storm does a fantastic job of putting you in the game! Things still appear on the smallish side, but much better than SOTC. Like I said, hopefully they will increase the number of 3D rendering characteristics we can adjust in console games in the future, so as to give you the same kind of, 'I am in the World!', impression that you can get with pc using NVIDIA 3D Vision and proper calibration. Again, World of Warcraft being the real benchmark with its multiple adjustments.

2D content looks fantastic thanks to the flawless image that the OLED screens provide. I probably will not use the headset for general 2D viewing , as my projector with beanbag setup gives me a much larger image, and the fact that having something heavy strapped to your head gets old after a while. But you really aren't going to get a better 2D image anywhere.

I am very very excited for NVIDIA to get their 3dtv play drivers updated, (latest word is that is should be out within a couple of days). This is where this set is really going to shine! Not only because you get all the 3D depth and scale tweaking that NVIDIA provides, but that vast library of existing games is sure to be fantastic! I plan on playing Skyrim 3D this weekend, perfectly calibrated and on highest detail settings! Will give everyone impressions!

As I said before, the real excitement comes from what glimpses into the near future that this thing provides! We are on the precipice of a new age of immersive entertainment, where 3D is not a gimmick but a true experience that rivals those of real life depth perception!

Three things that will put HMDs into the category of 'mind blowing, never ever going back, experience' are: Larger field of view, (greater than 90 degrees), much lighter apparatus, and full on head tracking. When all three of these are in place, and they will be faster than anyone can imagine, games and entertainment will truly move to the next level!

He has a 150" screen at home, so his expectation may be a little high. Pretty much similar to my first exposure to the unit.

Sony is so very close with the device. It should not be positioned as a "passive" viewer. That is a strategic mistake.

 

[patsu]

Wireless 3D home network...

IOGEAR's Wireless 3D Digital Kit streams the third-dimension in 1080p, ships soon for $380
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/10/iogears-wireless-3d-digital-kit-streams-the-third-dimension-in/

...

IOGEAR's GW3DHDKIT has just been revealed to 3D-lovin' content watchers the world over, with the Wireless 3D Digital Kit consisting of a transmitter and receiver with connections that enable it to stream standard, HD or 3D resolution content from one or two HDMI-enabled devices. We're told that it doesn't require a line-of-sight placement to deliver uncompressed 1080p, and 3D / 5.1 material can also be slung from up to 100 feet away. To add a second room, one HDTV can connect directly to the transmitter's loop-through (local) port, while a second HDTV simultaneously receives content via the wireless receiver; there's even an Infrared (IR) pass-through that allows user control over source devices that are hidden away in a different location.

...

 

[patsu]

Silly for them to agree so late...
http://gizmodo.com/5828667/the-manufacturers-are-finally-standardizing-3d-glassestogether

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/11/sony-panasonic-samsung-team-up-for-3d-supergroup/

In early August, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and XPAND 3D announced their intent to collaborate on the standardization of RF and IR system protocols between consumer 3D active shutter glasses and 3D displays such as televisions, personal computer monitors and projectors, as well as 3D theaters utilizing XPAND 3D active shutter glasses. Twelve companies, of which are Changhong Electric Co., Ltd.; FUNAI Electric Co., Ltd.; Hisense Electric Co., Ltd.; Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd.; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Royal Philips Electronics; Seiko Epson Corporation; Sharp Corporation; SIM2 Multimedia S.p.A.; TCL Corporation; Toshiba Corporation and ViewSonic Corporation have expressed their support for the activities of the Initiative.

With the successful launch of the Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative licensing program, a test center has been slated to open later this month, which will verify the compliance of any products manufactured under the new Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative license program-within the Initiative's specifications.
Notes to editors

 

[Arwin]

I'm sure it is partly because they are feeling the pressure now from passive TVs being launched at competitive prices (even if they're only half resolution for 3D), sometimes with no less than 7 sets of glasses included.

 

[patsu]

nVidia releases 3DTV update:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/3dtv-play-support-update-utility-driver.html

Release Highlights

NVIDIA 3DTV Play Support Update Utility that works with GeForce driver v285.62 to update the supported list of HDMI 1.4 3D devices. This update utility should not be used with any other driver.

New supported HDMI 1.4 3D TVs:
* Sony HMZ-T1
* Vizio M3D420SR

Not sure why it needs a special update for more HDMI 1.4 devices, but HMZ-T1 is officially supported now.

 

[patsu]

See Sony ? If you had positioned HMZ-T1 just a wee bit differently, I would have bought 1 or 2 items by now.

Head tracking + HMZ-T1

HMZ-T1 should be more than a "viewer".