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Bigscreen Beyond Teardown Overviews Design Decisions Behind Compact Headset

May 17, 2023 From roadtovr

CEO Darshan Shankar sits down with the upcoming Bigscreen Beyond VR headset for a teardown and explanation of the company’s design decisions.

Bigscreen Beyond is a made-for-enthusiasts VR headsets coming from the makers of the social VR theater application Bigscreen. In our recent hands-on with the headset we found an impressively well-built device that’s taking a different approach than other PC VR headsets on the market.

Photo by Road to VR

Bigscreen Beyond is due to start shipping in Q3, and ahead of its release Bigscreen CEO Darshan Shankar has sat down to tear the tiny headset open and talk about the decisions the company made and why.

Bigscreen Beyond is impressive in many ways, but it’s priced for serious VR enthusiasts. The headset starts at $1,000, which doesn’t include controllers or tracking beacons (which would add another $580).

Filed Under: bigscreen, bigscreen beyond, darshan shankar, News, VR Headset

VR Veteran Studio Behind ‘Bigscreen’ Unveils Thin & Light PC VR Headset ‘Beyond’

February 13, 2023 From roadtovr

The team behind social VR viewing app Bigscreen today unveiled a thin and light PC VR headset that not only promises a few intriguing enthusiast-grade specs, but also a custom-made fit based on a 3D scan of your face. In short, it’s a big first for the VR veterans, who are responsible for one of the most beloved VR content viewing platforms.

Called Bigscreen Beyond, the $999 headset presents an interesting set of features which are squarely aimed at PC VR enthusiasts: dual OLED microdisplays offering 2,560 × 2,560 per-eye resolution, pancake optics, and 6DOF SteamVR tracking support.

The company is billing the tethered PC VR headset as the smallest and lightest of its kind, weighing in at just 127 grams and measuring less than 1-inch at its thinnest point.

Image courtesy Bigscreen

Bigscreen Beyond starts pre-orders today, priced at $999. Ostenibly, Beyond is targeting PC VR users who likely already in the SteamVR ecosystem but want something thinner and lighter than the last generation of headsets, such as Valve Index. Notably, the headset doesn’t include the requiste SteamVR tracking base stations or SteamVR-compatible controllers like the Valve Index controller or HTC Vive wand—you’ll have to purchase those separately.

The reasoning: Bigscreen founder and CEO Darshan Shankar says the VR software studio wanted to build “the VR headset we wanted for ourselves.”

“Today’s leading VR headsets have doubled in weight compared to headsets from 2016. We built Beyond because we felt VR was too heavy, bulky, and uncomfortable,” Shankar says. “We invented new technologies to increase comfort, and developed ultra-high-end components like OLED microdisplays and pancake optics to increase immersion. To deliver the best software experience for watching movies in Bigscreen, we also had to build the best hardware with Bigscreen Beyond.”

Image courtesy Bigscreen

Like many forthcoming VR headsets, Beyond is able to slim down thanks to the inclusion of pancake lenses, which Bigscreen says are a three-element optical design composed of glass, plastic polymers, films, and coatings.

Paired with two OLED microdisplays, each with a resolution of 2,560 × 2,560 pixels, Beyond boasts a high fill-factor with its 7.2-μm wide pixels and RGB stripe subpixels, resulting in what the company says eliminates the screen door effect—when the non-illuminated spaces between pixels make it seem like you’re viewing VR content through a screen door.

Resolution alone doesn’t tell the whole story, although for reference Valve Index is 1,440 × 1,600 per-eye, Meta Quest Pro is 1,920 × 1,800 pixels per-eye, and Pico 4 is 2,160 × 2,160 pixels per-eye.

Another one of Beyond’s big enthusiast-grade features is owed to Bigscreen’s ability to customize the fit of the headset to each user, which will be done by doing a one-time scan of the user’s face using an iPhone XR or more recent Apple mobile device. The dedicated Bigscreen scanning app is said to measure the shape of the user’s face and the position of their eyes, which allows the company to form a facial interface a unique to the individual and determine interpupillar distance.

The hand-washable facial interface is said to provide “even weight distribution, zero light leakage, and aligns the eyes and optics correctly.” Additionally, glasses wearers will have to spring for custom prescription lenses that magnetically fit into Beyond, as glasses do not fit inside the small form factor.

Although it ships with a soft strap, users can also spring for the optional audiostrap. We haven’t confirmed pricing for that yet, however we’ll update once we do.

Image courtesy Bigscreen

Granted, some things we’d consider ‘nex-gen’ are notably missing from Beyond, such as eye-tracking, face-tracking, optical 6DOF tracking, and the ability to use it wirelessly. As the first VR headset from a long-time VR veteran though, Beyond does check a lot of boxes for users such as simulator fans, and anyone looking for a better long-term VR media viewer.

Bigscren Beyond is slate to ship in waves based on region. Preorders, which are fully cancellable and refundable up until shipping, are set to ship in the United States sometime in Q3 2023.

Second wave shipments will begin in Q4 2023 in Canada and Europe including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, and Belgium. A third wave of will come sometime in late 2023, including Japan, Australia, New Zealand. The company says Beyond will be available in more countries and regions in 2024.

Check out the spec sheet below:

Bigscreen Beyond Specs

Display Resolution 5120 x 2560 pixels (2560 x 2560 per eye) cloed at max 90Hz
Field Of View (FOV) 93° HFOV x 90° VFOV
Pixels Per Degree (PPD) 28°
Interpupillary Distance (IPD)

56mm-74mm accommodated (fixed IPD per device, 58mm-72mm)

Optics Type Custom Pancake Optics
6DOF Tracking SteamVR Tracking (aka Lighthouse)
Version V1.0 or V2.0 Base Stations. Not included.
Controllers SteamVR controllers (ex. Valve Index, HTC Vive). Not included.
Full-Body Tracking

SteamVR trackers (ex. HTC Vive Tracker, Tundra Tracker). Not included.

Audio Not built-in (USB C port for Audio), or optional Audio Strap
Ports USB-C accessory port (USB 2.0)
Microphone Input Stereo microphones
PC Connection DisplayPort 1.4 (video) and dual USB 3.0 ports (power, data)
Accessory ports USB-C (USB 2.0 speed)
Cable 5-meter custom fiber optic cable and Link Box
PC Requirements
CPU Quad Core Intel or AMD
GPU

Nvidia RTX 2070 or AMD RX 5700 XT or newer (DisplayPort 1.4 and DSC required)

Ports 1 x DisplayPort 1.4, 2 x USB 3.0 ports

Filed Under: bigscreen, bigscreen beyond, bigscreen vr, bigscreen vr headset, News, pc vr, pc vr headset, SteamVR, steamvr headset, VR Headset

Samsung Partners with Google & Qualcomm to Release Android-powered XR Device

February 6, 2023 From roadtovr

Samsung’s 2023 Unpacked event was all about the company’s Galaxy S23 hardware, although at the end of its hour-long presentation the South Korean tech giant announced it was working with Qualcomm and Google to develop an XR device.

TM Roh, Samsung’s president and head of mobile experiences, didn’t reveal any more than what was said on stage, namely the existence of the partnership itself, however speaking to The Washington Post he announced the companies are “getting there,” and that the XR device was “not too far away.”

It’s not clear what sort of device it will be, since ‘XR’ essentially covers the entire gamut of immersive headsets, including augmented reality (e.g. HoloLens), virtual reality (e.g. Meta Quest 2), and mixed reality (e.g. Meta Quest Pro). Our best bet though is on a standalone MR headset, which uses passthrough cameras to layer computer-generated visuals on top of the user’s physical space, essentially replicating the experience you might have on a see-through AR display, albeit on a VR device.

MR headsets include Meta Quest Pro, HTC Vive XR Elite, and Apple’s rumored headset which is reportedly set to arrive sometime early this year at around $3,000.

Meta Quest Pro | Image courtesy Meta

As you’d imagine, Qualcomm is tasked with building the XR device’s chipset, while Samsung will manufacture the headset’s hardware. Software will be provided by Google; WaPo reports it will be running on “the unannounced version of the Android operating system meant specifically to power devices such as wearable displays.”

With the exception of Qualcomm, which not only produces XR-specific chipsets but also regularly shows of its own XR headset references, both Samsung and Google’s commitment to the project are kind of a long-awaited homecoming.

Samsung was one of the first truly massive tech companies to develop VR hardware. Starting in 2014, the company partnered with Meta (then Oculus) on the Samsung Gear VR platform, which paired the Galaxy Note 4 phone with a headset shell sporting an optimized intertidal Measurment unit (IMU). Samsung Gear VR was essentially the first high-quality 3DOF mobile VR experience offered to consumers, marking a stark departure from the sort VR experiences you could find on Google’s more open, but decidedly lower-quality Cardboard platform.

Notably, Samsung hasn’t released a VR product since the launch of the PC VR headset Odyssey+. Like seemingly all big tech firms these days, it appears to be working on AR glasses.

Smasung Odyssey+ | Image courtesy Samsung

Google, although reportedly also working on AR device, similarly shelved its VR ambitions when it discontinued its standalone Daydream platform in 2019, something which at the time was essentially the nail in the company’s Android VR coffin. Google previously worked with Lenovo in 2018 to produce its first and only standalone Daydream VR headset, the Lenovo Mirage Solo, which offered 6DOF room-scale tracking while providing only a single 3DOF clicker-style controller.

Since then, Google has only really been vocal about its experimental system for immersive video chatting, Project Starline, which lets people engage in face-to-face video chats without needing an AR or VR headset.

Typically, we’d say Mobile World Congress 2023 would be the next logical place to share more info about the XR hardware partnership. Samsung, Qualcomm and Google will all be present, so we may just learn more there when the week-long event kicks off in Barcelona, Spain on February 27th.

Filed Under: google, google ar, google vr, google xr, News, Qualcomm, qualcomm ar, qualcomm vr, qualcomm xr platform, Samsung, samsung ar, samsung ar glasses, Samsung VR, samsung xr, VR Hardware, VR Headset

Shiftall’s Slim & Light PC VR Headset MeganeX to Launch Early 2023, Priced at $1,700

January 4, 2023 From roadtovr

MeganeX, the SteamVR-compatible headset from Panasonic’s Shiftall, made its big debut back at CES 2020, and after years of iterations shown at various trade shows, the company says it’s finally nearing launch.

Shiftall is set to sell two flavors of MeganeX, a consumer version priced at $1,699 and a Business Edition, the pricing of which is still to be determined.

MeganeX includes the option to use both inside-out roomscale tracking and SteamVR base stations (1.0 and 2.0), providing 2,560 × 2,560 per eye via two independent 1.3-inch micro OLED displays, which were built by Kopin. Owing to its slim profile are the headsets pancake lenses, which were created by parent company Panasonic.

Image courtesy Shiftall

Although it includes onboard processing thanks to a Snapdragon XR1, it cannot operate in standalone mode (re: only tethered PC VR). The wing-like attachable module seen above on the consumer version is for SteamVR base stations.

“These [two headsets] will deliver the world’s highest level of viewing experience and black expression that only OLED can provide,” the company says in a press statement. “A folding frame with built-in speakers makes it easy to carry around. It supports 6DoF and lets you enjoy a variety of SteamVR-enabled VR applications.”

The consumer version, which offers a wider IPD over the Business Edition at a range of 56-72mm, includes a glasses adapter to accommodate bespectacled users of all sorts. The Business Edition however includes built-in diopter adjustments for near-sighted users, supporting a range of up to -7D, which comes as an addition to the platform’s glasses adapter.

Both the consumer and enterprise version are said to go on sale around April or March of this year, with the consumer version set to launch direct on Shiftall’s website. Check out the specs for both versions below:

MeganeX Specs

Image courtesy Shiftall

We have boots on the ground at CES 2023 in Las Vegas this year, so check back for all the latest AR/VR news this week as we get knee deep in emerging tech on the tradeshow floor.

Filed Under: ces 2023, MeganeX, News, panasonic, Shiftall, shiftall meganex, VR Headset

Pico 4 Shipments Delayed in Europe Due to High Global Demand

October 18, 2022 From roadtovr

Pico released its standalone VR headset Neo 3 Link this summer, marking its first real push to launch a consumer device outside of Asia. Now it’s getting ready to ship the follow-up standalone Pico 4, and the company seems to be struggling to keep up with demand in some regions.

Pico opened up pre-orders of Pico 4 in late September with the aim of initially releasing the headset today across several regions, including 13 European countries, Japan, and Korea.

Note: there’s still no word on whether Pico 4 is coming to the US, although Pico Interactive, owned by TikTok parent ByteDance, is expanding to the US to compete with Meta.

Pico says in a recent tweet however some European customers may see delays in shipment due to high demand:

“Due to unprecedented global demand, there will unfortunately be delays in fulfilling some customer pre-orders in the EU region. We are working tirelessly to ensure that demand is satisfied by the end of October,” Pico says.

Continuing: “We strongly recommend that you keep your back order in place at your preferred retailer as we will be prioritising existing back orders first. If you are affected, please accept our sincerest apologies. We are doing everything we can to resolve it as quickly as possible. In the meantime, if you can’t wait any longer to get your hands on a PICO headset, Neo 3 Link is available and in stock right now.”

In Europe, Pico 4 is strongly positioned to compete with Meta Quest 2. At €430 for the 128GB model and €500 for the 256GB model, Pico 4 not only beats Quest 2 on pricing, but also goes toe-to-toe in the specs department while providing a slimmer profile thanks to the addition of pancake lenses.

Last month the company also announced Pico 4 Pro, an enterprise-focused variant due out later this year which adds three internal cameras for eye and face-tracking. Pricing and launch of that device is still unclear, although it may be looking to take market share away from the recently announced Meta Quest Pro, which is priced at an eye-watering $1,500.

Filed Under: News, pico, pico 4, pico 4 delay, pico 4 pro, Pico Interactive, pico neo 4, Standalone VR Headset, VR Headset

HTC Teases Next VR Headset Ahead of Meta Connect & It’s Supposed to Be Small

October 6, 2022 From roadtovr

HTC today teased what’s confirmed to be the company’s next VR headset, something the Vive-creator says will be “something big… we mean small.”

There’s not much to go on for now, only a tweet which shows a piece of the headset in question with the subtitle “Go small or go home.” No name, no price, no release window. Bupkis.

Go small or go home. pic.twitter.com/PUqqKn4V5E

— HTC VIVE (@htcvive) October 6, 2022

Is it an image of a pancake lens, which many VR headset creators like Meta and Lenovo are now using in place of traditional Fresnel lenses to lower overall bulk? HTC’s casual VR content device Vive Flow already uses one.

Is it an exterior shot of a facial plate, possibly in a bid to appear like a pair of sunglasses like… well… Vive Flow? Your guess is as good as ours at this point.

Turning up the contrast on the image reveals one thing, that’s for sure: a cheeky message congratulating us on our failure to sus out more salient info.

Image courtesy HTC

And although we’re still hoping to see something from HTC that brings real consumer competition to Meta, the emphasis on the headset’s size as the main selling point could suggest the release of another casual VR viewing device like Flow.

In any case, the company says it’s learned from mistakes in the past, and is “putting those learnings into this headset.” It’s also some pretty convenient timing too, as Meta is only days away from holding its yearly Connect developer conference, which this year will likely see the reveal of the heavily-leaked Quest Pro (née Project Cambria).

Vive Flow was largely criticized for not providing much more of a practical experience beyond first-generation mobile VR devices like Gear VR, Oculus Go, or Google Daydream. It also needs an external power source to function, which is better than having a front-heavy headset, but still a concern among some owners. Maybe the Taiwan-based manufacturer is going for a real standalone format this time?

HTC has been known to do successive reveals of its headsets in the past, so we’ll be following along with the company’s Twitter account in the meantime to find out just what the company has in store.

Filed Under: htc, htc vive, HTC Vive Flow, htc vive standalone, News, Vive, VR Headset

PlayStation VR 2 Launching Early 2023, Sony Confirms

August 22, 2022 From roadtovr

Sony confirmed today that its latest VR headset, PSVR 2, will see a release date in 2023. The company’s brief announcement didn’t include a price for PlayStation VR 2, one of the last pieces of key info that’s still unknown.

Sony today shared one of the last but most important pieces of info regarding PlayStation VR 2… its launch window. The company confirmed today on Instagram (of all places) that the headset’s release date will come in early 2023, but shared absolutely no other info about the headset’s launch.

Granted, we know almost everything there is to know about PSVR 2 by this point, except for its price.

The early 2023 launch window (presumably Q1) is a curious move by Sony. The company has only ever launched major PlayStation hardware in Q3 or Q4, dating all the way back to the original PS1, and including the first PSVR headset.

Our best guess for the move is that Sony is expecting the ongoing global supply chain and inflation issues to cause chaos in the electronics market this holiday, and it doesn’t want to battle other consumer electronics makers on price. It’s even possible that the company wasn’t able to secure the components it needed for a Q4 2022 launch, forcing it to delay to Q1 2023.

In any case, we finally have an idea of when PlayStation VR 2 will launch… and it will be more than six years since the original headset’s release.

Sony is promising that PSVR 2 will offer an innovative VR experience with many features not currently found in other consumer headsets, like eye-tracking, HDR, head-haptics, and advanced trigger haptics. Check out our breakdown of PlayStation VR 2 specs to learn everything we know about the headset and how it compares to the original PSVR.

Filed Under: News, PlayStation VR 2, PlayStation VR 2 Launch Date, playstation vr 2 release date, psvr 2 launch date, PSVR 2 release date, VR Headset

Pico 4 & Pico 4 Pro Standalone VR Headsets Spotted in FCC Filing

July 25, 2022 From roadtovr

Pico Interactive, the VR hardware subsidiary to Chinese tech giant ByteDance, is apparently getting ready to release a new series of standalone VR headsets.

As first reported by Protocol, Pico filed the devices with the FCC late last week, saying in the filing that it intends to launch both a Pico 4 Pro and Pico 4 standalone headsets.

Both headsets are identical in specs “except additional eye tracking & face tracking function for Pico 4 Pro,” the company says in the filing.

Image courtesy FCC, Pico Interactive

As noted by Protocol, Pico appears to have called the new hardware ‘Phoenix’ in the FCC filing, and it’s reported to run on Android Q via a Qualcomm processor. FCC filings are typically vague as to not give away too much information pre-launch, so we’ll just have to wait to see how much of an upgrade it is over its latest.

It’s uncertain whether ‘Pico 4’ is the final naming scheme, or whether it’s a shorthand for Pico Neo 4, although it’s clear the company is looking to bring competition to basically the only real name in consumer VR standalones: Meta. Since its founding in 2015, Pico pretty much only targeted consumers in China and enterprise users in the West. That was before it released it Neo 3 Link in Europe back in May, a device that features near spec parity with Quest 2.

At the time, we surmised Pico was quickly eyeballing North America with its Neo 3 Link in an attempt to earnestly compete with Meta there, although now it’s possible the company is looking to one-up the competition with the new hardware before it makes landfall on Meta’s home turf.

The filing doesn’t reveal to what extent Pico 4 will be able to match Meta’s upcoming Project Cambria, which is a VR headset capable of doing augmented reality tasks thanks to its mixed reality passthrough camera sensors. The price of Cambria is set to be “significantly higher than $800” though, so there may be some wiggle room from a name that’s so far unknown to consumers in the US.

Cambria is said to include both eye and face-tracking, so it will be interesting to see how Pico intends on competing (likely with Pico 4 Pro), whether it be by pushing specs slightly beyond Quest 2 or going for full spec parity with Cambria.

Filed Under: bytedance, News, pico, pico 4, pico 4 pro, Pico Interactive, pico neo 4, pico neo 4 pro, Pico VR, Standalone VR Headset, VR Headset

HTC Announces Vive Flow Business Edition, Optional 3DOF Controller

June 23, 2022 From roadtovr

Vive Flow, HTC’s compact VR headset, is targeted at travelers and consumers looking for casual VR experiences and media consumption. Now the company has announced it’s marketing a Business Edition of Vive Flow alongside an optional controller which should make navigating in-headset a bit easier for first-time users.

Vive Flow Business Edition is being pitched as a lightweight device for VR training, distance learning, bringing immersive experiences into the classroom, location-based entertainment, and healthcare and rehabilitation. The headset, which sells for $499 (€550) on the company’s website, includes a two-year business warranty as well as standard enterprise support.

HTC says new software features include a ‘kiosk mode’ so content can be queued up and remotely triggered, which is ideal for trade shows or running training sessions, the company says.

Vive Flow Controller | Image courtesy HTC

Launched for consumers last year, Vive Flow is a standalone VR headset that tethers to an Android smartphone for input via Bluetooth, and physically plugs into an external battery for power. Ok, so not entirely standalone, but the lightweight device does feature onboard processing. Granted, that Android-only device spec may change here soon, as HTC says it’s working on iPhone support for Vive Flow too.

By default, Vive Flow uses the smartphone as its only input device. Now the company is introducing an optional 3DOF controller for Vive Flow (seen above) that can be paired with either the consumer or business version of the headset.

Although we were hoping to hear more about hand-tracking or controllers (emphasis on the plural), going back to the old reliable controller style, which we’ve seen as early as 2016, makes a good deal of sense: blindly clicking on a smartphone when immersed in VR isn’t the most intuitive way for newcomers.

You can check out the full specs for Vive Flow here, including resolution, field of view, processor, and all of the ergonomic bits that help it achieve its 189 gram weight, making it several times lighter than any major VR headset on the market today.

Filed Under: HTC Vive Flow, News, vive flow, vive flow business, vive flow controller, VR Headset

Meta Reveals VR Headset Prototypes Designed to Make VR ‘Indistinguishable From Reality’

June 20, 2022 From roadtovr

Meta says its ultimate goal with its VR hardware is to make a comfortable, compact headset with visual finality that’s ‘indistinguishable from reality’. Today the company revealed its latest VR headset prototypes which it says represent steps toward that goal.

Meta has made it no secret that it’s dumping tens of billions of dollars in its XR efforts, much of which is going to long-term R&D through its Reality Labs Research division. Apparently in an effort to shine a bit of light onto what that money is actually accomplishing, the company invited a group of press to sit down for a look at its latest accomplishments in VR hardware R&D.

Reaching the Bar

To start, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke alongside Reality Labs Chief Scientist Michael Abrash to explain that the company’s ultimate goal is to build VR hardware that meets all the visual requirements to be accepted as “real” by your visual system.

VR headsets today are impressively immersive, but there’s still no question that what you’re looking at is, well… virtual.

Inside of Meta’s Reality Labs Research division, the company uses the term ‘visual Turing Test’ to represent the bar that needs to be met to convince your visual system that what’s inside the headset is actually real. The concept is borrowed from a similar concept which denotes the point at which a human can tell the difference between another human and an artificial intelligence.

For a headset to completely convince your visual system that what’s inside the headset is actually real, Meta says you need a headset that can pass that “visual Turing Test.”

Four Challenges

Zuckerberg and Abrash outlined what they see as four key visual challenges that VR headsets need to solve before the visual Turing Test can be passed: varifocal, distortion, retina resolution, and HDR.

Briefly, here’s what those mean:

  • Varifocal: the ability to focus on arbitrary depths of the virtual scene, with both essential focus functions of the eyes (vergence and accommodation)
  • Distortion: lenses inherently distort the light that passes through them, often creating artifacts like color separation and pupil swim that make the existence of the lens obvious.
  • Retina resolution: having enough resolution in the display to meet or exceed the resolving power of the human eye, such that there’s no evidence of underlying pixels
  • HDR: also known as high dynamic range, which describes the range of darkness and brightness that we experience in the real world (which almost no display today can properly emulate).

The Display Systems Research team at Reality Labs has built prototypes that function as proof-of-concepts for potential solutions to these challenges.

Varifocal

Image courtesy Meta

To address varifocal, the team developed a series of prototypes which it called ‘Half Dome’. In that series the company first explored a varifocal design which used a mechanically moving display to change the distance between the display and the lens, thus changing the focal depth of the image. Later the team moved to a solid-state electronic system which resulted in varifocal optics that were significantly more compact, reliable, and silent. We’ve covered the Half Dome prototypes in greater detail here if you want to know more.

Virtual Reality… For Lenses

As for distortion, Abrash explained that experimenting with lens designs and distortion-correction algorithms that are specific to those lens designs is a cumbersome process. Novel lenses can’t be made quickly, he said, and once they are made they still need to be carefully integrated into a headset.

To allow the Display Systems Research team to work more quickly on the issue, the team built a ‘distortion simulator’, which actually emulates a VR headset using a 3DTV, and simulates lenses (and their corresponding distortion-correction algorithms) in-software.

Image courtesy Meta

Doing so has allowed the team to iterate on the problem more quickly, wherein the key challenge is to dynamically correct lens distortions as the eye moves, rather than merely correcting for what is seen when the eye is looking in the immediate center of the lens.

Retina Resolution

Image courtesy Meta

On the retina resolution front, Meta revealed a previously unseen headset prototype called Butterscotch, which the company says achieves a retina resolution of 60 pixels per degree, allowing for 20/20 vision. To do so, they used extremely pixel-dense displays and reduced the field-of-view—in order to concentrate the pixels over a smaller area—to about half the size of Quest 2. The company says it also developed a “hybrid lens” that would “fully resolve” the increased resolution, and it shared through-the-lens comparisons between the original Rift, Quest 2, and the Butterscotch prototype.

Image courtesy Meta

While there are already headsets out there today that offer retina resolution—like Varjo’s VR-3 headset—only a small area in the middle of the view (27° × 27°) hits the 60 PPD mark… anything outside of that area drops to 30 PPD or lower. Ostensibly Meta’s Butterscotch prototype has 60 PPD across its entirely of the field-of-view, though the company didn’t explain to what extent resolution is reduced toward the edges of the lens.

Continue on Page 2: High Dynamic Range, Downsizing »

Filed Under: butterscotch, Feature, half dome, holocake 2, mark zuckerberg, Meta, meta reality labs, meta reality labs research, michael abrash, News, Reality Labs, reality labs display systems research, starburst, vr hdr, VR Headset, vr headset prototypes, VR Research

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