Headset Displays: The cornerstone of convenient 'wearability'

Headset Displays, also known as HMDs (Head Mounted Display) are easily the most recognizable icon of the "cybernetically enhanced" and they've been around for a long time. But as micro display technology grows and advances in new display mediums such as OLED start to surface, head mounted displays are becoming more affordable than ever.

For the serious Wear-Geek, a few companies build super hi-res headsets in both monocular and full goggle models. These are, of course, obscenely expensive.

The Eyeneo EyeTop is probably the more "slick looking" models of monocular headset (if you wear your sunglasses at night) and sells for a cool $1400. The only downside (other than the fact that you'll need to take out a second mortgage to balance over a grand on your face?) is that the

resolution is sub standard. The Eyetop is marketted as a "Viewfinder" which is probably how they get away with QVGA (or one-quarter VGA resolution, that's 240x360 or 1/4 of your Standard Definition TV)

Another option, a little more conservative (both financially and stylistically), is the Vuzix M920-

Video. The great thing about this

headset is that it's obviously stable, a little more lightweight, and you could wear it in conjunction with any other eyewear you may choose. Best of all, at full VGA quality (640x480) That's almost usable! It includes cable to connect it to almost any standard def. video

source (S-Video, Composite, VGA). Still with a price tag of $1000, it makes you a little uneasy about wearing it

out.

In my opinion, the future of wearable displays is going to look a little more like this. The MicroOptical CV-3. Unfortunately discontinued (Undoubtedly due to it's laughable $2150 price tag) This versatile, compact unit could be attached to any glasses or goggles, lasted 5 hrs on a single charge and displayed full color, full VGA video at 60 fps.

All of these industrial-strength optical products are great, but the price tag is entirely unwarranted, and if you want the proof, just read on and I'll give you a taste of what affordable looks like. If you have the money to spend on those units though, you can buy them at Tekgear.

So, here we go on an Ebay shopping spree. But the first thing we need to do is figure out what to search for. Few people have a couple of old "HMDs" They're looking to throw out. But wait... People are obsessed with iPods and portable video players... And lo and behold a couple of good honest Chinese manufacturers have come to capitalize on that obsession. I give to you, another close facsimile to the HMD: "Video Glasses"

Video Glasses are also called virtual theaters or personal viewers, are sort of a slimmed down commercial-grade version of the same displays we just discussed. The main difference is that, because they're goal is full-immersion, they are binocular. There are a few ways to deal with this: personally, I like binocular, you can wear them on your head like sunglasses until you need to search something, then they're right there. Or, if you like to be able to surf and walk, why not add a cheapo camera for some augmented reality fun? Finally, I suppose you could always hack the damn thing in half (carefully) and make a monocular unit.

The Cheapos! This is a unit available for under $100 (I know right?) Let's have a look. It's fairly stylish, in comparison to the more robust units. They claim an impressive 8-9 hours of continual use on a single charge... Ah, here we go, QVGA resolution. And that's gonna be your problem with anything under $100. At that resolution, reading text clearly will be impossible in most cases, but they're still fun to watch movies on, I'm sure...

The upper end of cheap... Here's a fairly nasty piece of tech for the money, and you'll recognize the name-brand: Vuzix (The same company that brought you the $1000 M920-Video) is cornering the commercial market with the WrAP920 Incuiti. So, what do they want for this ultra-sleek, wraparound design? Looks like about $340 on eBay... yeah, it's expensive, but not a grand. And it boasts not only full VGA resolution, but a nice wide field of view and full 3d support (that's right, it actually has two full VGA displays in it that can be fed independently.) A nice toy, a little expensive though...

Finally, bang for your buck! The Myvu Crystal Video Glasses take the cake for me. They're going for around $120 to $200 on eBay and boast full VGA resolution. Also, they have integrated earbuds for sound and their style is unstoppable in my book. They look fairly lightweight as well.

So there you go, a $120 dollar solution to a $2100 product, leave it to China...

I'll post back next time with INPUT devices, the next big building block in wearability.

Till then, I'll be watchin' the net...

-NP