Head Mounted Display suggestions?

[philodox]

Hi all,

I've been thinking about getting a head mounted display for a while as I would like to get my Wife a new computer [most likely a Mac] for her birthday and need to move my system somewhere else. Rather than setting up a second computer in our already cramped office I was thinking that I could just sit my computer somewhere near my audio rig [headphone based] and wear some sort of glasses based display. I've been doing some looking around to try to see what is out there in terms of units that can be connected to the computer easily. The system I am using is listed in my signature, but the monitor would likely be used with my Wife's new computer. The head mounted display would need to use either a SVGA or HDMI connection so that I could hook it up to my video card. I was hoping to find something with a decent resolution, but it does not necissarily need to be the 1680x1050 that I am used to with my current LCD.

I found this one, but it is a quite a bit more than I would like to spend: http://www.vrealities.com/i-visorfx601.html

I found quite a few that are cheap, but they only have the standard hookups for use with a television.

Is this worth persuing or is the technology just not mature enough yet to be considered for computer gaming/web browsing [my primary uses]?

Here is a picture of where I would be using it for reference. The display would have to be reasonably slim so that I could wear it with my headphones and I would prefer a unit without built in sound for the same reason.

Thanks in advance,

Jason

 

[philodox]

Just thought I would add, that another possible solution that I've come up with is to wall/cieling mount my current LCD on an arm and then just get my wife an iMac with an integrated screen... In looking around and the various arm mountings they all seem incredible ugly and overpriced.

 

[joemama]

I'll answer your question about "is the technology mature enough" by saying absolutely not imo. My experience with such things is limited to demos at electronics expos and such...but I can say that I couldn't see myself actually using such a thing on a daily basis. I think your money would be better spent pursuing current "mature" technologies at this time..

 

[philodox]

Thanks for the opinion.

After doing a bit of further research, the eMagin Z800 looks interesting. All of the reviews I've read say that even though each eyepiece only does 800x600, it *seems* to be a much higher resolution based on how the two combine 'in your head'. Right now I am running my games at 1680x1050... I would imagine that if I went down to 800x600 I should be able to completely max out most graphical settings and try to enable a bit of antialiasing. Might be a good comprimise in the end. The 3D features and movement sensors [you can use your head as a mouse] might be cool as well, though they would not be my primary interest. In some reviews from early 2006 they mention that ATI does not have 'Stereo 3D' capability in their drivers. I wonder if that has changed.

The purchase price on the X800 is pretty high, but at $719 + $30shipping it isn't *too* bad on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.ca/eMagin-z800-3DVi...goryZ174QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem