Virtual Disappointment
CES is certainly a place for CE companies to show not only what they sell, but also what they are working on. In the XR space (combined AR and VR) there are a number of companies, both large and small, that have announced XR headsets but have not quite released them, and by released, we mean a date and price where the devices can be bought by retail customers, not on a future ‘Gofundme’ date or a pre-order book. One company that we were hoping would be releasing their latest VR headset was Pimax (pvt), a relative small VR development company out of Shanghai. Pimax has been releasing VR headsets since 2016 with the goal of moving the display resolution to 4K and beyond with each successive model.
Starting in 2016 with a headset containing a single LCD 1920 x 2160 display and ending with the 11/30/20 release of a model (Pimax 5K Super) with a dual LCD display having 2560 x 1440 resolution. What makes the company unusual is they have been promoting a very high resolution model (Pimax Reality 12K QLED) based on a Mini-LED quantum dot LCD display, that, if we were to believe the promos, would have a single eye resolution of 5760 x 3240 (1200 ppi), far above the highest currently available. This device also includes a horizontal FOV (Field of View) of 200⁰ and a vertical FOV of 135⁰, with the average VR headset FOV around 100⁰ and the limit of human eye at 220⁰ horizontal and 135⁰ vertical. Not only would this be a spectacular FOV and highest VR resolution available, it would also have the highest screen refresh rate at 200Hz, making it the all-around best VR headset to date, all of which comes, according to the company, with no image distortion, which is usually the result of expanding FOV.
Unfortunately, after stating that they would have a booth at CES and offering discounts if you buy at the show, they did not show up at CES, citing COVID-19 travel restrictions as the reason, leaving only the hope that this device will not be one of the many that fall months or even years behind the initial announcement date of October 2021. With expectations for 2022 XR unit volumes to expand by between 55% and 67% and the promise of new AR/VR display technologies such as Micro-OLED and even Micro-LED leading the 2022 charge, we hope others do not fall by the wayside or postpone releases. As we have noted, for the Metaverse to work, even at a limited level, VR headset technology has to advance quickly, with less hype and more ‘reality’ behind it. Hopefully there will be less space between announcements and releases with some of the larger companies, although the long-awaited Sony (SNE) Playstation VR2 was again shown at CES but no release date or price was given.
Starting in 2016 with a headset containing a single LCD 1920 x 2160 display and ending with the 11/30/20 release of a model (Pimax 5K Super) with a dual LCD display having 2560 x 1440 resolution. What makes the company unusual is they have been promoting a very high resolution model (Pimax Reality 12K QLED) based on a Mini-LED quantum dot LCD display, that, if we were to believe the promos, would have a single eye resolution of 5760 x 3240 (1200 ppi), far above the highest currently available. This device also includes a horizontal FOV (Field of View) of 200⁰ and a vertical FOV of 135⁰, with the average VR headset FOV around 100⁰ and the limit of human eye at 220⁰ horizontal and 135⁰ vertical. Not only would this be a spectacular FOV and highest VR resolution available, it would also have the highest screen refresh rate at 200Hz, making it the all-around best VR headset to date, all of which comes, according to the company, with no image distortion, which is usually the result of expanding FOV.
Unfortunately, after stating that they would have a booth at CES and offering discounts if you buy at the show, they did not show up at CES, citing COVID-19 travel restrictions as the reason, leaving only the hope that this device will not be one of the many that fall months or even years behind the initial announcement date of October 2021. With expectations for 2022 XR unit volumes to expand by between 55% and 67% and the promise of new AR/VR display technologies such as Micro-OLED and even Micro-LED leading the 2022 charge, we hope others do not fall by the wayside or postpone releases. As we have noted, for the Metaverse to work, even at a limited level, VR headset technology has to advance quickly, with less hype and more ‘reality’ behind it. Hopefully there will be less space between announcements and releases with some of the larger companies, although the long-awaited Sony (SNE) Playstation VR2 was again shown at CES but no release date or price was given.
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