Since it's the end of the week and the beginning of the weekend, this should put a smile on some faces. It's off topic. But maybe Uncle Ed can try'um out while parked in his Bentley. They do carry a premium price tag.... Enjoy the weekend !
Technology News From
Thursday March 25, 3:50pm PT
A Walkman for the Video Age
By Michael J. Martinez -- ABCNEWS.com
S U M M A R Y
Once found only in science fiction, personal viewing goggles are now coming to market with portable DVD players.
March 25 — Imagine being on an intercontinental flight, crammed into the middle seat, unable to sleep or to bear watching the dreadful Hollywood feature playing on the aircraft's screens.
Now imagine watching the movie of your choice from your seat, on a screen so small that no one else can view it yet so realistic that you're immersed in the action.
That's been the goal of digital video disc (DVD) manufacturers, not to mention beleaguered flyers, for a few years now.
Now a small Silicon Valley company, i-O Display Systems, has paired the latest in portable DVD players with its own i-Glasses technology to create the Televizer — a portable, head-mounted DVD player. The result, says general manager John James, is “the Walkman of the future.”
Playing in a Pair of Glasses Near You
The Televizer consists of a specially made Panasonic DVD player and a pair of i-Glasses that display 180,000 pixels.
John James wearing a pair of i-Glasses. (ABCNEWS.com)
The two LCD screens used in the i-Glasses play the same image, but the lenses used in the unit focus the eye in such a way that the user sees one giant screen, 6 feet wide and seemingly floating about 11 feet away. The unit also includes adjustable headphones for stereo sound. Most of the unit's eight ounces of weight rest on the forehead of the user, thanks to an adjustable, padded support attached to the frame.
The result is akin to looking at a big-screen TV in a darkened room. The 3½-hour battery time can handle even film epics the length of “Saving Private Ryan” and “Dances With Wolves.”
While the i-Glasses themselves sell for $499, the Televizer sells for $1,499. Other head-mounted displays, without DVD players, can range from $1,000 for a 3-D gaming system to $25,000 for surgical headsets.
“The real cost is in the DVD player,” James points out, “and with everybody ramping up to make DVD drives, that price will be down fairly soon.”
Two other, more expensive versions of the product — the i-Glasses x2 and the ProTec — can be used as substitute computer monitors, giving the user the additional pixels needed to view games and other graphically-rich content. However, since the frame rates on televisions and computer monitors differ, a scan converter is usually needed to compensate for flickering.
Muppets and SWAT Teams
Until this year, i-O Display Systems focused on niche markets, providing i-Glasses to dentists and medical professionals for remote or microsurgery (they're also handy in distracting nervous patients by giving them a movie to watch, James says).
I-Glasses were also found on the set of the upcoming movie “Muppets From Space,” where the puppeteers used them to make the Muppets' interactions more realistic. Military units and SWAT teams use the i-Glasses for marksmanship training, using a tiny camera mounted on the rifle tip through which instructors can see what their students are shooting at.
A handful of manufacturers, small and large, have created head-mounted displays for both commercial and industrial uses since the late 1980s. However, only i-O Display Systems and Sony are manufacturing full-color goggles for TV and computer entertainment use.
Sony has two units, primarily sold in Japan. Both offer 52-inch “virtual viewing” at a cost of $800. The larger PLM-100 weighs 12 ounces and looks like a virtual-reality helmet. It has a control unit for fine adjustments of contrast and tint, similar to a TV set.
Sony's smaller unit, the PLM-A5, is only 6.4 ounces, and looks like a pair of high-tech sunglasses with headphones and a behind-the-head strap. There's less fine control and less power, but it's more portable and more stylish than the PLM-100.
The smaller Sony unit is a bit sleeker-looking, but the Televizer so far is the only personal headset that includes a portable DVD player. So the next time you're on a long, uncomfortable flight, don't be surprised if your seatmate pulls out a pair of futuristic goggles and disappears into another world.
Copyright 1999 ABC News Internet Ventures
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