SONY HMZ-T1 personal viewer / glasses
The gaming community and moviegoers alike are excited about the launch of the Sony HMZ-T1 Personal Viewfinder,
The unit was first released on 11/11/11. Within days it was sold out worldwide and pre-orders are now being accepted for a second wave of units to hit the market in early February 2012.
I managed to get my hands on a unit recently so this article is based on my personal experience with the Sony HMZ-T1.
So what exactly is this personal viewfinder from Sony? Does it live up to expectations?
Basically, it’s a pair of high-tech wraparound glasses that sits over your eyes. Two very small (0.7-inch) OLED (1280x720p) screens are positioned in front of your eyes to create the illusion of a large movie screen directly in front of you. If you were to place your face 6″ from a 19″ screen, you’d have an idea of the size of the screen.
A simple analogy would be to imagine yourself sitting alone in a large movie theater. Just you and that big movie screen about five rows in front of you. The experience itself is simply amazing. But more on the actual experience shortly.
First impressions have a lasting impact….
My initial impression of the unit was that it seemed somewhat smaller than I expected. Much smaller compared to the advertised images I had seen online. The front was encased in white plastic that felt pretty flimsy. It’s definitely not a well-constructed product, as I found the slider buttons, retention straps, and overall density of the plastic to be quite cheap looking. I’m not an engineer, but I felt like most of the external hardware parts probably came directly from China. But hey, I’m not too interested in the external aesthetics of the device, as I was more intrigued by what goes on inside this wonderful little device.
I press start
So after gaming, adjusting the head strap, headphones, and the horizontal distance of the OLED screens, I finally powered the unit on… Whoops… I was met with a bright blue screen that was surrounded by darkness aside from a little light spilling from under my cheeks. On the right side are menu buttons that allow you to navigate through a settings menu that appears on the screen. After calibrating the unit for best visual performance and HDMI input, yes, it is HDMI compatible. I press start on a Blu-ray player.
kapow! The visuals were amazing… I mean, I was really blown away… this is great!
I feel like it’s worth mentioning, I’ve owned a couple of other personal viewfinders over the years like the Emagin z800 and the new Sony blows any other eye wears water. The resolution is so sharp and clear, the color contrast is fantastic.
Having praised OLED display technology, I’d also like to point out that Sony is just around the corner investing in QD. (Quantum dots) Light-emitting particles that are 100,000 times smaller than the width of a strand of human hair can be printed on flexible plastic that can be rolled up or even printed on large sheets of paper to create giant displays. Imagine a personal viewfinder using QD on a flexible screen that wraps around your peripheral vision. But for now we are happy with the OLED screens.
Bright blue screen… mmmm
So where were we? Oh yes, the SonyHMZ. He was impressed, really impressed. The Blu-ray movie I saw was a 3D animation from Pixar called Monster House. So I was able to test the 3D depth, which is one of the many main features of the unit. By using two OLED screens, Sony has been able to neutralize a problem that plagues 3DTV, commonly known as “crosstalk.” The audio is crisp, clear and with very good bass. I adjusted the audio levels to my liking and was very impressed.
What… no Head TRACKING… what were they thinking?
I’m a little disappointed that Sony hasn’t gone a step further and built head tracking into the unit.
Head tracking would give the user the ability to play first-person style games creating a more immersive VR experience where, for example, if you look up, the graphical display scrolls up.
There is a simple solution. One can easily connect the Natural Point TrackIR device. I have tested TrackIR with various HMDs (Head Mounted Devices) and found that the display refresh rate does not exist with current computer hardware.
Such a device years to be released…
I’m just speculating here, but I feel like Sony is just testing the waters to see if there’s a big enough market to support such a device. I feel like there are certain features about this unit that show it is still in its infancy, it is not a complete device designed to fit a mass market. Take for example the separate HDMI interface. This is obviously leftover exterior hardware casing from something like a TV tuner or similar device. Sony has attached it to the visor with a 2m long cable. It’s as if a lot of leftover parts have simply been removed. The full HDMI box prevents the user from moving around with this device. Such a device longs to be released… plug and play SWTOR (Starwars the old Republic), for example, while lounging on the beach or taking a long train ride.
The future is so bright… I have to wear shadows…
The Walkman of the 21st century. Hhhmm… maybe the headphones go back to the early 1980’s Walkman headphones, just kidding… I don’t think we even had Dolby Surround sound back then. Come to think of it… I remember a nutty professor from the movie Back to the Future who was wearing a futuristic pair of sunglasses when he came back from what date was it… 2012 maybe?
Priced at $800.00 US, the unit obviously won’t be under all the children’s Christmas trees, but if production ramps up, perhaps a year from now prices will drop below $400.00… but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.
