5 ms·

I don't think it actually is worth remembering. That hardware was so completely different from the hardware we have now, in terms of performance and price. Thos

I don't think it actually is worth remembering. That hardware was so completely different from the hardware we have now, in terms of performance and price. Those displays were somewhere around 240x320 pixels at 30hz. The year-old tech we have today is 1080x1200 at 90hz. That's roughly 50x better, a magnitude and a half better. That's not even beginning to consider the several orders of magnitude improvement in the visuals we can push over that display. It also comes at a fraction of the cost. Four headsets plus a cluster of SGI workstations to run them would probably set you back a million dollars. Today, you're looking at about $10,000. 100x improvement in cost. Hell, quantity has a quality all its own. So, without even considering graphics (or ubiquitous and wireless internet access), we're looking at modern VR being at east 500x better than the tech from 20 years ago. I don't know any comparisons to make that are 500x improvements outside of tech. I don't think we can really learn anything meaningful from the VR wave of the 90s. What we have today is just a completely different situation.

falcolas 10y ago
50x in 20 years. I think it's fair to say that another 10 or 20x is required (displays 5x as wide with 4x more pixels per inch), that would be another 10 or so years, not a mere 5. Especially when display tech is not showing a lot of effort in getting beyond the current 200dpi. VR display tech has piggybacked off phone tech, and phones are not actively looking for even higher pixel density. This means specialized research & design into display tech; something I don't see or even hear about being done.
- Impossible 10y ago
  You may not see it or hear it but it's actively being worked on... That's not including companies like Magic Leap and Avegant whose entire business is founded on custom light field displays for AR.
  - falcolas 10y ago
    Magic Leap, the company who has been repeatedly panned on HN for providing a cool demo idea, with no actual product or research? The "2 million mirrors" in the Avegant Glyph is roughly equivalent to 1080p; about the same resolution as the Occulus and Vive. The tech is also an adaptation of the same DLP technology that's been in use in TVs and projectors for decades.
    - jp555 10y ago
      light fields are nothing at all like the 2D image emitted by DLP projectors. This is a printed light field - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AVAzGQMxEg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AVAzGQMxEg This is a light field plenoptic projector - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blb0TUBoZwA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blb0TUBoZwA

falcolas 10y ago

50x in 20 years. I think it's fair to say that another 10 or 20x is required (displays 5x as wide with 4x more pixels per inch), that would be another 10 or so years, not a mere 5. Especially when display tech is not showing a lot of effort in getting beyond the current 200dpi. VR display tech has piggybacked off phone tech, and phones are not actively looking for even higher pixel density. This means specialized research & design into display tech; something I don't see or even hear about being done.

Impossible 10y ago
You may not see it or hear it but it's actively being worked on... That's not including companies like Magic Leap and Avegant whose entire business is founded on custom light field displays for AR.
- falcolas 10y ago
  Magic Leap, the company who has been repeatedly panned on HN for providing a cool demo idea, with no actual product or research? The "2 million mirrors" in the Avegant Glyph is roughly equivalent to 1080p; about the same resolution as the Occulus and Vive. The tech is also an adaptation of the same DLP technology that's been in use in TVs and projectors for decades.
  - jp555 10y ago
    light fields are nothing at all like the 2D image emitted by DLP projectors. This is a printed light field - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AVAzGQMxEg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AVAzGQMxEg This is a light field plenoptic projector - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blb0TUBoZwA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blb0TUBoZwA