Sony HMZ-T1 HMD Owner's dedicated thread - Page 7

I just don't understand how there's still so much misinformation about 3D out there. People seem to think that different display devices process 3D to give it more depth or more pop. People think the only 3D that matters is pop 3D that floats in front of your face (are you kidding me?) And all the time I hear questions like, "I know it does depth 3D but I want to know if it does pop 3D".

3D is not that complicated people! If the display can send a separate image to each of your eyes, then you'll have depth and pop no matter what. It all depends on the source material, that's the key. The TV/Projector/HMZ whatever it is, gets 2 different frames a left and a right, and they all send the left to your left eye and the right to your right eye, that's it! Period. There's no magic process to make those images be depth or pop. What does decide that, is what's contained in those left and right images. The source material.

Let's say there is a ball on screen flying towards and away from the camera. When the ball is at the distance of the screen, so no pop or depth, the L and R images of the ball are normal.

............................................LR.............. ........................

When the ball starts flying away from the camera, in other words depth, the L and R images of the ball go like this.

........L................................................... ...................R.....

When the ball breaks the screen and "pops out" towards you the L and R images of the ball cross like this.

..................................R......................L.. ..........................

And that's all there is to it. The only thing that affects how deep or how far out the image goes is how much separation there is between those L and R images, and that's all up to the film makers or game developers. If they want a lot of depth they'll make those far away objects have very separate L and R images. Of course the more separation there is the more strain there is on the eyes, so sometimes they hold back a little to make it easier on the eyes.

So people need to stop worrying about whether or not the hardware is capable of doing strong depth or pop. As long as it's sending the L and R image to each one of your eyes (which the HMZ does the best because each eye can only see it's own image and not the other's), you are seeing what the creator of the source has intended for you to see.

Anyone else having trouble fitting this thing? I've been trying for about an hour now, and I can get it to rest comfortably on my face, but the screen is never in focus all at once. The edges are blurry or the bottom is blurry. I try moving it around manually, but I cannot find a spot where everything is in focus

with PS3 the strongest 3D is Ghost of sparta with PS3 size screen setting to 10" and game setting to the max

Alright...
I was extremely excited about this unit but I cant honestly say what problem was. It may be that my vision is not the best, though I wear glasses each lenses is a diff. prescription. I could not match left image with right image(words would not perfectly overlap in 2d). I tried without straps just holding it up to see if I can find the right "spot" and couldnt do it. Tried literally for hours trying with straps, without.... Also corners were a little blurry no matter what I did, like in bottom left hand corner of mass effect 2 I could not tell if ammo was 13 or 18. I found if I literally tighten unit to cutting off circulation in skull that their is a slight improvement but still blurry in corners. Picture quality I found my acer 5360 to be better which is just wierd since its a $400.00 projector and its image is actually even bigger and I'm even closer. Acer 5360 also has 0 cross talk as well. I was just very underwhelmed. I know I am going to be flamed here saying I didnt put it on right or whatever but I tried for 3 hours, I tried each width adjustment one by one. I tried adjusting each of three strap adjustment. I honestly believe it was that my vision in each eye is a bit different. I decided to stick with my acer 5360(3d dlp 720p projector), its cheaper and picture qualitity is better(one eye test). I really wanted to love this unit. I loved the idea of immersion and no "darkening" of 3d glasses. Just didnt pan out.

Depth(how far away an image can look) + convergence(pop-up factor) has nothing to do with displays. Its all settings in consoles you cant play around with it in games on consoles besides playing around with screen size(most anyways) and it just scales both. Movies are per-determined and can not be changed. In pc you can play around with those settings in video games.

Just got the answer on Amazon's shipping date:

Hello,

Due to a lack of availability from our suppliers, we will not be able to obtain the following item(s) from your order:

"Sony HMZ-T1 Wearable HDTV 2D/3D"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005SCYZGA

We've cancelled the item(s) and apologize for the inconvenience.

Yeah, I just got that myself and came in here to mention it. I am a very, very sad man. The chances of being able to get a unit from SonyStyle now are probably next to nil. What was supposed to be a slightly late birthday present has officially entered the realm of least possibility. Wah.

Oh well, I'll just have to be patient. Thanks for the impressions, guys, they're great to read (even/especially the negative ones)!

Anyone left that has a shipping date from Sony that has passed by and hasn't received conformation that one is being shipped? Curious to see if Sony is going to make good on their 11/21 shipping date for mine...

I received mine yesterday. Was up til 1am last night enjoying my new gadget. Paying for it today! I should've called in sick today.

Some initial thoughts..

First off, I love it! I'm definitely not sending mine back to Sony! It did take me awhile to finally get the right fit. It's not like one of those 1 size fits all baseball caps where you make one quick adjustment and you're done. After fiddling with the top and bottom straps yesterday, I was able to get the weight distributed correctly so it wasn't putting any pressure on my nose. I then watched the Pirates of the Carribean Stranger Tides blu-ray 3D disc. That was a LONG movie. Should've picked a shorter one for my first 3D movie test. The weight of the unit didn't bother me during the movie, but the pressure of the forehead supporter did. By the end of the movie I had a big red mark on my forehead. I remember the reviewer on Gizmodo mentioned the same thing. This morning I switched out the medium-sized forehead supporter that came pre-installed and put in the thinner one. Much, much better!! No more excess pressure on my forehead.
Pirates is one of those movies that probably should've stayed 2D. There was depth, more noticeable in some scenes. But really didn't think the 3D did much to enhance the movie. I'm looking forward to trying out my Avatar 3D disc and the Peter Gabriel 3D concert blu-ray I picked up last week.

I can finally view the 3D channels on DirecTV now that I have a 3D display. There was one channel, n3D I think it's called, that was showing a travel show on San Francisco. The 3D looked very good! ESPN 3D was showing a college football game. It was ok. I'll probably stick with regular ESPN in 2D for my sports.

I have an HP Envy 17 3D laptop. I connected the HMZ-T1 to the HDMI output. Had no problem viewing blu-ray 3D with PowerDVD 11 and Total Media Theater 5. I have one PC game on my laptop, Need for Speed Shift 2. I was able to play the game on the HMZ-T1 in 3D using the TriDef Ignition launcher. So it definitely is compatible with AMD's 3D. Very nice 3D pop to that game!

Tried it out with my iPad 2 using the Digtal AV adapter that gives you HDMI output. Only had time to try out the Slingplayer Mobile iPad app before I went to bed last night. Very nice!! The iPad 2 and HMZ-T1 will make a nice combo for watching tv when I'm away on trips.

When did you order from amazon? I placed my order oct.4 and haven't received anything from them yet.

Alright, that's not what I wanted to hear. Now I'm gonna be $800 poorer, and it's all your fault!

This is a content issue, not a device issue. And here's my chance to wax philosophical about the new 3D!

I suggest everyone do some reading on the new Theatrical 3D movement (basically started by James Cameron). The industry is intent on getting it right. In the past, 3D was wrecked by cheesy pop-out and make-you-jump gimmicky. Problem is, that is only good for a small portion of movies (not Toy Story 3 for example), it often tears you away from the story, and it just plain wears out fast.

The new movement wants 3D to have depth, and to enhance the experience. My one-liner explanation: Think looking in through a window NOT popping out at you.

Avatar succeeded very well in this vein. Tron is a more modern example that also succeeds. Think about it. With pop-out 3D, it calls attention to itself during the movie: "hey, I'm watching a 3D movie." Problem is, the point of a movie is to involve you in the story, not to alert you to the fact that there is some hokey effect going on: similar to why audiences prefer realistic special effects.

So for movies like Avatar and Tron the 3D enhances and involves you, rather than tearing you out of the story to give you a good scare. This is why I believe the new crop of 3D will succeed (technically, it already has, with many of last years' animated films gaining half their gross from 3D).

In terms of quality 3D, Dreamworks gets it right, and tries to make the 3D really enveloping, really "real" as it were. In Monsters vs. Aliens they only had 2 pop-out gags, and only because it was mimicking the '50s alien/monster movie genre. The San Francisco city attack, and the Golden Gate Bridge scenes were brilliant.

I think moment that really epitomizes getting it right with modern 3D film is in How to Train Your Dragon. There is a moment where Hiccup first meet the dragon in person, and we get a close-up of Toothless' eye. Just the eye, examining Hiccup, nothing more. But the 3D is amazing, it's as though you're seeing a real eye, and because it's 3D we can see the Dragon's interest and curiosity. This is using 3D to enhance the experience, make it better, and involve the audience more deeply. There's also wow factor too, but it's not calling attention to itself, it's allowing us to remain fixed on the character and story.

So, with that in mind, if you are someone who wants pop-out 3D in new movies, you're going to come up disappointed most of the time... but trust me, that's a good thing!

-Pie

I have not yet succeeded in getting a completely non-blurry image.

I made a little progress this morning by loosening the straps. This was counter-intuitive since I am trying to get the device tight on my head and off my nose. But it helped.

-Pie

man I so want one of these.

Had me excited when I read they had stock held in Whitby.....would've driven tomorrow to pick one up, til I realised theres a Whitby in Canada and not our goth-ridden UK one

So looks like our current options are

a) stoneaudio for £660 but likely not until the new year going by what they said to me.
b) sony stores preorder, for £800 - or potentially £750 with these £50 discounts I've heard someone mention about.....but even then no date set in stone for it to whether would defiantely release.

£800 is a very unfair rrp price for the UK model, I desperately want this before xmas....I'd be tempted to preorder from stoneaudio, the discount is too tempting to ignore, and brings it more in line with the US price (tho still significantly more) however with not knowing the company, could see it a potential issue battling to get the 10% deposit back if cancelled for being able to get it elsewhere for sooner

or c) Harrods, though wrong end of the country, presume they're £800 and guessing they do not deliver?

or d) just spotted these.... http://www.cheapelectricals.co.uk/ac...Set_hmzt1.html £750 - claim delivery 9th December though take that with a pinch of salt

Their website currently shows the stock status as green, and "This item is usually dispatched within 2-3 Days"

It's proprietary as far as I can tell.

I bought a 25' HDMI cable and put the processor unit under my couch (it's a high couch, so overheating isn't at issue). The HDMI cable is run along the all so it's not visible. And since I will always use the HMZ-T1 on the couch, this is the perfect solution.

-Pie

Have you tried the different forehead supporters that come with the device?

Question for Brian mundt and Eating Pie: are you by any chance bespectacled? Could that be the reason you couldn't focus properly?

edo1946 and EatingPie -

Thank you very much for the info regarding the connector cable going between the box and the headset!

I have most of my equipment concealed from my 2 year old in an enclosed & locked cabinet, so running wires along the baseboards is not an option. I may just have to get a long HDMI cable and pull the box out of the cabinet when I want to use it.

Nope. 20/20 here...

Even if I move the device around my head with my hands, there is never a point where everything is in focus at once (at any lens adjustment). And if I can't get it in focus manually, adjusting the straps won't help.

I'm slowly learning towards selling/returning it...

^^^^very not good to hear. So you're giving up?

Sounds like my problem. I assumed it was my vision. Though my vision is fine with glasses I could easily view twice the "projected distance" at the same size. Was pretty blurry and never "in sync" with two lenses" I can get center focused easily(they still didnt match up perfectly). Then edges are blurry then I can maybe get one corner unblurry then on other lenses it is blurry on the same corner. It was like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces.. I returned it this morning. Even if I did get it working my projector is better and half the price. I was willing to sacrifice convenience for quality but even if I did get it to work my projectors image is better so why bother. Ive had my projector for 2 years and was convinced that this was finally something better....its not.

I tried all three foreheads, all three straps. I undid straps and put it up to eye and away. It FELT like that I was looking into a circular dome a little smaller then my retina to see the projected image behind it. Problem is it ripples at the edge of this dome and its smaller then my actual retina so I can never find a balance between the two. Then no matter the span adjustment I could never get 100 | 100 match.
Like I wrote 2D in big 46 font in notepad.I couldnt get the left image to perfect match it.

Its too late for me and I didnt have nerve to show anyone what I bought for 800 bucks. Can someone whose having the focusing issues like me,brian,eating have someone else in household try? Its possible that their is something wrong with lenses.

Unfortunately, I think so. There's no amount of adjusting that can make everything focus. And, it gets awfully uncomfortable (on the forehead, especially) after about 30 minutes.

I found the trick to getting the weight off the nose tough-- use the weight of the headset to create a little bit of a wedge between the forehead pad, the straps in the back. I think there's a common misconception that you have to ratchet the thing to your head-- definitely not so! I did that at first and the focus was much worse and the forehead pain was awful after only a few minutes.

Exactly - in theory there should be no difference between depth behind the screen and popout. I've not viewed enough displays to say whether this is true in practice or not, though.

Bingo. You described my problem exactly.

I wonder if the optics are faulty/installed incorrectly...I don't see any other possible reason for such a flaw, especially since you put it point blank to your eyes. The fact that some people have no problem getting 100% clarity also cues the possibility of inconsistent QC.

Has anyone managed to get 100% perfect clarity?

Maybe this device just doesn't account for everyone? Head shape, eye width, nose height, etc.

The OP didn't complain about blurring. Maybe he can enlighten us.
I'm on my way home will meet the hmd soon. I hope for a smooth experience, but you guys are scaring me.

Have someone else try it out (if you have the stones lol....I didn't). If it doesnt work for them their is def. something wrong with device. Its funny how three of the people who were most excited about device couldn't get it to work.

@aeroflux I literally put it point blank up to eye. I tightened it all the way where glasses were massed up to eye. I had it at max tightness(I have pract. no hair).Veins appearing due to no circulation and I COULD NOT see a full 100% image. The viewing dome is smaller then my vision and not only that but it ripples at the edges..

I recommend that to any1 who is getting it soon. Unpack it very neatly. May need to be repacked.... Its just crazy where the three of us who were talking about it so much before it went live. Could not get it to work. I can say flat out none of us spent 10 minutes trying but HOURS.