I've been really into VR lately, and purchased a Oculus Rift DK2. VR gaming is freaking mind blowing of course, but....
What I wasn't expecting, was to see the future of home entertainment. I've never had a more immersive movie experience in my life. I was in the movie (Edge of Tomorrow 3D), with a screen that was larger then any Imax, and I had it wrap around me, and I could move my head with exact precise head tracking, and really felt that I was part of the action...
I will list a few cool things that I experienced:
1. You can actually be transported to the cinema. I'm talking about going to the movies, creating an avatar, walking through the lobby, picking a movie and then then walking into the theatre and picking your own seat, and you can bring your buddies along. You can recreate any venue size you want, with whatever screen size you want.
2. I created a custom theatre with a screen size that was way bigger then even any Imax screen.
3. Head tracking during a movie is just amazing. I watched Edge of Tomorrow in 3D on a massive curved style Imax screen. I set my distance from to screen so that I had to slightly move my head to get the entire image, and the immerision I felt was just beyond words.
4. No distractions. I mentioned the cool theatre experience where you can see the seats, people, etc, but you can also just make it so that it's you and the movie. You don't see any ceilings, walls, screen, etc. Just an utterly black void and you and the movie. VR tricks your brain into seeing scale as it is in real life. It's not like having a small screen strapped to your face at all. I've also owned the Sony Head Mounted Display HMZT1, and T3, and the Rift is much more convincing in creating the illusion of size.
5. OLED. Infinite contrast, Low persistance (zero motion blur) 90FPS native refresh rate. You will never see this kind of performance from a projector.
So why is it "almost" the ultimate movie watching experience? Because the resolution sucks
The DK2 uses 1 1080p screen for both eyes which cuts the resolution down to 960 x 1080 per eye, which is just not even close enough to eliminate seeing pixels, and this is further compounded by the fact that the OLED is pentile which makes the pixels very visible.
VR is solitary of course, unless you go online to meet up with friends to watch a movie, but it's still not the same as being in the same room with people. But, I don't find watching movies a very social anyway. You sit in a dark room, talking is not ALLOWED (unless you want a slap) and you all stare at a screen. I find that watching movies with friends at my place actually annoys me anyway, and I'd rather watch "serious" movies by myself. The only movies I prefer to watch with people are comedies, some TV shows, and just silly ****. You spend thousands to build a bat cave, and you still cannot get so dark that you will see nothing but the screen. With OLED, you will have a bat cave that even Batman would envy. Literally, you could create a freaking batcave in VR and watch your movies there. LOL.
There are many VR headsets coming out which will hopefully get the resolution to a point where the pixels are invisible, but that may still take until 2016-2017. VR is being praised as the most immersive gaming device, but I think Movies are really going to be just as big a deal as gaming. These are exciting times
What I wasn't expecting, was to see the future of home entertainment. I've never had a more immersive movie experience in my life. I was in the movie (Edge of Tomorrow 3D), with a screen that was larger then any Imax, and I had it wrap around me, and I could move my head with exact precise head tracking, and really felt that I was part of the action...
I will list a few cool things that I experienced:
1. You can actually be transported to the cinema. I'm talking about going to the movies, creating an avatar, walking through the lobby, picking a movie and then then walking into the theatre and picking your own seat, and you can bring your buddies along. You can recreate any venue size you want, with whatever screen size you want.
2. I created a custom theatre with a screen size that was way bigger then even any Imax screen.
3. Head tracking during a movie is just amazing. I watched Edge of Tomorrow in 3D on a massive curved style Imax screen. I set my distance from to screen so that I had to slightly move my head to get the entire image, and the immerision I felt was just beyond words.
4. No distractions. I mentioned the cool theatre experience where you can see the seats, people, etc, but you can also just make it so that it's you and the movie. You don't see any ceilings, walls, screen, etc. Just an utterly black void and you and the movie. VR tricks your brain into seeing scale as it is in real life. It's not like having a small screen strapped to your face at all. I've also owned the Sony Head Mounted Display HMZT1, and T3, and the Rift is much more convincing in creating the illusion of size.
5. OLED. Infinite contrast, Low persistance (zero motion blur) 90FPS native refresh rate. You will never see this kind of performance from a projector.
So why is it "almost" the ultimate movie watching experience? Because the resolution sucks
VR is solitary of course, unless you go online to meet up with friends to watch a movie, but it's still not the same as being in the same room with people. But, I don't find watching movies a very social anyway. You sit in a dark room, talking is not ALLOWED (unless you want a slap) and you all stare at a screen. I find that watching movies with friends at my place actually annoys me anyway, and I'd rather watch "serious" movies by myself. The only movies I prefer to watch with people are comedies, some TV shows, and just silly ****. You spend thousands to build a bat cave, and you still cannot get so dark that you will see nothing but the screen. With OLED, you will have a bat cave that even Batman would envy. Literally, you could create a freaking batcave in VR and watch your movies there. LOL.
There are many VR headsets coming out which will hopefully get the resolution to a point where the pixels are invisible, but that may still take until 2016-2017. VR is being praised as the most immersive gaming device, but I think Movies are really going to be just as big a deal as gaming. These are exciting times