Sony launches 3D OLED Head-mounted Display

A Head-mounted Display (HMD) is just what it sounds like -- a computer display you wear on your head. Most HMDs are mounted in a helmet or a set of goggles. Engineers designed head-mounted displays to ensure that no matter in what direction a user might look, a monitor would stay in front of his eyes. Most HMDs have a screen for each eye, which gives the user the sense that the images he's looking at have depth.

The monitors in an HMD are most often Liquid Cystal Displays (LCD), though you might come across older models that use Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) displays. LCD monitors are more compact, lightweight, efficient and inexpensive than CRT displays. The two major advantages CRT displays have over LCDs are screen resolution and brightness. Unfortunately, CRT displays are usually bulky and heavy. Almost every HMD using them is either uncomfortable to wear or requires a suspension mechanism to help offset the weight. Suspension mechanisms limit a user's movement, which in turn can impact his sense of immersion.

The head-mounted display is the first of its kind, according to Sony. It creates the experience of watching 3D (or 2D) pictures on a “movie theater-like virtual screen” that’s equivalent to a 750-inch display, if big S is to be believed.

Here are the main specifications :

• two 0.7-inch OLED panels with HD resolution (1,280×720)
• 45-degree horizontal viewing angle / “virtual viewing” distance of 20m for the aforementioned 750-inch virtual screen
• 5.1 surround sound coming from speakers integrated into the HMD (Sony’s Virtualphones)
• processor unit with two HDMI interfaces (input and output) for connecting TVs, consoles or Blu-ray players
• size: 180×168×36mm, weight: 420g.

It's set for a November 11 release in Japan with a price tag of 59,800 yen, or $781.

working of HMD :