Immersion therapy
Two HDMI sources can be routed to the 3D HMD, and there’s a loop-though on the switcher to your regular TV. It’s also possible for others in the room to view one source, while you view another on the HMD.
Not too well balanced at the front, hence the straps at the back
Sony maintains that the image as viewed through the headset is equivalent to a 750 feet cinema screen seen from about 20m. Equally, it could be said the picture looks much like you’d see from a 0.7in OLED panel viewed from just a few centimetres. The spec sheet goes for the middle ground and claims the effect of 150in screen viewed from 12ft away.
Regardless of estimates, the blackout effect of the headset certainly manages to create an illusion of scale. Films presented a 2.35:1 scope ratio look particularly cinematic, more so than video framed for 16:9. It’s a nice illusion.
Each eye gets a 720p display, apparently
The panels themselves are incredibly sharp. Sony says the resolution is 720p, and the HMD-TZ1 is equipped with a newer microdisplay that's bigger than the 0.5in screens fitted to some of its Alpha cameras. If you understand Japanese, you can check out the HMD's 0.7in sensor here [PDF]. Indeed, images have texture and detail and exhibit extreme contrast that a photographer would expect. Manual optical adjustment sliders beneath eye piece ensure the sharpest focus.
The 3D experience created by the HMZ-T1 is rather different to that on an Active Shutter TV. For starters, there’s no loss of brightness caused by filtering stereoscopic glasses.
Switches adjust focus for each eye
That means 3D material looks just as bright and vivid as 2D. There’s also no visible crosstalk. Because OLED panels refresh around 100x faster than LED panels (response time is quoted at just 0.01 milliseconds), left/right screens don’t overlap and double imaging is avoided.
Next page: Game over?
COMMENTS
DROP THE HEADSET AND COME OUT....
THIS IS THE SONY POLICE! DROP THE HEADSET AND COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP.
What? What did I do?
YOU HAVE CONTEMPLATED MODIFYING OUR HARDWARE IN A MANNER NOT SUPPORTED BY OUR EULA.
But I bought and paid for....
YOU BOUGHT NOTHING. YOU PAID FOR A LIMITED LICENSE TO USE OUR HARDWARE TO VIEW OUR CONTENT IN MANNERS WE APPROVE - A LICENSE WHICH IS NOW VOIDED.
But I was only
<he's resisting boys - GET HIM>
"720p for £800 ... I'm still laughing!" That's 720P per eye on 0.7 inch monitors. Your just too stupid to be impressed by that right ??
Push the button...
"I thought that the HMZ-T1 would also be ideal for gamers – until I tried it and quickly realised that wearing the headset meant I couldn’t see the controller in my hands."
So, presumably, you can't touch type either?
Crosstalk/double imaging
"Because OLED panels refresh around 100x faster than LED panels (response time is quoted at just 0.01 milliseconds), left/right screens don’t overlap and double imaging is avoided."
Surely the lack of crosstalk has sod all to do with the refresh rate, and more to do with the fact that instead of a single screen rapidly flicking between left/right eye images, there's a separate physical screen for each eye? Don't get me wrong, a high refresh rate is a Good Thing, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of 3D images in this instance. I also nearly face-palmed when I read the bit about not being able to look at a controller whilst wearing them, as per several other commenters. Please can we have this sort of kit reviewed by someone who actually knows what they're on about in future?
No TV and No Licence
If you lived alone and got rid of your TV set you could dump this thing in a drawer when the TV licence man coes around. It would effectively pay for itself in a few years :P
