Archive for the ‘Gaming’ Category

Help shape the development of the Cinemizer OLED HMD

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

There have been a number of companies offering various types of head mounted display (or HMD) in recent years, but due to various reasons they haven’t really kept up with the pace of recent technologies, such as OLED displays or HD resolutions. Most current devices are stuck with relatively low output resolutions (640×480 in many cases) and poor screen quality, and as such are not automatically a good fit for online racing.

Carl Zeiss are looking at expanding their well received ‘Cinemizer’ product line with a new HMD that is believed to use a pair of high quality OLED screens, along with proper HD resolution support. The current Cinemizer Plus already has very good integration with mobile devices (iPhone etc.) and their next product is scheduled to extend this with support for VGA and HDMI inputs. Potentially this type of HMD can support some very immersive experiences whether it be watching movies, playing games or even simulation racing.

Zeiss are currently running an online survey where they are seeking interest in their new Cinemizer OLED HMD and if you have any interest at all in a new device like this I strongly encourage you participate and show what you’re looking for most. I’ve been following this product launch with a view for integrating with iRacing, so I’m eager to see what it can offer.

The online survey is at http://www.gfk.com/video-eyewear

The switch to triple wide

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

The last significant iRacing build saw a new feature appear in the release notes. The ’3 render’ mode. What this means is that it is now possible to configure the iRacing client to split the view into three equal sized portions, each with a different angle and view of the world. This is a big improvement from the previous three screen approach which just had a single (very wide) camera view spanning across three monitors.

When I first saw the videos of the mode in action I was very impressed – you can angle the side monitors at any (sensible) angle and the simulation will render the geometrically correct viewpoint for the monitor size and angle. This results in the monitors behaving like true ‘windows’ into the virtual world – a very immersive experience!

I made a short video to show the effect. It was taken adhoc in poor lighting conditions but should still serve as an indicator to this excellent feature.

By the way, ignore the movement of the virtual steering wheel in the video – the replay is from an old iRacing build and so the wacky steering movements are greatly exaggerated!