Pimax presents standalone VR headset with mini LED screens and 200Hz refresh rate
Pimax has announced its Reality 12K QLED. These VR glasses can be connected to PCs, but can also be used as a standalone. The glasses feature 5.7k mini LED screens with refresh rates up to 200Hz. The Reality headset will be released in late 2022 for $2,399.
The headset supports inside-out tracking via four integrated cameras, offering six degrees of freedom for greater freedom of movement. The Reality 12K QLED therefore does not need separate base stations to follow a user’s head, body, hands and controllers. Pimax announced its new standalone VR headset during its Frontier presentation.
The Reality 12K QLED features a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 soc, which is also used in Facebook’s Oculus Quest 2. With that soc, the VR headset can be used without being connected to a PC. In that mode, the resolution is lowered to 4k per eye, with a lower horizontal viewing angle of 150 degrees and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz.
Source: Pimax
If the Reality headset is connected to a PC via a fiber optic cable, the resolution is increased to 5620×2720 pixels per eye. The viewing angles also become higher; the company reports a horizontal viewing angle of 200 degrees and a vertical viewing angle of 130 degrees. In PC mode, the refresh rate is up to 200Hz. The two QLED screens have a mini LED backlight with local dimming and support HDR. The Reality 12K QLED can also be connected to a computer via a 60GHz WiFi connection. This is done via a WiGig module of the company. It is not clear whether the maximum resolution and refresh rate will be different.
The headset would also support foveated rendering, where the image quality is adjusted based on eye tracking. The objects that the users are looking at directly are then rendered at a higher resolution than objects that are on the outside. Furthermore, the lenses can be infinitely adjusted between pupil distances from 57 to 72 mm. The headset automatically determines the pupillary distance of users based on eye tracking with two integrated cameras.
The face cover of the headset is magnetically attached and can be replaced. For standalone use, the headset has a battery capacity of 6000mAh. The back of the headset houses two separate batteries for this, so that users can exchange them without having to switch off the headset.
In addition to the Reality 12K QLED, Pimax also announces a VR Station. That is a mini PC with a built-in WiGig module that is intended for use with the Reality headset. Pimax states that this system will get ‘powerful hardware with a high-end video card’, but does not share any details about that. The headset will also support additional modules via three USB-C connections. Pimax and other companies are working on blood oxygen meters, aroma diffusers and fans to cool the headset, among other things.
Source: Pimax