Sony CEO: wireless and larger field of view are needed for adoption of VR glasses
For the further adoption of virtual reality it is necessary that the resolution increases, HDR display is present, the field of view is expanded and the hardware functions wirelessly. That is the opinion of the CEO of Sony’s research department.
Dominic Mallinson, vice president of Sony’s research and development division, shared his vision for the future of virtual reality this week at the Collision 2019 tech event in Toronto. Venture Beat writes about this. Mallinson did not specifically discuss a possible successor to the PSVR, but did indicate what vr must meet for further success.
He also reported that Sony has now sold 4.2 million copies of the PlayStation VR headset, but that the company wants to do better. “We want to rebrand a lot more people into PSVR users. And we don’t stop at the PS4.” The PlayStation 5 will also receive support for Sony’s own glasses.
Although nothing is known about a new generation of VR glasses from Sony, Mallinson indicated that he expects the resolution of upcoming VR products to double. The PSVR has yet to make do with a 1080p resolution, but new VR headsets from Oculus and HTC offer higher resolutions. For example, the Valve Index shows 1440×1600 pixels per eye.
The CEO also refers to a wider field of view as a ‘must-have’. He expects this to be 120 degrees, while currently about 100 degrees is the standard. In the ‘near future’, he says, VR glasses will also receive support for HDR, which is necessary for the illusion of presence or presence in the virtual world. “The human eye sees a huge range of light, from sunlight to deep shadows. Today’s VR panels can only display a fraction of that.”
Finally, he cited ease of use as hugely important for greater adoption of virtual reality. He emphatically mentioned the inconvenience of cables and the need to find a solution. According to him, that lies on the one hand with an all-in-one headset, and on the other hand the use of wireless communication. According to him, all-in-one models are far from being able to compete with wired versions and the development of wireless technologies such as 60GHz is moving in the right direction. He did point out, however, that these techniques can make the glasses more expensive. According to him, this could also be offered as an option for glasses with detachable cables.