CES in VR: Hands-on with CastAR and Avegant Glyph at CES 2014
Cymatic Bruce here with more videos from my ‘CES in VR’ series; side-by-side 3D videos meant to be viewed in VR using VR Player. These videos feature hands on impressions of two devices that recently concluded successful Kickstarters: the Avegant Glyph and CastAR!
Avegant Glyph
- Watch without a Rift: Click the gear icon in the YouTube player and set 3D to Off.
- Watch with the Oculus Rift: Download VR Player and the configuration preset for this video. In VR Player go to Tools > Load Preset > From File… and select the configuration preset. Then go to File > Open Stream > With VLC… and paste this link.
Karl (founder of SVVR) and I got the chance to sit and talk with a few members of the Avegant team and try the Glyph prototype. I was pleasantly surprised by their outlook and intention for the product: a plug-and-play personal media player with an irresistibly attractive form factor. Some features will be borrowed from VR (like head tracking) but are not the core functionality.
When I looked into the unit, the picture blew me away. By far the picture quality was the most impressive feature of the Glyph. The colors were insanely rich and vibrant. The image was ridiculously clear, even with my glasses off. The light is natural—I felt no need to adjust brightness, contrast, or any other picture setting. I was unable to perceive any sort of screen door, as expected with projected light. They told me that the picture was 720p, but if you would have asked me to guess before hand I probably would have told you 1080p.
These early prototypes they were showing looked and felt great. The unit was a bit heavy, and had to be held in place to get the “sweet spot”, but the sweet spot is super sweet. The sound is incredible—high end earphones for sure. The unit has diopter and IPD adjustments that are easy to modify and melded into the design. Another big plus is that the unit does not blind you to the outside world. I was able to operate my phone, a laptop, and take a drink of coke without removing the device.
The Glyph is not for everyone. It is not immersive VR, but it is certainly a compelling media player experience. I would gladly get one to replace my TV. I don’t view the Glyph as an Oculus Rift competitor, I view it as a Sony HMZ competitor—and it blows that unit out of the freakin’ water.
Technical Illusions CastAR
- Watch without a Rift: Click the gear icon in the YouTube player and set 3D to Off.
- Watch with the Oculus Rift: Download VR Player and the configuration preset for this video. In VR Player go to Tools > Load Preset > From File… and select the configuration preset. Then go to File > Open Stream > With VLC… and paste this link.
The creators of CastAR were at CES giving private demos, and I was able to schedule an interview as well as a peek at the newest prototype that Jeri Ellsworth put together over Christmas: the HD prototype with 720p per eye! I talked with Rick Johnson, co-founder of Technical Illusions, and then went on to try their latest prototype.
The unit fit over my glasses and was comfortable to wear. There was no difficulty interacting with the environment while the unit was active, CastAR glasses do not interfere with your regular vision. The pico projector assembly attached to the glasses did get a little warm, but Rick assured me that they would be combining and shrinking components soon that would consume less power and emit less heat. A bit more than a square meter of reflective material was set up on the table in an “L” shape, along with an IR wand, Xbox controller, and IR tracker.
The picture was solid stereoscopic 3D, very clear, and the brightness levels were good! The experience is a bit hard to describe; the picture does not fill the material entirely, but rather its as if a rectangular view port follows where you look. The tracking was good, but did get a little bit wonky as I leveled my gaze with the table. I also occluded the tracking once or twice with my wild hand motions. The tracking is positional and rotational, it was great to lean in and examine character models up close!
An exciting feature of CastAR is the clip on accessory to transform the system into a VR headset. Unfortunately the VR component was not available to demo, as the new 720p prototype has a different form factor and aspect ratio. I am certainly curious how their VR solution will compare with the Rift and other VR HMDs.
CastAR is amazing tech, and it needs a killer app. The tabletop gaming/D&D crowd will definitely get excited, there are some very cool possibilities there. Also, Rick showed a desktop proof of concept demo that was very interesting. Imagine your entire desk covered with this stuff—much cheaper than a monitor, and the added bonus of feeling like Tony Stark. I will certainly be keeping a close eye on Technical Illusions and their progress.
