Osiyo. Dohiju? Hey, welcome back.
I thought I had ordered the Mad Gaze Glow Plus. I got the Glow. The Plus has better specs, but operationally they should be the same.
I was wrong about a few things. I thought I’d need an HDMI and USB C 3 to USB C 3 combiner. I only need the USB C 3 to USB C 3 cable. I was also wrong that the USB 3 on the LattePanda are not USB C 3 – the USB C 3 cable is for power only. So the LattePanda is out if I want to use this headset with my code. I need an SBC that has USB C 3 with DisplayPort. Fortunately, my laptop does have this so I can still do my own testing. The final thing I was wrong about and I’m probably the most disappointed in is that the display cannot be dimmed. It was my sincerest hope that these would be more see through than they are. I’m now not sure what the intention was for them, but it wasn’t mixed reality or they would have a different display. They seem like more streamlined VR goggles than AR/MR.
They have pretty good sound. The displays are amazing. They’re a bit too big in a way. Since this is pretty much direct display mirroring a 1900x 1280 will look super small. You have to really strain to see some of the corners. Not bad, just unexpected.
So, for MR these are a 1 out of 5 stars. I would give them a 0, but they’ll be practical for testing some of my work. The Johnny Mnemonic headset is actually better for testing my MR work but it weighs a ton. Maybe if I had an Android device this would be different. I haven’t looked through the Mad Gaze code. Maybe they use the camera on the glasses to show the world through the screens.
For some kind of personal monitor headset these are a 5 out of 5. I used them while resting my head on the headrest and looking at the ceiling. They were comfortable and it took moments to get used to typing and moving the mouse while looking up. So, if I want to watch a movie on my laptop but I want to lay down and do it it might be rough because of the giant cable coming out the back, but it could be done.
For streamline and weight I give these a 5 of 5. They are noticeable, but barely. While I’d give the Johnny Mnemoic headset a 1 of 5 in this regard. It weighs a ton. These barely weigh anything.
If you are nearsighted like I am you’ll have to either wear small-framed glasses, wear contacts, or get prescription inserts. They send you a sample to take to get prescription if you want them. I just wore my glasses under these. I have thin wire-framed glasses that weren’t uncomfortable. When I wear the Johnny Mnemonic I’d need corrective lenses on the other side of the viewscreen. The bonus is that you don’t need to split the screen. Working with the Johnny Mnemonic, North Star, HoloKit, Vufine AR, or others you need to split the screen so each eye has a representation. With this, you don’t notice that there are two screens. It looks like I’m looking at a TV not that far away. So I can utilize the whole screen.
In the 10-15 mins I used these to test them, they did get hot. Not blazing hot like the LattePanda does, but warm. The LeapMotion also gets this warm. It wasn’t unbearable nor did I sweat because of it. You will notice that it gets warm though.
Overall I’m disappointed in what was presented as an MR headset. The video shows a guy walking down the road and sitting on the subway playing a game with these. There’s no way he was able to see anything with the power on even with the brightest sunlight you can’t see much. If you want to watch the video you can check it out here.
Now, here’s what I was right about. I was able to run my SERINDA code on my machine and everything worked. I was able to pull up both cameras on my laptop (the built-in one, and the one on the glasses). I didn’t get the IR to work. I’ll have to do some digging to see if I can figure out why the IR camera didn’t come on and the IR light wasn’t on. I am having issues with my LeapMotion and my code so I couldn’t test some of the items that I wanted to.
I actually have a couple options at this point. 1) I can send them back. 2) I can keep them and instead use the camera on the glasses as the view. So I’d essentially be looking at a camera view of the world instead of my own view. This wouldn’t be different than VR helmet with cameras in front.
The second option isn’t so bad. However, I would have to perfect my gestures in OpenCV even moreso or mount a LeapMotion to the top. It does give me a chance to work with some technology out of the box that I could still have software that works for it. I kind of like that. Everything that I do with the Johnny Mnemonic headset I can do with this just instead of viewing the world through transparent lenses I’d view it through a screen.
I’ll still have to work with the Johnny Mnemonic headset as I want to have software that works for both types of headsets.
I did watch some Continuum the resolution is fantastic. Using the camera the resolution is only 640×480 so in order to create some kind of real world view I’d need to use my cameras.
So, the screens are ok, but I’ll still have to add cameras, LeapMotion, 9DOF chip, maybe more. It’s light so the added hardware will just make it look like a smaller Johnny Mnemonic. Either way, the same thing has to be done to that headset too.
Maybe I can make something from this work. The SERINDA display looks great on it… so there’s that.
EDIT:
I have to first acknowledge that I was wrong, to some extent. In broad daylight, you can, in fact, see through the lenses. If the light is anything but daylight you cannot see anything at all unless the device is off. Admittedly, some of that may be the sunglasses for the front lenses. I found them to be great for visualization with a LeapMotion attached via my laptop. So, I will retract part of my statement. The guy on the subway and walking could walk and do AR at the same time just maybe not if it was cloudy or in a dimly lit house.
I couldn’t take very good photos. Here are two. I’ll take some video and photos later on.
Until next time. Dodadagohvi.
IN MY MIND BY WINK DOUBLEGUNS 