A Blast from the Past - The First Mainstream VR Headset (Visor)!

[kevinw729]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXS8Fc4oiSU

[bigmike20vt]

Is that VR or just big screen 2D when you wear it? 

[kevinw729]

No they sold it as viewing and virtual reality - it was originated from the Vissette created for the Virtuality company and their VR arcade systems. It has tracking as well.

[cybernettr]

That thing must be pretty obscure, because I found only one other video on it on YouTube, a similar retro review-type video. 

[cybernettr]

When you view the video in HD and read the box front panel bullet points, it says it provides stereo sound and a “big screen” gaming experience, but apparently not true VR as we know it today. 

[ohgrant]

Pretty cool, I don't recall that one. I still have and occasionally use my old Z800 HMD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmSXQe49Rcc Great 3D and head tracking. The field of view is not up to par with modern VR, but the screen seems much further back, like sitting center seat in a theatre. Much like the screen in Big Screen. There is no screen door effect at all with the Z800 and many games from the past look as sharp if not sharper than today's VR even though the resolution is much lower. Not sure if that's because of the screen to be seemingly further away, their display choices, lenses. The huge downside to the Z800 was it needed the then free Nvidia consumer driver to properly function in 3D.
 when Nvidia.started doing their own 3D thing. They dropped support for them. Still functional here with a 2009 driver on my old P4 build.  


   

[kevinw729]

cybernettr said:

When you view the video in HD and read the box front panel bullet points, it says it provides stereo sound and a “big screen” gaming experience, but apparently not true VR as we know it today. 

Yes, the Magazox unit was the last production run as the project imploded and they started grabbing at straws to try and prove that the system had a number of uses. In reality the SCUBA was focused formally as VR - as with the similarly design ATARI system that came out a few months later.

I notice a number of people jumping to assumptions regarding a number of the early VR HMD's saying "these were not used as VR"... well the reality is that the majority of the early systems were sold with three options (Game Viewer, Media Player, and VR) and depending on the market the marketing material reflected this. Even the Sony HMZ was sold primarily as a viewer, but was supported as a VR system - with the majority of sales being as a VR headset (as seen with the later HMZ-T2 variant)

I think those that even try and claim the just because the ATARI Jaguar VR system had tracking, it was not a VR systems really - are those from the camp that only want to believe that their (current) phase of VR is true, and all the rest was fake - shame to ignore history like that.

[bigmike20vt]

For the record i made no such claims, i asked a question based on the video you linked and cybernettr was just quite sensibly repeating what he saw on the packaging.

[kevinw729]

bigmike20vt said:

For the record i made no such claims, i asked a question based on the video you linked and cybernettr was just quite sensibly repeating what he saw on the packaging.

....a number of people jumping to assumptions....

This was not directed at you, but other posters we deal with - easy tiger!

[bigmike20vt]

lol fair enough but there are only 2 people in this thread who were questioning the VRness of those goggles.

either way, no harm no foul 🙂