Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Virtual Reality Headsets: A Step Into Real Like Virtual World


Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God! That tiger is about to grasp me and have me for his dinner, God please save me he is so near.”- With Virtual Reality headset, you can enjoy a real experience of a jungle safari right on your couch in the living room. Mark the words ‘real experience’. 3D videos are in trend from some years now, but Virtual Reality is a little similar and miles ahead. Let us know more about Virtual Reality headset, a gadget that is ready to hit the technology market and to take digital life to next amazing level.

Virtual Reality headset is a somewhat goggle and helmet combo gadget with the potential to take the wearer in virtual world that seems real-like because of computer-simulated environment. Through the computer, Virtual reality can recreate sensory experiences that include virtual taste, sight, smell, sound, touch, etc. Some technology big-wigs are working on creating their own virtual reality headsets for users around the world. 

 
The concept of Virtual Reality headsets was started by Oculus but with time well known giants, like- Google, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, etc. have stormed into this industry. Most of these companies have revealed their plans on respective headsets and the launch in the market for the users is not very far either.

Moreover, in first of its kind operation, US department of defense in 2010 used virtual reality headsets in Future Immersive Training Environment (FITE), a Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD), as a three-year $36-million initiative to demonstrate the value of advanced small unit in immersible training systems. It demonstrated infantry applications of Virtual Reality headsets to train soldiers via giving them feeling of real-life environment of a war projected as in Afghanistan.

How Virtual environment works?

Most VE systems are powered by normal PCs and Graphics that run on high-tech Graphic cards originally designed for the video gaming community. VE systems use Head mounted displays (HMD), which are headsets that include two monitors, one for each eye. The images make up a stereoscopic effect, giving the illusion of depth. Earlier, HMDs used Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors, which were large and expensive but provided good resolution and quality. Later arrived Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitors, which were much cheaper, but, incompetent against the quality of CRT displays. At present, LCD displays are much more advanced, with improved resolution and color saturation. All this makes LCD more common than CRT monitors.

With experiments taking place to improve the HMDs for better user experience, the Virtual Reality headsets arrived. They are much lighter and more comfortable to wear than HMDs. These headsets contain head tracking systems which is connected to a computer that sends signals to adjust the images seen by the wearer as they move around in virtual environment. The glasses allow the wearer to see two separate images which the brain combines into one to give the illusion of 3D depth.

What is the aim of Virtual Reality headsets?

The main aim of Virtual Reality headsets is to gift the wearer a virtual world which is realistic and behaves in a co-natural way. But any delay in response time will result in disconnection and, in some cases, user might feel motion sickness. Initially, the target users of the VR headsets will be video-gaming community, but it is expected to gradually expand itself to other sectors, like- Architecture, Movies, Health-care, etc. Microsoft’s HoloLens, which is still being worked upon, promises use of VR in communication, engineering, etc. and can really prove to be a giant leap in Virtual Reality world.

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