Back in November last year I’ve mentioned the upcoming SiliconMicroDisplay ST1080 3D HMD and now the product is getting closer to soon becoming available on the market. Silicon Micro Display (SMD) was present at CES this year and there they were showing prototypes of their Full HD 3D-capable head mounted display unit. Neil Schneider from MTBS has managed to do a short interview at the Silicon Micro Display’s booth at CES, so now there is a bit more information about the device. It seems that SMD is not only interested in the possible use of their device for stereoscopic 3D entertainment, but also has interest in the use of the HMD device for Augmented Reality (AR) applications since the unit will feature semi transparent displays. The ST1080 HMD device you wear weights just 180 grams, so it is going to be pretty light and comfortable to be worn for longer time, but there is also an external control unit that has the HDMI input as well as some control buttons. In the interview they mention the device is HDMI 1.3a-capable, which can turn out to be a bit problematic for compatibility, with a HDMI 1.4 and even higher resolution model in the works. There is also a micro USB port that would allow you to use external power sources such as compact batteries when you want to be able to use the device on the go for example. No head-tracking features are planned for the device, so this may come as a bit of a disappointment for some gamers, but the guys at SMD have apparently decided to focus more on the core technology and functionality of the HMD device instead to fill it in with extra features that may not be that useable or well designed and functional. And now for the pricing and availability, initially these Full HD 3D-capable HMDs will be sold for $799 USD, no exact date for the product release on the market, but it will hopefully be this year with initial availability in the US.
- To watch the full stereoscopic 3D video interview with Silicon Micro Displays…
