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MicroOptical SV-6 HMD initial impressions

From: Steve Barr <>
Date: Mon, 07 Jul 2003 20:46:22 -0400

This is what it looks like (same size/shape as SV-3):
http://www.charmed.com/prod1.htm
SV-6 info: http://www.microopticalcorp.com/Products/HomePage.html

Caveats:
1. The FedEx person dropped it right before handing it to
me, so my display may not be 100%.
2. This is only based on a couple of hours of playing
around with it.

Summary: Other than some unexplained behavior, it seems to
perform as advertised.

The bad:
It seemed to have some problem with being plugged/unplugged
from the VGA connector on a system.  I would get a solid
white screen, which wouldn't go away.  I didn't try recreating
this later; display is for a wearable, not a KVM switch.

I would also see a white screen when switching from one
mode to another.  This at least seems to have been caused
by a not-very-well-charged battery.  I could not reproduce
this later with a more fully charged battery.

The "eh?":
The mounting system.  To attach it to eyeglasses, you have
to mix and match small plastic parts, then screw them together
with two small screws.  With the included plastic and my
eyeglasses it was hard (but possible) to get the HMD far
enough forward to see it correctly.  I can see right now I
should order another few sets as the screws will wear out
the plastic bits.

I also worry about the longevity of the two ball and socket
adjustment points.  I hope I get to use it enough to find
out if this is a problem.

I was a little disappointed with the (not sure of the right
term) "artifacts" on the display when a dialog or something
was displayed.  This was generally a line or two going from
the dialog to the edge of the display when there was a lot
of difference between the dialog an background colors.  It
sounds worse than it is; unfortunately I can't find a picture
of the effect.

The control electronics get quite warm when in the otherwise
excellent belt case.  I guess it's a tradeoff; the current
case looks like it will do a good job protecting the control
electronics from bumps and bangs.

It would be a nice to have to have an AC adapter for the
SV-6.  It does come with a recharger for the battery.

Another nice to have would be a smaller hard case than the
briefcase-sized one provided.  But it's easy enough to remedy
that by buying a smaller one.

The good:
Other than the bad behavior noted above, it does seem to work.

The display is bright and readable.

The HMD is not very heavy; I didn't notice it tipping my
eyeglasses or anything.

The display is easy to adjust.

It does scale down an 800x600 image to 640x480, though it is
like like any other LCD display (such as an LCD projector)
that does this; naturally some detail is lost.  You can also
(under Linux and X) set a viewport of 640x480 and scroll
around a larger virtual desktop.

So, as long as the bad behavior doesn't reappear, it seems to
be a good (the best?) HMD choice available.

Steve
-- 
http://www.stevebarr.com
100% my opinions.

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