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LG announces dedicated Google Cardboard VR headset

Krejlooc

Banned
http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/09/lg-google-cardboard-vr-headset-g3/

Google announced a few weeks ago that they were upgrading their cardboard project from a 20% project to a full google project and that select manufacturers would be creating "big, retail" versions of the Cardboard headset. They announced a bevvy of plastic headsets along with the announcement, but none from major retailers.

Here's the first one from a major carrier; LG's "VR for G3" headset:

tNKHZKp.jpg


Being a cardboard device, this has a few caveats different from Samsung's Gear VR headset:

-Uses cheap, internal IMUs built into your phone instead of high-end IMUs in the headset
-Uses default android as backend, with all the problems it brings (native triple buffering, now low persistence, etc) as opposed to the custom, built-by-john-carmack mode Gear VR's headset forces the Note 4 into
-Compatible with Google Cardboard and Duvoris Dive software (and stuff like Youtube VR), not compatible with Gear VR software (and vice versa).

In short, this is a high end, carrier-specific plastic version of google's cardboard. Being that it's literally just a plastic phone holder, it should be much cheaper than Gear VR but should also present a significantly lesser experience.
 
I bought a Cardboard VR from Google. On my high res Galaxy Note 4, it actually looks decent. If they can put the price below $20 I think it's perfectly sufficient as a demo. For anyone looking to go whole hog into VR it'll probably be a huge disappointment.
 
Not shocking its LG that's the first one to make a shitty VR set most of their products are absolute trash, just continuing the trend i guess.
 

Majestad

Banned
Not shocking its LG that's the first one to make a shitty VR set most of their products are absolute trash, just continuing the trend i guess.

The stupidity and irony of your post is that this product is for their LGG3 phones, one of the single best smartphones in the market.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Looks like the old slideshow headset from my youth

John Carmack references this in his Oculus Keynote discussion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn8m5d74fk8

It's pretty funny because he's talking about when he was researching for VR and was using one, and said "it was obviously terrible but it didn't need to be terrible" so he began drafting up a letter to hasbro about a bunch of engineering changes they could make to turn their product into a viable VR platform before he realized what he was doing ("I was drafting lots of letters like that at the time, haha").

Can you imagine being the toy designer at hasbro making viewmasters and getting a letter from john carmack about how to improve your virtual reality platform? LOL

Not shocking its LG that's the first one to make a shitty VR set most of their products are absolute trash, just continuing the trend i guess.

A) How is this shitty?

B) LG is hardly the first to make one of these
 

Krejlooc

Banned
I bought a Cardboard VR from Google. On my high res Galaxy Note 4, it actually looks decent. If they can put the price below $20 I think it's perfectly sufficient as a demo. For anyone looking to go whole hog into VR it'll probably be a huge disappointment.

I really, really like cardboard as an initiative because it can be copied with extreme ease. Google's cardboard initiative is less about the hardware, and more about the software. It's very obvious where cardboard is intended to go - a one-stop VR app for anybody to support. I'm hoping it transitions into a robust, media-centric VR SDK as time goes on. I see it as essentially OSVR's main competition.

Cardboard should be the bare minimal cheapest VR solution going forward, and I really like that.
 

MaDKaT

Member
I have a cardboard. It has certainly been worth the few dollars I got it for. If this is priced ok, I may upgrade for my G3.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
I have a cardboard. It has certainly been worth the few dollars I got it for. If this is priced ok, I may upgrade for my G3.

From the pic, this is literally just a plastic version of the google cardboard headset, complete with the magnet to disrupt the magnometer in your phone for input. There are quite a few headsets like this around, although I suspect this'll be the first major one sold in stores (counting gear VR as an entirely different thing).

Pricing will be key. This is literally a chunk of plastic and a magnet and some plastic lenses, hopefully this can be priced below $20.
 

Fnord

Member
I realize there are form factor issues to take into account, but these handset-specific units are severely limited by their handset-specificness.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
I realize there are form factor issues to take into account, but these handset-specific units are severely limited by their handset-specificness.

Obviously for real time rendering, but as a media-centric device? Smart phones are good enough to do that well without hindrance. I don't see this stuff as a portal into high-end, real time VR, I see it as a way from stuff like this:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...-pixar-felix-paul--20150206-story.html#page=1

To make its way home. It'll be neat when, suddenly, a huge number of people in the world realize they already own the hardware necessary to watch these new VR films.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Buy this ; bascially the same thing and also works with all kinds of phones. Also very comfortable...


http://www.dx.com/p/colorcross-univ...ideo-glasses-for-4-7-smartphones-black-336607

The problem with "supporting all phones" is that the optics to stretch a 4" phone correctly are not really suited for, say, a 5.5" phone. These jack-of-all-trades headsets sacrifice some quality for universal compatibility.

This one specific headset is being designed around the G3, specifically taking into account its size when designing the optics.
 

MaDKaT

Member
From the pic, this is literally just a plastic version of the google cardboard headset, complete with the magnet to disrupt the magnometer in your phone for input. There are quite a few headsets like this around, although I suspect this'll be the first major one sold in stores (counting gear VR as an entirely different thing).

Pricing will be key. This is literally a chunk of plastic and a magnet and some plastic lenses, hopefully this can be priced below $20.


That is sort of what Im hoping. Mostly just to upgrade to plastic over paper.
 

patientx

Member
The problem with "supporting all phones" is that the optics to stretch a 4" phone correctly are not really suited for, say, a 5.5" phone. These jack-of-all-trades headsets sacrifice some quality for universal compatibility.

This one specific headset is being designed around the G3, specifically taking into account its size when designing the optics.

The lenses are movable to left and right I got a 5 inch and 5.5 inch phone; both of them looks ok when you adjust the lenses
 
I love Google Cardboard but unfortunately there really isnt enough content to warrant having a higher end viewer.

What do you guys use it for beyond trying out all the small experiences in the Play Store?
 

Krejlooc

Banned
I love Google Cardboard but unfortunately there really isnt enough content to warrant having a higher end viewer.

The announcement of these high-end viewers coincides with the announcement of youtube vr and an updated sdk. Presumably, these headsets are to spur content creation.

Unity, for example, now offers cardboard as a build target.

My mother uses her cardboard mainly for youtube at the moment. She's pretty excited for the sundance films to become available.
 
The announcement of these high-end viewers coincides with the announcement of youtube vr and an updated sdk. Presumably, these headsets are to spur content creation.

Unity, for example, now offers cardboard as a build target.

My mother uses her cardboard mainly for youtube at the moment. She's pretty excited for the sundance films to become available.

Here is hoping for more content then!

And when you say your mother uses it for Youtube, are you talking about the one that is part of the Play store app with the other demos? (maps, etc)
 
I really, really like cardboard as an initiative because it can be copied with extreme ease. Google's cardboard initiative is less about the hardware, and more about the software. It's very obvious where cardboard is intended to go - a one-stop VR app for anybody to support. I'm hoping it transitions into a robust, media-centric VR SDK as time goes on. I see it as essentially OSVR's main competition.

Cardboard should be the bare minimal cheapest VR solution going forward, and I really like that.

Totally agree. I think they're positioning it as a trojan horse for a VR install base and to inspire developers to get more VR apps on the market. As it is now, there's not a huge amount to go around app-wise and you're gonna need something to show off a headset fancier than $20 will get you.
 
I love Google Cardboard but unfortunately there really isnt enough content to warrant having a higher end viewer.

What do you guys use it for beyond trying out all the small experiences in the Play Store?

It's plastic, a couple lenses, and a magnet; it'll fit your device better but should only cost like $15-20. I'm sure plenty of people would be interested in using it for things like VR movies, panoramic pictures, etc. Mostly a novelty but I don't think the masses are going to care about gaming in VR.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Here is hoping for more content then!

And when you say your mother uses it for Youtube, are you talking about the one that is part of the Play store app with the other demos? (maps, etc)

No, I mean straight youtube video of captured dual barrel distortion output from an Oculus rift played back with cardboard strapped on.

I have a 360cam ordered too, and she's excited to try that out (since it has native youtube support).
 
No, I mean straight youtube video of captured dual barrel distortion output from an Oculus rift played back with cardboard strapped on.

I have a 360cam ordered too, and she's excited to try that out (since it has native youtube support).

Oh, why havent I tried doing this, thanks for the tip.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Oh, why havent I tried doing this, thanks for the tip.

Keep in mind you lose headtracking, but it's a good way to cheat and get to experience stuff like senza peso or sightline. Granted, being at the mercy of someone else's gaze is wonky, but what can you expect for under $20?
 

Linkup

Member
Wow, I didn't know Google is fully funding their VR project now. This is all progressing pretty quickly. The minute they start overcharging and making people think about the price and whether it's worth it or not they failed. This custom design with a low latency improvement for android VR would be a nice step up, but it shouldn't cost more than $20.
 
Mobile VR is the biggest tech gimmick I've used in years. I went to a local developers meetup for it and they were letting people use the Samsung one and halfway through the guy asked if the device was showing heat warning errors yet. All the hints on how to make your experience run well were basically "make it a really ugly PS2 game".
 
Mobile VR is the biggest tech gimmick I've used in years. I went to a local developers meetup for it and they were letting people use the Samsung one and halfway through the guy asked if the device was showing heat warning errors yet. All the hints on how to make your experience run well were basically "make it a really ugly PS2 game".

Bigger than mobile 3D? It's either you need to be tethered to a decently high end PC or you make do with low end mobile graphics, one's cost prohibitive and the other isn't.

OT, I always wanted to see Moto's Moto X stories in a VR experience. Seems like they would work really well with that.
 
Mobile VR is the biggest tech gimmick I've used in years. I went to a local developers meetup for it and they were letting people use the Samsung one and halfway through the guy asked if the device was showing heat warning errors yet. All the hints on how to make your experience run well were basically "make it a really ugly PS2 game".

It works really well with videos, though. A reasonably functional, low-cost alternative for movies, documentaries and news would be really cool, imho.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Mobile VR is the biggest tech gimmick I've used in years. I went to a local developers meetup for it and they were letting people use the Samsung one and halfway through the guy asked if the device was showing heat warning errors yet. All the hints on how to make your experience run well were basically "make it a really ugly PS2 game".
Thankfully you don't need super high end graphics to have really cool VR.

Nor do you need a ton of power if you're not doing VR gaming.
 

Cyd0nia

Banned
I'd take a HTC version for the M7 / M8

LG guessing that people want to try this, but they want to do it on a budget, and I think they're right. Everyone I show Google Cardboard to wants one - but I'd have a hard time convincing any but the most ardent techie to part with serious money for a full featured headset.
 
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