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[mckmas8808]

Won't be. Once FOV is fixed and headset is reduced in size, this kind of device is a gold mine.

And the price is below $3,000.

 

[SuperJay]

They must have got in on a Magic Leap demo.

 

[Rembrandt]

I'm not disputing that they have other commercial/enterprise uses for it but I just think it's pretty telling that they chose to dedicate a significant portion of their E3 conference to this tech at the same time as Sony was unveiling their VR. I think that's the main reason people here on a gaming forum are talking about it. If your competitor is releasing a hot new thing that you don't have, a great way to steal some of their thunder is to try to position something you do have which is kind of similar as if it were an answer to that. This is all speculation on my part but if it's not the case then it begs the question: why did they show it off at E3 when it will have no gaming application any time soon and currently costs a few grand?

Closing the show with a 15-20 min demo is a significant time even though PSVR was announced before E3?

The answer to that question is obvious and I answered it in my posts above.

 

[deriks]

For architecture and work purposes, it's awesome. For a gamer, it's expensive as hell

 

[Pathfinder]

Somewhat disappointed, but it's best they hold off and not try to force it if it's not ready.

I'm still very excited about future possibilities though.

 

[dofry]

Somewhat disappointed, but it's best they hold off and not try to force it if it's not ready.

I'm still very excited about future possibilities though.

Don't be. It's too much into the future. Still exciting someday but one cannot expect anything, especially for gamers, in the near future. Baby steps with this one. As a concept it is good but it was shows way too early to the general public and kinda sold as something you might have very soon. For research purposes, sure I'll have one but other than that let it brew a bit longer.

 

[driver116]

Well sure... if you also consider PSVR and the like as doing the same thing your TV did decades ago. Otherwise, no... don't be daft.

There's no need to be nasty.
Have you had a Vita? It did all sorts of AR stuff like this and you could get immersed.

 

[Lebneney]

In before the NX is AR and beats Microsoft to the punch.

 

[3rdamention]

In before the NX is AR and beats Microsoft to the punch.

That would be crazy and interesting..

 

[Tatsumi Oga]

Interesting though, with the news today about the Conker game included with the devkits. But if it's going to take a while, I am very ok with that. Concentrate fully on controller games all the way MS.

 

[cakefoo]

In before the NX is AR and beats Microsoft to the punch.

In before $2599 US dollars.

 

[Lebneney]

That would be crazy and interesting..

Crazteresting ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

In before $2599 US dollars.

Nintendo going for the high end exclusive market.

 

[Alx]

There's no need to be nasty.
Have you had a Vita? It did all sorts of AR stuff like this and you could get immersed.

"AR stuff like this" is quite a broad generalization. I doubt the Vita did 3D scanning of the whole environment, spatial sound or eye tracking. Let alone stereoscopic display as an overlay of your real view.
The comparison to TV/VR is actually sound, going from virtual worlds/AR displayed on a screen to virtual worlds/AR displayed on a headset.

 

[Concept17]

All the development efforts are being geared toward VR right now, so it's not surprising to hear this.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

I don't think MS is going to miss out on the VR train, but I do think it was an absolute mistake to dedicate E3 stage time to the Hololens AR project. For a lot of watchers, it was seen as some kind of counter. I just had this debate on Twitter.

 

[Bsigg12]

There's no need to be nasty.
Have you had a Vita? It did all sorts of AR stuff like this and you could get immersed.

A Vita, or hell a 3DS, can do AR. It's absolute garbage when compared to what is actually happening with the Hololens but both those handhelds have AR applications.

 

[driver116]

"AR stuff like this" is quite a broad generalization. I doubt the Vita did 3D scanning of the whole environment, spatial sound or eye tracking. Let alone stereoscopic display as an overlay of your real view.
The comparison to TV/VR is actually sound, going from virtual worlds/AR displayed on a screen to virtual worlds/AR displayed on a headset.

Then why not just say it does them things, instead of posting a nasty reply.
And it still doesn't justify the asking price.
At least darkinstict gave me a sensible reply.

 

[Raist]

"AR stuff like this" is quite a broad generalization. I doubt the Vita did 3D scanning of the whole environment, spatial sound or eye tracking. Let alone stereoscopic display as an overlay of your real view.
The comparison to TV/VR is actually sound, going from virtual worlds/AR displayed on a screen to virtual worlds/AR displayed on a headset.

The PSV can't really do 3D scanning obviously because it just has a simple camera. It has some simplified version of it though with the AR cards to use as markers.

It did do some environment "distortion" though, again simple versions of it. But I don't really see an enormous leap between the few things they've just shown for Hololens and some of the stuff that was made for Vita about 5 years ago.

Are you sure Hololens does eye tracking though?

 

[Alx]

Then why not just say it does them things, instead of posting a nasty reply..

Er, what nasty reply ?

 

[Flai]

That does NOT read well. There's so many other ways he could have worded that better.

How come? It's a developer kit, meant for developers. 'Normal people' just simply means consumers.

 

[Alx]

It did do some environment "distortion" though, again simple versions of it. But I don't really see an enormous leap between the few things they've just shown for Hololens and some of the stuff that was made for Vita about 5 years ago.

In environment perception, switching from "simple, collaborative environments" to "almost anything works" is huge. It makes the difference between a nice demo and a usable product.

Are you sure Hololens does eye tracking though?

Actually no, I was mistaken by their "gaze tracking" feature which actually seems to be head tracking. Pity.

 

[Caipirinha]

Not only is the tech not there, but what is there is in the hands of Microsoft...

Maybe when Apple/Google/Samsung/Sony/some ultra talented startup take AR seriously it will be on the horizon, but I wouldn't trust Microsoft to design a pencil.

 

[TBiddy]

Not only is the tech not there, but what is there is in the hands of Microsoft...

Maybe when Apple/Google/Samsung/Sony/some ultra talented startup take AR seriously it will be on the horizon, but I wouldn't trust Microsoft to design a pencil.

You should try pen that comes with the Surface. Or the Surface. This is just ignorant.

 

[Kutastha]

They must have got in on a Magic Leap demo.

Precisely. Thought they were the Wright Brothers building the first plane until they saw the jet being built in the hangar next door.

 

[AmyS]

New info from EEtimes on the silicon in HoloLens.

Most interesting is the HPU (Holographic Processing Unit) and Intel Cherry Trail SoC with embedded GPU, and the call to semiconductor engineers to pave the way toward higher performance, lower power chips for lighter, cheaper, more feature-packed headsets.

http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1329763

Microsoft Shines Light on HoloLens
Custom Tensilica array drives headset

5/25/2016

BRUSSELS – Microsoft gave a look inside its HoloLens and the Holographic Processing Unit that drives it at the Imec Technology Forum here. The HPU is among an emerging class of specialty accelerators.

In late March, Microsoft started shipping a developer’s version of HoloLens, its novel augmented reality goggles. The release generated a flood of teardowns but until now they lacked commentary from the headset’s designer.

“We have showed HoloLens for last 18 months, focusing usually on the experience and the software -- this is the first time we will talk about the hardware,” said Ilan Spillinger, corporate vice president of HoloLens and silicon at Microsoft.

The HPU at the core of the headset is essentially a data fusion sensor. It takes inputs from an array of sensors on the HoloLens include four environmental sensors, a miniaturized Kinect depth camera and an inertia measurement unit. It accelerates algorithms that track the user’s environment, movements and gestures and displays holographic images.

The 28nm HPU is essentially a highly customized DSP array running at less than 10W max. It includes an unknown number of Tensilica DSP cores optimized to run hundreds of HoloLens-specific instructions.

Each core is customized for a particular function and subset of instructions. In what sounds like a non Von Neumann architecture, each typically has its own unique organization of related memory units.

It accelerates “new style algorithms that need special local memories and a unique memory architecture, not a typical level 1-2-3 cache,” he said.

The headset is powered by a 14nm Intel Cherry Trail SoC with embedded graphics running Windows 10. The two-sided motherboard also contains 64 Gbytes flash storage and 2 Gbytes external memory split evenly between the HPU and Cherry Trail SoCs.

Spillinger would not comment on the road map for the HPU except to say he “sees opportunity for running algorithms we didn’t think about.”

The HPU fits roughly in the category of a new accelerator Google announced last week for its data centers as well as one in the works at a startup.

Spillinger called on semiconductor engineers to pave a road to higher performance, lower power chips to help him build lighter, cheaper headsets packing more sensors and features.

 

[J_Viper]

Cool, I bought a $3,000 product that I can do 12 things with and now it is collecting dust.

VR in a nut shell

 

[Crayon]

VR in a nut shell

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

The "other industry" applications is the real growth market for these devices but it's a long game. Smart move keeping it for developers as of now. That wonderful Halo demo is in such a controlled environment it's no wonder it's not ready for consumer release.

The Kinect2 is much the same, huge potential in other industries away from gaming but not a consumer product really.