Most high-end virtual reality headsets on the market today have a roughly 100 degree field of view, give or take, and two displays (one for each eye) with resolutions around 1080 x 1200… give or take.
But Pimax says it’s new headset is the first with an 8K resolution, thanks to twin 3840 x 2160 pixel displays. It’s also said to have a 200 degree field of view.
The Pimax 8K headset is still just a prototype, but the company is showing it off at the IFA show in Berlin this week.
The high-resolution displays should reduce the “screen door effect” when using a VR headset, by letting you look at a screen so sharp that it’s hard to see lines between the pixels, even when using a headset that adjusts your focal distance so that you’re getting up close and personal with the screen.
And the 200 degree field of view should put more content into your peripheral vision, making virtual reality experiences more immersive.
The Pimax 8K is still just a prototype, so there’s no release date or price yet. But the company says the headset will be compatible with SteamVR and supports computers with NVIDIA GeForce GTX980 or 1070 or higher graphics capabilities. The headset is also designed to work with motion controllers and other sensors to track you as you move through space.
It looks like it’s based on HTC’s design (for motion tracking and stuff) as the controllers and lighthouses are e eerily similar.
Even if this just upscales a lower resolution image it’ll be excellent at preventing the screen door effect. I suppose as GPUs get better you might be able to run closer and closer to the native resolution too.