Bigscreen Beyond is the world's smallest VR headset

[Shawn Knight]

In a nutshell: Interested in a cutting-edge virtual reality headset but put off by bulky and heavy designs? Perhaps Bigscreen's debut offering is worth a look. The Bigscreen Beyond is billed as the world's smallest virtual reality headset. It measures less than an inch at its thinnest point (24mm x 143.1mm x 52.4mm) and weighs just 127 grams, or about 4.5 ounces, which the company claims is roughly six times lighter than competing devices.

It's no slouch in the hardware department, either. The goggles employ a pair of OLED displays operating at a resolution of 2,560 x 2,560 each that could go a long way in minimizing or totally eliminating the nagging screen door effect that plagued some earlier headsets. The system supports 75Hz and 90Hz refresh rates, we're told.

The displays are mated to a three-element lens comprised of plastic polymers, glass, films and coatings that provide a 93-degree horizontal field of view and a 90-degree vertical FOV.

Each headset is custom built to better match the shape of the buyer's face. After pre-ordering, customers can use an app to scan their face and send it to Bigscreen to have a custom foam cushion constructed. It is then paired with a headset matching your interpupillary distance (the distance between your eyes) before shipping.

This custom step ensures the best possible fit but adds weeks or even months to the order fulfillment process. It also means the headset won't be a great fit for other users and could make resale more difficult down the road.

The Bigscreen Beyond is available to pre-order now priced at $999. Notably, the kit only includes the headset itself and a cable to link it to your computer meaning you'll need to supply your own controllers and base station hardware. Bigscreen recommends at least an Nvidia RTX 2070 / AMD RX 5700 XT or newer GPU (DisplayPort 1.4 and DSC required), at least 16GB of RAM and a vague Intel / AMD quad-core CPU to run the headset.

The first wave of pre-orders is expected to ship in the third quarter of 2023.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/97602-bigscreen-beyond-world-smallest-vr-headset.html

 

[Random Commenter]

Glad they're getting smaller, but unlikely to be for me as I wear spectacles, which I doubt would fit underneath. What about a prescription built version?

 

[amghwk]

I have a feeling, this might never see the light of the day, just like so many other start-ups. And whatever you do, NEVER pre-order an unreviewed, unproven product. In fact, never "pre-order" anything. Ever.

 

[toooooot]

"at a resolution of 2,560 x 2,560"
Pretty solid, gonna check a review

 

[toooooot]

I have a feeling, this might never see the light of the day, just like so many other start-ups. And whatever you do, NEVER pre-order an unreviewed, unproven product. In fact, never "pre-order" anything. Ever.

On one side.
One the other, early adopters might be the only chance for a small company to create the next big thing.
You cant be a leading tech nation without people investing into these things, and losing money is a part of it.

 

[Lounds]

This is DoA, very niche and won't sell anywhere near enough units. Quest 3 will be out by October.

 

[sorten]

On one side.
One the other, early adopters might be the only chance for a small company to create the next big thing.
You cant be a leading tech nation without people investing into these things, and losing money is a part of it.

Pre-ordering a consumer product isn't investing, it's consuming. It's like gambling, but without the benefit of immediate gratification. I'm not knocking pre-orders for new products altogether. You're right, we need some people to take chances on new companies, but only those with money to burn should jump in at this stage.

 

[IksPiks]

Look at the big fat cable hanging out. No thanks... I'll be aboard the VR train when the sets are even lighter and cordless - at an acceptable price, say $300.
Until then, I don't mind being VRless.

 

[koblongata]

But no wireless link? c'mon

 

[Bobbydpue]

This is DoA, very niche and won't sell anywhere near enough units. Quest 3 will be out by October.

How can something that hasn't arrived, yet, be dead on arrival? How do you know the Quest 3 will be out by October? These days nothing is out until you can actually buy it.

 

[Bobbydpue]

On one side.
One the other, early adopters might be the only chance for a small company to create the next big thing.
You cant be a leading tech nation without people investing into these things, and losing money is a part of it.

Has Bigscreen ever brought a physical product to market? They haven't and many people don't realize how difficult and costly is it to manufacture something, especially something that's better than the current players in the market. You can lose your money. I've lost too much money on tech startups where they never brought a product to market.

 

[neeyik]

But no wireless link? c'mon

Bandwidth requirement presents a bit of an issue here -- a 2560 x 2560 screen is 6.55 Mpixels (a typical 1440p monitor is 3.69 Mpixels). Operating at 90 Hz, that's an active bandwidth requirement of 14 Gbps, using uncompressed color, and 7 Gbps using 4:2:0 chroma sub-sampling. That's 802.ax territory and given that two transmitters would be required, along with the tech being relatively new in the chipset world, it would only ramp up the cost even more.

 

[toooooot]

Bandwidth requirement presents a bit of an issue here -- a 2560 x 2560 screen is 6.55 Mpixels (a typical 1440p monitor is 3.69 Mpixels). Operating at 90 Hz, that's an active bandwidth requirement of 14 Gbps, using uncompressed color, and 7 Gbps using 4:2:0 chroma sub-sampling. That's 802.ax territory and given that two transmitters would be required, along with the tech being relatively new in the chipset world, it would only ramp up the cost even more.

Maybe they are betting on interesting enough people and the headset actually being cool enough that people will buy version 2.
After all, this is what so many Chinese big companies did for popular electronic products.

 

[koblongata]

Bandwidth requirement presents a bit of an issue here -- a 2560 x 2560 screen is 6.55 Mpixels (a typical 1440p monitor is 3.69 Mpixels). Operating at 90 Hz, that's an active bandwidth requirement of 14 Gbps, using uncompressed color, and 7 Gbps using 4:2:0 chroma sub-sampling. That's 802.ax territory and given that two transmitters would be required, along with the tech being relatively new in the chipset world, it would only ramp up the cost even more.

WiGig can do it, just like on HTC Vive Wireless adapter..., and have you tried Oculus Quest's AirLink? It works quite well even through conventional WiFi...

 

[neeyik]

WiGig can do it, just like on HTC Vive Wireless adapter..., and have you tried Oculus Quest's AirLink? It works quite well even through conventional WiFi...

Must admit, I wasn't aware of the Quest AirLink, although looking at the Quest 2 screen resolution, it requires 25% less bandwidth than the BB, even at 120 Hz. With 4:2:0. it's a fraction under 5.1 Gbps (which is easily achievable with 802.ac).

But I'd totally forgotten about WiGig! 802.11ay is a perfect use case for VR, although I wonder what the power consumption on the transmitters is like.

 

[koblongata]

Must admit, I wasn't aware of the Quest AirLink, although looking at the Quest 2 screen resolution, it requires 25% less bandwidth than the BB, even at 120 Hz. With 4:2:0. it's a fraction under 5.1 Gbps (which is easily achievable with 802.ac).

But I'd totally forgotten about WiGig! 802.11ay is a perfect use case for VR, although I wonder what the power consumption on the transmitters is like.

Wi-Fi 6e and 7, at 6Ghz band should work great for AirLink, Quest Pro should have it soon, Meta said "early 2023" so.

Dunno, but considering a mobile phone can run for so long it should be handlable with bearable battery requirement I think, the long usb cable is however really unbearable for me.