Samsung's new mixed reality headset with anti-screen door tech launches today

Shawn Knight

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In brief: Samsung's new mixed reality headset aims to eliminate the immersion-crushing screen door effect by diffusing light emitted from each pixel to fill in the areas around it. This is reportedly the same sort of approach Sony uses on the PlayStation VR to great effect.

Samsung’s entry into the Windows mixed reality space gets even more lifelike today with the launch of the HMD Odyssey+, its latest mixed reality headset.

The device, first tipped over the summer via an FCC filing, features dual 3.5-inch AMOLED displays with a resolution of 1,440 x 1,600 per eye. The 1.3-pound headset integrates premium AKG audio technology but what really sets it apart from the previous iteration is Samsung’s Anti-Screen Door Effect (Anti-SDE) Display technology.

The fine lines that separate pixels are easier to spot when your eyes are in close proximity to a display, such as when using a mixed reality or VR headset. This is known as the screen door effect and it’s quite distracting, taking away from the immersion these headsets aims to generate. Once you lose the feeling of actually being there, the whole illusion is compromised.

Samsung’s Anti-SDE technology involves applying a grid to diffuse light coming from each pixel to replicate the picture to areas around each pixel. According to Samsung, this makes the spaces between pixels near impossible to see, creating a “perceived” resolution of 1,233 PPI.

Samsung’s HMD Odyssey+ goes on sale today in the US at the Microsoft store and on Samsung’s website priced at $499.99. It'll be available in other regions including Korea, China, Brazil and Hong Kong soon, Sammy said.

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Seems like a nice update. This should work better then higher resolution HMDs given the current price of graphics cards. I don't expect a 4K capable VR GPU to come out for 2 years. The 2080 Ti is close but it doesn't maintain 90 FPS. Hopefully by then Nvidia won't be charging $2,000 for the founders edition.
 
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