14 DAY TRIAL // Sony really made an impression during this year's IFA trade show, but it looks like it isn't done yet, what with a certain, fairly unusual invention finally heading to US stores.
Sony is a company with a stake in most of the IT industry's major branches, and this was made more than clear during the IFA 2011 trade show.
There, in Berlin, Germany, it had not just a booth, but an entire pavilion full of electronics of all sorts.
Now, the company is again getting the attention of the media, due to a certain, less than ordinary product seeing some extended availability.
The device in question has actually been up for sale in Japan since some time last month (August, 2011).
The reason it is now surfacing again is because stores from the United States might finally get it as well.
On to the device itself, it is, basically, a headset, only its primary function is not to relay audio (though this is still one of its prerogatives).
Essentially, the HMZ-T1 Personal 3D Viewer, as it is called, is something that brings 2D and 3D video right in front of users' eyes.
Two OLED wearable displays are part of the construction, each with a native resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels. The overall impression is that one is watching a 150-inch screen from a distance of 12 feet.
5.1-channel virtual surround sound is present, as is a distinct lack of 3D crosstalk, thanks to the positioning and design of the OLED panels.
In other words, watching video through it shouldn't cause any 3D-induced headaches, at least not as fast as one might otherwise expect.
Sony will be selling this thing in the US starting November, for the price of $799, which accounts for the bundled control and processing box (includes an HDMI input and pass-through output, meaning that the signal can be routed to a HDTV or projector).