Earlier this year, Valve confirmed that LG was developing a VR headset utilizing SteamVR Tracking, making it one of the first headsets to do so outside of HTC Vive and the upcoming Pimax “8K” VR headset. While still unnamed when we first demoed the headset at GDC in March, a recent trademark filing with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) now suggests the headset will be dubbed ‘UltraGear’.

First reported by Dutch publication LetsGoDigital, LG filed the trademark application with EUIPO on October 17th, stating that the UltraGear name categorizes a product relating to “Head-mounted holographic displays; Virtual Reality headsets.”

image courtesy LetsGoDigital

LetsGoDigital maintains the UltraGear name specifically applies to LG’s SteamVR headset, although there’s nothing beyond the trademark filing that would suggest a definite answer to the affirmative. While it’s possible LG has created an entirely new headset intended for the UltraGear naming scheme, for example working in the Windows ‘Mixed Reality’ hardware ecosystem, LG has only shown its SteamVR-compatible headset, making it more plausible that it’s moving out of full production and heading into its marketing phase.

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The South Korean multinational has made minor headway in the VR market thus far, starting with its ill-received ‘LG 360 VR’ headset which specifically connects to the LG G5 smartphone via a dedicated cable, an unusual departure from the standard convention of using the phone’s display to drive the VR experience. LG’s V30 smartphone shows more promise as one of the few ‘Daydream ready’ flagship smartphones, although a ‘tethered’ PC VR headset would put it squarely in the thick of what appears to be the first major steps by popular OEMs to seriously enter the VR headset market.

If specs remain largely unchanged from what we saw at GDC, LG’s SteamVR headset stands to have a higher resolution and improved ergonomics over HTC Vive. LG’s prototype showed off a flip-up design and PSVR-style halo head strap. Its entrance into the SteamVR tracking ecosystem will also make the Vive’s main selling point, famously robust room-scale tracking, less unique.

LG VR Headset Specs:

  • Resolution: 1440×1280 per eye
  • Display Type: OLED, single panel
  • PPI: 540
  • Field of View: 110 degrees
  • Refresh Rate: 90Hz
  • Lens Type: Convex, non-Fresnel

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • RFC_VR

    Not at all impressed with oled panels on two different Pixel 2 XL I got to demo yesterday (panel/phone made by LG), especially one I tried with new daydream view.

    Hopefully not an issue on this forthcoming VR hmd…

    • Foreign Devil

      I was in the market for a phone and almost went for the Pixel 2 XL. . .then after seeing how late it would ship to Canada and how expensive it was I went with the regular Pixel 2 which I have in my hands now. Glad for my choice after reading about all the problems with the LG panel in the Pixel 2 XL. For that price you can’t be having problems. .no matter how minor.

      • RFC_VR

        Glad you found the right phone in the Pixel 2. I’ve been really impressed with my original Pixel XL (Samsung panel / HTC made phone).

        The latest reports are now coming through about screen burn on Pixel 2 XL after only a week of ownership (from new owners, rather than reviewers), which does not sound good…at all :(

  • superdonkey

    if pimax pulloff their 8k this will be obsolete before it comes out

    • victor

      agree and the best part –200deg fov. I am so tired of my rift ski goggle vision.

      • gothicvillas

        yep! I can live with the current resolution for now. But FOV on my Vive is ridiculous.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Let’s first wait the actual release of Pimax and reviews of the actual hardware, then wait until you hear the actual price of the Pimax after kickstarter. And at this moment we still haven’t heard anything about the final specs of the LG and it’s pricing. Also if Pimax can pull it off for low cost, then it’ll be hard to get a unit in your hands as it will sell out pretty fast.

      • daveinpublic

        The negatives of the Pimax could come from the 2 screens not overlapping enough in your field of view.

        • Konchu

          I am also fearful of the distortion to the sides a little. If the SDK for the games that are made now don’t have room for different aspect ratios this could lead to some weirdness(I don’t know if this is the case). As the current screens are essential much closer to square per eye 1200×1080 per eye vs 3840 × 2160. And this was one thing the Tested guys stated as a negative. But I have also heard its hard to go back by people who have tried this. If they pull this off. I dont count in pimax to get games made that are optimized for this but if steam VR has been built forward enough to leverage this good we are in for a treat.

          • Andrew Jakobs

            To be honest, I can’t imagine SteamVR NOT having thought about different aspect ratio’s of headsets.

        • Heliosurge

          Your right. Without proper ipd adjustment; convergence will be off. This weeks reviews from the US showcase of the new prototype with hardwsre ipd adjustment should alleviate these concerns & validate this headset even more.

      • chicanoterp06

        what kind of pc would you need in order to take full advantage of pimax?

        • Andrew Jakobs

          If you want to take full advantage of the regular 8K version, you’ll need at least an GTX1080, if you want to take real advantage of the real 8K version, you’ll need something much better than the GTX1080.. And that’s only GPU wise, also depends ofcourse what game/experience you’re trying and how much it will rely on a CPU, because higher resolution might also mean more objects, so a better CPU would also be needed with a lot of games. It will take a couple of years before midrange (GTX1070 type of range) GPU’s will be able to take full advantage of the resolution.

          • chicanoterp06

            yeah… I have a i7 6800k @ 4.2 ghz with a gtx 1080 but I am curious what games will take advantage of the resolution at the moment or if further upgrades on my pc are necessary to take advantage of the resolution

          • Muzufuzo

            I also have 6800K @ 4.2Ghz but ours gpus are far too slow for even (2x) 4K 90-120fps VR gaming on highest settings. One 1080 Ti offers 1x 4K 60fps. You would need at least two 2080 Ti or something like that to be able to fully utilize it, unfortunately. Gpus are what is #1 reason for vr unpopularity. With faster hardware, more developers would create for VR, stationary and mobile.

          • Spuzzum

            One of Pimax’s goals was to have eye-tracking though.. which could reduce gpu load by as much as 50%. It’s in their Kickstarter goals, and it’s the last unlocked goal.

            https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pimax8kvr/pimax-the-worlds-first-8k-vr-headset/posts/2028059

      • Heliosurge

        Agreed. But folks need to realise we need a wide range of headsets for vr. To support budget hardware to high end. Otherwise vr growth will be limited. The main thing is that manufacturers need to ensure quality experiences at each tier. While FB isn’t aiming for the top; they are trying to entice folks with affordable solutions without the need for hefty upgrades. This is also MS’ direction. This is important to encourage mass adoption.

    • rabs

      For those that mostly care about FoV or SDE, Pimax is a winner.
      But LG kind of screen should let people see more information per degree, so it’s not that obsolete.

      Don’t know lenses overlaps and optics deformations, but source data is
      – LG: 110° FoV from 2x 1440×1280
      – Pimax 8k: 200° FoV from 2x 1920×1080 (upscaled to 3840×2160)

      Both have around 4Mpx to refresh through the cable, but LG is showing it in front of us (where it’s the most useful). The other method is better for immersion, though.

      • Heliosurge

        Incorrect on 8k.

        The 8k takes 2x 2560*1440 & upscales to 2x 3840*2160. Not 2x 1920*1080.

    • Twa Corbies

      Only if it’s not as bad, as 4k model, but i sense, it will be another cheap chinese crap, with bugged software and support staff, who don’t even care to show some respect to their customers, and learn a bit of english, to use on their english forum. Had P4K, but sold it after using like ten times, becouse it was bad in every aspect, besides no SD effect. Now have current western hardware, and boy, it’s so much better.

      • Heliosurge

        The 8k is night & day to the 4k. As for your other comments not sure what forum you were in. The staff is quite supportive & respectful. Granted you might have been in the demographic where tge 4k design issues caused you to not be able to enjoy the 4k. The 8k has addressed those design issues with style. The PiMax support members have often spent alot of time with tools like teamview to help get users up & running not only with their headset but to also help get 3rd party programs working.

      • Muzufuzo

        I agree that Chinese products are crap overall. Western, Korean or Japanese are so much better.

    • Heliosurge

      Lets not forget Samsung’s Oddessy even has higher panel res specs.

  • Vr Deluxe

    Whats the point of launching another low resolution headset when we already have the vive for 2 years. Pimax 8k will leave all these clowns in the dust

    • The point is competition. Cheaper, better, even if minor will pull sales because LG are a known brand. LG are a big player with many years in the display field. If they can do this now with an entry level headset that pips the Vive and it sells, they could start taking VR more serious. LG also have the R&D to do 8K and I assume they have vastly more experience in this field than Pimax. Just like LG did with the introduction of OLED TV’s which wiped the Pioneer Kuro of the map and making almost every high end LCD/Plasma inferior.

      Realistically Pimax are a little fish with a prototype product. I hope they pull it off, I really do as it would catapult the high end VR industry forwards a couple of years compared to existing projections. It would also create higher demand for eye tracking so that people on lower tier hardware can benefit from super hi-res and wide FOV too.

      Personally I hope somebody with more global industry experience buys Pimax and dumps a ton of investment into it. The fact they haven’t yet worries me slightly. Time will tell when they produce a commercial headset that beats the existing ones on all that matters.

      • Heliosurge

        LG has proven at times they don’t have their company in order. The Lg G4 for example with its solder issue with the cpu hardware boot problem (own one but it seems to be good compared to friends). Then there was their complete vr failure add on for the lg g5. Now i still prefer this brand atm for phones & like htc & samsung partner/ask for help from a headaet vr system. Sam with oculus & htc as we all know with Valve(steam).

        • We wouldn’t be here without buyouts :) Palmer Luckey back in the day kicked it all off when FB bought his company, Oculus.

          I do understand your view though. When you build a community up from kickstarter backers you feel part of the team as the passionate out there are actually listened to. Maybe Pimax will become a leader in the field as they are certainly innovating enough and driving forwards where other bigger players are silent.

          At the moment, Pimax seems to be all about development which is just one cog to success of their products. Over the years I have seen many skilled engineers who produce a brilliant prototype just fade away because they had no idea about global sales, marketing, supply and demand etc. That is why I said I hope somebody buys them, not to shelve or turn their products into secrecy but to give the Pimax engineers the freedom to keep innovating and pushing VR tech while others manage the commercial side, same happened with Oculus and now they produce some of the top selling headsets in the world and are classed as a quality experience and not just a portfolio of products.

          I want Pimax to succeed as much as you but I also do not want to see them implode a month after launching gen 2 of VR for some oversight.

          Just my 2p :)

          • Muzufuzo

            Pimax will never ever become leader in VR. I suspect the company won’t even exist in 6 years.

          • Heliosurge

            I see what you mean. But view is more big companies often ignore its user base. I would rather see there team expand to give them a wider skill set that reinforces areas like marketing in a global enviroment.

            Right now we have an interactive company. Where as big companies often feel like they’re using bots in their forums & such

  • Rodrigo Martinelli

    LG are scammers.. i had one of the self desoldering flagship phone of theirs.. even knowing this design flaw they went ahead and released the G5 using the same board.. got scammed once, never buy their brand again..

    • RFC_VR

      I’ve owned a number of LG televisions and computer monitors. Their earlier TV had known display problems, which were resolved and are now very good.

      I’ve actually got two LG televisions in the house, both are very good.

      Solving manufacturing issues on a 55″ TV screen, and solving similar issues on 5-6″ smartphone/VR display panel is a world apart…

      • Michael

        I too have two LG TV’s, they’re great. My brother has one of their phones, also great. This is an upgrade from an older LG Phone. Overall, I feel like Rodrigo got some bad apples there.

        • Rodrigo Martinelli

          Not just me.. there’s a collective sue only in US for faulty G4’s V10’s and G5’s.. users from several other countries are heading down the same path.. still is not the phone what worries me.. is LG’s response, wich was null..

      • Rodrigo Martinelli

        The G4 was greate too.. but LG got claims because of this flaw, they knew their processors were desoldering due too poor design and yet went ahead and launched the G5 using the very same mainboard.. my concern is not about them not fixing the problem, my concern is about them launching phones knowing they would fail during the second year.. so if i cant trust them with a phone, why would i but a VR headset ? plus, to what extent will they push hardware ? will a similar flaw emerge later on the VR headset ? will they not respond to customers again ?

  • Skippy76

    I’d much rather go wireless than higher res and fov.
    I setup a little pulley system to keep the cables away from me and my feet but wireless would be the ultimate setup!

  • gothicvillas

    seriously, who wants this or MS so called mixed reality HMDs. They are low res, flimsy and cost the same as Oculus or Vive (almost). Only appeal is to those who want to attach HMD to their dated PCs. But come on, if you use VR on low spec computers, experience will suck.

  • Muzufuzo

    Why exatly don’t they use 2x 2160×2160 screens? I guess most peoples computers are too weak for that. Pity.