Spanish startup VRElia has announced plans to launch three new virtual reality headsets by the end of the year each aimed at different markets.They will also offer bespoke virtual reality production services.Speaking to Road to VR, the VRElia has outlined their plans to compete against the Oculus Rift in terms of price and hardware quality with a mobile, general, and professional version of their VREye headset brand each supporting various levels of functionality.Their existing prototype, although it looks bulky, is said to be extremely light.The resolution of the 7-inch screen is the same as the Oculus Rift (1280×800) although we are told the quality is vastly improved.A render of VRElia’s VREye prototype“We have increased the FOV (something VR consumers are very interested in) by increasing the lenses size” said a spokesman for VRelia.”We have optimized the optics for the 7 inch screen, something that translates to bigger visual comfort, less eye fatigue and less light concentration emitted from the screen to the retina.This allows us to show more real pixel density per eye, while using the same screen size of our competitors.We also get less ghosting, richer color, increased brightness and improved contrast.”The next version has already been designed but not yet manufactured.It will feature “a truly minimalist and ground breaking design” and a full HD screen.The professional version (internally known as VREye Retina), will go even further and incorporate two full HD screens which the team admit will present some challenges.”It’s difficult to maintain some of the benefits depending of the screen disposition, but we’ll find a working solution that matches good FOV and resolution per eye.Cost is the biggest issue with this model (we think that this is the main issue with Valve’s prototype too), and we plan to launch this model for the professional market on a small scale,” VRelia told Road to VR.A low-cost model will be designed for the mobile market (it is not clear whether this will be an attachment or integrated device) with a skew towards entertainment and media playback.The team are also developing VR software solutions for architectural, medical and educational environments, with several projects well underway mostly with Unity and CryEngine.The team want to position themselves as content providers rather than just a hardware manufacturers.Although there are no firm release dates, VRelia hopes that the final models will be shipped by the end of the year with the mobile version being “very affordable,” the general version being “competitively priced against the Oculus Rift,” and the professional version being “considerably more expensive.” acheter vadalista en ligne
Don Gateley
It’s been obvious from the gitgo that Oculus didn’t have anywhere the time that they thought they did. Their lazy schedule will be their undoing.
Curtrock
@Don Gately : I respectfully submit that you are completely wrong about Oculus. Implying their schedule is “lazy” to me seems to defy logic. Have you actually been following the trajectory of Palmer, and the Rift? Are you aware that this technology has gone from a 19 yr old guy tinkering in his garage, to a world class tech company with 100 employees and 100 million in funding, in less than 2 years? Just because another company in Spain makes an announcement about releasing a HMD sometime in the future, you equate that with Oculus’s imminent demise? I predict your complaints and predictions about Oculus will be placed in proper context the day after the CV1 gets released, and the dawn of a new era in Entertainment/Communication takes place, led by Oculus & the Rift. IMHO
Ben Lang
This is why we keep you around ; )
Don Gateley
I sincerely hope you are right.
I didn’t mean to imply that the people are lazy, but that the schedule too lazy to fend off imminent competition unless they have some really crucial IP locked down with patents. In which case they can afford a lazy schedule.
Don Gateley
I should have said “imminent competition from too many directions, hardly just Spain.”
Curtrock
@Don: I hear ya. Everyone is anxious to have a Consumer Rift, working perfectly, ASAP. But, anyone who has used the DK1, knows that there were some very serious tech issues that needed to be resolved. (Like inducing nasty motion sickness, which I have experienced a few times – not fun) Bringing a half-baked VR-HMD to market, could have ruined the whole VR movement, let alone doomed Oculus & the Rift. It has taken some of the worlds best talent (ie: John Carmac, etc), multiple companies (Oculus & Valve), many millions of $$$$, prob dozens of prototypes, and probably countless 1000’s of man hours, to develop and and iterate to the point of where it’s at now. I think you are right that there will be lots of competition, but it’s hard to imagine other companies have conquered things like the new “low-persistance” anti-pixel smearing tech that Oculus has developed, and other things that Valve has mentioned. Also, Oculus is now co-publishing to help develop AAA release titles like EVE Valkyrie. Do any of these competing HMD developers have any announced content for their hardware, yet? Hell, Oculus just released their Best Practices Guide for developing VR content a few weeks ago. Oculus is trailblazing the path towards consumer VR, and any competition they might have, would be hard pressed to surpass or even match what I think Oculus is doing. I wish them good luck! Meantime, the DK2 will prob be on the table soon, so anyone chomping at the bit for VR, will have the opportunity to jump in soon. The rest of us, who spent $300 on the DK1, welcome you to the party!
Runewell
I think Oculus has been lightning quick with their work. It’s a shame they are punished for doing well with their developer kits and prototypes. If the first developer kit had been a dud they would have had all the time in the world to make their consumer device, albeit with less money, but because it was so great as a proof-of-concept people demand a consumer product right now despite expectations being set from the beginning of a late 2014 launch. VR has been idle for the last 25 years and Oculus has single-handedly brought the genre back to life, we can wait another year. Oculus understands the time it takes to develop great software and to coordinate the logistics of simple manufacturing hardware to their quality standards. They want to make sure when they launch that they have a base of developers and applications that will immediately run on the platform, a supply chain and process that will allow them to ramp up sales and fulfill demand, and a roadmap of where the platform and industry is heading in the near future.
I’m not worried about Oculus. They have everything lined up nicely and have their priorities straight. They are bankrolled by one of Silicon Valley’s greatest and have a team composed of individuals that have a history of getting things done. Competition is not only inevitable, it’s a good sign that Oculus is doing something right.
Pontianak
Didn’t I read somewhere that Palmer said if somebody releases a better HMD than he does, he would be the first to embrace it?
With that said, as much as I like Oculus, competition generally is good. My fear is if somebody releases a VR headset to the masses first (in order to beat Oculus to the punch first) that suck, which may put off people from VR technology for the next decade. Then again, perhaps Oculus has enough of a following that people won’t care if somebody else releases a bad HMD first and that set would just be ignored in favor of the Oculus.
The market is fickle, you can’t predict these things. Anybody claiming any companies demise at this point is just guessing.
