Pimax, the Chinese VR headset manufacturer, released a teaser video showing a number of high-tech accessories that clip onto the company’s upcoming 8K VR headset—a headset that boasts a staggering 200 degree field of view (FOV) at 3840×2160 per eye resolution via its dual LCD displays.
In the video, we see some pretty ‘next generation’ clip-on (and screw-on) modules; eye-tracking, inside-out hand-tracking, scent enabling module, wireless transmitter, prescription glasses frame, cooling fan, and both a halo-style headband with integrated audio and traditional headstrap—everything you might consider ‘the future’ of VR.
The video doesn’t go exactly how some of the less obvious, and decidedly more exotic accessories work, the most curious being the scent module, which if like others on the market, acts essentially as an oil diffuser with built-in fan. If it works like the similarly-sized scent unit from Japanese startup Vaqso, it contains a small number of ‘scent cartridges’ that activate during specific points during the VR experience, including an integrated battery and Bluetooth radio. This is uncertain however.
What’s also striking is how thin the wireless transmitter appears. It remains to be seen whether the company’s transmitter features an integrated battery like industry stalwart DisplayLink, or requires an external powerbank like TPCast.
Pimax is staying mum on any of the specifics, and only currently offers an info signup sheet. We can only speculate at this point how good both the eye and hand-tracking are (so we won’t).
Road to VR’s Frank He went hands-on with a prototype of the 8K headset at this year’s CES, saying the headset’s 200 degree FOV was “impressive,” and that resolution-wise, he couldn’t discern sub-pixels “no matter how hard [he] looked.”
In the following months since CES, Pimax has also integrated Valve’s Lighthouse positional tracking to go along with its own optically-tracked system, making it one of the first headsets outside of HTC to do so. A pair of Lighthouse-enabled controllers come in the package, which look like a mashup of the Vive’s own motion controllers and Oculus’ Touch contollers.
There’s no launch date in sight for the company’s 8K VR headset Kickstarter, but we’re hoping the headset delivers on everything its promised so far in the video.
8K VR Headset Specs
