Sony HMZ-T1 Personal 3D Viewer review: first look

Sasha Muller — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 09:32:43 +0000

In among the expected crop of tablets, TVs, cameras and smartphones at IFA, Sony has unveiled its most stunningly bonkers product of all: the HMZ-T1 Personal 3D Viewer. Cramming two tiny 0.7in OLED screens into a headset that looks straight off the set of Star Trek, the HMZ-T1 delivers Full HD in three dimensions to an audience of just one.

If the photograph above suggests that these poor people are having a little trouble getting the device to fit just right, well, that’s because it’s a pretty bulky affair. With the visor extending so far in front of your face, the HMZ-T1 is unwieldy, even with the plastic headband properly fitted (see the chap at the far end of the row in the picture). The integrated headphones slide back and forth and rotate around, but we still had some trouble getting them just so on our, admittedly chunky, head.

Once you’ve got the HMZ-T1 on, you just have to adjust the focus sliders to bring the 3D image into crisp relief. A variety of video and audio options can also be adjusted in a heads-up display, with the directional keypad on the headset’s underside making it easy to navigate.

Once it’s configured, the image quality is staggeringly good: colours are rich and saturated, and the inky blacks of the OLED technology give images immense solidity. Once the picture snaps into focus, the sense of scale is unnerving: it feels like viewing a sizable 100in+ projection screen. The 3D effect is impressively free from any crosstalk artefacts, too. Even the compact headphones deliver fine sound quality.

But if you thought those active-shutter glasses for your 3D TV were expensive, we suspect the HMZ-T1’s use of OLED (that’s organic LED panels, if you were wondering) means we’re looking at a four (or even five?) figure sum. Funnily enough, Sony made no mention of pricing or a release date, so currently these 3D goggles are as elusive as they are crazy-looking.

UPDATE 2/09: It looks like our fears of massive four figure price-tags were unfounded. With our Sony contacts mentioning a suggested retail price in Japan that equates to nearer £800, the HMZ-T1’s aren’t quite as out there as you might expect.

So, if you’re sick of being forced to watch Eastenders with your other half (and you’d pay any price to squeeze in a quick round of Modern Warfare 2 while the missus isn’t looking), then maybe it’s time you got saving those pennies.

Stop picking on Steve Ballmer

Stuart Turton — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:32:24 +0000

I like Steve Ballmer. In fact, I struggle to understand how you can’t.

There’s something unscripted about him that’s uniquely entertaining. Watching him answer a question from the public is like watching a HGV driver trying to reverse out of a cul-de-sac. It’s a twenty minute event, filled with aborted attempts, sudden U-turns and near misses. Nineteen minutes of utter, exasperating futility followed by one minute of triumph when he eventually stumbles upon the way out. And here’s the thing – the more of it I watch, the more I find myself rooting for him. It’s endearing, and all the more so after being subjected to a number of smooth talking PR gurus who’ve perfected the art of speaking without saying anything at all.

It also helps, that he’s clearly bonkers. Witness him bouncing around the stage like a sentient space hopper and you’ll see what I mean. Yes, it’s cringeworthy, no I don’t know why he did it, but in a world where every speech from every company head is as smooth as Ballmer’s well-polished head – this is the sort of unscheduled lunacy that I stand up and applaud.

And it’s worth looking at his Microsoft, which in its infant years is already exhibiting the same mixture of surprise, lunacy and drive as the man himself, consisting, as it does, of a promise to open up, an offer for Yahoo, and a new operating system which may just do the unthinkable and actually make it out on time.

Love Microsoft, or hate it, it’s no longer dull. And how many companies, or their chief execs, can you say that about?

PC Pro blog » bonkers

Sony HMZ-T1 Personal 3D Viewer review: first look

Stop picking on Steve Ballmer