Fresnel lenses have been the go to for almost every consumer headset, and with that comes with obvious advantages, and some disadvantages as well. When VRgineers announced earlier this week that they have an even more advanced version of field of view (FOV) for their professional headset XTAL. This comes from them ditching the Fresnel lens, making a whole new world of possibilities. This new FOV will debut in 2019.
This announcement does not come too far from Facebook and Oculus working together to start bringing non-fresnel lens to the consumer market next year as well. VRgineers say that this will be “the clearest, most immersive VR experience to date.” These new lens will reduce the distortion found in common lens, an obviously improved FOV, eye box improved by 20 percent, and an increased picture by a solid 50 percent.
This adjustment also was in hardware, where they reduced weight and size by putting a new Leap Motion sensor in place as well as new hand motion tracking systems.
“XTAL’s new non-fresnel lenses will deliver a wider field of view and binocular overlap, a bigger sweet spot, and much less distortion compared to the existing model,” said Marek Polcak, CEO & Co-Founder of VRgineers. “This is critically important to our customers. When prototyping a new automobile design, for instance, they’ll be able to see more of the vehicle at once, and come closer than ever to a true-to-life image. We’ve getting ever closer to our goal – which is to make virtual reality indistinguishable from reality itself.”
XTAL is a professional headset, and they are targeting enterprises. If that isn’t clear, their price is. the headsets are $5,800 and you can order as soon as today. If you have their older versions, you can do a free exchange through lens swapping.
