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Comment by imiric | Hacker News Reader

The problem with existing VR tech is that it's still too cumbersome to use. Nobody wants to wear a hefty computer strapped to their face for casual use, let alone for prolonged periods of time. The form factor needs to be much more lightweight and unobtrusive for the product to have a chance at mass adoption.

There are AR devices in the form of sunglasses now, but the displays and experience pale in comparison to VR headsets.

We're still a few more generations away from VR headsets shrinking and AR glasses improving for this experience to be universally enjoyable.

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I couldn't agree with you more. I love VR as a concept, but the giant headsets are just unusable. Hence, I research this frequently and someone appears to finally have realised this:

https://www.bigscreenvr.com/

Linus Tech Tips did a review of it, so it's real. I have high hopes.

The caveat being that the Bigscreen requires a wired tether to a PC and external Lighthouse tracking beacons, so you trade the clunkiness of strapping a computer to your face for the clunkiness of only being able to use it in a designated VR room. It's more comfortable for sure, but it's not for everyone.

It’s not for eeeeeeeeeeeevryone. But, it’s really damned good. And, micro display tech is making huge leaps again this year in both resolution and brightness. Whatever the 2025 equivalent of the Bigscreen Beyond is, it’s gonna rock.

> Nobody wants to wear a hefty computer strapped to their face for casual use, let alone for prolonged periods of time. The form factor needs to be much more lightweight and unobtrusive for the product to have a chance at mass adoption.

I wouldn't mind a hefty computer myself. The problem is, apparently nothing can be made today if it doesn't aim for immediate mass adoption. Niches and gradual evolution don't fly anymore.

> Niches and gradual evolution don't fly anymore.

How so? In the current VR resurgence of more than a decade now we've seen the field go through gradual evolution. The technology has been very niche, and still is today.

What headset manufacturers are betting on is that one day they'll come up with a winning formula that makes _everyone_ want their device. Similarly to what happened for smartphones with the iPhone. I think we're still a few years away from that tipping point, but I don't doubt we'll get there eventually.

Agreed, and in my opinion, Apple messed up with the Vision Pro with this. They took the battery and made it external, yet the head unit itself is heavier than most battery-included head units! IMO they should have made the compute unit external as well (you already have to have a brick attached via a cable, it's madness not to (technical details aside, potential added latency, etc)). I don't really know the details and I'm sure someone has weighed all the components...but if the processing was not in the head unit, they ditched the external facing display + glass screen cover, and went all in on being light weight (maybe a carbon frame vs aluminum? not sure how much that would save), it would be much more enjoyable.

Obviously the Vision Pro in a glasses format isn't possible now. However, the Vision Pro with a few hundred grams shaved off of it, plus being a little bit less "horizontally" bulky would result in a much more enjoyable user experience.

I’m guessing that splitting the hardware between the face and the brick isn’t that simple and would require a lot of custom solutions.

If the headset were solely a display then it seems straightforward, but I don’t know what existing system could be used to transmit all of the various sensor data down to a brick, especially in a way that would enable quickly iterating on the sensor set. I’m not a hardware person though so if someone from hardware land could chime in on plausibility I would be curious to hear that perspective.

Once the sensor set is more locked in and/or the market is more proven I’m guessing they will go ahead and invest in a custom solution to split the face and the brick hardware.

It would for sure be an obvious win, I just think it’s probably not easy to do.

Sony's PSVR2 is essentially just a display, is incredibly lightweight and comfortable, and sends everything down the cable to the console. I think it's possible.

Also, the field-of-view is too limited. And the problem with focus: nearby objects will make your eyes focus the same as far-away objects; this feels unnatural and trains your eyes to be lazy.

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