Student's Choice
Varjo VR-3
Introduction
The Varjo VR-3 features human-eye resolution displays (OLED), aspheric lenses, eye-tracking, hand-tracking and automatic IPD adjustment. There’s the 90Hz refresh rate, integrated eye tracking (developed in-house) at up to 200 Hz, hand tracking from Ultraleap, a 40% reduction in weight and active cooling.
It is the most advanced 6DoF PC VR headsets on the market, ideal for use in highly realistic training simulations, research in fully controllable VR environments and for design projects. It has 4 high resolution displays inside the headset, allowing users to see even the tiniest of details.
The VR-3 has the most advanced and powerful Eye Tracker technology currently found in any PC VR headset. The Varjo VR-3 eye tracking is even able to collect data from users wearing glasses or looking at extreme angles.It also has one of the larger fields of view of any PC VR headset in the market :115 degree field of view.
The combination of the expanded field of view with human eye resolution , makes the VR-3 to provide one of the most realistic virtual reality experiences. Its integrated hand tracking technology, allows users to engage with the digital world naturally, without the need for controllers or an actual surface.
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Why is it a good use of VR?
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The Varjo VR-3 is perfect for research and gaining behavioral insights, allowing data analytics and user interactions to be analysed for understanding marketing, psychology, medical and usability patterns. Due to human-eye resolution achieved it makes training a very easy task and seem real. This helps for training purposes in various industries like Pilot Performance Training, Astronaut Training, Car Assembly Training, Nuclear Power Plant Operator Training. Because of the great resolution that it offers, every minute detail can be seen very clearly, making it look so real, that we can say that the user actually trains in a real life situation.
It is also used by designers who need to work in 3D spaces providing them with the ability to compare between premium material and low cost materials, also the impact of glossiness on surfaces.
It has great use in Architectural and Industrial design see the clear difference between materials and structures. One can even differentiate between various fabrics using this headset.
The visuals achieved by using this headset are the maximum one can experience today, which makes it very useful for businesses that need human eye resolution and clarity.
You can also track what’s behind users’ reactions and behaviors as they interact with photorealistic objects, environments and virtually any stimuli – all with the full control and flexibility of virtual and mixed reality.
Varjo’s integrated eye tracking lets you gain real insights into human behavior and understand cognitive engagement – all in real time.
Who are its intended users?
The Varjo VR-3 is a high-end VR headset for business customers. The company itself advertises that their products are specifically for business professionals and was created by keeping them in mind. It comes at a whopping cost of $3395 and you need to buy an additional one year subscription worth $795 to run various softwares. They aren't meant for the consumer market as the price is extremely high. It is more like a luxury that only business users can enjoy as of now. An individual cannot buy a Varjo VR-3, they must register a business through which they can buy their products.
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Positives and Negatives
​Positives:
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It currently has the industry's highest resolution, over 70 pixels per degree resulting in best human-eye resolution.
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The widest field of view of 115 degrees.
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It has built-in Ultraleap hand tracking which precisely captures natural hand movements along with the fastest and most accurate integrated eye tracker that works at 200 Hz.
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It has a wide color gamut that matches 99% with the sRGB colors to recreate realistic scenes.
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It uses spherical lenses instead of fresnel lenses and thus has no glare or god rays.
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Auto-brightness in the headset can be deactivated giving user full control.
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It has a full frame OLED Bionic Display. This means it mimics a normal human eye wherein our central vision is crystal clear but the peripheral vision is comparatively weaker. It optically combines two displays together, both with different pixel densities,images from these are combined using a semi-transparent mirror i.e. beam combiner.
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Uses RTX 3080, the world's fastest graphics memory.
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No horizonttal or vertical scan lines.
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It has auto cooling systems running in the background simultaneously.
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It is compatible with softwares like Unity, Unreal Engine, Autodesk VRED, etc.
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Negatives:
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The major issue is it doens't have in-built audio. The company claims that their business users don't really require it. This would be a major setback in the consumer market. They do have audio jack, wherein you can plugin a headset or a microphone, but at the price it comes one would expect it to be a fully immersive VR technology but it misses out on audio.
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Extremely expensive.
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Has slight pupil swim. Pupil swim is an image-distorting effect that occurs when you move your eye around the lens of your VR headset.
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Distortions in the peripheral vision, for example a circle elongates into an oval.
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The headset is a lot heavier and can be felt over time.
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The headset doesn't work well when the user has worn lenses, instead the experience is much better with glasses.
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Some games which are low resolution cannot be enjoyed to their full extent in this headset, eg: lone echo.
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