According to Oculus’ Michael Abrash, fitting the company’s new Half Dome prototype with 4K displays would be “straightforward”.
Abrash said as much during his keynote speech at Oculus Connect 5 today. He explained that the current Half Dome prototype, which made its debut at F8 earlier this year, has a resolution “roughly” the same as the Rift. He later added that “4K panels that would provide 30 pixels per degree over a 140 degree field of view have already been shown publicly, and using one in Half Dome would be straightforward.”
4K resolution panels will be essential to giving us clearer VR experiences in the future, further eliminating the screen door effect (SDE) seen in current headsets.
As Abrash alludes to in the quote, Half Dome also sports a 140 degree field of view and even varifocal displays that adapt to where the user is looking to accurately produce focal depth in VR. We were hoping we might be able to get a first look at the device at Connect this year though Oculus is focusing on its new standalone headset, Quest. Earlier in the day, Facebook’s Hugo Barra noted that Quest completed Oculus’ first generation of devices, lending more evidence to the idea that Half Dome will eventually materialize as Rift 2.
When we’ll actually see that happen remains unclear although, according to Abrash, it could be a little sooner than we think.
