What is MIXED Reality? - Acer Windows MR Headset
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2018-05-06
·
1,462 words · ~7 min read
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the Windows 10 fall creators update is here and with it comes a bunch of mixed
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reality stuff like paint 3d and the
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mixed reality viewer along with some new
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partner developed hardware to support these mixed reality experiences and that
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is what we're checking out today the acer Windows mixed reality headset
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is the first of a wave of compatible headsets all of
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which have similarly brutal names but just what is so mixed about it and at
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four hundred dollars can it compete with incumbent vr
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heavyweights like the htc vive and oculus rift
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the meteor xr series from roseville features a black exterior with white
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interior accents a detachable five and a quarter inch bay and more check it out
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at the link below okay first things first the acer Windows mixed reality
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heads you know what i'm just gonna call it armor looks more like a mixed reality
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play set its glossy plastic finish can
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best be described as power rangers-esque and its overall feel
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is less premium than either the rift or
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the vive i mean nobody ever looks cool with clunky
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headgear but this one is probably among the uncoolest that i've
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seen yet and it has some issues with fit as well
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the padding around the goggles plugged the nostrils of almost everyone in the
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office who tried it and the headset's sole adjustment point which to their
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credit is super easy to use tightens the headband without pulling
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the goggles themselves closer to your face
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so it's designed this way so that you can
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flip the goggles up which is great for taking a quick look
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at the real world or having a conversation with a colleague but the
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result is that the bottom edge of the goggles is further from your face than
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it needs to be making it difficult to get everything perfectly in focus
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let's talk screen now compared to the rift and the vive armor uses a
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significantly higher resolution screen
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2880x1440 this results in a noticeably
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sharper image and reduced though still noticeable screen
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door effect with that said don't get too excited unlike the rift in the vive
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armor uses an lcd display instead of an
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OLED display so even just wandering around in virtual
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space there is noticeable smearing behind even moderate speed objects with
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the effect most noticeable against contrasting backgrounds almer's biggest
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claim to fame though is its inside out tracking so what this means is that the
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system's awareness of its position is all done in the helmet itself
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rather than having it rely on a constellation of motion trackers placed
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strategically around your desk this means that setup time
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a significant pain point with other solutions now takes just a couple of
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minutes but this does come with some drawbacks
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if the controllers are moved beyond the field of view of the front-facing
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cameras they may glitch out for a second while they recalibrate
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and well traditional
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outside-in tracking will always be more accurate especially if you're using
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three or more satellites so this
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combined with the lcd display already
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disqualifies armor for gamers and probably high level content creators on
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the subject of the controllers let's take a look at them you can actually
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save a hundred bucks if you don't want them but a lot of the experiences
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definitely worked better with them they're designed by microsoft so you can
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expect other upcoming mixed reality headsets to use them and
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overall while they won't win any ergonomic awards your thumb rests sort
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of between the trackpad and the joystick rather than on either of them and the
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handles don't taper toward the end for some reason the build quality is okay
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and they're small light and pretty simple to use i'm actually genuinely a
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little annoyed though that they use double a batteries rather than charging
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over usb that said the fact that the Windows home
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button takes you to a literal Windows home definitely delights me
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okay then i'm glad to hear you're delighted Linus
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but so far all you've shown is a vr headset isn't
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this the acer Windows mixed reality
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headset how does armor let you interact with both the real world
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and the virtual world at the same time
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that is a long and wonderful question
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it doesn't
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no no there's there's no funny
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punch line here it just doesn't
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and i'll be honest with you this confused us a little bit too in fact
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truthfully i i probably wouldn't have requested one of these from acer if i
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had fully understood what it was or more
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accurately what it wasn't so after some
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digging it appears as though Windows mixed reality is more like
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aspirational branding for a platform
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that will eventually support ar vr
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and mr tools like the microsoft hololens
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then it is a description of the actual products that are labeled with it today
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so despite the name headsets like this one are pretty much
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last year's hardware with a higher resolution display
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on next year's platform which makes it
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kind of hard to understand why exactly someone would buy them back in april
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when acer first announced this product pricing was going to be the big
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advantage but then oculus hardcore used that facebook money to
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kill that when they slashed the price of the rift which even includes headphones
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and a bunch of games at the same price of 400
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so should anyone buy this then
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okay actually maybe inside out tracking
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makes armor way more portable than other
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flagship vr systems since there's no satellites to cart around and then stick
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on tripods and then plug in the wall and then calibrate blah blah blah no it's
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basically plug and play and there will be lots to play the theater experience
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is legitimately better thanks to the intuitive navigation and higher pixel
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density and by the end of the year wmr
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will support steamvr so assuming your gaming rig has the horses you'll be able
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to play most of the same games as everyone else with some tracking and
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pixel response compromises so all told
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then auburn isn't a terrible product
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and for the person who needs portability it or samsung's upcoming OLED competitor
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is a much better experience than a phone-based google cardboard or whatever
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but for an enthusiast like me i mean i
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was already a little disappointed when it didn't have the next-gen vr feel that
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i would have expected over a year after the launch of the rift and the vive
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and then when it didn't even begin to deliver on the promise that was right in the name
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and didn't manage to undercut existing offerings enough to be a budget
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alternative i mean that was just the cucumber icing
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on a gluten-free cake so i'll be waiting to see what's coming from oculus and htc
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in the coming months but before that happens i'll be telling
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