Samsung Announces HMD Odyssey+ with a Display Technology That Says Goodbye to Screen Door Effect

[dmartin]

Mixed reality headsets seem to present a new opportunity for the Virtual Reality segment, and Samsung has taken advantage of this trend by announcing the new Samsung HMD Odyssey+, a product that stands out for a novelty in its OLED displays that eliminates the screen door effect. This is a visual artifact of displays where the fine lines separating pixels become visible on the screen. This effect hurts the visual experience, but it can also cause dizziness or nausea.

Samsung say they have solved the problem with an innovation called "Anti-Screen Door Effect (Anti-SDE) Display". This technology helps to increased the perceived resolution of the displays, and according to Samsung the user will have a perceived screen density of 1,233 PPI. The actual density is 616 PPI on a conventional AMOLED, but with the new Anti-SDE AMOLED technology that resolution promises to double virtually before our eyes.



In addition, the new Samsung HMD Odyssey+ offers support for 360° spatial sound that simulates 3D audio on the built-in headphones. The weight is 590 g and the design of the glasses is a slight variation of last year's model that offers a little more space in the protection of the eyes (146 vs 138 mm) and the nose (40 vs 32 mm). This headset includes two pre-paired controllers, 110° Field of View and 6 Degrees of Freedom (6DOF) tracking.

The new Samsung HMD Odyssey+ is available today in the United States at the same price as last year's model: $499.99. It's a pity, but at the moment this headset does not make use of that new VirtualLink connection that NVIDIA has tried to promote in its new GeForce RTX 2000 graphics family. We'll have to wait for real, independent reviews to confirm if we can say goodbye to that annoying Screen Door Effect, though.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[muddymind]

Honestly for me the screen door effect is almost irrelevant (I have an Oculus Rift). I find the low resolution to read text and being tethered much more problematic imho.

 

[Octavean]

Its probably reasonable to assume that if there was an increase in resolution from the previous Samsung Odyssey of 1440x1600 that they would have addressed it with specificity.

Some magic sauce that decreases the screen door effect SDE is all good and well but I personally need to know how they did it as well as any possible side effects PSE of the tech before I can care too much about it.

I have an Oculus Rift too. Its nice to see incremental improvements from competing manufactures of HMDs. This to me is a fairly good indicator that the HMD market is healthy and growing. Personally I am more interested in true next gen HMDs over this though.

I'd also like to see more unification of standards for HMDs and I would like to see less or no exclusive titles. Let the walled gardens fall.

 

[iO]

Samsung Anti-SDE AMOLED Display solves SDE by applying a grid that diffuses light coming from each pixel and replicating the picture to areas around each pixel. This makes the spaces between pixels near impossible to see.

Sounds like a diffuser which will also reduce image clarity.

 

[Mindweaver]

Honestly for me the screen door effect is almost irrelevant (I have an Oculus Rift). I find the low resolution to read text and being tethered much more problematic imho.

The first gen Odyssey already has upgraded displays over the Rift. It has the same displays as the Vive Pro. Together with no screen door should be amazing. Example Sony's PSVR has lower res display's than both Vive and Rift, but looks better with no screen door effect. I was hoping for trackers on the back of the head strap to help track controllers, but it looks like they are trying to keep the price down with it being the same price as the older model.

 

[Octavean]

Sounds like a diffuser which will also reduce image clarity.

Yeah, I'm a bit skeptical and concerned here.

If Samsung is on to something here then great but they need to come with the details either way. Otherwise I have "what you talking about willis" meme ready to go,....

 

[Mindweaver]

Yeah, I'm a bit skeptical and concerned here.

If Samsung is on to something here then great but they need to come with the details either way. Otherwise I have "what you talking about willis" meme ready to go,....

The tracking and controllers are what kills the Odyssey(+) for me. I hope when the Pi max 5k and 8k are released they drop the price on the Vive Pro. They should have all of the kinks worked out of the Vive Pro by then with newer revisions like they did with the OG Vive. I think right now the next HMD for me will be the Oculus Quest.

 

[Octavean]

The tracking and controllers are what kills the Odyssey(+) for me. I hope when the Pi max 5k and 8k are released they drop the price on the Vive Pro. They should have all of the kinks worked out of the Vive Pro by then with newer revisions like they did with the OG Vive. I think right now the next HMD for me will be the Oculus Quest.

I haven't tried the Odyssey(+) so I have no frame of reference. The few people I have talked to about WMR are adamant that it yields a good user experience but I remain skeptical about some components of its inside out tracking / controllers.

The Vive Pro is the gold standard IMO. While the PiMax 5K, 8K and 8K X have some great specs all indications seem to be that the are considerably more fiddly. Also their marketing seems deceptive in terms of the "8K" moniker and if the so named 8K version has lower overall video quality then the 5K they shouldn't have even launching it. They should have just gone with the 5K and 8K X models IMO.

Basically I am saying I trust Vive and Oculus more then PiMax and IMO that is really saying something since Facebook owns Oculus.

Oculus Quest is intriguing.

I have to believe that there will be some price adjustments to the Oculus Rift if for no other reason then having two Oculus HMD's at the same ~$399 retail price will invite confusion (for some). The Oculus Go, Quest and Rift creat a rounded out line up but I question the logic somewhat. Having two mobile HMD's seems unnecessary.

IMO, the logical approach would be to have one mobile HMD, one PC HMD and one hybrid that can function as either mobile or PC HMD. Perhaps a standard and Pro PC HMD like the Vive and Vive Pro would work for Oculus too in addition to mobile and hybrid.

A hybrid HMD would have a mobile SoC and inside out tracking but could also be connected to a PC to use the PC graphics (wired or wireless) and possibly improve on tracking with PC connected sensors for outside in tracking. Mobile and PC gaming all in one.

 

[Mindweaver]

I haven't tried the Odyssey(+) so I have no frame of reference. The few people I have talked to about WMR are adamant that it yields a good user experience but I remain skeptical about some components of its inside out tracking / controllers.

The Vive Pro is the gold standard IMO. While the PiMax 5K, 8K and 8K X have some great specs all indications seem to be that the are considerably more fiddly. Also their marketing seems deceptive in terms of the "8K" moniker and if the so named 8K version has lower overall video quality then the 5K they shouldn't have even launching it. They should have just gone with the 5K and 8K X models IMO.

Basically I am saying I trust Vive and Oculus more then PiMax and IMO that is really saying something since Facebook owns Oculus.

Oculus Quest is intriguing.

I have to believe that there will be some price adjustments to the Oculus Rift if for no other reason then having two Oculus HMD's at the same ~$399 retail price will invite confusion (for some). The Oculus Go, Quest and Rift creat a rounded out line up but I question the logic somewhat. Having two mobile HMD's seems unnecessary.

IMO, the logical approach would be to have one mobile HMD, one PC HMD and one hybrid that can function as either mobile or PC HMD. Perhaps a standard and Pro PC HMD like the Vive and Vive Pro would work for Oculus too in addition to mobile and hybrid.

A hybrid HMD would have a mobile SoC and inside out tracking but could also be connected to a PC to use the PC graphics (wired or wireless) and possibly improve on tracking with PC connected sensors for outside in tracking. Mobile and PC gaming all in one.

Yea, I didn't buy into the Pimax kickstarter. I expect their Hmd to be subpar to Oculus and HTC's offerings, but I do expect enough people to buy the Pimax to further lower the prices of current gen hmd's. I do believe that Oculus will drop the Rift price again around Christmas to 350 or even 300. I agree they will need to drop the price of the Rift once the Quest is out to separate them, but making the rift cheaper may cause them to lose Quest sales to Rift due to price. It will be tricky. I'm excited to see what's ahead.