Virtual video glasses are the wave of the future. When it comes to portable video entertainment, it’s hard to beat an 80″ TV that you can carry in your pocket. Video glasses can operate in several different ways, and how they operate depends on what brand you get and how much you spend on them. They can also show video in 3D because of their advanced technology. There are three different types of video glasses, which we will cover in some detail, so that you know what to look for – after all, you don’t want to miss out on this incredible technology.
Video glasses either use an LCD (liquid crystal display) or OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes). Often, a pair of video glasses with use an LCD but claim to be “LED” glasses; this is because an array of white LEDs is used to illuminate the LCD, providing it with the light it needs to give you a clear picture. OLEDs, on the other hand, are an array of colored LEDs that generate the display directly, instead of simply illuminating another display. This system uses a lens to magnify the tiny displays involved so that the screen appears much larger – usually about an 80″ diagonal some 6-10 feet away.
For most types of video glasses, different images are shown to each eye. If these images are aligned correctly, our brain can form a composite, just as it does between the two images our eyes see naturally, allowing us to see depth in the picture. This process is called stereopsis, which is a Greek word meaning to form a solid image with the eyes.
There are three types of video glasses: binocular, biocular, and hybrid. Binocular glasses show different images to each eye in order to form a 3D image. Biocular glasses project the same image to both eyes, resulting in an image similar to a traditional television set. Hybrids combine the two types so that the brain can form a 2D composite image (making the resulting “screen” larger than is possible with a simple biocular pair of glasses). Most video glasses are hybrids.
Virtual video glasses are an amazing technology that can keep you entertained on long rides on planes, boats, or trains. As long as you have a video source, these devices are a spectacular mobile experience.
