Epson Moverio BT-100 Mobile Viewer - Wearing a 320-inch Display

Fancy Wearing a 320-inch Display on Your Head?

Over here at HardwareZone and HWM, we’ve reviewed our fair share of Epson products, though admittedly, they were mostly printers and projectors. A major integrated circuits and LCD components maker (and supplier), the Japan company has in recent times churned out other gadgets like a GPS running monitor and a see-through wearable display, and the latter of which is what we’re taking a closer look in this review. Called the Moverio BT-100, it's a head-mounted display with see-through lenses. You can watch movies, listen to music, surf the Internet, and even play games on it. But before you ditch your plan to wait for the Google Glass and buy the BT-100 instead, read on as we detail our intimate experience with it.

Design

The first thing we noticed when we took the BT-100 see-through mobile viewer (that’s what Epson calls it) out of the box was its heft. A quick check of the specifications sheet revealed that it tips the scale at 240g. By comparison, a pair of prescription glasses with plastic frames normally doesn’t go above 40g, and 3D glasses for 3D TVs these days aren’t any heavier either. But to be fair, the BT-100 headset contains way more electronic components. Details on how the headset works will be covered in detail within the performance segment on the following page.

While the headset is well put together, the plasticky feel is unmistakable. Since it’s an easy target for facial oils, you might want to have a piece of wiping cloth within easy reach. Perhaps knowing that bringing the bulky BT-100 (and its accessories) out and about can be a hassle, Epson has thrown in a large, semi-hard case that’s almost as big as the packaging box.

The headset itself has a cord that comes down at each end of the temple. The two cords come together at about the halfway mark of the 1.2m cable at the clip-on, inline remote control; a single, thicker cord then continues on, and ends with a connector that goes into a port at the bottom of a separate control box. Obviously, we'd have preferred a thinner cord, but remember, this isn't just a earphone cord, it also carries video and control signals from the controller to the headset.

Like any spectacles, the headset is supported by a pad on the bridge of the nose and the temples that are placed over the ears. Most of the electronics are housed toward the front of the temple arms, so the spring hinges are located somewhere along the middle. To wear the headset, just open the padded arms, and slide them over your ears. There’s a switch near each hinge that you use to adjust (there are three settings) how wide an arm opens up. Three nose pads of different sizes are also provided. Two detachable and adjustable clips on the arms are used to support the BT-100 if you’re wearing it over your own glasses.

Overall, the fit is decent. In this reviewer’s case, the majority of the weight lay on the nose bridge. And while the temples did sit atop the ears (which didn’t feel very comfortable either due to the former’s thickness and weight), it was the tension of the hinged arms that kept the headset from shifting around. When removing the headset, the nose pad also had a tendency to fall off as it brushed against the face. Of course, your mileage may vary.

The Indispensable Controller

The other essential component of the BT-100 is the controller, since the headset doesn’t have any controls on it. In addition, the headset draws power from this controller (Epson claims six hours of continuous video playback), so good luck if you forgot to pack it in the carrying case when you left the house.

Shaped like a portable media player, the all-black controller is used for navigating the user interface and the apps of the Android-powered (Android 2.2 Froyo, to be exact) mobile viewer. For those familiar with the Google's mobile OS, the controller has the three standard Android buttons, namely: Home, Menu, and Back. Besides those, there's a four-way directional pad with an Enter button in the middle, and other keys like 2D/3D and Brightness, whose functions are pretty self-explanatory. The Power button (for both the headset and controller) resides right at the top, and the Volume keys and Lock switch are on the right hand side. As you can see from the picture below, a trackpad dominates the top half of the controller. When you touch the trackpad, a blue circular cursor will appear on the screen (which is viewed through the headset). It works pretty much like the trackpad found on laptops: to click on an item, move the cursor over it and tap the trackpad.

The BT-100 comes with 1GB of internal memory, but you can expand the storage via the microSD card slot located at the left hand side of the controller. microSDHC cards up to 32GB in capacity can be used. A 4GB card is supplied.

Android Powered

Perhaps it's easier to understand if you think of the BT-100 controller as a media player (which runs Android 2.2), and the BT-100 headset as the display device. This means you'll need to be wearing the headset to view and interact with the interface (though the physical interaction happens with the media controller), before you even begin to playback any content. This is obviously because the controller doesn't have an LCD display, thus requiring you to wear the glasses. This saves design cost of the controller, but forces you to wear the headset even if you just want to power it up to check settings and content stored on the device.

Running the stock Android user interface probably doesn't make much sense here, so like all media players, the BT-100 sports its own skin. Smack in the center is a carousel menu that houses your apps, which are represented by large icons. On the right are shortcut links that bring you to the internet browser (usable with a stable Wi-Fi connection), a list of installed apps, or the Android home screen. You can of course put app shortcuts on the home screen, but with the Epson GUI, we don't see a need to do so.

The main level of the carousel contains the Browser, Gallery (for photos and videos), Music, Settings, SEViewer (for accessing the file system), and Help apps. There are more 'pockets' should you wish to drop other apps into the carousel. There is a total of five carousels, and you can go to each of them via the five dots on the left of the screen. Epson has also retained the notification bar at the top of the screen, which you can pull it down to see any notifications (such as an OS update).

Regarding navigation, we found that the trackpad and the d-pad received roughly equal amount of usage. To launch an app, it's easier to use the trackpad: just move the cursor onto it, and tap it. But for maneuvers like scrolling the carousel or a list, the directional keys are more handy. And let's not forget about the Home, Menu, and Back buttons on the controller.

* GUI images above are courtesy of Epson.

Performance: A Mixed Bag

Running on the Android platform means that in theory, you can download and install Android apps on the BT-100. However, the BT-100 doesn’t come with the Google Play Store. So, to get apps, you can either download them via the browser, or through third-party app stores, such as the Amazon Appstore or SlideME). Alternatively, if you’ve the APK files, you can sideload them using a microSD card. To get files onto the microSD card, you can either copy them directly using a card reader, or insert the card into the controller, and then connect it to a computer via the controller’s micro USB port.

While we did need a bit of time to get used to the trackpad, we played Angry Birds Seasons for a good hour and enjoyed it. Watching streaming video from Netflix via Wi-Fi also proved to be a success. Finally, we can watch movies on the bed, without worrying about the phone dropping onto our face when we doze off.

The BT-100 also has a browser for surfing the Web and it supports Flash 11. The virtual keyboard works fine for the most part, though it’s troublesome to enter a long URL. Thankfully, you can create bookmarks for sites that you frequently visit.

Natively, the BT-100 only supports MPEG-4 (H.264), AAC, and MP3 AV formats. In most cases, files with a .MP4 extension will playback fine on the BT-100. But what if you’ve files that use other multimedia container formats, such as AVI or MKV? Well, the pre-installed Gallery app will not even recognize them, much less play them. To get around that, you can try using another media player. In our case, we got the AVI and MKV files to play using an app called RockPlayer. But know that since hardware decoding for these files is out of the question, the playback is done via the app’s own software decoder. As a result, performance can be a mixed bag. For example, we had a couple of 1080p MKV files that were just too demanding that we encountered lots of stutters during playback, effectively making them unwatchable.

An HTPS TFT LCD panel (along with a projection lens) is mounted in each arm, and the image reaches your eye after going through some internal reflections. A half-mirror layer (in other words, it’s translucent) at the end serves two purposes: it directs the image to the pupil, and allows external light through the lens. The latter is what enables you to see your surroundings through the lenses even when the screen is turned on. The LCD panels have a qHD resolution - that is, 960 x 540 pixels. Given that the panel is just millimeters away from your eyes, cramming more pixels on the panel will have a positive impact on your movie viewing experience. In other words, a pair of 720p panels would have been better.

Image size-wise, it really depends on where you place your point of view. Imagine you fix the point of view on a wall. The perceived size gets bigger as you increase the distance between you and the wall. Epson claims a 40-inch screen size at 2.5m away, 80-inch at 5m, and 320-inch at 20m. In reality though, these claims don’t really matter, since it’s impractical to fix a viewpoint for a long period of time, especially when you’re moving about. Even if you're seated, it'd take a lot of effort to not move your head in a two-hour movie. As such, you don't quite get the large screen enjoyment as it's touted. What you get from actual usage is a decent sized 'screen' that feels pretty close to your eyes and it moves with you wherever you are, while allowing you a certain degree of viewing your surroundings.

Image quality-wise, we’ll rate it as decent, but not spectacular. For the most part, videos looked sharp. Brightness is good too, but due to the translucent characteristic, details can be hard to make out if you’re out on the street on a sunny day. The headset comes with a lens shade, and we recommend keeping it on, even when you’re indoors, to get the best video experience. Aided by Dolby Mobile technology, surround sound (virtual, of course) was somewhat convincing. If you listen to music, there’s a slew of equalizer modes available. If you don't mind carrying another item, overall audio quality can be enhanced further by using your own choice of earphones.

The BT-100 plays 3D video content too, but is limited to side-by-side 3D content. You also need to press the 2D/3D button on the controller for the headset to display the 3D content correctly. In our experience, the 3D effect was present, but it could certainly do with more depth. Credit to Epson, crosstalk was few and far between. When the movie has ended, you’d need to press the 2D/3D button again to get out of 3D mode, since the user interface isn’t in 3D.

Conclusion: A Glimpse of the Future

The fact that Epson describes the Moverio BT-100 as a ‘mobile entertainment viewer’ somewhat sets the stage for what one can expect from it. Contrast that to the Sony HMZ-T1, which Sony calls a ‘personal 3D viewer’, and the difference in product placements couldn’t be clearer. Sure, the HMZ-T1 may be slightly more expensive (unless you’re getting it in the U.S.), but if you’re in the market for a head-mounted display, the comparison between it and the BT-100 is inevitable. For a start, if mobility is important, the BT-100 is the better option. It’s lighter (240g vs. 420g) than the HMZ-T1 and offers see-through lenses. On the other hand, the HMZ-T1 is designed to be a total immersion 3D system. As a result, its source is another HDMI device (such as a PlayStation 3 or a Blu-ray player) which it connects to by way of a breakout box. And as we’ve seen earlier, the source player for the BT-100 is a small control box that runs Android.

For the most part, the BT-100 fulfills the role of a convenient mobile entertainment viewer admirably (from a functional standpoint). For example, if there is a TV program that you’ve recorded on your PC last night, and you want to catch up on it during your commute to work, the BT-100 is a nice gadget to have with you. Sure, you can use a smartphone or a tablet, but the BT-100 also gives you that added level of privacy, as well as a bigger perceived screen size. Furthermore, you’d still be aware of what’s happening around you due to the see-through lenses - that's a first of its kind for a retail product and Epson has taken a bold step forward to bring about what could possibly be a new product type altogether. Of course, its overall aesthetics and size still leaves much to be desired about, but that's probably only going to improve in future iterations.

Being on the Android platform is also a plus, if you want to turn the BT-100 into more than just a media player and Web browser. Ebook reading, gaming, social networking - you name it. Augmented reality? Sure, if someone develops it. The potential is definitely there. All these said, as the BT-100 isn’t a certified Google Android device, it doesn’t come with the Google Play Store. Advanced users should have no problems overcoming this, either by way of installing a third-party marketplace or sideloading their own APK files. But don’t expect all apps to work on the BT-100, especially those that require multi-touch input. Some apps would also be stuck in a portrait orientation, which isn’t ideal for a 16:9 display. If this happens to you, you can try using the Rotation Locker app to turn the orientation.

Our biggest complaint of the BT-100 is its weak video format support. In this day and age, we find it hard to believe that anyone has a library that contains only MP4 files. The appeal of the BT-100 greatly diminishes if one has to spend time transcoding their files (by the way, no such software is provided). Yes, you can try a third-party player app, but as we explained earlier, there may be a performance hit, depending on the complexity of the file. As such, if you’ve a lot of 1080p videos, we think you’d be better served by converting them to a lower resolution. Moreover, the panel resolution isn’t full HD to begin with. For videos that played properly though, we observed good contrast (especially with the lens shade on) and fairly punchy colors.

The other concern is the perceived image size of the projected display. Since the perceived viewing size really varies on how far away one focuses his or her viewpoint and the fact that you can't continually maintain an ideal viewpoint, you're hardly going to enjoy watching a movie at the marketed 320-inch size. Ideally, this is quite likely to vary between 40 to 100-inch display in your actual use. Even then, it's not identical to watching a real screen of that size with your own pair of eyes. We're not saying it won't, but the experience is different and you should keep your hopes in check.

At the end of the day, the Epson Moverio BT-100 remains a novelty for most people. The idea is great, but there are several rough edges in the implementation. Get it only if you’re able to accept all the weaknesses that we’ve pointed out in this review. Besides the novelty of seeing your surroundings, and interacting with your friends while watching an episode of The Mentalist at the same time, one other ideal usage for this mobile headset would be on a long-haul flight. In the limited confines of your seated area with little room to maneuver, you've an immediate need to keep yourself distracted or entertained and we think the Epson Moverio BT-100 could be ideal for frequent travelers as it gives them a sense of freedom and a larger virtual screen.

Like buying a pair of glasses, you should also give the Epson Moverio BT-100 a hands-on (or head-on?) before taking out your credit card. You can find a list of stores in Singapore that has the BT-100 at the bottom of this page.

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