Sony HMZ-T3 Personal 3D Viewer - Cinema Experience on Goggles

The Big Screen Experience

Space is perhaps the biggest constraint for home cinema enthusiasts here in Singapore. It doesn’t help that the average HDB flat has shrunk considerably in size as the government attempts to balance citizens’ need for living space and Singapore’s limited land resources. This is pretty much the same fate in several other high density cities like in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

To get by, enthusiasts have adapted their needs and tools to make the most of what they have. As a result, we have seen an increase in popularity of high-end stereo bookshelf speakers and also more home owners turning to projectors to achieve that big screen effect that is so desired by movie buffs.

Another gadget to keep in mind is a head-mounted display, which can be thought of as personal movie goggles. These gadgets are capable of recreating the sensation of watching on a big display without occupying any space - perfect if you were to live in a 'shoe-box' apartment. An example is the portable Epson Moverio BT-100 mobile viewer.

Sony has been dabbling in head-mounted displays for some time and the latest from the Japanese electronics giant is the HMZ-T3 personal 3D viewer, which Sony claims is able to create a virtual screen 750-inches large at a 20-meter distance to mimic a cinema hall movie experience.

Design

As we have mentioned, head-mounted displays are not new, but they have not really taken off for a couple of reasons, and one of them is comfort. The crucial factors to take note of are the display’s design and weight. With that in mind, the HMZ-T3 is off to a shaky start as we noted that it tipped the scales at around 325g. While that may not sound like a lot, note that regular prescription glasses with plastic frames are a fraction of the weight at around 30g to 40g, whereas 3D glasses can be even lighter.

To make up for the heft, Sony has designed its HMZ-T3 to include two headbands and a forehead supporter to ensure maximum comfort. It is a cumbersome design and the trick to a good fit according to Sony is not to rest it on your nose. Instead, users are suppose to rest the unit on their heads with the forehead support and two headbands. Thankfully, the bands are well padded, but there is no escaping the HMZ-T3’s significant heft, and it was not long before we felt some strain on our necks. That said, the HMZ-T3 does look pretty stylish and futuristic.  

Setup

After unboxing the HMZ-T3, we are greeted with an array of cables, adapters and two black boxes whose purposes are not immediately clear. While it may look complicated, setup was actually quite easy and straightforward, thanks mostly to the quick start guide which provided clear instructions.

The HMZ-T3 comes with a processor and battery unit. Strictly speaking, the processor unit is superfluous since you can connect the HDMI output from your source device directly into the battery unit and to the HMZ-T3 viewer. However, if you happen to have a source player that cannot decode certain audio codecs natively, you can hook them up to the processor unit as it supports all the major audio multi-channel audio codecs including Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD and DTS-ES.

Apart from that, the processor unit also acts as a hub for all your sources since it has three HDMI input ports. Pass-through function is enabled via a HDMI output port located at its rear so that you can connect it to a regular TV. Another HDMI output port located at the front of the unit links it to the battery unit for the head-mounted display.

One thing to note is that although HDMI is almost ubiquitous these days, pairing it with certain devices can be problematic, such as early models of the Xbox 360 console and especially users of Apple’s MacBook Pros as most do not offer HDMI connectivity.

The battery unit itself has a HDMI and MHL (Mobile High-definition Link) port. The MHL port lets you connect it with Android tablets and smartphones that support this interface, and most flagship Android smartphones do, such as the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One and Sony Xperia Z1.

The battery unit itself has a built-in battery that is good for around seven hours of use and the time taken to achieve a full charge was around five hours. Of course, you can use the device while its charging, but that would limit mobility especially if you were using your smartphone or tablet as a source.

As for audio, there is a standard 3.5mm audio jack located to the side of the left lens. The placement of the jack is not the most ideal as you would have to deal with a lot of cable slack after plugging in the headphones of your choice. The alternative is to place the audio jack on the battery unit itself, but that only slightly alleviates the problem of cable slack and there is still a lot of wire clutter to deal with. You could choose to use the processor box and it's audio output jack, but yet again you can't run from the cable mess.

Performance

The first time you power up the device, you will be greeted by a screen that asks you to calibrate the device by adjusting the lens span using the two sliders just under the lens. This is crucial to getting a good picture as images will appear blur and out of focus if this is not done correctly. Other things to take note of are the light shields which are are fitted above and below the lens to block out ambient light.

Sony claims that the HMZ-T3 can recreate the experience of watching a 750-inch screen from a seating distance of 20 meters, so we went in with big expectations. However, the actual viewing experience left us slightly underwhelmed. Obviously, such matters are subjective but we did not feel as though we were watching on a big screen. That’s not to say that it didn’t feel "big", but it felt more like we were staring down two tubes at a mid-sized screen. Much of this has to do with perspective and if you are able to "focus" far enough, the sensation of watching on a big screen is there - but once you realize that it is all an optical illusion, the big screen sensation quickly fades away. On the flip side, thanks to its twin 720p resolution OLED displays, images were sufficiently bright and sharp. However, we did notice that its sharpness falls away towards the edges of the display.

3D performance was decent and for that we have to thank the light shields which helped keep out ambient light. Also, there is only a little of that flickering effect that is so commonly associated with active shutter lenses. That said, Sony did not specify if it was using active or passive 3D technology.

Overall, display and image quality is definitely good and commendable, but we found it hard to use the HMZ-T3 for extended periods of time for two main reasons. Weight is definitely one of the reasons, as it felt like there was something weighing down on our heads and pulling it downwards in a nodding position.

But more importantly, we found it hard to use the HMZ-T3 without becoming nauseous and giddy. We found that every little motion of our head or the device itself would translate into a disconcerting shake and judder of the display that we are looking at. It does not help that the device itself was heavy and that even after much trial and error and experimenting, the headbands and forehead support was not very effective at keeping the HMZ-T3 in place. Remember Cloverfield and the Blair Witch Project? The effect is the same.

Final Thoughts

Wearable technology is all the rage now, but unfortunately, head-mounted displays such as the Sony HMZ-T3 still have some catching up to do. While image quality is certainly decent enough, such devices remain too heavy and uncomfortable to wear. Then there is also the wire clutter that users will have to deal with. Ideally, a wireless solution will be best, but that would most probably come at the cost of increased size and weight to the head-mounted display itself.

Additionally, there are other practical issues to consider such as the adaptability of users to such a display. For many, using a head-mounted display like this can be a nauseating experience and would require a substantial amount of time to get used to. And to be honest, considering that the experience is underwhelming in the sense that it does not provide that "big screen experience" that movie buffs and home cinema enthusiasts so crave, we don’t feel that this "investment" in getting adapted to the device is worth it. Don't get us wrong. The device puts up a good effort in trying to recreate the cinema experience without taking up space and extensive hardware, but it's just not the same as the real experience.

And then there are other more mundane issues such as reaching out for food and drinks - it’s hard to do such things based on just touch and feel alone, especially with wires from your headphones and the head-mounted display getting in the way.

So who then might consider 'investing' in these expensive head-mount displays?

One example we can think of is if your apartment has extremely limited space and your only TV is occupied by your partner, and you must have your personal zone of entertainment locked out from the rest of the world around you, the Sony HMZ-T3 personal viewer might be just what you need - provided that you can adapt to using it effectively. Yet another option is if you've a long plane journey and you so crave a large screen experience, you can slip on the Sony HMZ-T3 and hook it up to your notebook to bring about your own mobile theater. However, given the cable clutter and limited space on the flight you would much rather just use the in-flight entertainment or run your movies off a tablet. Bus and train journeys won't bode well with such head-mount displays because of all the in-carriage movement from the road and rail respectively.

All things considered, the premise behind head-mounted displays such as the Sony HMZ-T3 still requires a lot of work. And as such, devices of this type still feel raw, as if they are a work in progress. It does not help too that this device commands a hefty asking price of S$1,299, which is more than enough for you to get a decent 46-inch Full-HD Smart TV if all you need is a screen for the home.

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