With Virtual Reality still being in its infancy, it makes sense that things like resolution and Field of View have been rather limited so far. A Chinese startup by the name of Pimax looks to break those boundaries though, apparently offering an 8K VR Rig.
The company recently showed off their high tech headset at the annual Japanese technology exhibit CEATEC (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies). The Pimax 8K boasted 7,680 x 2,160 resolution, laser tracking that works with the HTC Vive’s base station, and a 200-degree FOV.
While the Pimax 8K isn’t actually the 8K resolution most would be thinking about, the team explained their reasoning behind it when talking to Engadget at the event.
“Pimax argues that the “8K” here is to highlight the much higher horizontal resolution which, to be fair, is an industry first,” author Richard Lai explained. “A more accurate way to describe this is that each eye is looking at a 4K (3,840 x 2,160) panel with a 90 Hz refresh rate inside the headset, and if you ask me, this sounds just as impressive in today’s market.”
Lai found out that the laptop running the headset and demo was an NVIDIA GTX 1080 GPU, one that would struggle with an 8K output. But the Pimax 8K was designed for 4K input or less and then it upscales the signal to 8K internally. Users will be happy to know that, as a result of this, even with an NVIDIA GTX 980 or GTX 1070 they’d still be able to use the device.
The Pixmax 8K Virtual Reality Headset will sell for a starting price of $400 and will likely be delivered by January 2018. There’s a $300 additional charger for controllers and base stations, which would arrive a month after. Currently, the high end $649 Pixmax 8K X isn’t available for purchase and its backers will have to wait until May to receive it.
