Is it time to take your TV for a "Walk in the woods"?
Written: Sep 22 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Powerful video, stunning sound, portability, high cool-factor
Cons: SVideo cable not included, may disorient some people
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| ShaunC's Full Review: Sony Glasstron |
Not quite yet, but very very close. The Glasstron is simply amazing and a definite must have for gadget collectors or with portable DVD players!
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I have had my eye on this for sometime and finally decided to give in and purchase this wonderful piece of Machinery.
The Stats
1. The Size - Sony sports that the Glasstron "reproduces a 52-inch TV screen from 6 1/2 feet away using its state of the art Eyeglass Design" and I was a little skeptical about this. After all, It's glasses, how can it really look like that?
Well, If you want to know how it really appears, find a 52 inch TV screen and stand 6 1/2 feet away from it. The way that this works is that you are looking through a lens and there is black space around the actual screen. Inspecting the glasses more closely, the image may even be projected upon a small screen or at the very least using mirrors. It is something that is a little hard to describe, but the actual size of the image appears exactly as stated.
2. The Image - The image is fantastic, much better than I was expecting to receive from it. It would not be the same quality as a 52-inch HDTV, but would be about the same quality as a 52-inch projection. It is very nice. (but when you look at it very closely, you can see lines in it... but this is not a problem at all)
3. The Sound - Simply amazing, could not be any better. It's amazing the quality of sound that comes through those earphones which are very conveniently attached to the glasses themselves.
4. The Looks - They look as great as the picture, if not better. If you look at the picture, it appears to be all blue. However it actually reflexive and has hues of blue, green and purple. -- If you look at the INSIDE of the glasses, the part not shown in the picture, that's a totally different story...boy do they look dorky. But fortunately this part will be pointing at your face and unseen by others!
5. The Feel - If you throw them right on without adjusting, it might be uncomfortable, but once you adjust the nose rest and other parts it is a nice fit. There is the sensation of weight on your nose, but not that much. Not nearly enough to be uncomfortable.
The Glasstron also sits away further from your eyes than you might think, you could actually drive a car, in terms of seeing, with it if you were to just turn your head only slightly upwards. (Note that the Warnings explicitly say to not drive a car while wearing them! - Hehe) I read an ePinion here prior to purchasing it that stated that, and I considered that a "down side" - but after actually using the Glasstron I don't think it is a down side at all. There are numerous times when you are watching TV, a movie, or playing computer games and want to reach for a drink, or the remote, maybe adjust the volume... And it would be a pain to have to take it off each time you had to do that.
6. The COOL Factor. This is certainly worth mentioning. They are certainly, by definition, entirely too cool. Especially with a portable DVD player, a laptop with S-Video or the Espresso Highly Portable PC - The Espresso PC by the way was rated smallest in the world, A fully functional Pentium III, 256 megs of ram, 20 gig HD.. And it measures 4 inches by 6 inches and has - You guessed it, S-Video out built right on. Couple that with the mouse that fits over your finger and tracks hand movement at only $60 and I am having dreams about Virtual Reality...
Downsides:
1. People have said you can get motion sickness... I haven't but I suppose I could see how people could. A good rule of thumb would be if flight simulator games or roller coasters make you motion sick when playing/riding for extended periods (Like Descent), this probably will too. I just don't get motion sick...
2. It didn't come with an S-Video cable, I had to get this separately. It did, however, come with all other cables and converters.
3. After taking the device off from wearing it for a while, sometimes it just feels like the glasses are still on. You also might think you see the "TV" screen even though it isn't there any longer. Kind of like if you look at the sun for a quick second and turn away.. Or if you stare at a deep black square on a white piece of paper for about 1 minute, and then look onto a blank white piece of paper, you will still see the square.
4. There are an awfully lot of warnings on this thing about your eyes and to always adjust it properly and follow through the "adjustment on screen test" whenever putting them on. All that talk kind of makes me a little nervous, so I really wouldn't recommend having this replace an existing TV or Monitor or being used for long periods of time each and every day.
I looked at the Sony website when first considering purchasing the item, and saw it at a pricey $499.00 + S/H. I decided that I really didn't want to drop five hundred dollars on this particular toy and began shopping around. I found several big computer outlets that had it at around $450.. but that wasn't much better, so my next stop was eBay (On-line Auction site). There, I saw auctions selling for around $350-$420.. but I do hate the hassle of having to bid on an item and the sellers reputation - So I found one particular seller that seemed to be a business.
I purchased it from "MJshow" (www.mjshow.com) for $365 + $9.42 for 2nd Day Air - and received it three days later, brand new, no problems. The website leads me to believe that this is a very small business or maybe even just an individual... so please let me know via comment if the price changes or if the place sells out and I will try and look around for someone else. (Or if you find a place that sells them at a cheaper price) - Note that I am not affiliated in any way, shape or form with mjshow, just passing along my findings
Sony lets us all know how close Virtual Reality really is. This unit used with other present technology could make it come really really close... but it isn't quite here yet. Are you one that has to have a taste of the future? This is your toy.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ShaunC
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Location: Charlotte, NC
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 10 members
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