Apple, Valve and LG invest in Micro LED display maker

Atmos73

According to documents filed last month with SEC, a new stock issuance of some $10 million by OLED microdisplay maker eMagin will be bought up by Apple, Valve, and LG, among others.

https://www.roadtovr.com/apple-valve-and-lg-invest-in-oled-microdisplay-maker-emagin/

nosys70

we do not need stellar amount of pixels, we need a good fill rate.
current highest resolutions are ok if they wouldn't use the damn pentile pixel.
if you look into the PS headset, you got a lot better experience despite the relative poor resolution.
Unfortunately samsung seems not interested to work on that (since they just refurbish technology fro smartphone into VR), and possibly oculus seems not ready to switch to another screen provider (too much links between oculus and samsung).
That's why oculus for me is out of the game, the trail is to heavy, only new comers (Apple ?) would have the freedom to jump into new paradigm.

lemondemon

Will this affect the current price? However, I think it is a good improvement they are doing!

kevinw729

Not too surprised to see Apples name there - they have been looking at a means to divest their dependency on Samsung displays for some time. I wonder how many that read the reporting understand that this is more to do with next-gen smart-fablets than HMD's?

Atmos73

kevinw729 said:

Not too surprised to see Apples name there - they have been looking at a means to divest their dependency on Samsung displays for some time.

Very true and I think it will have an even bigger effect on Samsungs VR division breaking into the Stand Alone arena. The technologies are so similar its only a matter of time before we see it. GearVR days are numbered.

lemondemon

Absolutely agree! An innovation was expected now, they have been in the same places for enough now.

vannagirl

kevinw729 said:

I wonder how many that read the reporting understand that this is more to do with next-gen smart-fablets than HMD's?

 

KlodsBrik

Update (2/12/18): An earlier version of this article stated that Apple, LG, and Valve had participated in Emagin’s new stock offering; according to a press release issued by Emagin today, the companies ultimately didn’t participate in the deal. While the company had filed documents with SEC on the 25th of January listing the companies as “specified investors” in the deal, none of those companies took part in the deal by the time it had closed on January 29th, according to Emagin. We’ve reached out to the company for additional information surrounding the deal and Emagin’s involvement with Apple, Valve, and LG.

According to a report from Bloomberg, “Emagin listed those companies in the filing because it had discussions with [the companies] at industry events,” the company reportedly told the publication.

kevinw729

vannagirl said:

kevinw729 said:

I wonder how many that read the reporting understand that this is more to do with next-gen smart-fablets than HMD's?

[Condescending]

It was not intended as being condescending, it was a actual question - that you took it that way, I am sorry if you did. But the video was not needed, even perceived as just being antagonistic.
How would you have worded the question, and also did you know the point raised?

Mradr

Well I think it's good news always to see more options out there other than Samsung for sure. This might put a bit of pressure on Samsung to maybe start working on the fill rates for VR as well. 2018 mid release sounds promising as well, but a product will not be available to early 2019 and a mid 2019 release (time to build up stock for the screen + build the product). So it looks like mid 2019 to late 2019 will be the time frame for gen 2 headsets.

kevinw729

I agree that end of 2019 seems to be the time frame that most serious contenders are looking at for Gen-II platforms.

There is the elephant in the room however that the investment for new VR HMD development towards manufacturer has to start now to meet a Q4 2019 date - and there is not the same level of interest to invest, after seeing the current sales state of consumer VR. That is why you have manufacturers like StarVR, Pimax and HTC (to name three) looking at the commercial scene.

Calibos

...While Oculus work on the technologies that will make VR a must buy for every PC and Console Gamer on the planet

kevinw729

Calibos said:

...While Oculus work on the technologies that will make VR a must buy for every PC and Console Gamer on the planet

I think we can pause on that aspect for the time being 

Atmos73

Calibos said:

...While Oculus work on the technologies that will make VR a must buy for every PC and Console Gamer on the planet

The technology is a small part for mass PC VR adoption. Getting the same level of AAA games ported to VR is Oculus’s biggest problem. Many 2D gamers just wont come to VR without them. Most AAA Devs won’t go exclusive to the Oculus Store no matter what money Oculus throw at them and Oculus will never spend 100 million on a single VR title that takes 2-5 years to create.

Content is King and the tide has turned, small 3-5 hour games won’t cut it now FO4 has arrived.

Mradr

kevinw729 said:

I agree that end of 2019 seems to be the time frame that most serious contenders are looking at for Gen-II platforms.

There is the elephant in the room however that the investment for new VR HMD development towards manufacturer has to start now to meet a Q4 2019 date - and there is not the same level of interest to invest, after seeing the current sales state of consumer VR. That is why you have manufacturers like StarVR, Pimax and HTC (to name three) looking at the commercial scene.

Well the elephant is just the current problem - in that it's not the sells numbers per say (there is a lot people that would love to buy into VR) but the fact of the current limits of gaming in general - cost, resources, availability, etc. One thing Vr should aim for is getting Gen 2 to both support a low level mode and a high level mode while supporting everything in between.

What I mean? Well - a basic computer running anything I3 + a GT 1030 or a Ryzen 3 or 5 APU and better. There already has been talk to be able to hit this limit using FOV rendering and the such - but unless VR hardware can support such low level computing hardware or support it in a standalone solution adoption will always bit a bit slow at the start. I do think VR PC still makes the most money per sell - but with lower numbers it's harder to "sell" the idea over all to a lot of people.

SC should be changing that if they start supporting PC level hardware + their standalone as I said before. That would fix the gap between the cost factor and adoption rates over time, but the problem is we need software that can or will start replacing the need for a standard monitor work environment. This is where software will be key for sure. I don't mean games - but full on work environments that make it a NEED to use VR over anything else. Entertainment sector does make a lot of money - not saying that - but it doesn't make as much money alone without the real work environment to control and make that environment a real thing. Aka, your sells department needs a NEED to use VR. Once that NEED is created - I can see VR taking off much faster.

Vr in general needs to stop looking at games for say and start looking at what it can do to start replacing something we use every day such as the monitor and boom you will have a larger group you can sell to over time. Then again that is harder said than done. How you allow someone access to that while at work dealing with customers and or control in their environment is a question that will need an answer too soon. 

Atmos73 said:

Calibos said:

...While Oculus work on the technologies that will make VR a must buy for every PC and Console Gamer on the planet

The technology is a small part for mass PC VR adoption. Getting the same level of AAA games ported to VR is Oculus’s biggest problem. Many 2D gamers just wont come to VR without them. Most AAA Devs won’t go exclusive to the Oculus Store no matter what money Oculus throw at them and Oculus will never spend 100 million on a single VR title that takes 2-5 years to create.

Content is King and the tide has turned, small 3-5 hour games won’t cut it now FO4 has arrived.

Yes content is king and something that Oculus does control over most VR store fronts already... Yes they need AAA games and that killer game everyone keeps coming back to - but that is a small picture to the global business to what VR needs to do as a whole either way. In this case, the technology to support standalone or getting the hardware good enough to replace today's monitors will be a way better solution for sells number than a few games alone would be able to do.

elboffor

Atmos73 said:

Calibos said:

...While Oculus work on the technologies that will make VR a must buy for every PC and Console Gamer on the planet

The technology is a small part for mass PC VR adoption. Getting the same level of AAA games ported to VR is Oculus’s biggest problem. Many 2D gamers just wont come to VR without them. Most AAA Devs won’t go exclusive to the Oculus Store no matter what money Oculus throw at them and Oculus will never spend 100 million on a single VR title that takes 2-5 years to create.

Content is King and the tide has turned, small 3-5 hour games won’t cut it now FO4 has arrived.

Are you having a giraffe ere atmos?
FO4 is a port of a 2d game.
It did not cost 100m and 3-5 uears to male as it was already pretty much complete to begin with. 

Aside from this port, what other AAA game is not on the oculus store?

You were quiet for so long without your needless and incorrect slates on oculus and you come back with this steaming pile of bait/nonsense/horseshit.

And ypu know full well the only Bethesda didn't publish it on oculus home is because theu are butt hurt over not getting the ridiculis amount they tried to flease off them in court

Zenbane

Content is definitely King... and thanks to Revive (funded by an Oculus founder), Vive users get a glimpse of what real content entails.

Oculus already has multiple multi-million dollar software projects in the works that span 2018 and 2019, minimum.

KlodsBrik

Not to mention, that this thread have no content from op to begin with, as it was already stated before it was posted, that the information given in the article above was incorrect.