I can wholeheartedly recommend it. But get it used, half price on eBay.
It is frustrating though that the AVP could be even better, if the software support was there.
As to why I recommend it, this line from the article stood out:
> I am completely serious when I say that I would pay the NBA thousands of dollars to get a season pass to watch games captured in this way. Yes, that’s a crazy statement to make, but courtside seats cost that much or more, and that 10-second clip was shockingly close to the real thing.
This sounds unbelievable to someone who hasn’t used to AVP. But although I am not a sports fan, i understand EXACTLY what OP is talking about.
Apple solved AR/VR. I have used many virtual reality displays. I have OG street cred: I developed a CAVE environment at NASA 15 years ago. It hasn’t been my job for years, but I’ve kept up with the tech as a hobby.
Every VR system I have ever used felt fake. It was in the uncanny valley. I could tell it wasn’t the real thing, even if that tell was very subtle. I am partially prone to VR sickness so this has been for me a real issue.
The AVP is different. The unit is heavy, for sure, and there is no doubt that you’re wearing a computer strapped to your face because of that alone (the new dual strap helps though). But in terms of immersion, they solved it. My brain is utterly and 100% convinced that what I’m seeing is real. No visible lag. No queasy motion sickness. No visible pixels patterns (except in the pass through, which isn’t high enough resolution). Load an “immersive experience” and find yourself transported to a Norwegian Fjord, a WW2 submarine, or the moon. And you honestly can’t tell, at a lizard brain level, that it isn’t real. It’s amazing.
And the UI is just so intuitive. When you first look at something and pinch, it is like magic.
But that said, I use it for basically two things:
(1) Watching “For All Mankind” from an outdoor movie theater on the freaking moon; and
(2) A large virtual monitor for MacBook when working on the bed/couch.
Still, the value I get from it is sufficient to just the purchase (especially as I bought it second hand for far under MSRp). Nevertheless, it is sad and frankly embarrassing that Apple has failed to extend the experience beyond this, and the iOS like limitations on the platform make it hard for us users to do much either.
It is frustrating though that the AVP could be even better, if the software support was there.
As to why I recommend it, this line from the article stood out:
> I am completely serious when I say that I would pay the NBA thousands of dollars to get a season pass to watch games captured in this way. Yes, that’s a crazy statement to make, but courtside seats cost that much or more, and that 10-second clip was shockingly close to the real thing.
This sounds unbelievable to someone who hasn’t used to AVP. But although I am not a sports fan, i understand EXACTLY what OP is talking about.
Apple solved AR/VR. I have used many virtual reality displays. I have OG street cred: I developed a CAVE environment at NASA 15 years ago. It hasn’t been my job for years, but I’ve kept up with the tech as a hobby.
Every VR system I have ever used felt fake. It was in the uncanny valley. I could tell it wasn’t the real thing, even if that tell was very subtle. I am partially prone to VR sickness so this has been for me a real issue.
The AVP is different. The unit is heavy, for sure, and there is no doubt that you’re wearing a computer strapped to your face because of that alone (the new dual strap helps though). But in terms of immersion, they solved it. My brain is utterly and 100% convinced that what I’m seeing is real. No visible lag. No queasy motion sickness. No visible pixels patterns (except in the pass through, which isn’t high enough resolution). Load an “immersive experience” and find yourself transported to a Norwegian Fjord, a WW2 submarine, or the moon. And you honestly can’t tell, at a lizard brain level, that it isn’t real. It’s amazing.
And the UI is just so intuitive. When you first look at something and pinch, it is like magic.
But that said, I use it for basically two things:
(1) Watching “For All Mankind” from an outdoor movie theater on the freaking moon; and
(2) A large virtual monitor for MacBook when working on the bed/couch.
Still, the value I get from it is sufficient to just the purchase (especially as I bought it second hand for far under MSRp). Nevertheless, it is sad and frankly embarrassing that Apple has failed to extend the experience beyond this, and the iOS like limitations on the platform make it hard for us users to do much either.