
The notion of strapping a huge TV to your face might seem like something out of a bad sci-fi movie, but with £180,000 of crowdfunding raised so far, DreamGlass 4K isn't some ill-conceived fantasy – it's happening right now, and we've been lucky enough to get some hands-on time with a beta unit to see what all of the fuss is about.
This lightweight headset offers a pin-sharp image which is apparently the equivalent of looking at a 200-inch TV screen from 3 meters away. It offers a 90-degree field of vision, has its own internal speakers and can connect to any device which has HDMI – and, as you might expect given its current high profile, the company behind the Dream Glass 4K has featured Switch heavily in its promotion; it's even creating a special micro-dock connector so the unit can be used with Nintendo's console more elegantly (carrying around the original dock isn't exactly convenient).
At 185 grams, the Dream Glass 4K headset is surprisingly light and is secured to your head using a rubber strap; a foam cushion rests on your forehead to make things more comfortable. The headset is then connected to a rather bulky remote control, which also houses the 8000mAh battery required to power the device. Around 5 hours of use are provided by a single charge, according to the spec sheet. Inside, there's a 1.8GHz quad-core chip aided by a Mali-T864 GPU, as well as 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.
The remote control allows you to navigate the Dream Glass 4K's UI, which is based on Google's Android platform. There's an option for configuring the distance between your eyes, which is vital to achieving the desired image (everyone is different in this respect, you see), and we spent quite some time in this menu trying to find the right setting for us. Because your eyes are being fooled into thinking they're looking at something which is further away, it takes some time to strike the perfect focal setup.
Once you've got the unit working as desired, you can view images or movies from a USB source (there's a USB-A port on the top of the remote) or download apps such as YouTube or Netflix. 3D support is also available for content which supports it, and there's a strong focus on Augmented Reality applications – something which places the Dream Glass 4K in competition with Microsoft's more expensive Hololens 2.
However, for us, it's the gaming focus which is of most interest. As we said, the Dream Glass 4K works with any HDMI source, presenting a massive viewing area which you can effectively take with you anywhere you go. While you could argue that the Switch – with its existing focus on mobility – makes a product like this redundant, but being able to play on a screen which fills your entire view and is pin-sharp is a real boon (even if the Switch can't reach the 4K resolution this headset is capable of). The image quality really is quite remarkable, and because your face isn't totally covered, you still have some idea of what is going on in the world around you, which means you don't feel as closed-off as you would playing on a VR headset.
We used the Dream Glass 4K for prolonged periods of time with a wide range of HDMI-ready systems (4K content really does look remarkable, with not a blocky pixel in sight) and found the device to be pretty comfortable to use; as we touched upon previously, getting the right pupil distance is absolutely vital to an enjoyable experience, so it's worth tinkering with this if something feels off.
On the downside, the unit's stereo speakers are utterly pathetic; they're weak and lack bass, and they distort at anything approaching full volume. The included 3.5mm headphone jack is essential, then; you also have the option of connecting wireless headphones via Bluetooth or linking the headset to a Bluetooth speaker. Elsewhere, the Dream Glass 4K also becomes very hot after prolonged use, while the detachable mirrored lens at the front falls off too easily and feels like it's likely to snap at any moment. Also, the battery life we got from a single charge wasn't anywhere near the suggested 5 hours. All of these points are hardly encouraging for such an expensive piece of tech, but it's worth noting that a lot of the issues may well be unique to the beta versions of the hardware – we're not testing a final production unit here.
While the Dream Glass 4K's Indiegogo campaign is off to a flying start, with a suggested price tag of over $600 this clearly isn't an option for casual buyers who simply want to play games or watch movies on a pair of futuristic goggles. We'd wager it's the Dream Glass 4K's AR capabilities which are driving its crowdfunding campaign; AR apps built using Unity will function on the device, and the unit's head-tracking functionality allows it to host all kinds of AR-related programs, which means Dream Glass 4K is a significantly cheaper alternative to Hololens 2 (approximately $3500) and Magic Leap ($2300).
If you're still interested, then you can back the Dream Glass 4K campaign for as little as $379. While we wouldn't class this as the ultimate accessory for gamers who want the big-screen experience, it's certainly interesting to use and could pave the way for a flood of similar products in the future.
We'd like to thank DreamWorld for supplying the beta unit used to create this feature.
Comments 58
I love the idea a lot, I'm just not ready to splurge on something like this yet.
Too expensive.
Playing with traditional way is still better and safer.
Sounds like something I'd buy but not until those issues are fixed
@Anti-Matter How is this dangerous?
Dad, telefone.
It’s Needles.
They should ditch the stereo speakers to cut costs and weight on the face and pass it on to the consumer. I think most people would prefer to use their own wireless headphones anyway.
How much screendoor effect is there?
Even when this becomes affordable, I might hold off on it for some time. I genuinely wonder about the long-term repercussions, if there are any, of having those on the eyes
@StevenG None. This is 4K resolution.
If I had an extra $600 l would grab this in an instant. Seem like fun.
@Damo Those are two different things.
4k doesn't mean no screen door. Try any VR headset and see.
Heck try it with a 4k TV/phone/ any kind of panel. At a couple inches from your face there is pronounced screendoor on a 4k panel. That is why VR heads are pushing for 8k.
get yourself an oculus quest instead.
@YANDMAN Too much screendoor to watch for long.
I don't know, the older I grow the further away I want my tech from my body. Not strapping something like this around my head anytime soon...
@Kalmaro I can see looking at something so close to your eyes constantly tricking your eyes to focus on something far away being not without its long term risks. Especially knowing that looking at a screen is already tiring for the eyes. And batteries aren't without their negative effects either, I don't know the specifics, I do know we should be somewhat careful with technological advancement.
Saying the product "is like strapping a 200-inch TV to your face" is a bit of a weird way to phrase it. I thought this was one of those articles making fun of a terrible peripheral that feels like it's gonna break your neck with how heavy it is.
@Damo
How do you think it fits for people with glasses?
@StevenG Well there's no screen door effect here - perhaps due to the fact that the image isn't filling your entire field of vision. You can't make out individual pixels.
@JonSpangler It fits fine, I tried it
carl zeiss maked a similar 1080p headset a number of years ago. I used it for drone flying and to play PS4 in bed. I think I played most of a run of the witcher and good but fallout 4 on it. The novelty does not last long and at £600 for the CZ it was only worth it for the best possible first person view flying available at the time, not worth it as a gaming device
The problem with all tech like this, if you jump in early, you end up funding the inevitable better version which will come out further down the line.
@Damo A 200" screen that doesn't fill the whole field of vision, or near it?
They are claiming 90 degree coverage. A valve index, $1000 headset is only 110 degrees.
The way they list the specs is also very suspect. They give only combined eye resolution not per panel.
Frankly this looks like your typical aliexpress headset with a crappy marketing campaign designed to over charge.
The guarantee to ship within 3 months just about proves it. They are ordering whitebox headsets and relabeling them.
The blocking blue light thing is another warning sign. That's marketing garbage as if it did that all the colors would be messed up.
The mention of 5G for no reason, is another bad sign. As is the poor translation.
People hate wearing 3D glasses but happy to strap headsets the size of bricks to their face for VR colour me confused lol
Their last product was "Dream Glass Air". Go look at the kickstarter comments on that, before you give them any money.
Hmm... I'll stick with my Oculus Quest for those sorts of experiences. It already gives me 6dof VR, as well as video streaming. The Switch works perfectly well for portable gaming without a headset.
@McflyBR, I don't know if you changed your username for that comment or if this was just the moment you have been waiting for, but well done. Boy, oh boy, you sure can rehydrate a pizza.
This seems like something that should be interesting enough to want but it seems like it lacks originality in execution.
200" from 3m?! Can you even see the whole screen at once?
I'm glad it works will any HDMI console.
Stand 3 meters from a wall. You should be able to see far more.
Ever since I strained my neck playing with my virtual boy when I was 11 I stopped caring about this stuff, I gave the nintendo labo vr a try and just cant get into it. My eyes are too sensitive, I couldnt even enjoy the 3d on the 3ds for too long.
@Zeropulse It was to have changed the name a long time ago, I just realized that it was my real name when I saw it in the post.
Amazing !
Just what i wanted for so long so can play normal non vr games close up and with headphones to get more in the action.
Movies and videogames and everything and it will save trying to make room for a 65inch tv thats room i don't have to spare.
@RazumikhinPG
I read it as.
"It works. Will any HDMI Console?"
Yeah obvious typo is obvious tho.
No thats just way too expensive
This could be killer in long plane rides, but is a little expensive, and the switch really dose not really need this.
No mention of input lag in the article. Looking around at other projects from this company I saw some user complaints in that regard. Was any input lag noticed in the review?
Without 3d this is pointless. I have a monitor super close to me, should I just turn off the lights and smash my face closer so it takes up my whole field of vision? It would be a heck of a lot cheaper.
@Luna-Harmony Just mount the TV to the wall. No extra space needed.
I never understood the appeal of strapping a screen to my face.
In 1987 we never knew that one day....
This would be normal casual fashion.
@StevenG
In a tiny flat room with not much space it would be above draw units so would have to look up and neck would hurt.
I like them on a tv stand eye level if in a chair thats why this headset would be perfect and with a headset take you away from noise and other people and their shallow lives that take over the videogames sounds.
@Kalmaro it might hurt the eye used outside in bright daylight for example. I think he's got a point here.
@sportvater Where did you see that it could hurt you if used outside?
@Kalmaro it would just naturally be my first guess, since all the other lenses do. Like pSVR and the others are meant to be used with the curtains down. Just a wild guess here. But lenses in front of the eyes always mean that the outside light might be focused. So danger to the eye is always a big problem to companies and users.
@sportvater it's not my hope that is does. And I find the device very tempting. But I just gues that's what he was referring to.
@sportvater That's interesting, I didn't consider that.
Also, you replied to yourself.
@Kalmaro i just replied to myself to finish my comment. What's the etiquette? 😉
@sportvater There's none really, just thought you may have replied to yourself by mistake.
Though if you want to finish your comment, could always just edit your comment.
There seems to be a lot of space and gap between the viewing of the the image for my liking, i like that psvr gives total Immersion, would this even be able to replace Nintendo labo i wonder 🤔 it's pretty essential to use external headphones anyway and it's pretty much a waste when vr headset s have built in audio or headphones the only thing killing this thing is the $600 price tag when psvr2 will be round the corner this will be long forgotten a expensive paperweight at most lol 😂
These promises have been made before...
I think you're being duped and this is basically just another one of those headsets that shows a big screen floating in front of your face and nothing else, which have been around for a long, long time (and is mostly just pointless in this case when you can already view the Switch on your 4K home TV or on the built-in portable screen anyway). The only difference I can see here is that it's higher resolution than any of the older versions of these types of headsets because the displays they can use these days are better now. It's not proper AR and it's certainly not the even more magical VR. You'd probably be better off just buying a new VR headset like the Oculus Quest or whatever and finding a way to run your Switch's video signal through it, and if you can combine this with something like Bigscreen or Virtual Desktop, which currently lets you view your PC desktop inside VR on giant virtual screens in various virtual environments, it would allow you to view Switch games on a literally cinema-sized screen while sitting inside your own private virtual cinema (even in stereoscopic 3D in some cases too if you use the Labo VR stereoscopic setting in the few Switch games that have it). At least then you could also use that VR headset for playing a bunch of amazing and indeed paradigm-shifting VR games too. Basically, rather than buying the headset above that's just a big floating screen and little more, I would recommend you get yourself an Oculus Quest or whatever other VR headset of your choosing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ7slny0d58
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7Q4fdMQlL0
“the equivalent of looking at a 200-inch TV screen from 3 meters away.“ Goodbye retina!
@mantez When it comes to VR the experience is sooo far beyond just wearing 3D glasses like at the cinema that wearing a headset to do so becomes a mute point.
But, just to be clear, the glasses above are not even close to VR. And, from what I can see, they're technically not even really proper VR either.
From what I can tell, without buying additional third party devices, they're doing little more than displaying a floating screen in front of you.
♪♫ Dream's 200-Inch TV!
Everybody come and see! ♫♪
If you look at the actual specs, it is not actually 4k. 3840 x 1080 is the equivalent of two side by side 1080p screens. With the setup of going through the mini pc with no hdmi bypass if the ui creates a horrible input lag which makes all gaming pretty much impossible. They started this campaign before even finishing their prior Dreamglass air campaign. Look up dreamglass air reviews to get an idea of what you are dealing with.
Damien is a liar and absolutely full of it.
Check out the Facebook groups around the product.
There are NO AR apps for it. YouTube and netflix don't work on it.
There is no Google play store to download apps.
Try it on a console and the lag is so bad it's unusable.
The lenses scratch by blinking on them and they fall out.
There's a massive Plastic bar in the middle of the picture and it's nothing like 200inch, more like 75.
It's awful. Those of us who've spent our money on it are furious and these kind of lying articles have clearly been paid for to con more people into handing over their money for a piece of junk.
You should be ashamed In trying to stiff gamers out of their money.
@googe - do you actually own one? I love tech but baulked at the KS price on these. However, last week, I picked one of these up on FBMP for £100 off a backer who'd bought it and 'didn't want it'...That old chestnut. I thought for £100, I'll give it a go for my Switch - and you know what? It is surprisingly good.
When I first saw the Kickstarter a few months ago, I thought it was just another load of AR crap and a PR exercise we've seen a million times before. A flimsy plastic visor with two projection screens projected onto a plastic magnifying lens with a barn door effect that would ruin the experience. When I got to the guy's house, the first thing I noticed was how well made they are. They're not too heavy and have a pin-sharp display (which, tbf, does take a bit of setting up). The pair I bought is not the 4K version either (I don't think they're out yet), but for Switch, they're ideal and perform far better than I expected them to.
Once you have you got the visor comfortable and set the pupil separation correctly (to get rid of the blurriness), the image is bang on. It's not 200 inches, but it's big. After that, all you do is connect it to your WiFi and download the apps you want (and this is why I'm wondering if you actually own one, Googe?). Using the remote (which is a mini Android PC), you click on the top icon 'apps' and select app AR and then it takes you to a store where you can download Netflix, Youtube, Prime and a raft of other Android apps/games. It's a doddle. I'd put pictures up and show you if I could because there is very little out there by way of hands-on reviews.
Connecting to Switch is a doddle too. You just remove the Switch HDMI from your TV and put it into the HDMI slot on the Dreamglass controller, change the input channel and bingo, the image is on the Dreamglass. That is literally all there is to it. I've not noticed any lag either despite reports on Reddit and other places. That being said, I've not tried it on PS4 or PC (don't have an Xbox which seems to be the main console causing lag issues).
As I said, I bought this primarily for my Switch for full-screen gaming on the go, and having to have the connection piped through the dock is, obviously, not ideal and kinda defeats the point of a mobile big screen. So, I've purchased a third-party USB-C dongle/dock with HDMI pass-through that will allow me to use my Switch without the clunky dock. So I'll see how good it is when it arrives today.
In summary, though, it's a very good piece of hardware and much, much better than I expected it to be.
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