Is there a product — perhaps some kind of goggles — that I can wear on my face which will simulate the experience of watching a big television? I don't want virtual reality or augmented reality or anything like that.
I just want to be able to sit on a long-haul flight and isolate my eyes and ears in such a way that it feels like I'm sitting alone in a dark room watching a movie. The movie should play from my iPhone.
I've seen many of these clever VR headsets do extra stuff that I don't care about, like allow you to look around a virtual cinema or see other virtual people who might want to virtually watch a movie with me or some nonsense.
I don't want any of that. As the adjacent commenter surmised, I just want a television strapped to my head. I don't want other tourists in my peripheral vision, or screaming babies in my ears.
Also ideally I'd like to be able to watch a movie with my head at any angle. As I understand it, some (most?) VR headsets will keep the movie screen in the same place, so if you recline your seat and your eyes are pointed more towards the ceiling, the headset allows you to look at the ceiling of the virtual room you're in. I don't want this.
> I've seen many of these clever VR headsets do extra stuff that I don't care about, like allow you to look around a virtual cinema or see other virtual people who might want to virtually watch a movie with me or some nonsense.
That's kind of the selling point of a VR headset, yes. That's the sort of functionality that got most people interested in it.
> I don't want any of that. As the adjacent commenter surmised, I just want a television strapped to my head.
This product category has existed for decades, eg:
It should be possible to find an HDMI version somewhere.
I don't think they ever got any traction, because this particular use case is so limited, but I'm sure they can still be found somewhere (try ebay, or look for cheap chinese brands taking advantage of interest in VR)
That said, IMO the best solution available is the Quest 2. I don't think you'll just find another headset that's going to be affordable and have a good image quality. The hardware in it is excellent.
It does all the VR stuff you don't want, but all you seem to need is a video playback app that will make sure to keep the image in front of your face regardless of head position.
You won't have company if you don't want it to, the included app simulates an empty cinema except for yourself in it.
Nreal Air is one. Others are launching too. Without the AR parts it is lighter. Works well as plain monitor without any support software. Only slight problem I have with this is it heats up a bit.
I've seen a few adverts for the Nreal Air, and it does look interesting. For $380 though I'd like to try them once before buying (and I don't trust the impartiality of any YouTube review people). Do you know if it's possible to try them anywhere?
They don’t even ship where I am. I had to go through postal proxy. If you write some questions I will try to answer them later plus my own comments about any caveats I have found. I think Android is the ideal pairing, using the special software as well. But I only want them as dumb monitor, possibly connected to a keyboard computer to try a new form factor.
I have them, they're great. It's like wearing glasses that are 1cm further from your face. It is not something that blocks your lower field of view, which hurts complete immersion.
It was quite hard for me to follow what this product is or what it is for. It felt more like watching the opening credits of a James Bond movie than a video showing me what product I should buy and why.
It also says it isn't actually available for purchase yet.
This is essentially what I'm looking for, but I'm struggling to find a specific product to buy. It seems all of my searches turn up results where I need some dorky hand-held controllers, or I need to be connected to a big gaming PC, or that it's a simple headset but the iPhone doesn't actually fit in it.
Do you know any that will fit an iPhone 13? I have some decent noise-cancelling headphones already.
You probably don't want to wear a Quest for a full long-haul flight. They're not that comfortable, even with third-party straps.
There's also the whole thing where Quest 2 is quite a bit worse than Quest 1 in some aspects that relate to comfort, such as the lack of precise eye distance settings.
Is there a product — perhaps some kind of goggles — that I can wear on my face which will simulate the experience of watching a big television? I don't want virtual reality or augmented reality or anything like that.
I just want to be able to sit on a long-haul flight and isolate my eyes and ears in such a way that it feels like I'm sitting alone in a dark room watching a movie. The movie should play from my iPhone.