CES Hit All-In-One Glyph Combines Music Video And Games In Single Headset

LAS VEGAS -- Virtual reality? Yawn. That's so 2014. The product capturing headlines at this week's Consumer Electronics Show is Avegant's Glyph headset.

The Glyph is styled as a noise-canceling stereo headphone, and is designed to deliver high-fidelity audio and video. The trick is that its headband swings forward to a horizontal position, placing two tiny projectors in front of the user's eyes. These form 1280 x 720-pixel images directly on the retinas.

Offering higher contrast and a longer tonal scale than the usual miniature video screens, the imaging system is said to produce the effect of standing 8 ft. away from an 80" screen, for a viewing angle of 40° to 45°.

The projectors use low-energy LEDs to form the image and micromirror arrays to direct them onto the user's retinas. The optical system offers eyeglass wearers diopter correction adjustable from +2 to -6. Interpupillary distance can be adjusted from 52mm. to 75mm.

While it isn't primarily a VR head-mounted device, it can be used as one with 3D (stereoscopic) content. "The high resolution, lack of screen-door effect and low latency of our technology all make the Glyph great for VR," the company explained. It also is fitted with an inertial measurement unit that tracks linear movement in three dimensions and rotation on three axes.

Equipped with a mini-HDMI video input connector, the Glyph is described as "media agnostic," accommodating content from nearly any source. It can be attached to a smartphone, home videogame console, television, tablet or any other device that provides HDMI output.

The headphone receives audio material over a Bluetooth link or through a 3.5mm. stereo phone jack (TRRS four-connector), and has a built-in microphone. This versatility allows users to play games from their smartphones while commuting, listen to music at work, and then go home and watch a movie or plug into a Playstation videogame.

Weighing only 16 oz., the Glyph is powered by a rechargeable battery designed to handle up to three hours of video viewing or 48 hours of listening. It's equipped with a microUSB jack for charging.

The Glyph headset, which is currently available for preorder ($499), is scheduled to ship toward the end of the year.