Mega-Review: Headplay Personal Cinema System

In the second half of our first ever Mega-Review, I strap on the Headplay Personal Cinema System for a test run.  And finally, I embark on a journey into the helmet of the Spartan and behind the mask of the Helgan to evaluate the effects of both the Tritton AXPro Surround Sound Headset and the Headplay PCS together.

Every year, I go on my annual search for a head-mounted display, or HMD for short.  HMDs are popular because of their association with classic virtual reality gear.  However, for the majority of us, our VR expectations come from futurists who make sci-fi-flavored claims rather than the educated guesses we pay them for.  When it gets down to the technology, the utility, and most importantly the economy of the matter, HMDs have left a lot to be desired.  When most HMDs reach the market, they come one of two flavors:  heavy, expensive, commercial-grade kits; or cheap, blurry, mal-adjusted toys.  This has left a large gap in the market... a round hole filled with square and triangular pegs.  Can Headplay fill this gap successfully?

The PCS comes packed in its own travel case just a little larger than a regulation football.  Inside you find the glossy black PCS unit mounted on a comfortable visor, the "Liberator" decoder box, power and video cables, a small memory stick with sample content, and a pair of in-canal ear buds.  It's a lot of equipment to be carrying around, but the pain is somewhat eased by having the carrying case.  Still, it's a bulky package that makes it hard to take on the bus.  Plus, everyone would naturally assume you're watching porn.

Fitting the PCS to your head is a very simple task.  The Velcro straps on the temples of the visor help size the visor to fit just about anyone's noggin and the forehead pad helps keep the visor comfortable and in place.  With the visor rigged up, you can start adjusting the focus and eye alignment using independent controls for each eye.  Also, note the PCS adjusts up and down as well, so you can wear the visor any way that's comfortable for you.  Honestly, I've seen binoculars that were harder to set up, but it still takes a few minutes and some adjustment from time to time to find the optimal settings for your eyes.  Be sure to take that time or your eyes will get fatigued faster.

The PCS connects from the visor to the Liberator to feed the content to the visor.  Thankfully, this helps maintain the visor's relatively low profile and light weight, allowing me to strike "heavy" off my list of expectations.  The Liberator is the only component of the PCS that takes an AC adapter, though you could go wireless if you purchase the battery from Headplay.  On booting up the PCS, you're presented with a menu for choosing input modes and navigating the USB media.  Like the Tritton AXPro headset, the Headplay also features an inline control module for controlling volume and menus.  The in-line module also has the port for a pair of headphones, be that the included in-ear buds or your own headphones.

The PCS features input modes for composite and VGA out of the box, but with an additional cable from Headplay, you can add component input for HD resolutions.  This is a good time to mention that you can ALMOST classify the PCS as an HD capable display.  I qualify that because the native display resolution of the PCS is a sub-HD 800x600.  The PCS can display beyond it's native resolution, but that's at a standard 4:3 ratio rather than widescreen.  Plus, depending on the VGA mode you use, the refresh rate might suffer a little.  A little experimentation will usually remedy that, but I could play my consoles on higher resolutions with little degradation.

The display technology seems reminiscent of Texas Instruments' DLP technology.  Traditionally, DLP uses an oscillating mirror to scan the display surface, making for a lower-cost display, but at the expense of some users reporting a "rainbow" effect from seeing a partial scan.  I can't tell if the PCS actually uses DLP, but it results in a similar distortion when you dart your eyes around certain high contrast images.  I'll admit I got used to this over time, but this could annoy certain users.  The best way to minimize the distortion is to choose the highest refresh rates you can manage, and that means sticking to the native resolution.

The apertures you look through for your video image are rendered separate from each other.  This allows the PCS to work as an Nvidia-compliant 3D display.  However, since I was unable to make the effect work on my Windows Vista PC, I can't report on it's usefulness.  Suffice it to say, the PS3 and the Xbox 360 were also incapable of outputting a 3D signal.

I should note that, as you might guess, eye fatigue sets in after a while, no matter how well you set the focus.  Also, a slight bit of nausea accompanied my first few days of use.  Over time, I got used to both, but make no mistake that long-term use could damage your eyes, just like sitting too close to your monitor or TV.  Be sure to take breaks frequently and let your eyes focus on something in the real world.

Overall, I would give the PCS high marks for what it tries and succeeds to do, but I mark it down a little for nickel-and-diming the user on the component cable and the battery.  Those are features I would like to see in the standard package.

But what about the price?  The PCS until recently retailed for $499 for the basic package I reviewed, but Headplay recently announced a $100 price drop to $399.  Also, if you stumble across the site at the right time, you might pick up a refurbished unit like I did.  On top of the new lower price, Headplay offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.  For the price, the display does a great job delivering on it's promises.  Is it ready for shelf space at your local big box?  That's another debate, but I'm happy with this year's search for an HMD.

Headplay.com

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Now, for the pièce de résistance.  What happens when you combine the Headplay PCS and the Tritton AXPro headset?

First, I put in my communications headset of choice, a Plantronics GameCom x30.  I chose this headset over the standard headset or Tritton's solution because it adds yet another speaker to help me differentiate proximity voice and direction from team communications.  But mostly, the x30 is very low profile and can fit in most ear cups without interfering with surround sound perception.

Next, I slip on the Headplay PCS and readjust the measurements.  And finally, the AXPro, sans microphone, goes comfortably over the PCS visor.  For the final touch, I shut off the lights in the room and lay down on the futon.

Most of my tests involved Halo 3 and Killzone 2, and FPS would seem like the ideal testing genre for the rig.  I certainly felt isolated from the outside world.  All sight and sound were focused on the game.  The house could have burned down around me.  But was I "immersed"?  The images played before my eyes and the sounds filled my ears, but in the end, I was still playing the same game.  It's not like the PCS gave me a panoramic view in a game that didn't already offer it.  It's not like the controller disappeared and the game started reading my muscle movements.  Honestly, very little changed.  I felt like my situational attention was indeed enhanced, but all told, I was a little lukewarm on the overall experience.  If the annual search comment was any indication, this is something I had built up in my mind to be the perfect gaming rig.  In the end, it was one of those "good, but not great" experiences, falling short of my expecations. 

Would I recommend the combo for everyone?  Probably not.  But for the "pro-sumer" who has some spare time and cash, it's worth looking into these kinds of setups.  I'm glad I did it, because it gave me a healthy reality check on the future of games.  It's not the display technology or the sound systems that make a game immersive;  we should focus on making compelling games... games that resonate with the way we think and control.  There is more to immersion than transporting the senses to another world.  The mind needs just as much, if not more, attention.  So, in conclusion, beyond just getting to review some really cool technology, I know better what to look for and demand in games that are immersive.  I'm happy with the Headplay PCS and even more exuberantly happy with the Tritton AXPro, but the combination left me a little disappointed.