Personal 3D Viewer

Product Description

Get into the wearable HDTV from Sony. Hook up your console, PC, mobile device or smartphone wirelessly and enjoy your favorite movies and games wirelessly with a virtual 150 inch screen and virtual 7.1 Surround Sound- even in 3D! Now playing for your eyes and ears only.

Features

• Wearable 2D and 3D1 HDTV
• Directly connect your mobile devices, smartphone
• Watch and move freely with WirelessHD

Top Reviews

Immersive!
by ADudePlayingADude (5 out of 5 stars)
October 10, 2015

I paid nearly $1000 for this, and have no regrets. This is perfect for portability and space constrained areas. It looks like you're watching your own large theater screen, with lots of brightness, color clarity, and rich sound. It's better than a projector for personal viewing.

There are some quirks about the fit, and can't really use it for computing if you have to look at the keyboard to type like I do. It's kind of hard to get good focus on the whole screen without it pressing harder against your nose, but, even with these small annoyances, its a good device.

If there's a movie, I wait until I can get it in 3D Blu-ray, then watch it exclusively on the Sony HMZ-T3W (if not watching the movie with other people). I do not use the wireless features, so the complexity and wiring you need is minimal. One wire goes to the HDMI out, one goes to USB for power (although it has a battery that lasts at least 2-3 hours, or more--since I plug the HDMI into the computer anyways, there's really no reason not to plug in the USB cable, so not really sure how long the battery lasts, other than for at least 2 hours), and then the wire that goes to the headset, and your ear buds.
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Great screen quality but horrible fit and in NO way wireless.
by Draiodoir (4 out of 5 stars)
August 7, 2014

THE GOOD.

The screen quality is awesome.

Side by side 3d looks great.

If you wear glasses they fit.

With the rubber light blockers on no light gets in, very easy to "get lost" in games and movies.

Even with the ear-buds included the sound is awesome.

Not as heavy as I thought, yet doesn't feel cheap.

THE BAD

The fit is horrible. I had to remove the forehead pad to make it fit, it adjusts in, not out like it needs to, it's like the supporting arm is on backwards.

Steams up really easy, and the lenses are hard to get to and clean.

It is in NO WAY wireless. The "wireless" function doesn't work, it keeps being interrupted if other wireless electronics are close by, such as my speakers, cell phone, tv, ps3/ps4 ext. Good thing they included a place to hook up with an HDMI directly to the headset.

I'm a Paramedic and travel alot. I'm rarely home and couldn't see paying over $1k for a big screen tv I could only use 2 days a week at home. AND having to buy something portable to play the ps3 or ps4 at work waiting on 911's.

All in all I love this headset, it's just that the fit is so bad and too many wires. Very much still just a niche product till they fix the problems. What you don't see in the pic are two wires from the headset going to the battery box and headphones. And thanks to the bad wireless the battery box is connected to the main control box by an HDMI cable. (plus another cord to charge it) From the control box two cables minimum - an HDMI connecting it to your media device and a power cord. If Sony fixes the fit and the wires and box thing they will have a perfect product. It really is like having a huge screen in front of your face, when you can keep it still and in place.
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Great HDTV if your apartment can't fit one
by Tong Zou (4 out of 5 stars)
June 1, 2014

I live in an apartment so I can't bring a 42incher in, its just a studio so space is a premium. So I was deciding between this thing and a 3D projector for playing games / watching movies. I decided on this for a few reasons:
1) looks cool, no one else has these and enhances my geek factor
2) 3D projector + 3D glasses + 3D converter is about $1200+ for a decent setup. This is $1k in comparison.
3) this takes up almost no room at all. No room needed for projecting anything either. It's just a headset.

So having used it for a few days here are my thoughts:
1) It takes a while to adjust the headset so that its comfortable. It is definitely lighter than the Sony HMZ-T1 but it still needs alot of adjustment.
2) Picture quality is pretty amazing. I've used the Myvu Crystal viewer before so I've used these HUDs before, but these OLED screens are fantastic. Picture is bright and clear. Its like having a 75 inch TV in front of you, but you can still see the edges.
3) Light guard is annoying to put on, and you pretty much always need to have it to block light. So why didn't Sony just build this in? When would I ever NOT use the light guard? Its annoying to fit that thing in. This is the same issue the HMZ-T1 also had.
4) 3D quality is good. As good as you will see with any 3D movie in a movie theater anyway.
5) Audio quality is good. The included headphone are pretty decent, but the fact that you can use your OWN headphones is pretty amazing. Use a set of closed headphones with it. I'm using my Audio Technica A900s.
6) Wireless setup is tricky. You have this wireless processor thing to setup which takes a while, then you need to set up your wireless receiver in the correct line of sight, within a few meters or something, but its annoying to have to adjust this. It would be nice if we didn't have a separate wireless receiver attached to the headset because umm its supposed to be WIRELESS and I still have a wire somewhere!

Overall - is it worth the money? For single guys like me who play alot of single player games and watch movies by themselves and live in a studio - yes this is amazing. You cannot find a 100" 3D TV and 5.1 SS setup for this price. On the other hand - if you constantly have friends over, play Wii a lot, watch movies with the gf or what not, this isn't a good option. Just get a 3DTV or use a computer monitor or 3D projector instead. That's my 2 cents. 4 stars. The only problem I have with it is the inability to use it standing up or for longer periods of time, and the pesky wireless receiver that dangles off of it. That kind of defeats the point of being perfectly wireless.
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Guess we all have to wait for Project Morpheus to come out...
by EdenK (2 out of 5 stars)
February 9, 2015

Lots of research and reading the limited reviews on this item led me to buy it...and here's what I think.

I purchased this item as a supplement to my projector, since i do not own a tv and cannot watch in full daylight due to glare.

Simply put, the image quality is very good but not 1080p and I can see the pixel grid. The unit is not very comfortable, even after 40 min of trying to adjust it to fit. The wireless HDMI is a nice feature, but if ANYTHING is in the line-of-sight to the sender, the picture cuts out. The deal breaker for me was the image jitter - fast moving images like video games (PS4) or action movies are annoying to watch. I personally could not get the full "screen" to be clear and sharp, the lenses are very finicky and cumbersome to get "just right" and if the unit shifts on your head even slightly, part of the image blurs. The 3D works fine.

I bought it with high hopes, especially since i am a SONY fan, but this item was just not worth the price or the headache "literally".

Guess we all have to wait for Project Morpheus to come out.

Cheers!
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Not for me
by Yitzhak Weissman (2 out of 5 stars)
November 26, 2014

I do not like this product.

Sony made a sincere effort to advance the state of the art of video glasses. The picture is good, though it can be felt that the resolution is two generations back. Video quality and sound are good too; after all this is Sony. However, this is the end of my praise of this product.

First of all the viewing angle is too big for me. It feels like sitting in a front row of a cinema. I had to decrease the screen size to about 70%. After that the picture became bearable for me, but at the price of loosing 30% of the pixels, which where scarce to begin with.

The second problem is of course the comfort. Trying to wear the device with my glasses was a frustrating experience. When I dumped the glasses and put on my contacts, the experience became reasonable. However, no matter how hard I tried with the straps and forehead support adjustments, I could not find a setting with which I could feel comfortable even for an hour.

Another disappointment was video sharing. Once you connect the video source to the glasses, nobody else can watch it. Probably this problem can be overcome using an HDMI splitter (which needs to be purchased separately), but I did not have an opportunity to test this setup. Most probably it is not possible to connect wirelessly to HMZ's to the same video source.

This product goes to my drawer, and will wait for an opportunity to be passed over to somebody else.
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Almost PERFECT
by Eibo,Top Contributor: Watches (4 out of 5 stars)
November 13, 2013

* 2D Video Experience:-

Pros:
- An extraordinary viewing experience. Image is very crisp in center throughout corners.
- It really feels like a huge screen. You can't reach that view without being in an actual cinema or a huge room with a high end projector.
- Text and subtitles are now easily readable and looks very clear.
- Video settings are completely adjustable (colors, tones, sharpness, etc)
- Many people complain about the resolution not being full 1080P. Believe me, these glasses give better results than any full HD TV from Sony.
- Screen size is adjustable (100%/90%/80%/70%). This is very useful when playing PS3 games specially first person shooter since playing on such a huge screen would make it very difficult to quickly spot targets around corners and also too much movement would make you feel dizzy. I prefer going for 70% when playing such games to have a complete view of the scene without having to scan it every second with my eyes from one corner to another)

Cons:
- In order to get a perfect picture, glasses should be adjusted perfectly which could be a little bit challenging. any slight movement could cause blurriness.
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* 3D Video Experience:-

Pros:
- Looking at 3D TVs wearing glasses usually gets me dizzy. it feels as if my brain takes time to read the dimensions. Without getting into so much details, these glasses just don't do that. 3D looks as good as 2D but with a third dimension.
- 2 Options for 3D viewing are available (Side to Side) and (Over and Under). In other words, you may play any 3D contents on these glasses, even from PC.

Cons:-
- Just like all 3D screens, some times the pictures/scenes might feel a little blurry. I never figured if that was my brain playing tricks or a common thing in 3D.
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* Comfort and Weight:-

Pros:-
- This version is much more comfortable than previous models, much lighter in weight and much more sturdy (Can't be easily dislocated)
- Weight can be easily distributed throughout the head (forehead, nose, neck and top of the head).
- Once the glasses straps are adjusted to your head, it won't be necessary to adjust it every time you take off and put it on like previous models.
- After watching a movie for 3 continuous hours, I didn't feel any headaches. If this to show something, It means that the device is well engineered for humans vision.
- You may wear your eye glasses while wearing it. extra space has been considered to accommodate small to medium eye glasses.

Cons:-
- After 2 hours of wearing it, you'd probably start getting a feeling of discomfort, and you'd need to take 10 minutes break to relax your forehead and nose.
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* Connectivity:-

Pros:-
- As mentioned earlier you may either connect your player wirelessly via the small transmitter or directly via battery pack.
- 3 HDMI inputs in wireless transmitter enables you to connect 3 devices at a time which you can shift from via your glasses.
- Single HDMI input in battery pack for direct connection.
- I was concerned about the wireless HD streaming but it actually works perfectly with no delays or loss in picture quality.
- Glasses contain a headphone jack which you may use to connect your own headphones or the one supplied with the 3D viewer.

Note: I managed to connect my PC (Which doesn't have an HDMI output) to my glasses. If you have the same problem and wish to connect your PC, you may need to consider buying the "Multi-Display Adapter Device" from "Plugable" this manages to connect any HDMI to your PC via 3.0 USB cable and it works great. It is supposed to transfer both HD video and 7.1 audio through the HDMI cable, but for me, It couldn't manage to transfer audio without any errors (it keeps on stopping). Not sure wither it's because of the adapter, earphones or my computer. Instead, I'm using my own Bluetooth headphones.

Cons:-

Units and cables could've been less and more compact.
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* Build quality and durability:-

This unit is made of plastic and rubber so you can't expect much, the screen span adjuster is a little bit flimsy and the chrome finish makes this unit easily scratchable.
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* Battery:

So far so good. The battery can hold up to a little bit more than 3 hours of continuous play.
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* Contents:
1- 3D personal viewer permanently connected to battery pack (Battery pack is the wireless signal receiver as well and it's connected to glasses via cable)
2- Mini AC adaptor (This is a mini USB adapter that supplies power to glasses via battery pack. It also charges it.
3- Wireless transmitter (this is a small device which you may connect your DVD player/PS3/PC/Phone to in order to connect wirelessly to battery pack and stream HD videos. It contains 3 HDMI inputs and 1 HDMI output)
4- Regular AC adaptor (This is a regular adaptor which supplies the wireless transmitter with power)
5- HDMI cable.
6- 7.1 Ch. Earphones.
7- Replacement rubber ear buds with different sizes to fit your ears.
8 - A carrying case that can hold the glasses with it's battery back, the mini AC adaptor and HDMI cable and enough room for extra stuff.
9 - 2 Covering rubber pieces to obtain a complete blackout. one can be installed on top (I like this one because it supports my forehead) and one from the bottom (Which I don't use because it really makes glasses tight on my nose and face)
10 - Clips to attach the earphone cables to the glasses for better experience.
11 - User quick guide.

Note: you don't have to use all the above to play videos, you may either use the wireless transmitter to stream videos to glasses wirelessly or you may connect your PS3/DVD player directly to the glasses via the battery pack.
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Generally the experience is beautiful and it is a device that truly covers the needs for home cinema and definitely not a prototype anymore. Not really sure if it's worth 1000$ though. I mean come on Sony. How much did it actually cost you to manufacture this?
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best ever
by RI-RI (5 out of 5 stars)
June 28, 2014

Completely submersive and crystal clear optics gives the all too real vision of being alone in an Imax theatre. Setup is easily done in a few minutes, 3d will blow you away and gameplay is awesome. If you want complete immersion into your movies and games without the outside hassle our annoying theatre goers. Go with these. You will be shocked at how good the are. Wireless it's seamless and and battery life is very good. If this is anything like project morpheus than we are all in for a very good treat. Great job Sony
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Amazing, simply amazing...
by TyCo (5 out of 5 stars)
February 5, 2014

After a couple of days using this HMD I have to say it's the best Head Mounted Display I've tried (and I've tried just about all of them). MUCH better image quality than the Oculus Rift.

It does take some adjusting to get a proper fit and if your eyes are unusually far apart or close together you won't have a 100% sharp field of view For me I can get a 99.99% clear field of view (I have an average facial build) although there is a sliver of blurred image on the side of the screen, maybe .05% of the screen. Once involved in the movie though, it's not really noticeable.

The 3D on this is second to none. Since its two completely separate images the 3D effect works much better than using passive polarization or active shutter glasses. I've found that the side-by-side 3D format is the best but over/under is amazing too.

These really do simulate being in a theater. You'll find your eye moving around scanning the screen. It's not like watching TV where you just look straight ahead, it's really like being in the theater.

The 720P resolution is amazingly clear. If you look very close during certain scenes you can make out the pixels, but for being only 720P the images are very sharp. The optics and how they achieve the theater effect is amazing. I'll wait until they come out again in 4K before I upgrade (1080P won't be worth it).

I've watched one 2 hour movie when they first arrived with them plugged into the charger, then I watched roughly 6 hours plugged in (tested the wireless and it works just as well) and the battery is at 2 out of 3 bars. Battery seems very solid and I would expect to get 8 hours of use at least while using them with the wired connection. Will update if this changes.

Comfort: Once adjusted they are very comfortable. Hour and a half movie is no problem. You can lay back in your favorite recliner, hands behind your head with your head facing up and after a moment getting used to watching in that position you'll love it. I didn't experience any eye strain or headaches as some other reviews have mentioned.

The included light blockers work great although they can come detached much too easily and are a pain to get back in place. With the right headset adjustment they do block out 99.9% of outside light though. With the bottom off you can glance down if you're using these with a computer but the light allowed in is distractive.

Using an MHL adapter with my Samsung Note 3 the images are great (3d and standard), just as good as when using my computer or TV cable box. Just a heads up: it you're trying to use an MHL with the Note 3 be sure to put it into airplane mode or it will flicker or show nothing at all. Not sure why and it took some Googling to figure this out. You can put it in airplane mode and still turn on wifi if you intend to stream from the internet. If you experience this problem with another phone/tablet try airplane mode, may fix this issue.

Sound: I never even tried the earbuds that came with the display. I paired it with a Bose QCI 5 and sounds great although depending on the source and player you're using they could provide just a little more power.

Build quality: For the money I would of expected these to have a slightly better build quality. It's not that they're flimsy, they're well assembled, but it just feels like less that premium plastic is used. Time will tell if they hold up. I'll update this review if this becomes an issue.

Antisocial aspect: My wife is a little annoyed as I've had these things strapped to my head for two nights straight and you are in total seclusion when wearing them. Be sure to bare this in mind.

All in all I love these. They are on the expensive side but for the technophiles out there they're worth every cent. Can't wait to use them on my next flight!!!
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I think it's awesome!
by Bob Eddelman (5 out of 5 stars)
March 7, 2014

I was worried because the first unit I got, the headmounted display simply wouldn't power on. I got online and asked for a replacement. Amazon shipped out the new replacement the next day via Fed Ex overnight, and I received the new unit the next day, and it worked great! Thanks for the speedy replacement of the first defective unit Amazon!

Now, once I got the good unit, all I can say is it's totally awesome! I have a brand new Samsung UN55F8000 55-Inch 1080p 240Hz 3D Ultra Slim Smart LED HDTV, and the image on this thing is every bit as good as my 55 inch Samsung 3D TV. I'm accustomed to viewing my 55" TV sitting about 6 ft away, and the image on this Sony 3D viewer appears larger than my 55" TV by a good bit. I think it is about the same as being in a Movie theater sitting in the middle area of the seating. I've watched both 2D and 3D content from Blu-ray, Microsoft Surface Pro 2, WD TV live, and from Direct TV. The video is simply awesome from all sources. I read some reviews saying folks couldn't get things focused, or the screen edges were blurry, etc. I had zero problems getting a clear image throughout the entire screen area, the picture is simply perfect with great detail and color, and the only setting I changed from the standard settings as it arrived, was I switched from standard to cinema mode in the display settings.

Many folks have said the unit is very difficult to get adjusted and is very uncomfortable. I did spend a little time figuring out exactly how I wanted things adjusted to fit me right and to easily get it fitted back in the right spot each time I took it off and on, it seriously was not a bit difficult to achieve. Once I did have it right, it's truly a piece of cake taking it off and putting it back on, and it sits right where it needs to be. If I move it out of place, then it will effect the screen focus, but it has to move a good bit before it effects the image. The way I have it adjusted, I can slip it right on, flip the middle support strap back to just snug it up, and the image is perfect and stays that way, even with normal head movements. I wear glasses and am near sighted. The 3D viewer was watchable without my glasses, but just as I need my glasses to have the clearest image watching my standard TV, same applies with this thing. I could slip this thing on and off with both my small frame and medium frame glasses without the bottom rubber light shield in place, but since I preferred the bottom light shield in place, instead of leaving it off, I decided to glue the lenses from one of my pairs of glasses directly to the Sony 3D viewer. I simply laid a bead of JB Weld around the lenses on the 3D viewer being careful not to get it on the part that slides left/right for the span adjustment, then I laid my glasses lens right over top of the 3D viewer lens onto the glue. Once the glue set, my glasses lens are now a part of the 3D viewer and it makes it truly so easy putting the 3D viewer on and off, even with the bottom light shield in place... and it doesn't look bad either. As far as it being uncomfortable, it's really not for me, yes, you can tell it's on your head, but it doesn't hurt me one bit after watching a 2 hour movie which is about as long as I'll normally have it on. I had the thing on most of the day today testing everything out and my face and head are just fine! It's actually fairly comfortable to me.

I travel a bit and plan on taking this thing with me so I don't have to watch those crappy hotel TV's any more, plus I find my self having to wait at my sites a lot before I can get a machine to work on it, so I'll probably also slap this thing on while I'm waiting in my car, and watch TV shows or movies while I'm waiting on customer's. I can hook up my Surface Pro 2 directly to this thing with an HDMI cable, so it truly is a darn nice unit for mobile movie watching, and you're not settling, you're getting a theater quality experience while sitting in a car, or a crappy hotel... lol

The only thing a bit negative about this thing is although the wireless does work great when you're close enough, it doesn't have a very good range if you get any further than about 10 feet away from the base unit, the picture will cut in and out. I didn't deduct any stars for this simply because I'm almost always going to be using this hooked up to my Surface Pro 2, and the rare times I'll use it sitting at home using the wireless, the base unit will be within 10 feet of me, so no big deal, but if you might be requiring more than 10 ft with the wireless, this probably won't do it.

So to close, I can't see anyone not being blown away by the image quality of this device, I sure am! Unless you're one of those that for some reason just can't wear it due to discomfort (it's comfortable on me), then I'd very highly recommend this!
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The Engineer Who Designed The Rubber Skirts Should be Fired
by Barry Traub (2 out of 5 stars)
February 24, 2014

Even though it comes with two converters, and an HDMI, setup using my 3D players proved to be simple. The wireless range is limited but all-in-all it delivered exactly what I bought it for. I could lay flat on my back in bed and enjoy a great 3D movie. That is, were it not for the failure of the most necessary non-electronic component; the large bottom rubber panel that both provides a comfortable nose fit and blocks out all light from below. My unit came with it already hanging half off. When I tried to put it back in place I was astounded to find that the only things that held it in place were two small rubber "T-shaped" tabs per side that were to be captured by shallow indentations molded into the goggle. A third element on each side were female end caps that were meant to capture small male grooved blocks at each side's far end proved to be useless. As a product designer, I've never seen a poorer execution of design as, in total, the connectors are not strong enough to support 1/4th the weight of the panel... if that. Without the panel the sharp plastic edges of the nose section makes the goggles too painful to wear. You therefore have to use the panel for its nose suspension and put up with the rest of it hanging down like a giant rubber Foo-Man-Choo Mustache. The fact that this critical component on a $1,000.00 cutting-edge device was not sonically (or chemically) welded in place is an enigma only Sony's design department can address. Instead they've guaranteed an enormously high return rate; which is what I did with this Amazon purchase. I'll wait for the next generation in hopes that they'll change the design.

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