Shiftall Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation, will reveal MaganeX, its stylish, lightweight, high-dynamic-range (HDR), virtual-reality (VR) glasses at CES 2022 this week incorporating Lightning 2.6K x 2.6K (2560 x 2560 resolution) micro OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays on chip (DoC ) and all-plastic Pancake optics from Kopin Corporation.
Shiftall, a fully owned subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation, presents MaganeX which is an ultra-lightweight, 5.2K HDR VR headset supporting 6 degree-of-freedom (DoF) head position detection and various SteamVR applications. The MaganeX has a very small form factor thanks to Kopin’s 1.3″ displays and the slim Pancake optics. The small, lightweight form factor makes the glasses comfortable to wear for extended periods of time, unlike today’s bulky VR headsets. The very advanced VR glasses also provide for interpupillary distance (IPD) and diopter adjustments so that they can be used without corrective lenses. The foldable frame with built-in speakers makes it easy to carry.
The 2.6K x 2.6K OLED DoC is designed with Kopin’s patented backplane architecture that reduces power consumption and delivers very high frame rates up to 120 Hz and 10 bits of color (30 full-color bits). Utilizing its patent-pending ColorMax technology, Kopin has been working with its partner, Lakeside Optoelectronic Technology Co., Ltd., to optimize the duo-stack OLED structure to output color spectrum to match the bandpass of the color filters for high color fidelity (> 100% sRGB), coupled with very high Current Efficiency for high brightness (> 1000 nits). The 30-bit color control, together with the high color fidelity, high brightness and high contrast ratio (> 10,000: 1), enables the much-desired studio-quality, HDR VR experience.
Kopin’s world’s first all-plastic Pancake optics (named P95) optimized for Kopin’s 1.3″ 2.6K x 2.6K OLED microdisplay provide a large field of view (equivalent to > 200 inches viewed from 3-m distance) and offer better image quality, much smaller size, lighter weight and lower cost than anything previously available.
“It is necessary for VR glasses to be lightweight and comfortable to wear as well as deliver life-like images in order to be widely accepted to consumers,” said Takuma Iwasa, CEO of Shiftall. “Kopin’s unique 2.6K x 2.6K OLED display and all-plastic Pancake optics are the key to achieving these objectives. We are very pleased with our close partnership with Kopin for the development of our VR glasses.”
“We have had a long-standing collaborative development program with Panasonic and Lakeside, and each company has contributed its core elements of the technology and design – for the ultimate VR Glasses that have both high-performance and a sleek, comfortable design,” said Dr. John C.C. Fan, President and CEO of Kopin. “We look forward to seeing Shiftall delight their customers with these magnificent VR Glasses.”
