GOOVIS vs. XR: The Pinnacle of Visual Clarity

VR or AR often comes to mind when people think of HMDs. While VR excels in immersive gaming and entertainment, AR focuses on merging display with interaction. However, neither of these devices is specifically designed for immersive movie watching, and they all suffer from a significant shortcoming—lack of clarity.

GOOVIS revolutionizes immersive movie viewing with ultra-high-definition visuals that deliver cinema-like effects the moment you put on the HMD. With GOOVIS, it's like always sitting in the best seat in the theater, enjoying a stunning visual feast.

Because GOOVIS prioritizes visual clarity over immersive interaction, it doesn't emphasize the same level of interactivity as VR/AR. This trade-off is due to the "impossible triangle" in the HMD design.

What is the "Impossible Triangle"?

The ideal HMD would have three key characteristics: high resolution, wide field of view (for strong immersion), and a compact, lightweight form. However, it's nearly impossible to achieve all three at the highest level in a single device due to physical limitations. Clarity, field of view, and form factor are the three elements of this "impossible triangle" that must be balanced.

According to the formula shown in the figure, there is a relationship between the core parameters of the field of view (FOV) in HMD, screen size, and the optical system. The field of view and screen size are directly proportional, meaning that the larger the screen size, the larger the field of view, resulting in stronger immersion. However, this also makes the headset bulkier. At the same time, the field of view and system focal length are inversely proportional, meaning that the shorter the focal length, the larger the field of view. However, this compromises image quality, which is a limitation of the optical industry. As of now, there is no ideal solution to create a perfect headset, and trade-offs between various parameters must be made.

At GOOVIS, we believe that since VR and AR are based on displays, visual clarity should be the foundation of any viewing experience. This is why GOOVIS, as a leader in HMDs, has prioritized clarity over immersion.

What Determines Clarity?

The primary factor determining clarity in HMDs is the retinal resolution of the human eye, measured in pixels per degree (PPD). A PPD of 60 or higher achieves retinal-level clarity. For the human eye to perceive a display clearly, a PPD of 40 or more is generally required. Many HMD sacrifice clarity to focus on immersion, resulting in a PPD of around 20, leading to visible pixelation. GOOVIS achieves a PPD of 42-53, providing exceptional clarity for movie watching.

Achieving a high PPD in HMD is no easy task. The highest resolution currently available in consumer-grade HMD is around 3K × 3K per eye. To reach retina-level clarity, the horizontal and vertical field of view (FOV) must not exceed 50°, or the screen's PPI must be doubled while maintaining the same device size.

Currently, glass substrate screens can achieve a maximum PPI of around 1500. Doubling this to reach 3000 PPI would require significant technological upgrades, with enormous investments in production. Moreover, there are material and manufacturing limitations that may make this difficult to achieve. While silicon-based displays like Micro-OLED can easily surpass 3000 PPI, their small size—typically under 1.3 inches—poses significant challenges for optical design.

To overcome the challenges of optical design, GOOVIS developed a cutting-edge solution inspired by DSLR camera lenses. This system features a 12-element glass-plastic hybrid aspherical lens array, a design rarely seen in AR/VR devices due to its complexity and cost. These precision-engineered lenses, which are based on advanced DSLR technology, require micron-level alignment to deliver exceptional image quality and optimize light efficiency. With over 80% light efficiency—the highest among comparable products—GOOVIS achieves an impressive PPI of 3528 under a 65° field of view, setting a market-leading standard. This combination of clarity and immersion pushes the boundaries of high-definition display technology, nearly achieving retina-level clarity.

Although PPD (Pixels Per Degree) is a key metric for measuring the clarity of head-mounted displays, achieving high definition goes beyond simply eliminating a "pixelated" look. True high-definition encompasses a comprehensive experience that includes no glare, no distortion, no edge blurring, and no stray light. The human eye is highly sensitive, and even slight interference from stray light or glare can be perceived as "blurriness." Therefore, simply increasing PPD doesn’t fully equate to high clarity. It requires optimizing all optical parameters to improve image quality across the entire field of view.

Another important metric is the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), which measures the sharpness and resolution of images through lenses. MTF values for both edge and center image quality are crucial for a clear viewing experience. GOOVIS is among the top performers in MTF, ensuring superior image quality compared to other AR/VR products.

As shown in the image above, the top section contains a set of black-and-white test lines that gradually become denser. The middle section shows how the lines appear after passing through a lens, while the red curve in the lower section represents the brightness variation of the image. The blue curve illustrates the MTF-lp/mm (Modulation Transfer Function - line pairs per millimeter) graph.

In the realm of HMDs, GOOVIS has achieved unparalleled clarity, staying true to its name—Good Vision. GOOVIS’s mission is to provide users with the best visual experience, and after nearly a decade of focused development in high-definition technology, it has produced extraordinary results.