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From The East Valley (Arizona) Tribune

Tempe company has vision of future

By Ed Taylor, Tribune

Vincent F. Sollitto Jr. can’t be accused of lacking vision. The president and chief executive officer of Brillian Corp., a Tempe- based developer of high-definition televisions, sees a world in which millions of kids will play video games with sleek headsets that immerse them in a virtual reality world of their choosing — displaying bright, full-color, three-dimensional, high resolution scenes.

Best of all, the wireless headsets can be taken just about anywhere.

"This has medical and military applications, but gaming is the big market," Sollitto said. "Some day we’ll be producing millions of units a month. The kids are the real target."

Such technology is already here, but Brillian is trying to expand the market with an improved second-generation headset.

Brillian displayed a second generation prototype head-mounted display for video applications at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month in Las Vegas. The company is looking for partners that want to use the Brillian developed technology to bring their own head-mounted displays to the consumer market.

Already the company’s near-to-eye display technology is being used in headsets sold by i-O Display Systems and Shimadzu Corp.

The new second-generation version is intended to be leased to original equipment manufacturers that would put their own brand name on the product and bring it to the market quickly without having to design all of the technology pieces themselves, said Rainer Kuhn, vice president of sales and product marketing.

The headsets can plug into television sets, computers, DVD players, portable video recorders or game consoles. Another possibility is attaching them to mobile phones that can receive streaming video, providing an alternative to the tiny viewing screens on most cell phones. Miniature earphones can be attached to the headsets to provide audio.

The headset runs on a battery that provides 2 1 /2 to three hours of viewing. When combined with a player that also runs on batteries, consumers can take their programs wherever they want.

"Imagine sitting on an airplane and watching a movie privately at your seat," said Hope Frank, Brillian’s vice president of marketing.

The device demonstrated at the electronics show displays text, graphics, full motion video and 3-D content. The picture is equivalent to viewing a 42-inch diagonal television set from about
6 feet away, the company said.

Brillian makes the tiny microdisplay chips that go inside the headset at its Tempe headquarters, 1600 N. Desert Drive. The company also designed the electronics and optics for the system but outsources the manufacturing.

The design of the headsets will be key to making the product commercially successful, Frank said. The company has partnered with Ideo, an industrial design firm based in Palo Alto, Calif., to help.

"It’s not just the picture inside. It has to have the right weight and form factor," she said.

The prototype weighs about 4 ounces, making it lighter than displays currently on the market. Also it can fit over eyeglasses and has an adjustable headband for a comfortable fit.

"We think it’s not if, but when the market will take off with this,"
said Kuhn, adding that the second-generation technology could be available to consumers by the end of this year.