Sony is preparing for the imminent market release of the PlayStation VR headset, aimed at bringing the world of virtual reality to PlayStation 4 owners at a price point lower than the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift for PC users. Sony has already discussed the technical specifications of its VR headset, but more recently the company also dug deeper into the hardware – literally – in an official teardown video published on YouTube.
The Sony PlayStation VR is more than likely to receive the teardown treatment from third party websites and reviewers, but Sony Interactive’s mechanical design director, Takamasa Araki, has decided to break the ice ahead of time and disassemble the VR headset on camera, piece by piece. The video doesn’t go too much into the technical specifications of the device as you would expect from a regular teardown, but instead it acts more like a teardown guide and quick overview of all the bits and pieces that come together to create the final product. Don’t expect to learn much about the headset’s technical capabilities, but if you enjoy methodical disassembly of electronics in a clean and organized fashion then you might find the video very enjoyable or even therapeutic, depending on how big of a hardware geek you happen to be. No proverbial stone is left unturned, and by the end of the video, the glowing workbench looks almost as if it accommodates a live exploded view of the Sony PlayStation VR headset.
As for readers who may be more interested in the on-paper hardware specifications, the PlayStation VR is equipped with a 5.7-inch OLED display featuring a resolution of 1920 x 1080, refresh rates of 90hz and 120hz, and 100 degrees field of view. It has an integrated accelerometer and gyroscope, a microphone, and sports an HDMI and USB connector. The VR headset weighs 610 grams excluding cables, and measures approximately 187 x 185 x 277 millimeters (width x height x length). The headset is accompanied by a “Processor Unit”, which is a small box used to connect the PlayStation VR to the PlayStation 4 console and TV. The Processor Unit is not featured in the video below, but despite its name it doesn’t add processing power to the VR headset either. Instead, it handles 3D audio processing, Cinematic mode, and Social Screen features. The PlayStation VR will go on sale on October 13 for the price of $399.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad73KXerChk