Varjo XR4 Headset Unveils High-Fidelity Mixed Reality Experiences

Varjo XR4 Headset Unveils High-Fidelity Mixed Reality Experiences

Varjo’s XR4 headsets enable high-fidelity virtual and mixed-reality experiences virtually indistinguishable from human sight. They work alongside various 3D platforms and tools, including the Nvidia Omniverse and 100+ third-party PC applications and engines.

The XR-4 Focal Edition and XR-4 Secure Edition offer unique passthrough capabilities. At the same time, the Focal Edition is optimized for stereoscopic teleoperation, and the Secure Edition adheres to government and enterprise-level security requirements.

Superlative Immersion

The Finnish company Varjo makes enterprise VR/AR hardware to train astronauts and pilots, radically shorten automotive production timelines and render stunning 3D visualizations for architects and designers. These industrial customers require top visual fidelity and performance, and that’s what Varjo’s new 4th generation headsets deliver. In an online event this evening, Varjo stunned us with the details of its latest flagship head-mounted display, the XR4. It features dual 3840x4K displays with a massive 120 x 105-degree field of view and up to 51 PPD passthrough, powered by 10000:1 contrast local dimming using mini-LED. The XR-4 also has a larger lens to support its higher vertical field of view and dual 20-megapixel cameras for gaze-driven autofocus and advanced sensor fusion.

As with previous Varjo headsets, the XR-4 uses foveated capture streams and advanced LiDAR depth sensing to “mimic the function of human vision” and offer virtual reality and augmented reality experiences practically indistinguishable from natural sight. In addition, the XR-4 has built-in ambient light reconstruction sensors to provide developers with real-time information about the lighting conditions in a room so they can precisely and automatically light virtual objects.

For these reasons, the Varjo XR4 is a heavy piece of equipment – at nearly two pounds, it’s more than double the weight of Apple’s upcoming iPhone-focused headset and about three times more severe than the consumer-oriented Quest 3. Unlike most consumer headsets that work as standalone devices, the Varjo XR4 works with a workstation to enable compute-intensive applications, so you need an appropriately powerful PC to run it. It also requires using dedicated tracked controllers, made by Razer, to function – a significant drawback for some users, especially when the device must be worn for long periods.

Full Binocular Vision

As the headset industry continues to push the boundaries of headset resolution and camera quality, Finnish startup Varjo has unveiled a new industrial mixed-reality system that promises an even better immersive experience. The Varjo XR4 headset features a single 4K display per eye with dual 20MP gaze-tracking autofocus cameras designed to make VR and the natural world indistinguishable.

The headset’s 4K by 4K, 200 nits mini-LED displays provide industry-leading visual fidelity with colour accuracy and 96% of the DCI-P3 colour space. The headset’s custom full-dome aspheric lenses showcase 28 million pixels in a 120degx105deg field of view, with 51 PPD (pixels per degree), compared to the 33 PPD offered by the base XR-3. The dual 20MP cameras feature advanced sensor fusion with 300 kpix extended range LiDAR, eye tracking, and ambient light reconstruction for accurate human vision replication.

Varjo’s XR-4 Focal Edition includes additional features for demanding use cases, including flight simulators, where trainees need to keep their eyes on gauges as they manoeuvre the yoke or peer outside a cockpit. These include the ability to automatically focus the cameras on the point of your gaze and an expanded vertical field of view of 105degs, up from 120degs for the standard XR-4.

The XR-4 also offers intelligent inside-out tracking with in-box Varjo controllers from technology partner Razer and integration with Nvidia’s Omniverse platform, enabling users to integrate the headset into existing 3D workflows for training, simulation, design, and engineering. The Varjo XR4 is lightweight, comfortable to wear for long periods, and features integrated DTS 3D spatial audio with noise-cancelling microphones to facilitate collaborative projects. It’s available through Resellers like Schenker Technologies for enterprise customers, with an Enterprise-Pro package that supports offline use without requiring user account registration, making it compliant for secure environments.

Custom Full-Domain Aspheric Lenses

Unlike multi-lens designs, aspheric lenses correct spherical aberration, delivering superior image quality and a compact design. They also enable the use of more efficient semiconductor components.

Moreover, aspheric optics can be used for other applications, such as optical instrumentation. They are highly suited for sight windows, which allow operators to see liquid levels or flow within tanks, pipelines and pressure vessels.

A headset’s ultra-high resolution is worthless if the real world remains blurry and unclear. Varjo’s passthrough technology solves this problem by introducing cameras that function like human eyes, frame in actual environments, and seamlessly overlay virtual elements without the usual disconnect between real and imagined.

While a standard VR display can reach only 33 pixels per degree (PPD) in the centre, Varjo’s aspheric lenses flawlessly showcase 28 million pixels across dual micro-OLED displays. The result is astounding visual fidelity with true-to-life colours and striking contrast via local dimming. Combined with blazing 200-nit brightness, the result is retina-rivalling fidelity that brings a new meaning to the word immersive.

Varjo’s headsets work with desktop workstations powered by Nvidia GPUs, offering completely unrestricted and upgradable performance. Integrated with Nvidia Omniverse, they provide access to various PC applications and 3D engines, enabling industrial users to incorporate mixed reality into their workflows. In addition, XR-4 features built-in inside-out tracking and includes tracked controllers in the box, eliminating the need for third-party base stations that other headsets require. The XR-4 Secure Edition adheres to government and enterprise-level security requirements and can operate offline for complete privacy. Designed for collaboration, it features integrated high-quality speakers and microphones. The system is assembled in Finland and comes with noise-cancelling, directional headphones to reduce distractions during meetings.

Full Array Local Dimming

A headset’s high-resolution display is useless if it can’t render what’s happening in the real world. This is the challenge that passes through mixed reality faces, and Varjo’s solution is to use multiple cameras on the headset to capture a sharp, low-latency image of what’s in front of you. This technology has been developing for years and is finally ready to be produced in Varjo’s new headset.

The XR-4 series’s dual 3840×3744 panels provide a total resolution of 51 pixels per degree, a refresh rate of 90Hz, and mini-LED backlighting for 10000:1 contrast local dimming with 200 nits brightness. The lenses offer a taller vertical field of view at 105deg, and a more accurate color gamut of 96% sRGB and 94% DCI-P3. The 20MP cameras feature gaze-directed autofocus, and the Focal Edition offers even better camera resolution for pilot training and other cockpit-based use cases.

Sensor fusion and ambient light sensors are also improved, with the ability to generate photorealistic 3D object lighting with real-time data. The XR-4 headsets can blend virtual content and natural surroundings more seamlessly than ever, with real-time depth maps of your environment allowing developers to create a unified experience.

As with Varjo’s previous headsets, the XR-4 series comes with built-in tracked controllers created with Razer and inside-out positional tracking that eliminates the need for base stations and requires no external sensor arrays to work. The XR-4 series is compatible with industry-leading VR applications and workflows and integrates with NVIDIA’s Omniverse for end-to-end collaboration.