Are monitors soon to be a relic...?

I wasn't definitively saying monitors were dead... it was somewhat of an inflammatory question in the thread topic tbh, deliberately so. Bottom line for me is that nothing out there, existing or on the horizon, seems to be really pushing the boundaries or exciting enough... but VR is both of those, albeit far from perfected or even properly available yet. It does seem to hold more promise from where I'm standing though. You can list tech developments as long as you arm, and impressive though they may be from an engineering standpoint, as an end user nothing there really gets my juice flowing, sorry.

I fully intend to get a VR headset. It won't replace my monitor, I'll still use them for everything else bar games. But games, if I get on well with a VR headset, and I don't die from a heart attack from using it, I'll be all over them for exclusive game usage.
 
Some head tracking and my 21:9 would meet every single need I would ever have of a monitor. I'm not exaggerating. Colours are fantastic - slight backlight bleed, but i'm not bothered by it and it's gone with anything lighter than black - and it's responsive with width that's really immersive, 1440p height makes it excellent for working on, FOV in driving games (which I play most often) and it has all of the connections I need.

This came from the "dead monitor market." :p
 
I would welcome an OLED 3440x1440 GSYN/Freesync monitor :)

I want one that does both or neither. I hate the idea of linking my GPU to a monitor tbh, I tend to replace GPUs more often than monitors and although I have a 980 now which I'll keep for a couple of years I don't want to feel pushed into Gsync.
 
I agree with the OP. 4k has been around for decades and screen tech has gone backwards and sideways since CRT.

Bit of an exaggeration there, just a tad. :D

The Valve one you wont be using in your current desk/monitor space as it needs room to move around so that is a limitation. VR wont be worth it till you dont have to wear anything to use it or need a big room to move through the VR environment.
 
Last edited:
Bit of an exaggeration there, just a tad. :D

The Valve one you wont be using in your current desk/monitor space as it needs room to move around so that is a limitation. VR wont be worth it till you dont have to wear anything to use it.

For the time being, I'm not too fussed on motion tracking. I'm just interested in the 3D headset portion.
 
I wasn't definitively saying monitors were dead... it was somewhat of an inflammatory question in the thread topic tbh, deliberately so. Bottom line for me is that nothing out there, existing or on the horizon, seems to be really pushing the boundaries or exciting enough... but VR is both of those, albeit far from perfected or even properly available yet. It does seem to hold more promise from where I'm standing though. You can list tech developments as long as you arm, and impressive though they may be from an engineering standpoint, as an end user nothing there really gets my juice flowing, sorry.
We had holograms in the 90s man and they were the next big thing back then and if you said TV's would get smaller not bigger people would have called for the men in white coats.

VR is and always will be a niche until star trek style holodecks come along and replace the living room.

who wants to sit for hours on end with a pair of binoculars stuck to their head feeling all claustrophobic and vulnerable to attackers.

your going to look real bad ass sat their with your ear muffs and occulous rift strapped to your nogin.
meanwhile mr burglar is laughing his ass off sending photos of you to 4chan and reddit whilst he robs your house as undisturbed as you are until one of your friends lets you know you've been virtually raped on the internet and turned into a meme

this is the future! :D
 
Last edited:
OLED and emissive QD monitors will be mainstream long before VR headsets even take a significant portion of mainstream gaming, let alone as a general purpose VDU.

That is to say, it ain't happening any time soon.
 
We had holograms in the 90s man and they were the next big thing back then and if you said TV's would get smaller not bigger people would have called for the men in white coats.

VR is and always will be a niche until star trek style holodecks come along and replace the living room.

who wants to sit for hours on end with a pair of binoculars stuck to their head feeling all claustrophobic and vulnerable to attackers.

your going to look real bad ass sat their with your ear muffs and occulous rift strapped to your nogin.
meanwhile mr burglar is laughing his ass off sending photos of you to 4chan and reddit whilst he robs your house as undisturbed as you are until one of your friends lets you know you've been virtually raped on the internet and turned into a meme

this is the future! :D

The barrier for entry and available content will be the key... and from what's been said by Oculus so far, that barrier is very low with a fairly standard 970/290 system... that said, I'm skeptical how well VR games will run on that, but we shall see. That's where the content comes in anyway, and there seems to be no shortage of developers out there working on projects. It's a different world nowadays... you can't seriously be comparing it to holograms in the 90's? That was a totally different medium, and in a less connected, digitally stone-age world (relatively speaking), minus the internet. That changes everything.

Your argument against VR is that you won't look bad ass and are at risk from burglars? LOL! So you think we all look super cool now sitting there gaming with headsets on, a watchful eye on the window for masked intruders? Errr, OK. Sure, holodecks would be AMAZING no doubt, but if that's what you're waiting for then expect to be twiddling your thumbs for many many years to come.

OLED and emissive QD monitors will be mainstream long before VR headsets even take a significant portion of mainstream gaming, let alone as a general purpose VDU.
I've seen no evidence of such products anywhere near the PC marketplace. Yet VR is pretty much here... the tech is there for sure, albeit with niggles. OLED (in a fully functioning proven form for gaming enthusiasts) is not. Not to mention, where is the pressure from manufacturers to release such products when so many people are happy to fork out silly money for so called "premium" IPS and 4K panels? The price point for VR will likely be HALF what a top end monitor costs today (once you have a capable system, which millions already do), so I don't quite understand the niche argument. As mentioned, the content will be the key... if they nail that, it's going to be huge, and quickly.

:)
 
Last edited:
Are monitors soon to be a relic...?

This question seems to me to be a bit too vague. You dont specify a sector or even a timescale. In terms of general computing, i think we will have monitors for the next 10+ years. In terms of PC gaming, i still think that we will have monitors for the next 10+ years. PC gamers may use a VR headset as a secondary "monitor" for in-game, but i cant see it being used for general tasks.

The more interesting discussion would be the use of VR in non-traditional sectors. Perhaps we will have surgeons that wear VR headsets which can overlay their cutting lines, contaminated cells, cancerous tissue, etc.

OR airline pilots where the VR overlays the runway so they can still "see" it in thick fog

OR for car drivers where the VR can show heads up displays of speed limits, sat nav directions or even 360 degree vision around the car with external cameras
 
I've seen no evidence of such products anywhere near the marketplace. Yet VR is pretty much here... the tech is there for sure, albeit with niggles. OLED (in a fully functioning proven form) is not. Not to mention where is the pressure from manufacturers to release such products when so many people are happy to fork out silly money for so called "premium" IPS and 4K panels?

LOL. VR relies on OLEDs. You're talking about a microscopic niche product. OLEDs, once they hit scale production, WILL be cheaper to produce than any mid to high end IPS or VA panels. For gaming and entertainment generally they should be absolutely awesome ... effectively instant response times and extremely low input lag should be achievable. Plus, they'll be able to do much better than 144hz. Contrast and colour saturation puts VA to shame. Viewing angles are great. Smaller and lighter. Bezels for multi-screen set ups can be miniscule.

Emissive QD ... I think you'll see the first TVs / commercial (monitor) displays sometime in 2018.
 
This question seems to me to be a bit too vague. You dont specify a sector or even a timescale. In terms of general computing, i think we will have monitors for the next 10+ years. In terms of PC gaming, i still think that we will have monitors for the next 10+ years. PC gamers may use a VR headset as a secondary "monitor" for in-game, but i cant see it being used for general tasks.

The more interesting discussion would be the use of VR in non-traditional sectors. Perhaps we will have surgeons that wear VR headsets which can overlay their cutting lines, contaminated cells, cancerous tissue, etc.

OR airline pilots where the VR overlays the runway so they can still "see" it in thick fog

OR for car drivers where the VR can show heads up displays of speed limits, sat nav directions or even 360 degree vision around the car with external cameras

You're right... it wasn't the best choice on reflection. I actually don't think monitors will be going anywhere soon, and the tech will continue to develop, as it always does in any sector. That said, for gaming, in a year or so, I just see far more exciting prospects for VR than I do traditional monitors.

I think all the other non-traditional examples you mention are very likely to be commonplace within the next few years, and there are already functioning examples of it some instances.
 
The thing is, VR can't replace monitors, it's simply a new perspective on things. There are many situations where you wouldn't want to be in with VR (writing, strategy games, etc.) and which monitors do better. Nevermind associated costs for VR. It's definitely something that will take another decade before we see commonly used.
 
That said, for gaming, in a year or so, I just see far more exciting prospects for VR than I do traditional monitors.

I certainly agree that VR is an exciting place to be, but i dont think they will displace monitors any time soon.
 
The thing is, VR can't replace monitors, it's simply a new perspective on things. There are many situations where you wouldn't want to be in with VR (writing, strategy games, etc.) and which monitors do better. Nevermind associated costs for VR. It's definitely something that will take another decade before we see commonly used.
I agree VR isn't for everything, of course... but I think for certain applications, and certain games, it will take off VERY quickly. Driving/flight sims, some FPS games, and ones created specifically for the VR experience will snowball once the Rift/Vive are released. I don't believe the associated costs are an issue... there are already millions out there with capable systems, and the cost of the VR unit itself will likely be the same as a mid-range monitor. Depending on what your definition of 'mainstream' is, 10 years is an AWFUL long time.
 
I certainly agree that VR is an exciting place to be, but i dont think they will displace monitors any time soon.

It's like suggesting the game pad will replace the keyboard for gaming.
It never happened apart for a niche amount of games.

some games vr will work but for others will just feel meh and disconnected..

at the end of the day VR is just two tiny monitors strapped to your face
 
Last edited:
I would imagine something like the Microsoft Hololens augmented reality thingy would replace monitors before full immersion VR.
 
Back
Top Bottom