[09 Feb 23] 

So I've done the first optical test and the 4 x 1440px solution fails. I have concerns about brightness (and size) of using 2 x 2160p screens since I'd expect <200nits to the eye. I'm going with 2 x 2560px screens as the 2 drawbacks are its high cost (£500) and 75Hz (when over 1920x1920/eye) refresh rate, but is otherwise an ideal choice. 

[09 Nov 22]

From trying different screens, I can say that:

• 70ppd looks pixelated and annoying. Must avoid.
• 80ppd is on the edge of looking pixelated. I'd like to avoid because I'm always going to be squinting, thinking "can I see pixels?".
• 90ppd is a nice balance of sharpness and Windows GUI at 100% scaling. 

So it seems that 100ppd would either be ultrasharp or just indistinguishable from 90 if I extrapolated it, and that increments of 10ppd make a very noticable difference until getting to my eye's resolution, so I'd rather not imagine what Nreal Air and its 50ppd looks like.

[02 Nov 22]

I will admit that a notable reason why I'm starting this project is because of some issues with #Teti [gd0022] and its 3 screens. I've had them since Dec 2020, so I know of the challenges and limitations, which are:

• There's only 3 screens. I can store extras away when I don't need them, but if I'm really in the zone, programming something mystical like #enSweepen [gd0096], I might want 4 or 5. The only solution would be to move closer to the screen and reduce the scaling percentages of them all to fit more content.
• They weight 800 grams each. That's 2.4kg of screens to be carried inside #TetInventory [gd0039], and somehow needs to be held in place by a hinge on Teti.
• 9:16 is a very tall aspect ratio for portrait mode viewing.
• I don't like screen light coming in via my peripheral vision. It's a leading reason why I've gone with a stacked monitor setup for Teti.
• They have different white balances. I didn't expect this because they look fine by themselves, but when I turn on all 3, I can see that one is slightly bluer than another.
• They're small. 15.6" is a decent size, but I've longed for a 17.3" or larger screen.
• They're large. I know what I just said a bullet point ago, but there's still a lot of glass surface area that might be impacted or scratched one day. It's also pretty tough to hold one handed since glass doesn't have a suitable level of grip.
• They're a bit of a "black box". If they break (I've already got a stuck green pixel on one), I wouldn't really know if I could get parts to fix it or have the skill to not break something else while doing so. The firmware on them also has this annoying blue "no signal" screen that has annoyed me for the 22 months I've had the displays.
• They're 60Hz. I'm glad I went resolution over fps back in 2020, but I'd very much prefer higher Hz.
• There's no privacy. I can only imagine how curiosity inducing I'd look whilst sitting somewhere with a complete 3 monitor PC setup. Additionally, IPS panels have great viewing angles, so pretty much any 170 degree angle behind me is visible.
• Speaking about visibilty, they're glossy, meaning that anything behind me that's not dark coloured is going to reflect off the screen.
• I need something to place the screens onto, which limits the comfortable viewing positions possible.
• Tetent might not be ergonomically compatible with the dual screen laptop configuration idea.

TyMist can solve all these problems (and others, such as other things like protecting my eyes from bright light sources), and currently, it seems less complex than I originally estimated to obtain a solution.

• I can have much more than 3 screens, and I won't even be limited by the minimum angle due to the length/width of the screen. I could have 5 screens yet my neck only needs to move the angle of 2.
• I fully expect that a HMD isn't going to be 2.4kg in weight.
• 3:4 is a comfortable aspect ratio for portrait mode.
• Only the active screen and position markers for windows on other screens will be visible at a time, so the only peripheral vision light should be from the environment.
• I might still have issues with colour uniformity since the current solution uses 4 seperate panels. At least it'll be consistent between virtual monitors.
• It's large. I expect a 170" desktop at 6m away, which would be a screen 2.5m high and 3.4m wide.
• It's small, so would be easier to keep clean than 1 - 3 monitors. Additionally, any scratches would be out of focus when viewing the desktop.
• I'm making it. The screen driver boards may still be proprietary, but I know what needs to be replaced if something breaks. Additionally, if there's something like a dead pixel, I only have to spend under £40 to replace 1/4 of the virtual monitor.
• The screens I'm using are 120Hz. Ideally, I can keep the optical efficiency high enough to use the low persistence version that would greatly increase text readability while scrolling. 
• This comes at the cost of contrast though, and those specific panels are not the one that comes stock in the kit I found on AliExpress.
• Maybe if you stare deep into my eyes, you'd be able to zoom in and enhance the reflection on my iris. Otherwise, the light path makes it quite difficult for onlookers to see, made slighty easier if the floor/table is glossy.
• The monitor is on my head, opening up more, ergonomic working locations.
• Tetent's was made with VR in mind.

The budget for this project isn't going to be massive, but it's higher than a pair of Nreal Air glasses. I've been planning for that Pimax 12K for a year at this point, and everything in my mind was going peacefully until the Nreal Air nation attacked. £2400 is still more than I'd like to spend on anything though, so Me In Another Timeline probably wouldn't have gone through with the purchase. It was just a nice way to think "Isn't that great? Pimax is making a solution! That's one less thing I have to invent here!". 

I am a bit gutted that I didn't try and solve this solution in 2020 when I was looking for my next Laptop/PC to buy, but as you'd see below, only 5 weeks ago did I think this was going to be the most ambitious project I've ever attempted. The triple screens were already £510 when I bought them (£630 now), and then another £100+ for the Titan Ridge and all the cables. That's also after I bought and had to sell off (at a loss) 3 screens from another AliExpress seller. Then, there was all the time spent designing a case that could carry those screens. Sigh... I could've had some mini PC and battery block combo, or even just opened my laptop search results to something with 2 USBC or DP ports instead of going the Desktop PC route.

[26 Sep 2022]

Ideally, #SecSavr Suspense [gd0105] can actually be built and works as intended and used to manufacture a solution. Custom, likely high density PCBs and fancy optics sure aren't in my league budget otherwise.

Even if that happens, it'll still be my most advanced project idea I've thought of.

This project idea started yesterday, when I found out that a 1080p, 15.6" screen that is 60cm away from my eyes is 60 pixels per degree (ppd). I can't comfortably look at such a resolution for more than a few seconds before wishing for a higher resolution. I also predict that 1440p (same screen and distance) is over my eye's resolution, seeing as I can't see and additional detail when using 150% scaling on my 4K screen for #Teti [gd0022] unless I move closer.

Thus, the range is somewhere between 60 and 80 ppd. I was hoping that the upcoming Pimax 12K would be the headset that allows me to work in virtual labs and offices, but they'd have to house 24K displays for that! According to calculation, 35ppd would be the equivalent of 720P HD on a 17.3" laptop, 60cm away.

On the [Pimax 12K and under £s] market, the closest things are the newest AR glasses, like the Nreal Air, VITURE One, Dream Glass Flow and TQSKY T1, with the highest being 55ppd. (Huh. That's a lot of new AR glasses that actually look good this year.) These all use dual 1080p screens, so I'd hopefully just have to wait until a manufacturer makes a 1440p screen so that one of these startups can put them into some probably >£400 glasses. That likely will take some time, though, so I really should see what I can do now.