Sony have announced a US release date for their recently showcased HMZ-T1 Personal 3D Viewer.

The 3D capable visor, which is worn on the head of users for a virtual reality effect, was shown at the IFA conference and Sony have also released pricing details for their US launch.

Coming in November to both American and Japanese markets, the HMZ-T1 will be compatible with Blu-Ray players, computers and the Playstation 3 through it’s HDMI port and gives an impression of a 750 inch screen through its OLED panels. The headset also features integrated 5.1 surround sound capable headphones to offer a complete cinematic experience.

The video below shows the HMZ-T1 in action:

Pricing has been set at approximately the $799 mark in the US and is expected to be launched in Japan on 11th November at a cost of  60,000 yen. There is no news of a European release date or pricing currently.

While this may not be the most flexible OLED display we’ve seen, this new OLED panel from Sony will delivery higher quality images, with enhanced glitch free brightness. The panel is in the form of a 9.9 inch display, which outputs images in a 960×540 resolution, while having a 96% color gamut. It also has a Self-Aligned Top-Gate FTF, which reduces disparities in luminosity.

The manufacturing process is now completed in four parts, which lowers the parasitic capacitance between the gate electrode and the TFT, thus bringing higher quality images compared to other OLED displays. As well as this, Sony have also shortened the TFT’s channel length which will make it easier to use the technology and adapt it for larger screens with higher resolutions.

Sony haven’t provided any release information on this prototype but, hopefully it will be reasonable priced like other OLEDs from Sony.

Sony seem to be busy with the OLED scene lately. We recently saw the rollable OLED panel from the company and have in the past, seen 11 inch TVs from Sony, which made use of the OLED technology. We’re still awaiting a larger screen but, we’re getting there. This time the OLED panel measures 11.7 inches, an improvement over the XEL-1.

As well as improving the size of the panel, Sony have managed to improve the lifespan of the display, which is described as one of the many challenges facing mass commercialization of the OLED displays. With the size being the biggest challenge. The OLED display has an estimated life of more than 10 years according to Sony. The resolution of the display is 960×520. Hopefully we’ll see this technology appearing on more devices in the future, with laptops being the perfect starting point, or even a 10 inch netbook.

Sony has unveiled an ultra thin flexible organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. The OLED display is a mere 80 µm (micrometers) thick, which is less than a strand of hair. It measures 4.1 inches and can be rolled around a cylinder. A prototype measuring 2.5 inches had been unveiled as early as May 2007. However it had only a fraction of the flexibility of the newly launched gadget.

On Wednesday Sony celebrated 30 years of the Walkman, as did many consumers. First released in 1979, the tape playing music player cost £120 in the UK and originally named Stowaway. In Australia it was known as FreeStyle and as Soundabout in the US. Japan had the name of Walkman which caught on around the world and become the known name for the device. Within the first two months 30,000 were sold and over a decade 50 million were purchased.

30 years on and Sony are still producing music players taking advantage of today’s technology. But also taking advantage of today’s technology and learning from the past, Apple are dominating the portable music market. With over 210 million iPods sold over the last eight years, Sony has strong competition. The Walkman brand can be found on many devices though, from the original tape playing Walkman through to digital MP3 players and even using the Walkman brand on Sony Ericsson phones. Over the 30 years, 385 million Walkman devices have been sold.

To celebrate 30 years of the Walkman, Sony are releasing the Walkman X today, July 3rd. The portable music player is available in 16GB and 32GB versions. TheWalkman X will also include built in WiFi as well as a 3″ touch screen display. Unlike other MP3 players with touch screens, Sony will be taking advantage of the OLED technology and using that for the touch display. Pricing will start at $299.99 (£169.99).

Source