Captain Gadget

Star Trek meets home cinema

Any star trek fans out there will immediately fall in love with the Olympus Eye-Trek multimedia goggles. Looking as they do, like some aberration from the latest Star Trek series, you almost expect to hear beeps and swoshing doors when wearing them.

The Eye-Trek is exactly what it says it is - a multimedia screen for personal use. The image, which in reality is only millimetres away from your face, appears to be the same size as a 60 inch display. ear bud audio system, attached to the goggles arm is comfortable to wear and gives complete privacy.

The performance of the multimedia goggles is good in comparison to ordinary displays but they do not emulate HDTV or even DVD quality. Having said that, the convenience of watching your videos while on the move far outweighs this minor quibble.

On the question of moving the goggles are designed to allow the user to look over and below so movement is not a problem. You can even manage to make eye contact with those around you although the giggles of onlookers would tend against doing so.

The Eye-Trek can take its video source from any RGB or Scart outlet and if you are fortunate enough to get the video sender module you can watch your video up to 30 metres away from the source without wires. Another advantage of the Eye-Trek is that if you require glasses to watch TV the goggles can accommodate them, although at this stage the onlookers giggles would be very audible.

The Eye-Trek may not replace the home cinema system but it certainly makes watching tv in bed without disturbing your partner much easier!