Retinal Displays

Retinal Displays
Information
Type	Private
Industry	Virtual Reality, Wearable Displays, Consumer Electronics
Founded	1997, Los Altos, California, United States
Founder	Dr. Jonathan Waldern
Headquarters	Los Altos, California, United States
Notable Personnel	Dr. Jonathan Waldern (Founder, CEO, CTO)
Products	RD-800 HMD prototype, Dynovisor (licensed to Takara), Scuba Visor (licensed to Philips)
Website	retinaldisplays.com (defunct)

See also: Companies

Retinal Displays was a virtual reality company founded by Dr. Jonathan Waldern in 1997 in Los Altos, California. The company specialized in developing head-mounted display technology using a novel three-element molded aspheric optical lens system for cost-effective consumer 3D VR displays. Though operational for only a few years (1997-2000), the company made a significant impact in the consumer VR market during a period when virtual reality was struggling to find commercial success.

History

Foundation and Background

Retinal Displays was founded in 1997 by Dr. Jonathan Waldern, who had previously established himself as a prominent figure in the virtual reality industry as the founder of W Industries (later known as the Virtuality Group) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Waldern created Retinal Displays after the collapse of the first wave of virtual reality companies, often referred to as "VR 1.0," which occurred around 1997 when many major players in the industry, including Waldern's Virtuality, went under in close succession.

Unlike many entrepreneurs who abandoned VR after the industry bubble burst, Waldern continued to pursue his vision for immersive display technology. Retinal Displays represented his effort to create more affordable and practical consumer VR products at a time when the technology was struggling to gain mainstream acceptance.

Acquisition of Virtuality Group

In October 1997, shortly after its founding, Retinal Displays completed a management buy-out of the bankrupt Virtuality Group PLC, relocating key engineers from Leicester, UK, to the new R&D center in California while retaining a British prototyping lab. The deal gave the startup access to Virtuality's motion-tracking intellectual property and arcade content library.

Financing and Growth

Between November 1998 and mid-1999, the company raised more than US$6 million in venture capital. A US$2 million Series A led by Atlanta-based Noro-Moseley Partners was disclosed in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, with follow-on capital coming from Alta Partners, Apex Investment Partners, and Amadeus Capital. Funds were channeled into micro-display procurement and optical tooling for its "Digital Lens" platform, a trademark that Retinal Displays attempted to register in 1998.

Company Timeline

Year	Milestone
1997	Retinal Displays founded by Dr. Jonathan Waldern in Los Altos, California
1997 (October)	Acquisition of bankrupt Virtuality Group PLC assets
1998	US$2 million Series A funding led by Noro-Moseley Partners
1998	Filed trademark application for "Digital Lens" platform
1998-1999	Development of RD-800 prototype and licensing agreements with Takara and Philips
1999	Products reached the market in Japan, Europe, and the United States
1999 (Late)	Jonathan Waldern exits to found DigiLens, focusing on holographic waveguide technology
2000	Company still listed in industry directories but operations winding down
2009	Company website (retinaldisplays.com) expires; operations deemed inactive

Technology

Retinal Displays' primary innovation was the development of a three-element molded aspheric optical lens system. This technology represented a significant advancement in head-mounted display design, offering several advantages over conventional optics systems used in previous VR headsets.

Aspheric Lens Technology

Aspheric lenses differ from traditional spherical lenses by having a surface curvature that varies across the lens. This more complex surface profile helps reduce or eliminate spherical aberration and other optical aberrations like astigmatism. The advantage of aspheric elements is that a single aspheric lens can often replace a much more complex multi-lens system, resulting in devices that are smaller, lighter, and potentially less expensive.

Retinal Displays' innovation centered on a molded aspheric approach using three elements, which allowed for cost-effective mass production while maintaining optical quality suitable for consumer applications. The system was specifically designed to provide a wide field of view while keeping manufacturing costs low enough to hit consumer price points of around $299.

It is important to distinguish Retinal Displays the company from the broader concept of a virtual retinal display (VRD), which is a display technology that projects images directly onto the user's retina. While sharing a similar name, Retinal Displays' products utilized lens systems for viewing small displays rather than direct retinal projection.

Display Specifications

The optical system developed by Retinal Displays featured:

• Three-element molded aspheric lens configuration
• 120-degree field of view (FOV)
• Sony's Active TFT and LCD lenses
• Hi-Fi stereo sound
• Inter Pupil Distance (IPD) focus adjustment
• Contrast and brightness controls

This technology inherited some elements from Waldern's previous work on the Atari Jaguar VR headset, which had never been commercially released. It represented a refinement and cost reduction of earlier VR display approaches.

Products

While Retinal Displays developed the core technology, the company operated primarily as a technology provider, licensing its designs to consumer electronics manufacturers rather than selling products directly to consumers.

RD-800 Prototype

Feature	Specification
Display Type	AMLCD (Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display)
Resolution	800 × 225 pixels per eye
Key Features	Lightweight optics, 6-DOF head-tracker
Status	Research prototype only
Applications	Used in clinical VR trials and medical research

The flagship RD-800 prototype was an AMLCD binocular viewer that delivered 800 × 225 pixels to each eye. It was shown at medical VR conferences and used in early immersion-therapy experiments. Its lightweight optics attracted interest from US Army aviation researchers investigating see-through VRD concepts.

Takara HMD Dynovisor

Feature	Specification
Model Number	TAK-8510
Display	Pupil Projection System with 120-degree FOV
Panel Technology	Sony Active TFT and LCD lenses
Audio	Hi-Fi stereo
Adjustments	IPD (Inter Pupil Distance) focus adjustment
Controls	Contrast and brightness
Compatibility	NTSC composite/AV output devices
Construction	High impact ABS molded components

The Dynovisor was licensed to Japanese toy manufacturer Takara. Released in Japan in 1998, it was marketed as a television headset rather than as a full virtual reality system. The device was compatible with any NTSC console or device with composite/AV output, including the Atari Jaguar, Nintendo systems, and other gaming platforms. While the optical technology was advanced for its time, the resolution of available displays limited the overall experience.

Philips Scuba Visor

Feature	Specification
Release Date	August 1998
Markets	Europe and United States
Display	Similar to Dynovisor but with slight improvements
Target Usage	Television viewing and gaming
Design	Similar to the Dynovisor but with Philips branding

The Scuba Visor was a slightly improved version of the same technology licensed to Philips for distribution in European and American markets. Like the Dynovisor, it was marketed more as a television viewing device than as a virtual reality headset. This positioning reflected the market reality that pure VR was still not commercially viable in the late 1990s, while enhanced television and gaming experiences represented a more accessible market segment.

Collaborations

Retinal Displays formed strategic partnerships with several companies to integrate and advance its technology:

• Cybermind Interactive Systems – partnered to integrate the Dynovisor optics into a networked multiplayer attraction.

• Boeing Phantom Works – Retinal Displays optics were evaluated within the Army's Virtual Cockpit Optimization Program.

Market Impact

Sales and Distribution

Despite entering the market during a downturn in VR popularity, the products based on Retinal Displays' technology achieved notable commercial success. Combined sales of the Takara Dynovisor and Philips Scuba Visor exceeded 160,000 units. This figure was particularly impressive given the state of the VR market at the time and would not be surpassed by another consumer VR headset until the combined sales of Oculus Rift DK1 and DK2 reached 175,000 units in June 2015 – more than 15 years later.

The $299 price point achieved through Retinal Displays' optical innovations was a key factor in enabling this market success, as it made the technology accessible to a wider consumer audience than previous VR systems.

Historical Significance

Retinal Displays occupies an important position in VR history as one of the few commercially successful consumer VR product lines during the "winter" period of virtual reality that lasted from approximately 1997 until the revival of the industry in the 2010s with the emergence of Oculus and other modern VR platforms.

The company demonstrated that even during a period of industry contraction, innovative approaches to technical challenges like optical design could still create viable market opportunities. The optical principles and manufacturing approaches pioneered by Retinal Displays would influence future developments in head-mounted display technology.

Legacy

While Retinal Displays itself operated for only a few years, its impact extended beyond the company's lifespan:

1. Technology Transfer: The optical design principles and manufacturing approaches developed at Retinal Displays influenced subsequent head-mounted display designs.
2. Bridging VR Generations: The company's products helped maintain consumer awareness of VR technology during the period between the first wave of VR in the early 1990s and the modern revival beginning in the 2010s.
3. Entrepreneurial Continuity: For founder Jonathan Waldern, Retinal Displays represented one chapter in a continuous career advancing immersive display technologies. He would go on to found DigiLens Telecom in 1999 and then SBG Labs (later rebranded as DigiLens Inc.) in 2004, continuing to innovate in related fields like holographic waveguide displays for augmented reality applications.
4. Industry Revival: Although the company did not survive to see the VR renaissance, its efforts during the industry's "winter" period helped preserve critical knowledge and experience that would later contribute to the field's resurgence.

See Also

• Jonathan Waldern
• Virtuality Group
• DigiLens
• Head-mounted display
• Virtual reality headset
• Virtual retinal display
• History of virtual reality
• Aspheric lens