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I heard about the Myvu Crystal during the Howard Stern show a few weeks ago, and curiosity got the best of me. Myvu claims that watching video with their glasses is “like watching a 60 foot screen!” Maybe I don’t need that new Plasma set after all.. 🙂

Some technical details, straight from Myvu:

Introducing Myvu Crystal: watch what you love, when you want and look great doing it. Featuring SolidOptex® — the Myvu patented optical system — Crystal transforms your portable media player into a hands-free, full-screen private viewing experience. All that within the thinnest, lightest and most durable video eyewear available.

– Full VGA quality — our highest resolution available
– Our widest field of view — over 33 percent wider
– Features Kopin’s CyberDisplay® technology, offering the highest pixel density and sharpest resolution for any video eyewear of its size
– Earbuds from Ultimate Ears® for enhanced comfort, extended bass and sound isolation
– Up to 4 hours of battery life

Seeing is believing, so I contacted Myvu, and they sent us a demo unit to test out, along with an iPod Nano loaded with a bunch of movie clips. The product definitely works as advertised, though I would only feel comfortable wearing these glasses in the privacy of my own home (or maybe on a red-eye flight, where everyone else is asleep!)

My real intent was to see how the unit worked for watching football games. It does work, though you’ll have to rig a string of cables between your TV set and the Myvu unit. An easier solution would be to use a SlingBox, and then stream the video from your laptop to your glasses.

99.9% of people aren’t going to go through that kind of trouble. Where the Myvu really shines is when you’re traveling, and you have video stored on your iPod/iPhone/Portable DVD player. Instead of being stuck watching that tiny screen, you can put on your Myvu Crystals and watch your video in full-size.

No doubt, It’s a neat product. But at $299, it’s not exactly cheap. For the amount of travel that I do, I’ll stick with my iPhone.

And as for football, I see a 55″ Plasma in the not-so-distant future. 😀