Spectra7 Microsystems (TSX: V.SEV, Stock Forum) broke new ground in the Virtual Reality space when the company announced the VR7200, the industry's first chip capable of feeding dual ultra-high resolution displays.
According to the news release, the cutting-edge chip will support resolutions of over 500 pixels per inch in deep color at 80 frames per second up to five metres from the source.
This breakthrough in design will help enable and speed up the wider commercial availability of the sector's first dual screen VR head mounted displays (“HMDs”) without the hassles of multiple, thick and incremental passive cables, reducing the connection to one super-thin cable without the requirement of a separate external HMD power connection.
The next generation VR interconnects constructed using the company's VR7200 will be capable of dual 2560 X 1440 Wide Quad High Definition (WQHD) display resolution with 4:4:4 Chroma at up to 80 FPS per screen without any image degradation as a result of Luma and/or Chroma subsampling.
This dual screen VR chip is expected to take off in a market that, according to a Kzero report, is anticipated to hit $5.2 billion by 2018 with an installed base of over 250 million VR-vapable game consoles.
Company CEO, Tony Stelliga, commented on the achievement, “The recent surge in new VR product announcements underscores the growing need for differentiated products amongst leading OEMs and the emergence of Dual Screen VR takes this market to yet another level.”
He went on to illustrate, “Spectra7's VR7200 reduces the current multi-cable requirements of Dual Display VR to a single unified connection with integrated power delivery, delivering a much lighter, more immersive experience for the VR enthusiast.”
VR7200 samples are expected to be available to Early Access Partners in December 2014.
This company continues to perform, bumping revenues by 170% in the last quarter and hitting targets with it's current VR7100 series already shipping in production volumes. It is seriously undervalued, has a tight share structure, good management and tasty tech integral to the space. However the key factor to this company's success remains out of its control as the sector is still in its infancy and how the market will develop is still up for debate. Even with the external risk, I am keeping my eye on this one.
Spectra7 Microsystems was in the news recently when the Markham, Ontario-based semiconductor device manufacturer released Q3 2014 financial results at the end of October.
Shares climbed 5.68% on the news to $0.93 per share.
Currently there are 83.7m outstanding shares with a market cap of $79.5 million.