Important terms and concepts you need to know

What should you consider when buying a VR headset? There are so many terms that tell you something about the quality of a headset, but if you're not familiar with the technological world, it can quickly become overwhelming. That's why we've put together a glossary for you, in which all the technical terms describing a Virtual Reality headset are briefly and clearly explained.

The resolution of a VR headset indicates the number of pixels that can be displayed. This is usually represented as width x height (e.g. 1080x1200). The higher this resolution, the sharper the image. However, bear in mind that with a VR headset, the image is often displayed on two screens (one for each eye).

The type of screen, also called a display, is important for your viewing experience. Generally, there are three types of screens used: OLED, (super) AMOLED, and (dual) LCD. One is not necessarily better than the other, but they do have different properties. The first in this list, and perhaps the longest on the market, is LCD. By efficiently managing color, it uses the least energy. However, the downside is that black colors can appear dark gray. OLED, on the other hand, turns 'off' for black light. This makes everything that is black look really black. Lastly in the list is AMOLED. The advantage is that it has a faster refresh rate, making the screen's response time smoother. But this also means it uses more energy.

As mentioned with AMOLED, the refresh rate (or refresh speed) says something about the number of times the image is 'refreshed'. This is measured in Hz. Generally, the higher the Hz, the smoother the image. The combination of refresh rate and frames per second plays a major role in the so-called 'motion sickness'.

The field of view, also known as FoV, shows how far you can look to the side and above without turning your head. This is always indicated in degrees (º) and can sometimes be mentioned both horizontally (left and right) and vertically (above and below). You might think; 'the higher the better', but this has to be balanced with the weight and size of the headset. The sweet spot for most high-end models is about 110º.

In addition to all the hardware facts, weight also plays a role. After all, you need to be able to wear the headset for a long time while gaming or watching a movie. Generally, the lighter, the more comfortable, but keep in mind that the hardware in the headset contributes to the weight. For example, a Google Cardbox is much lighter than a Samsung Odyssey, simply because the Cardbox doesn't contain any hardware and is mostly made of cardboard.

VR is generally offered on three platforms; mobile, PC, and console. The platform you play on tells you something about the range of games and apps. For instance, a mobile platform depends on apps that you can download on your mobile, and the console depends on games specifically released for it. For a console, this can be an advantage (or disadvantage) that exclusive games are released, which you can only play with a Playstation VR, for example. The PC currently has the largest library of games with SteamVR.