iFixit

The controller board and the sound system come out, followed by the display assembly.

• As you'll soon find out, the rubber isolators between the metal display assembly chassis and the upper case are designed to dampen vibrations originating from the Virtual Boy's two oscillating mirrors.

When the knob on the top of the Virtual Boy is rotated to adjust the inter-pupil distance (the center-to-center distance between pupils), the two display units move closer or further away from each other.

When the focus slider is slid back and forth, the lens in each display unit moves relative to the stationary LED display.

The Virtual Boy's 3D capabilities are a result of an effect known as parallax, in which a single image is viewed along different lines of sight.

• This process is the basis for the method by which the human eye is capable of perceiving depth. Each eye receives a slightly different image (being a few inches apart and along different sightlines). The brain then interprets these two images into a single 3D image. This effect is called stereopsis.
• The Virtual Boy uses each display to send a slightly different image to each eye, thereby creating a stereoscopic 3D image.

The Virtual Boy employs an extremely creative way of producing its unique binocular (and 3D) graphics.

• A one-pixel-tall row of LEDs at the far end of each display unit projects light through a lens in the middle of each unit.
• After passing through the lens, light is reflected off a mirror situated at 45^o that oscillates about its central axis.

The mirror oscillates and the LED refreshes with such speed that the human eye perceives a single image across the view plane.

To oscillate the mirror, alternating electrical current at high frequency is passed through a copper coil attached to the mirror. A stationary iron core is attached to the display unit, forming a solenoid to produce the motive force needed for oscillation.

To tell the oscillator circuitry how fast the mirror is moving, an arm attached to the mirror passes back and forth through an optical sensor attached to the lower circuit board.

The board you see here is responsible for driving the oscillation of both mirrors.

The chips on this board receive display information from the main board and ensure that the mirrors are oscillating at the correct frequency by receiving feedback signals from the optical sensors shown in the previous step.

• An 8 MHz crystal soldered to the board is used for timing the oscillation of the mirrors.

Two T10 Torx screws secure the LED unit to the end of the display assembly.

After the LED unit is removed, you can see the "periscope" style reflection and slight magnification caused by the 45^o mirror and the internal lens.

The Virtual Boy display! Each 4-color display unit was manufactured by Reflection Technology Inc., and featured a 1x224 pixel resolution with 32 levels of intensity.

Each "image" produced by the display is merely a row of red dots. Used in conjunction with an oscillating mirror, a full image is produced.

Because the entire image is produced by a single row of LEDs, the refresh rate is incredibly high. Each pattern of LEDs is displayed for only 0.000052 seconds!

LCDs were considered as an option for the display, however they could not refresh fast enough and caused blurry images. LEDs became the option of choice as they could refresh fast enough and were bright enough to create a steady, bright image.

The developers looked into using multiple colors in the display, but they were limited by price. Red LED's were chosen because they were the cheapest, most efficient, and most visible LEDs.