- Saturday, 21 November 2009
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Intel tries to backstop its own roadmaps - Bob Colwell, former Intel chief architect
Novatech brings Nvidia stereoscopic specs to UK
BRITISH E-TAILER Novatech is boasting it will be the first in the UK market to flog Nvidia's expensive Stereoscopic 3D Glasses.
For the eye-popping price of £120.74 inc. VAT, punters can buy themselves a pair of the geeky wireless glasses, designed to even fit over prescription glasses.
Also, users with abnormally shaped noses, fear not! Nvidia has bunged no less than three adjustable nose pieces in the box so the specs will sit comfortably atop your shnozz.
Nvidia reckons the high price for its glasses is justified due to the super high quality plastic used to make them, and of course the fact it will allow users hours of dizzy nausea watching 3D films, playing 3D video games.
The glasses, which work via an infrared transmitter plugged into a PC's USB, are also powered by standard USB cable and can purportedly last a whole week without a recharge.
Of course, a user would have to have the appropriate Nvidia hardware and drivers to be able to use the specs, namely a GeForce 8800-series graphics card or better.
Apparently "over 350 games" are automatically converted to 3D when the glasses are donned, just so long as users also shell out enough for the special 120Hz LCD monitor which works with them.
Novatech, hoping to persuade punters to part with their hard-earned cash has decided to bundle a Samsung 2233RZ monitor with a pair of the geeky goggles for a hefty £290 inc. VAT.
Novatech reckons the Samsung 2233RZ, "displays 5:4 and 4:3 images at accurate aspect ratios without enlargement or distortion" and lets users set up a shortcut key to switch quickly between 2D and 3D.
We're not sure how many people are going to be willing to shell out close to £300 for a novelty 3D gaming experience, but we could just be being short sighted on theis one. µ
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The £300 pricetag is fine, but i'm sure noone will buy it because you end up looking like a twat with those glasses.
Yeah, im sure thats what most spotty socially akward teens (and older) are going to be concerned about, looking like a twat when you are playing games alone at home.
Do me a lemon.
Why can't we get monitors that do the circular polarization instead?
So we get cheap, throwaway plastic glasses like the ones for the Real D cinema.
This Nvidia specs technology is very, very old!
I had one of the very first Nvidia-based 3d shutters almost 10 years ago now.
Besides it being cumbersome, the frequent headaches and dizziness made me dump it after the first few days.
In fact, everyone I knew that used them had issues with their eyes and head. The novelty didn't last longer than a month. It was utter cr@p.
Somebody is going to file a class action lawsuit against Nvidia, citing this specs potential health risks.
I bought the competing technology from a company called iZ3D. I have been gaming with 3D glasses for over a decade now, and can honestly say the iZ3D product is better.
Admittedly, the fashion victims who prefer the way things look over what teir functionality (aka the ipod generation) will not be interested.
But, there are pockets in society of less shallow people out there who would love it.
check out www.mtbs3d.com - an entire community of such people.
StereoScopic media is the future... everyone knows that. It's just a matter of when, not if :)
The old glasses you used probably worked at only 60hz, this would definitely flicker and cause headaches and such.
There are no such problems reported with the new ones.
Also, you don't strictly need a 120hz monitor, as low as 100hz will work but there might be some flickering.
Also, monitors that do the polarization method are expensive (not that you'll find many for sale), and the picture is very dark when wearing the specs.
The iZ3D looks like the better tech. But it requires 2 DVI cables, with no OpenGL nor SLI/Crossfire support.
The big question though is why hasn't this tech caught on with other bigger LCD monitor and GPU manufacturers?
An issue of IP perhaps?
AMD are you listening?
OpenGL support has recently been added with quad buffer emulation. The driver is constantly evolving, and the company provides the best support that I have ever seen - the devs frequently post on the forums, answering questions, taking suggestions, and frequently updating the driver.
The monitor does not require dual DVI, one DVI and one standard Analogue VGA is sufficient.
Also, the price has gone down to $399 with cheap international shipping, and new glasses are being developed which fix most of the darkening/tinting/ghosting issues. I, along with 50 others, are beta testing 2 potential candidates which greatly improve original image quality :)
SLi and crossfire are being worked on too.
Full Steam Ahead from iZ3D.
PS: Do I know you from S3D forums? "RAGEdemon" here :P
How about 3D CAD? Will they work for that too?
--- How about 3D CAD? Will they work for that too?
Actually, it has worked for CAD from ages ago. The glasses and driver concept nVidia is using is far from new. Heck, even I keep my 3D glasses I bought on discount on 1999 for my Elsa Erazor III FGX (TNT2-powered card, before nVidia created the first GeForce). Those glasses needed a special conector on the back of the card somewhat similar in shape to a s-video but with different pin number (there was also a wireless infrared glasses model back then, mine needs to be plugged). You can find that connector on many CAD professional-level cards for the same purpouse like many Quadro FX models and Fire GL from ATi