3D Vision Blog

ATI has been talking about their upcoming stereoscopic 3D support utilizing 120Hz LCD monitors and active shutter glasses for quite some time already, and although we expected a complete working solution as early as this summer, things did not work out so well. So now, according to an interview with ATI made by Digital Versus we are going to wait a few more months (second half of the year), but we should see the complete working solution before the end of the year, maybe just in time for Christmas.

Now when talking about openness, ATI is open to supporting different standards and hardware, along with middleware software, but in the end you will most likely be required to have an AMD/ATI-based video card in order to use one such solution. This is of course normal, as ATI will want to sell you their hardware as well as Nvidia does, to use when watching any kind of stereo 3D content. So although ATI in general seems to be more open, the end results seems to be not that different than what Nvidia is doing with their 3D Vision product. You can say that a really open approach is what companies like iZ3D and DDD are doing with their drivers/software that do support multiple stereoscopic 3D solutions and work on all video cards, no matter if they are based on ATI or Nvidia GPUs. What we actually need are standards that will allow interoperability and the users will not have to think now do I have a compatible video card for that solution, or will this 3D monitor work for me or not, or what shutter glasses should I get.

And example that I’ve been seeing a lot lately of not having good interoperability that is confusing the users and making them wonder why is the fact that they cannot use their 3D-capable monitors and 3D DLP projectors to display 3D content from their PlayStation 3 console. The reason for that being that the PS3 sends the stereo 3D signal to a 3D capable display according to the HDMI 1.4(a) stereo 3D specifications and not a single one of the 120Hz 3D LCD monitors is capable of understanding and displaying 3D content sent this way. Of course you need to buy a 3D HDTV to play stereo 3D games from your PS3 console, but then again you’ll also have to buy a 120Hz 3D LCD monitor for your PC, as you will currently also have trouble connecting and using your new 3D HDTV to your PC. So being an early adopter has its advantages, but also comes with a lot of disadvantages and trying to cover more things and work with more partners like ATI does not only means bigger delays, but might as well mean more problems.

If you take a look at how much time the 3D Vision has been available on the market already and how Nvidia is having trouble to convince the hardware and software manufacturers to work on products that support it, not to mention that for more than a year and a half the software and hardware support is still far from being perfect. Now imagine what will be the situation when ATI’s complete stereoscopic 3D solution finally becomes available… I expect a lot of issues to be present at first and it will take some time for all of these to be fixed, and that is something that everyone of the early adopters of 3D Vision is well aware of. Now the 3D Vision already has a lot of users, has a larger community and this also helps a lot in reporting problem and improving the S3D support of the product. But ATI will need some time before reaching the critical mass of users that will have all the needed hardware and software and users that are willing to experiment, test and report issues, even make optimizations and workarounds for better experience etc.

So although I’m eagerly expecting to see what will ATI offer at the end as their complete stereo 3D ecosystem using shutter glasses (I’m a 3D enthusiast after all), I’m not trying to lie myself that it will be a problem free solution, perfect from the start and much better than what 3D Vision currently offers. Yes, it might be better in some aspects, but I don’t think that it will be that different in terms of overall experience for the users. And finally getting some competition between ATI and Nvidia in the stereo 3D area too may help in faster and better development of the software and hardware needed for that, and let us just hope that ATI will be as active as Nvidia in pushing both software and hardware companies into adding stereo 3D support in their products or releasing new stereo 3D-capable products. After all this can only benefit us, the end users that just want better and more affordable solutions for enjoying stereoscopic 3D content of all kinds, isn’t that right? Not to mention that we do need more stereoscopic 3D content available and in that area things are still moving a bit slowly, especially regarding 3D photo and 3D video, as the situation with games is better. However we also need both ATI and Nvidia to work more closely with the game developers in order for the upcoming games to have better stereoscopic 3D support and thus less or no issues in S3D mode at all, so that playing these will be much more fun… ;)

The situation with playing back Blu-ray 3D movies on your 3D-capable computer using a 120Hz 3D-capable monitor is not so bright as yet again we have the same issue as if you try to play a normal 2D Blu-ray movie with 120Hz refresh rate on any of these monitors (at least on first generation Samsung and Viewsonic, as the problem might not be present on the 2nd generation 120Hz LCD monitors). And the reason for that is again the HDCP protection that is being used with the Blu-ray video, but the question is why it is not working when your 120Hz monitor does say HDCP compliant? There is one interesting catch that is often missed and that is the fact that the 120Hz monitor is indeed HDCP compliant, but may only be when used at 60Hz refresh rate and that means no playing back of protected 3D content, unless you go for a workaround… And one such alternative workaround is the use of the AnyDVD HD software – a commercial application that allows you to go over some of the annoying limitations that you get when you don’t want to be a “pirate”, although this application might be considered illegal in some countries (depending on the local laws), because of what it does!

The AnyDVD software allows you to watch movies over a digital display connection, without the requiring you to have HDCP-compliant graphics card and without HDCP-compliant display. Or even if you have such compliant hardware, like in the case of the 3D-ready 120Hz LCD monitors, you’ll be able to actually use the higher 120Hz refresh rate and and be able to watch Blu-ray 3D movies. And the best thing about the application is that is removes the HDCP dependence in real-time, the program runs in the background and you are able to play the Blu-ray movie with your favorite Blu-ray 3D video player. There is no need to rip the Blu-ray 3D movie, reencode something or do something that is time consuming or hard to make by a novice user. But of course the AnyDVD HD software comes with additional features that can remove some of the other annoying constraints you may have in a Blu-ray movie disc and not only on Blu-ray, but also with HD DVD or even DVD Video discs.

AnyDVD HD comes with a 21 days of free trial, so you can first test the application and see if it works for you and does what you need and then you can purchase it if you wish or just uninstall it if you don’t like it. However you should first try the trial, the only limitation you get during the trial period is that the custom settings are not being saved and you need to set them again each time you start the application, other than that it is fully functional.

- To download the latest AnyDVD HD with 21 days trial period to test it…
- For more information about the features of the SlySoft AnyDVD HD software…

It seems that Asus is finally joining the 3D monitor market too as it’s first 3D-capable monitors are starting to become available on the market with a price of around $500 USD which may be a bit high. I’m talking about the 23-inch Asus VG236H, a Full HD 120Hz monitor that can be used with the 3D Vision active shutter glasses to display 3D content. The bigger 27-inch Asus PG276H is expected to be available later this year, probably by the end of it and of course this model will also be using a fast 120Hz panel and will be capable of displaying 3D content with the help of active shutter glasses. But back on the Asus VG236H, it is already listed on Newegg with a price of $499.99 USD with Free Shipping and 3D Vision glasses bundled. Checking the global Asus website reveals that there are two variations of the monitor – VG236H and VG236HE, although they seem to be exactly the same, so it just might be the same product, but for different regions named differently…

Specifications of the Asus VG236H monitor:

Panel Size: 23″ (58.4cm) Wide Screen 16:9, TN
Native Resolution: 1920×1080 pixels
Pixel Pitch: 0.265 mm
Brightness(Max): 400 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio (Max.): 100000:1 (dynamic)
Viewing Angles (CR≧10): 170°(H) /160°(V)
Response Time: 2 ms
Video Inputs: Dual-link DVI-D (support NVIDIA 3D Vision), Component (YPbPr), HDMI
Power Consumption: < 60W operating, < 2W in standby
Monitor stand: tilt +15°~-5°, swivel and height adjustment
Dimension (WxHxD): 550.2x419.5x250mm
Weight: 7 kg

Looking through the specs of the monitor you’ll probably notice that it has 400 cd/m2 maximum brightness and 100000:1 dynamic contrast, another interesting thing about it is the fact that it is apparently a glossy display (not matte display), unlike all others already on the market. If it being with a glossy is a good or bad thing is yet to be seen and I hope to be soon able to test the monitor myself… on and yes the monitor has a height adjustable stand… ;)