3D Vision Blog

I’ve finally got my hands on a sample of the new 24-inch Acer GN245HQ 120Hz 3D Vision-ready LCD monitor, so I’ll be testing it and you can expect a detailed review of the monitor to be published here in the blog in the next few days. I’m quite interested to see how the smaller 24-inch model compares to the bigger 27-inch Acer HN274H display that I’ve tested a while ago, as they are both new and feature HDMI 1.4 3D support. Some reviews are claiming that the Acer GN245HQ is far superior to the Acer HN274H monitor, so I have high expectations and since I’ve liked quite a lot the performance of the 27-inch version, I’m expecting to see really good results from the smaller 24-inch model as well. So stay tuned and meanwhile you can ask for things that you want to be covered in the review or just to try with the monitor while testing it…

The Acer HN274H 3D monitor is the first 27-inch 3D Vision compatible product and it is also the first with HDMI 1.4a support for 3D as well, meaning that with it you can get quite a wide compatibility with different 3D products, although still not as much as with a 3D HDTV over the HDMI 1.4a interface. You can of course connect a PS3 console and play games in stereo 3D mode with it, as well as any other 3D-capable consumer electronic device that can output 3D in the frame packaged format defined in the HDMI 1.4(a) standard. On the other hand you get 1080p at 120Hz over the Dual-Link DVI and 3D Vision support on the PC, something that is still not available with 3D HDTVs due to use of the HDMI 1.4 standard. The monitor comes with a built-in 3D Vision IR emitter and a pair of 3D Vision active shutter glasses that you will be using even when the 3D is coming through the HDMI interface. And the good news is that the monitor has started appearing on different markets worldwide at the beginning of April, although it was delayed a bit, it is finally here. So if you were waiting for this because of the bigger screen size or the support for HDMI 1.4a, then there is probably no need to wait anymore, not to mention that the monitor does very well in stereo 3D mode as you can read in the extensive review published here on the blog a while ago.

At the moment in North America you can only get the Acer HN274H at Newegg for $699 USD and they don’t have that big stock, so if you want the monitor don’t wait too long. If you live in Europe, then the chances that the monitor will be available in your country by the end of April are quite high, in some European countries it appears the monitor is already available, but again not in large quantities, so look around and you can report shops that already have it in the comments below.

- To read a review of the 3D capabilities and performance of Acer HN274H 3D monitor…

If you still haven’t noticed, Acer is among the top companies pushing products supporting 3D technology lately, aside from all the top CE brands such as LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony etc. of course. Earlier this month the company has announced the successor of their popular 3D Vision-ready Acer H5360 projector with 720p native resolution – the Acer H5360BD. The main difference between the two is that the new Acer H5360BD 3D DLP projector comes with support for the new HDMI 1.4a interface – an industry wide standard supporting stereo 3D. This is a very good news for everyone looking for an affordable widescreen HD projector that supports 3D, and that can not only be used with 3D content coming from PC, but also from consumer electronic devices such as standalone Blu-ray 3D players or game consoles like the PlayStation 3. The Acer H5360BD projector has a native resolution of 720p (1280×720) and 16:9 aspect ratio, 2500 ANSI Lumens maximum brightness and 3200:1 contrast ratio, together with up to 4000 hours of lamp life.

So far everything sounds great, but there is something very important that you should be aware regarding the new Acer H5360BD and this particular thing is the major difference between this model and the older one, aside from the addition of HDMI 1.4a support. That difference is the fact that the new Acer H5360BD projector is not 3D Vision ready, meaning that you will not be able to officially use the 3D Vision shutter glasses with it like you can with the previous Acer H5360 model. This particular thing is related to the addition of HDMI 1.4a, and as this projector features this interface for stereo 3D data transmission, although you are not able to use it with 3D Vision, you can use it with the 3DTV Play play software. Using 3DTV Play with the projector would still require to you use a pair of DLP Link glasses to actually see the projected stereo 3D image, as again the 3D Vision glasses are not going to be officially compatible with it. So when using the Acer H5360BD projector with your PC as a source of 3D content, along with the 3DTV Play software, you would be pretty much be using it like you would with a 3D HDTV that also requires its own shutter glasses and in the case with 3D DLP projectors you need a pair of glasses supporting DLP Link (no matter what the brand is). And since the projector is 720p, you would be able to get it to run with 60Hz per eye when in 3D mode, something that is supported at that resolution over the HDMI 1.4a interface, so no worries about the framerate for gaming.

The HDMI 1.4a support that the Acer H5360BD supports should also ensure compatibility with AMD’s HD3D technology, at least in theory, no guarantees about that unless this is tested. Nvidia has already confirmed that the projector is already supported in the latest 3DTV Play Update Utility v1.0.0.18, so that is for sure. Have in mind that the Acer H5360BD projector should be starting to be available on the market sometime in April with a price probably slightly higher than the current price of the previous model Acer H5360, positioning it as probably the most affordable 3D projector to feature HDMI 1.4a support on the market.