The Future of Stereo 3D Part I: Nvidia Geforce 3D Vision

Of TVs, LCDs and More. Compatibility Explained

What happens if you don’t want to buy the whole $680 kit and purchase a different monitor yourself? Hold on tight because this is about to get a bit complicated. The reason for the complication is there are monitors and TVs alike that claim to support stereo 3D but many aren’t compatible with GeForce 3D Vision. Make sure you keep your eyes open for the logo above on the packaging of your monitor or TV to guarantee compatibility with 3D Vision. Another option is to keep an eye open on Nvidia’s product requirements page for new listings. Unfortunately, as you will see in the DLP section below, Nvidia's list is either already out of date or they only mention products that bear the Certified for 3D Vision logo.


But wait, there is another way other way to tell if your new TV or monitor supports 3D Vision and that's with the logo above. The 3D Ready logo will (hopefully) become the industry norm and can already be found on some Samsung and Mitsubishi DLPs as well as certain Viewsonic and Samsung LCD monitors.


LCD TVs and Monitors


When it comes to LCDs, you will need a “pure” 120Hz LCD monitor or LCD TV. “Pure” means that it MUST be able to receive and display a native 120Hz signal and thus be compatible with 3D Vision. At the time of this article, there are only two monitors and no (read: zero) LCD TVs that have the necessary 120Hz refresh rate. Nvidia really pushed both Samsung and Viewsonic to release their pure 120Hz 22” monitors for the sole reason that without them, 3D Vision would not have been released. Because of this somewhat rushed development process, the other panel manufacturers are a step behind and won’t be releasing competing 120Hz monitors for the next while.

You say you have a brand new “120Hz” LCD TV you just bought for some obscene amount of money? I’m sorry to tell you but it can't accept a pure 120Hz signal over HDMI. Without getting technical, let’s just say that what your TV is doing is taking a standard 60Hz signal and interpolating frames in order to make a patchwork-type 120Hz picture. Unfortunately, using interpolation to achieve 120Hz means the TV isn't compatible with 3D Vision. But when are larger format displays that can accept a native 120Hz input going to be available? They will probably be phased in over the next year or two as HDMI 1.3 becomes widespread.

Compatible LCD Monitors:
Samsung SyncMaster 2233RZ
Viewsonic FuHzion VX2265wm

Compatible LCD TVs:
None


DLP TVs


Much like the LCD situation, the possibility that your DLP TV will work with 3D Vision is less than certain. There is no shortage of TVs that claim to support stereo 3D without the necessary 3D Vision Ready certification and indeed, some will since they use the Texas Instruments SmoothPicture technology that Nvidia has been talking about. As long as there is a 3D Ready logo on the TV specifications, you should be good to go. From what I can tell, that VESA 3-pin stereo connector is all-important so if your DLP has it, will may support 3D Vision. Take for example the Samsung HL67A750A1FXZC DLP TV I linked to above. Taken at face value, there isn't any mention of being 3D Vision certified but if you look in the downloadable User Manual, you will see that there is a "3D Sync-Out" (or VESA Stereo 3D) connector in the back of the TV. Since there isn't even a Samsung TV listed in the compatibility section of Nvidia's site, I am going to recommend you do your own research before buying.

For more about the Texas Instruments technology, please click here.

Compatible DLP TVs:
Mitsubishi LaserVue Series
Samsung 3D Ready DLPs


Of CRTs and Projectors


At this point, the only projector that supports 3D Vision is the Lightspeed Design DepthQ HD 3D. On the other hand, those of you who have their old tube-based CRT monitors stored away are about to be very, very happy. That’s right; any CRT which has a DVI connector and supports a 120Hz refresh rate is completely compatible. In all reality if you wanted to save a bit of money you could run out to a computer recycler and pick up a used 21” CRT for a few bucks. Just remember that CRTs weigh a ton and a half and take up a boatload of space on your desk.


Supporting Graphics Cards

You guys already know what’s coming but let me make it official: GeForce 3D Vision is ONLY compatible with Nvidia graphics cards. Considering the recent inroads of ATI GPUs into many areas of the performance and mainstream markets, this will surely be a rude awakening for many of you reading this article. Also, due to the strain of basically rendering two images at once on a 22” LCD, Nvidia recommends their system be paired with nothing less than an 8800GT or 9600 GT. As you will see in the performance testing section, we will probably go one step further by saying right here and now that you will want a 9800 GTX+ (GTS 250) or above powering your GeForce 3D Vision setup.