Newbie to Gaming: 3D Vision and 3D Gaming
Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 1:15 pm
Hi all. Just found your forum and hoping to learn about gaming. Thanks for your help with a newbie.
I bought a Samsung UN65ES8000 TV in August (my first 3D TV...love it) along with a Denon 2113ci AVR. I homebuilt an HTPC 3 years ago and instead of using the nvidia 9300 integrated graphics on the mobo, I've recently added a GTX660 GeForce card. This was to ensure 3D Bluray playback via TotalMedia Theatre 5. I setup the 3D Stereoscopic in the Control Panel with the setup wizard and everything tests OK (see the colored geometical figures through each eye separately and layered checkerboard). I had two 3D HD resolutions to choose from - 1920x1080/24Hz and 1280x720/60Hz. Anyway, I chose the higher resolutions and lo and behold, my 3D Bluray playback via TMT5 works (near) flawlessly. I play a 3D Bluray disk, TNT5 mounts it, the TV automatically senses that it's 3D, automatically goes into 3D mode, and goes back to 2D when the disk is ejected. Excellent.....However.....
I'm now fascinated with 3D content and I wanted to see what 3D gaming would look like. Disclaimer: I have never been a gamer, but I understand technology fairly well. Anyway, I installed Batman Arkham City - which is a game written specifically to take advantage of the 3D Vision drivers. I'm using the latest 306.97 drivers (and have installed the beta 310.xx drivers also for testing). When I start the game, the game setting is already set for "3D Vision Enabled", resolution is set for fullscreen 1920x1080 (I have tried other resolutions also) - all the default settings. However, I play the game, but the 3D is totally lame. I guess I can see a bit of depth, but certainly nothing that pops out of the screen and blows me away like a 3D Bluray. So here are my questions:
1. Being a total noob when it comes to gaming and having no one around to tell me otherwise, am I expecting too much from 3D gaming? Should things be popping out of the screen? From researching this online, this game (in particular) has had some rave comments about the 3D effects.
2. I have my HTPC connected via HDMI to my AVR which is connected to my TV via HDMI. Is there other software or hardware that is required to make 3D PC gaming work different than Bluray on TMT5? I see all this stuff on the nvidia site about 3D Vision kit with glasses and IR emitters and also 3DTV Play - but I can't understand it and all the info on the nvidia site and google is dated a couple years.
3. I notice that the driver settings have a lot of options greyed out. For example, I can use the 3D Stereoscopic section to enable and setup 3D. But things like the "Depth" slider, "Change 3D Laser Sight", "Keyboard Shortcuts" are all greyed out. Also, the 3D Display Type is hard set to "HD Bluray".
4. Also, should I be seeing two images in stereoscopic on the screen in the game (I don't). When I go to 3Dvisionlive.com, I think I should be able to view 3D content on there - I don't, I just see a lot of dual images that stay that way through the glasses with the tv in 3D mode.
I'm a novice to this, I've tried a lot of things and researched this online with no luck. It was time to ask someone. However, the more I have researched I'm guessing that the basic nVidia geforce drivers I installed can handle 3D Bluray just fine, but are not equipped to do 3D PC gaming without additional drivers. If this is the case, will 3DTV Play solve this issue? (My TV is not listed as supported although it's a top of the line 65" Samsung 3D TV and displays other 3D content beautifully). Are there other drivers that are comparable - or free? Thanks all for your help.
I bought a Samsung UN65ES8000 TV in August (my first 3D TV...love it) along with a Denon 2113ci AVR. I homebuilt an HTPC 3 years ago and instead of using the nvidia 9300 integrated graphics on the mobo, I've recently added a GTX660 GeForce card. This was to ensure 3D Bluray playback via TotalMedia Theatre 5. I setup the 3D Stereoscopic in the Control Panel with the setup wizard and everything tests OK (see the colored geometical figures through each eye separately and layered checkerboard). I had two 3D HD resolutions to choose from - 1920x1080/24Hz and 1280x720/60Hz. Anyway, I chose the higher resolutions and lo and behold, my 3D Bluray playback via TMT5 works (near) flawlessly. I play a 3D Bluray disk, TNT5 mounts it, the TV automatically senses that it's 3D, automatically goes into 3D mode, and goes back to 2D when the disk is ejected. Excellent.....However.....
I'm now fascinated with 3D content and I wanted to see what 3D gaming would look like. Disclaimer: I have never been a gamer, but I understand technology fairly well. Anyway, I installed Batman Arkham City - which is a game written specifically to take advantage of the 3D Vision drivers. I'm using the latest 306.97 drivers (and have installed the beta 310.xx drivers also for testing). When I start the game, the game setting is already set for "3D Vision Enabled", resolution is set for fullscreen 1920x1080 (I have tried other resolutions also) - all the default settings. However, I play the game, but the 3D is totally lame. I guess I can see a bit of depth, but certainly nothing that pops out of the screen and blows me away like a 3D Bluray. So here are my questions:
1. Being a total noob when it comes to gaming and having no one around to tell me otherwise, am I expecting too much from 3D gaming? Should things be popping out of the screen? From researching this online, this game (in particular) has had some rave comments about the 3D effects.
2. I have my HTPC connected via HDMI to my AVR which is connected to my TV via HDMI. Is there other software or hardware that is required to make 3D PC gaming work different than Bluray on TMT5? I see all this stuff on the nvidia site about 3D Vision kit with glasses and IR emitters and also 3DTV Play - but I can't understand it and all the info on the nvidia site and google is dated a couple years.
3. I notice that the driver settings have a lot of options greyed out. For example, I can use the 3D Stereoscopic section to enable and setup 3D. But things like the "Depth" slider, "Change 3D Laser Sight", "Keyboard Shortcuts" are all greyed out. Also, the 3D Display Type is hard set to "HD Bluray".
4. Also, should I be seeing two images in stereoscopic on the screen in the game (I don't). When I go to 3Dvisionlive.com, I think I should be able to view 3D content on there - I don't, I just see a lot of dual images that stay that way through the glasses with the tv in 3D mode.
I'm a novice to this, I've tried a lot of things and researched this online with no luck. It was time to ask someone. However, the more I have researched I'm guessing that the basic nVidia geforce drivers I installed can handle 3D Bluray just fine, but are not equipped to do 3D PC gaming without additional drivers. If this is the case, will 3DTV Play solve this issue? (My TV is not listed as supported although it's a top of the line 65" Samsung 3D TV and displays other 3D content beautifully). Are there other drivers that are comparable - or free? Thanks all for your help.