Interview with NVIDIA's Andrew Fear on a return to S-3D

Post by **GameCyteSean** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:45 pm

Hello all!

In part one of a series on the newfound viability of S-3D for gaming, we spoke to NVIDIA's Andrew Fear about how their tech works, why the company fell off the S-3D radar for a couple of years, and where they intend to take it now.

http://www.gamecyte.com/is-your-gaming- ... oscopic-3d

For now, you can consider it a companion piece to the new articles up at Maximum PC and here at MTBS3D, but we're going to keep at this one. Part two, up later this week, will focus on IZ3D and how they plan to deal with this new competition.

Enjoy!

Sean

Post by **Silversurfer** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:54 pm

I'm getting my 3D gaming Mojo back, "slowly, slowly catchy monkey". Hopefully by this time next year............ 120 Hz monitors + NVIDIA glasses = noticeable progress towards 3-D gaming becoming the norm rather than the exception for the general PC gaming public?

If only we had a killer app/game title like " Star Wars - The Force Unleashed", ported to the PC, correctly for 3-D & (this is where I delve into the realms of fantasy), with a Nintendo Wii remote style light-sabre controller for the PC, LOL - one can but only dream can't they?

In the meantime game developers, if you're listening, please code with 3-D stereo in mind and let's restart this 3D revolution so it's not just the preserve of enthusiastic risktakers. Surely everybody deserves a chance to enjoy gaming as it's meant to be, true to life in 3-D.

Post by **Neil** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:58 pm

Excellent work here!

Regards,
Neil

Post by **Welder** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:21 pm

AF: I can’t really speak much to IZ3D’s solution; the only thing I can say is I’m excited by IZ3D. If nothing else, they work with our GPUs. Not a bad thing. I like them; I like them for that reason. I think if you look at the solution they have versus ours, IZ3D has some pluses. Some people like passive solutions, they don’t like active solutions, so that’s one reason they might choose them. The downside of that is like I talked about earlier, you’re going to get less resolution, less quality for the game. I know that our solution supports NVIDIA SLI; I don’t think their solution supports SLI.

Unfortunately that is incorrect

We don't cut the resolution on our monitors. We have full resoultion and resfresh time in each eye. Not cut in half. That is one of the things that makes us unique...

So, unfortunately that statement about resolution is incorrect

*Edit: Posted a comment on there

Post by **yuriythebest** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:02 pm

GameCyte: What do you think of your competitors? You’ve told me already that these glasses are like nothing else out there, and similarly the ViewSonic display. But can you tell me what you think of IZ3D, for example, and their solution?

AF: I can’t really speak much to IZ3D’s solution; the only thing I can say is I’m excited by IZ3D. If nothing else, they work with our GPUs. Not a bad thing. I like them; I like them for that reason. I think if you look at the solution they have versus ours, IZ3D has some pluses. Some people like passive solutions, they don’t like active solutions, so that’s one reason they might choose them. The downside of that is like I talked about earlier, you’re going to get less resolution, less quality for the game. I know that our solution supports NVIDIA SLI; I don’t think their solution supports SLI.

They can do nothing but help, right? Because right now, they’re talking about stereoscopic gaming; they’re using our GPUs.

they also tried to indirectly imply that iz3d world ONLY with nvidia cards (he didn't exactly say it but the first time reader could easily get that impression)- posted a comment there.

Post by **chrisdfw** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:38 pm

I am getting tired of Nvidia dodging the question about support for things like Planar, DLP projectors @85hz, and HMD's.

I don't want a 22inch LCD screen or a checkerboard pattern on a plasma or rear projection. I want this driver to support all possible solutions like it used to and Nvidia should keep focussing on getting game makers to have their games 3d friendly.

Post by **turls** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:13 am

chrisdfw wrote:I am getting tired of Nvidia dodging the question about support for things like Planar, DLP projectors @85hz, and HMD's.

I don't want a 22inch LCD screen or a checkerboard pattern on a plasma or rear projection. I want this driver to support all possible solutions like it used to and Nvidia should keep focussing on getting game makers to have their games 3d friendly.

DLP projectors? How about something even simpler to get confirmation on--why do they keep saying Mitsubishi DLP when the 3D enabled Mits and Samsung sets should be technically identical (at least as far as 3D support goes)? Sean, please corner them on that question. That would go a LONG way towards determining if they are truly hardware agnostic or they are still playing games.

Post by **chrisdfw** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:26 am

turls wrote:
chrisdfw wrote:I am getting tired of Nvidia dodging the question about support for things like Planar, DLP projectors @85hz, and HMD's.

I don't want a 22inch LCD screen or a checkerboard pattern on a plasma or rear projection. I want this driver to support all possible solutions like it used to and Nvidia should keep focussing on getting game makers to have their games 3d friendly.
DLP projectors? How about something even simpler to get confirmation on--why do they keep saying Mitsubishi DLP when the 3D enabled Mits and Samsung sets should be technically identical (at least as far as 3D support goes)? Sean, please corner them on that question. That would go a LONG way towards determining if they are truly hardware agnostic or they are still playing games.

By definition they are still "playing games" with us by dodging questions and providing answers that contradict reality.

They can't tell us they aren't working special deals with certain companies and are only focussed on solutions that work with their glasses in order to give the best 3d experience possible but have the first supported monitor as the Zalman which is polarized and won't work with their glasses.

I hope someone else gets an interview chance with them and can keep repeating the question until they actually answer it and not move on to other questions.

Post by **turls** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 9:44 am

chrisdfw wrote:By definition they are still "playing games" with us by dodging questions and providing answers that contradict reality.

They can't tell us they aren't working special deals with certain companies and are only focussed on solutions that work with their glasses in order to give the best 3d experience possible but have the first supported monitor as the Zalman which is polarized and won't work with their glasses.

I hope someone else gets an interview chance with them and can keep repeating the question until they actually answer it and not move on to other questions.

As far as this new initiative is concerned, for better or worse, I don't think Zalman is in the equation. It almost seems that Zalman sent some money their way for some type of limited endorsement that probably was set to expire about the time nVidia thought they might have a new solution where they control the glasses. They did say somewhere they have been working on this for about 2 years I believe. Considering the upside to this new support, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt until it is proven they've purposely broken Samsung DLP support which should be native. There's technical excuses for not supporting other LCD technology, even other 120hz implementations because not all LCD 120hz are the same. That shouldn't be the case with DLP.

Post by **cybereality** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:52 am

I just read that whole interview, nice work there. Good to see some real questions asked and not just the standard PR canned Q&A. The 3D revolution is here for real this time, Nvidia finally stepped up to the plate.

Post by **GameCyteSean** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:04 pm

Thanks for reading, thanks for the praise, and thanks for pointing out which important questions I forgot to ask. I will attempt to address NVIDIA's reportedly exclusive partnerships and the consequences for other DLP, HMD, etc. in a follow-up.

Meanwhile, I'm pleased to announce that our interview with IZ3D's Aaron Rapp is up at GameCyte right now...

http://www.gamecyte.com/is-your-gaming- ... d-part-two

...and that part three will include statements from MTBS3D's own Neil Schneider and Insight Media's Chris Chinnock.

Post by **yuriythebest** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:06 pm

awesome- will read it straight away!

Post by **yuriythebest** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:25 pm

finished reading it- was completely blown away. Good job man keep it up! This was so in depth I actually got a lot of interesting facts about iz3d I didn't know before, in fact it was so in depth it almost gave me an information overload (in a good way). I really like the unbiasedness of your interview - first telling the story from nvidia's perspective, then iz3d's- and soon to come MTBS's perspective (Neils). In fact I even bookmarked your review it was so good. Also I believe another person that deserves thanking is the interviewee - Aaron Rapp. He was very open about everything and didn't dodge any questions like nvidias spokesperson did.

Post by **chrisdfw** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:30 pm

GameCyteSean wrote:Thanks for reading, thanks for the praise, and thanks for pointing out which important questions I forgot to ask. I will attempt to address NVIDIA's reportedly exclusive partnerships and the consequences for other DLP, HMD, etc. in a follow-up.

Meanwhile, I'm pleased to announce that our interview with IZ3D's Aaron Rapp is up at GameCyte right now...

http://www.gamecyte.com/is-your-gaming- ... d-part-two

...and that part three will include statements from MTBS3D's own Neil Schneider and Insight Media's Chris Chinnock.

Great article!

I look forward to hearing what Neil has to say, he is always so quiet on here. (kidding!)

With all that is going on in 3d all I have ever wanted is a reasonable price to do 3d on a DLP projector @120hz and 1024X768 or higher using shutter glasses...that would mean any size display and no ghosting or headaches....but I am not holding my breath even though it is completely possible considering today's technology.

Post by **pixel67** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:15 pm

Very nice interview, but it did raise another question about drivers and SLI. While SLI may not work for IZ3D Monitors, they could still work for DLP, Shutters, and interlaced because these are single output, correct?

Post by **ssiu** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 9:08 pm

Rumour has it that NVIDIA's upcoming Forceware 180 "Big Bang 2" drivers will support multiple monitors for SLI. See e.g. http://arstechnica.com/journals/hardwar ... ig-bang-ii

Post by **LukePC1** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 3:07 am

pixel67 wrote:Very nice interview, but it did raise another question about drivers and SLI. While SLI may not work for IZ3D Monitors, they could still work for DLP, Shutters, and interlaced because these are single output, correct?

Yep it should be possible right now. The question is wheter you realy need that much stuff...

Interview with NVIDIA's Andrew Fear on a return to S-3D

Interview with NVIDIA's Andrew Fear on a return to S-3D

Well worth a read, very comprehensive interview - Thanks

Part Two: Interview with IZ3D's Aaron Rapp

Re: Part Two: Interview with IZ3D's Aaron Rapp