Nvidia 3DVision review on guru3d website

[budda]

Hi,

A fairly comprehensive overview of Nvidia 3DVision.

See it here - http://www.guru3d.com/article/nvidia-ge ... n-review/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Thanks.

[cybereality]

Nice, thats a pretty good review. Very in-depth. I found the end interesting:

Now, I've invited some mates of mine to check out the technology as well, and while they were playing I observed them. All three of them had the initial wow factor as well. They all felt that this is an enjoyable and good working, properly implemented set of shutter glasses. They feel it's much better than everything we have seen in the past. Two out of the three guys however stated that while enjoying this experience, they would probably not buy this kit. It was too complex on their eyes and mind. These two, both after 15-20 minutes, caved in and had had enough. One other guy was really into it. And when I asked him if he'd buy a kit like that he said he'd definitely opt for it.

When I asked the last guy the following question, would you pay 475 EUR for both the monitor and 3D shutter glasses kit? His answer was no without any hesitation. He felt that it's just not worth that kind of money.

What can we do about this problem? Its seems that many people don't seem to "get" 3D and even the ones that do don't think its worth the money. I have found the same results with people I know. I show them the stereo3d glasses, HMD, or whatever and they think its amazing, but show no interest in actually buying it themselves. Is the gear just too expensive right now? Lets say the 3D vision glasses worked on any LCD screen. Do you think that would mean everyone would have one, or do the people that are into it already have a solution? Interesting questions.

[yuriythebest]

what I find amusing is that most of those same people would gladly pay a lot of money for the best rig/newest graphics card.

[cybereality]

what I find amusing is that most of those same people would gladly pay a lot of money for the best rig/newest graphics card.

Yes, that is what I am getting at. These people will blow like $400 every few months just to get a few extra FPS in their favorite game (or bragging rights on certain forums for the guys that just benchmark), but paying say $400 for an iz3D/Zalman monitor is somehow not worth it. What is it that is missing from current stereo solutions? How can we make them more appealing?

[Neil]

This is good subject matter. I'm moving it to a more fitting location - I'd like to see more participation in this thread.

Regards,
Neil

[Jadentheman]

Simple people don't want to pay huge amounts of money on something they still percieve as a gimmick. It cool and all but they won't shell out money for technology that can back it self up except the theatre.

[Neil]

The issue isn't "what are people thinking", it's how can we acknowledge what they are thinking, and work with it? What can we do to overcome the challenges?

Also, I wouldn't mix media opinion and customer opinion together. These are two very different camps.

Regards,
Neil

[cybereality]

Ok, lets just assume 90% of gamers think S3D is a gimmick (which is probably far from accurate). What are we not doing to get that 10% that would be interested? Is it just a matter of marketing? Will giving free Nvidia Discover glasses to all geforce owners fix the problem? What about having game trailers before a S3D movie in 3D? Would that appeal to the masses? Or even then would people still not wish to pay a premium? In other areas it seems people have no problem paying big bucks for the next trend, be it HDTVs, Blu-ray or 7.1 surround sound systems. How is 3D video a gimmick and 3D audio a desired feature? Maybe I am getting carried away here but these are all very much unanswered questions.

[BlackShark]

I think it's mainly a value/price thing : it's just the nvidia glasses and a stupidly small 22" monitor damn it !
They feel that 475€ for making dumb glasses work on such a small display isn't worth it. Yes i say dumb and i mean it : they're just shutter glasses and a small monitor.
This isn't 2005 anymore : 22" isn't hot : for that kind of money you can get much much better and bigger nowadays.

[Kamus]

I think it's mainly a value/price thing : it's just the nvidia glasses and a stupidly small 22" monitor damn it !
They feel that 475€ for making dumb glasses work on such a small display isn't worth it. Yes i say dumb and i mean it : they're just shutter glasses and a small monitor.
This isn't 2005 anymore : 22" isn't hot : for that kind of money you can get much much better and bigger nowadays.

Well, that and the fact that there are no big games built with 3d as the main way of playing the game, once this happens people will start changing their mind.

I hope ATi gets their act together, the IZ3d driver is nice, but using it means not using the ATI profile that is optimized for performance, and it also means no crossfire, which to me is a big deal.
I'd go nVidia if they had support for dual monitors in a heartbeat, but since i'm a heavily invested ATi owner i have to settle with compatibility mode, rather than performance mode.

For now, it seems that Nvision is the only way to get the proper performance out of your graphics card for 3d.

Another challenge i can think off, is that improperly done 2d is no big deal... (it would mean just a crappy game or movie.)
but improperly done 3d actually hurts your eyes... (too much separation will do this allmost immediatly.)

So, 3d is going to take off in gaming only if the developers become really good at it.

I have no idea if IZ3d is ever going to be able to use the profiles or if it's always going to be compatibility mode.

I just recently bought the dual output license from IZ3d, but owning 2 4870x2's and only using one core doesn't have me entirely pleased, and when using even one core it also means that i'm not even using the performance profile from ATi. (iz3d correct me if i'm wrong here please!)

I hope we get crossfire support sooner rather than later, that would take some of the blow away from not using the game profile.

[martinlandau]

Well, that and the fact that there are no big games built with 3d as the main way of playing the game, once this happens people will start changing their mind.

Things are changing, I saw crysis with a stereo3D optimized engine at Siggraph with Neil. Also present was invincible tiger : legend of Han Tao and Need for Speed : Shift. Also just this past weekend at PAX there was Avatar the Game.

[craylon]

I agree with shark

The 150€ for the glasses would be no problem for most people i talked to
payen another 300€ to play on a smaller monitor then they have right now (most gamers i know play in high rez on a 24'') might be the no-go argument for them.
In germany you are pretty much limited to 2 or 3 monitors and Im amazaed that after such a long time we dont have a broader range of devices (including TV Sets and projectors to choose from)

the other thing Im kind of worried about is the lack of progress Nvidia makes with their drivers
I mean its great to see that they add a handfull of games each update but IMHO they should fokus on bringing 3D in a Window.
With 100th (or 1000th?) of videos on youtube in s3d and the minoru webcam you would think that theres a lot of content for the 3D Vision Set but actually you cant view it out of the box and downloading/ convertig youtube files kind of beats the purpose.

soooo my biggest arguments are...
- forcing a gamer to downgrade its resolution/ viewing size for 3d is not convenient.
- not plugging into the community that creates s3D content and broadening the use of the glasses is a missed chance
- not beeing able to reproduce the 3d experience ppl getting at the cinema because of missing distribution channels (like an itune store for s3d movies i.e.) is a loss of value for the product

[cybereality]

The 150€ for the glasses would be no problem for most people i talked to
payen another 300€ to play on a smaller monitor then they have right now (most gamers i know play in high rez on a 24'') might be the no-go argument for them.

Yeah, the price for the glasses is reasonable (even if its on the high-end). However telling gamers they have to chuck their hi-rez 24-30" monitor to play on an overpriced 22" is a losing proposition. The very market that is prime for stereo 3d are the high-end PC gamers who are running large sized 24"+ monitors (maybe even triple monitors) and are not going to downgrade to a measly 22". Personally I think 22" is adequate, but just barely and moving forward the display manufacturers have got to think about giving us some choices here.

[anotherFrench]

I also agree that the price for those kits maybe too high for people who are juste curious about this technologie and wish to try it out but why do theu never mention in those test other solutions like the zalman trimons that are much more afortable and offer about the same experience?
they say that 475 EUR is too expenssive and I agree with that:

But the fact remains that we doubt a little that there's a large crowd out there that is willing to pay 475 EUR for it, making it once again a product for a very small user base.

but shouldn't they me talk about those other solutions as they are available for a very affordable price (150 EUR for the 22" in some french shops) ?