VR920 and iZ3D

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ds445
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VR920 and iZ3D

Post by ds445 »

Hi guys,

I've already posted this question over at the iZ3D forums but it seems that the community here at MTBS might actually be more active, so perhaps someone here knows what to do with this problem - I've been searching for a solution everywhere but haven't been able to find anything...

I've been really impressed with the iZ3D driver and have been using it without any problems in side-by-side mode for a while now.

Because of this, I've wanted to buy the full version to use with my brand new VR920 glasses, but VR920 support seems to be broken at the moment:

I've tried and replicated this exact same problem on two different PCs that I've tried it on, so I'm fairly certain that it's not a problem that is completely unique to my particular setup.

Essentially, what the problem boils down to is that it seems that the synchronization for VR920 just doesn't seem to work, I'm always getting flickering double images on both eyes, i.e. the driver seems to correctly produce the two distinct images but the sync signal for the VR920 is either messed up or missing, so instead of the two different images being shown on the left or right screen they seem to either flicker on both or be overlaid on top of each other (I can't really tell the difference at 60Hz, but you know what I mean).

For the record, stereo 3D works just fine with the native Vuzix driver (which unfortunately supports only a few games) or even with the third-party Stereoscopic Player, so I can rule out a hardware problem at this point.

The problem also is not application specific but occurs even when I'm running the static test in the iZ3D control center, so I guess that there's not much I can do about this but ask for help here?

For the record, I'm using the very newest Vuzix drivers (Vuzix VR Manager 3.0.7, downloaded today), can you guys replicate the problem or suggest a fix?

Thanks in advance - would love to get the full version and play a load of old favorites in stereo 3D, but obviously I need a fix for this before I shell out any cash for the iZ3D...
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cybereality
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Re: VR920 and iZ3D

Post by cybereality »

Hey, you are right. It doesn't work anymore (I have a paid license). I'm on Vista 32-bit, with GTX 470 w/ Nvidia driver 258.96. I am using iz3d driver 1.12(4016) and Vuzix VR Manager 3.0.7. I also have Stereoscopic Player 1.5. It seems nothing is working except the Vuzix driver. It worked previously when I didn't not have the Vuzix driver installed (or maybe had a real old version). As soon as I updated the Vuzix manager, I think that is when the problems started. In iz3D I get no sync whatsoever. However if I manually enable the 3D mode using the OSD on the glasses, then it does look good in 3D but this only works for single frames (ie images, not moving pictures). So the page-flipping source is still correct, its just that the USB sync is not working. The Stereoscopic Player 1.5 no longer works for me either. In this case there is some syncing going on, so it will be in 3d for like 3 seconds at a time and then switch around randomly. This used to work perfectly fine. Very disappointing. I think its probably something on the Vuzix side of things. Maybe they changed their API in the newest driver?
ds445
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Re: VR920 and iZ3D

Post by ds445 »

Same thing for me - I've discovered that if I manually force stereo-3D via the OSD, then I get a synced 3D image, but the picture immediately freezes (presumably because he's waiting for the next signal which for some reason never arrives).

I've now assumed that perhaps indeed the API was changed in the latest drivers and that things might work with an earlier version, so I went through a couple of older driver versions available from the Vuzix support page, but with no result - well, sometimes everything just crashes instead of showing an unsynced image, but I've yet to get the iZ3D driver to work - does anyone have iZ3D with VR920 up and running and could perhaps tell me what version of the Vuzix driver software you're using?

Interestingly, Stereoscopic Player (latest version 1.6.6) worked just fine with all but the earliest version of the driver, so I'm inclined to doubt that the API has changed significantly; however, the behavior required to get stereo-3D via pageflipping differs from driver version to version - in some, the glasses switch to 3D mode automatically, in other versions, you need to enable it manually, some work in stereo-3D in windowed mode, others just in fullscreen.

I've also tried tricking the drivers by running another app that provides a syncing signal (either Stereoscopic Player or Vuzix 3D Visualizer) and then starting a Direct3D application with the iZ3D driver - in earlier driver versions, this simply doesn't help; in the newer versions, it causes a blue-screen of death with some driver IRQ fault.

I've even tried digging into the SDK provided by Vuzix to try and learn more about the hardware, but even the examples provided by Vuzix either fail to launch at all or don't provide a correct sync signal, so no wonder other developers can't build anything with this!

Now I realize that the current state of the market is that getting a good 3D experience still takes some tweaking and optimizing, but this is ridiculous - I've spent a couple of hundred dollars on a piece of hardware with drivers and third-party support that seem to be a catastrophe, now I'd even be willing to shell out more money just to get a driver so I can at least use this hardware in a sensible way but that expensive driver won't even work and no one knows why or how to fix it?

I don't even know who's to blame for this - I'm more inclined to think that this is actually a problem with the iZ3D driver as the Stereoscopic Player (which is also a third-party app) works almost flawlessly with most versions of the Vuzix driver, but I'm finding it hard to believe that iZ3D would sell a driver that just doesn't work on any version of the underlying hardware driver...

Sorry for venting; like I said, I'd be most grateful if someone could give me some pointers on how to get this up and running - has anyone actually seen the iZ3D in action with the VR920? If yes, what versions of the iZ3D driver and the VR920 driver are you using?
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cybereality
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Re: VR920 and iZ3D

Post by cybereality »

Yes, I have used iz3D with VR920, and it looks great. But I have been updating and upgrading my computer so often I just don't remember what configuration worked. What I do know is that I was using the iz3d driver 1.10 at the time. And the Vuzix driver was either really old, or I may have uninstalled it. At that point iz3d worked and Stereoscopic Player worked. Now nothing works for me.
ds445
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Re: VR920 and iZ3D

Post by ds445 »

Okay, so I've tried completely deinstalling the driver and running with only the iZ3D driver installed, but same thing still holds - no sync whatever I try.

Now this isn't some old hardware and software that is no longer supported - Vuzix are selling the VR920 for £349 (which is about 550$) and iZ3D want $39.99 for their driver, so we're talking about a combination which costs almost 600 bucks yet simply doesn't work for anyone? And even though I'm willing to put up with all sorts of hacks, installing and reinstalling old drivers, etc., all I'm getting is new problems, blue screens of death but no results that even somehow come close to justifying the price of this gadget?

Now if it were just some obscure problem with my system, I might be able to accept that, but if the more advanced users with much more experience on this forum suffer from the exact same thing, then this is simply unacceptable - I hope Vuzix and iZ3D get on this ASAP (or, at the very least, stop offering products that just don't work).

I've opened up a support ticket with iZ3D and contacted Vuzix about this problem as well - let's see if at least their customer support is up to par.
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cybereality
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Re: VR920 and iZ3D

Post by cybereality »

Welcome to the wonderful world of stereoscopic 3D.
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wuhlei
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Re: VR920 and iZ3D

Post by wuhlei »

Make sure to post in the vr920 software support forum for IZ3D driver support.
Albert Einstein
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."
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