How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

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iondrive
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How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by iondrive »

Hi all,

I don't really want to start any arguments, but I think we can discuss the differences between iZ3D and Tridef without any problems. Of course there will be differences of opinion but some facts will be undeniable. Like most comparisons, one thing is better in some ways and the other thing is better in other ways. Let me say in advance that my advice to people who can use them is that they should get both because if one doesn't work, then the other usually does or else one works better than the other for some particular game.

In general, this thread should be about how iZ3D is better. If you want to know how Tridef is better, there's a thread for that in the Tridef tech support forum.

http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p ... 899#p37899" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I put these threads under tech support because I see no better place for them and I expect the details to be technical. I'm willing to have them moved if Neil wants them somewhere else.

Let the comparisons begin.
Last edited by iondrive on Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef? more outputs

Post by iondrive »

Hi again,

The first thing I think of is outputs. iZ3D has more. Here's the list for comparison:
(iZ3D 1.10 vs Ignition 2.4.6)

Tridef:
horizontal or vertical interlacing with optional "soft-interlacing"
checkerboard 3d output
side-by-side squashed and over-under squashed but no gap control
dual output, non-mirrored only
any of the above with left/right image locations swapped (reversed)
various anaglyph modes, not sure if custom colors possible
OpenGL quad-buffer support for special apps.

iZ3D:
horizontal or vertical interlacing with optional "optimized interlacing"
checkerboard 3d output
side-by-side squashed and over-under squashed with gap control
side-by-side L/R 1/4 sized images, cross-eyed or parallel after swapping eye-views
dual output, non-mirrored plus mirrored up/down or left/right or both
various anaglyph modes, custom colors are possible
OpenGL quad-buffer support for special apps.
iZ3D monitor
VR920 head-mounted display
shutterglass modes: blue/white line coding, simple and marked S3D shutterglass output

Shutterglass modes:
Most readers here will know that the shutterglass mode must be used with games that you have a high framerate with. (consistently more than half of your display's refresh rate)

Summarizing, the differences are iZ3D has some shutterglass support while Tridef does not (discounting OpenGL quad-buffer support which both have). iZ3D has support for the iZ3D monitor and the VR920 HMD's which Tridef does not. Finally, iZ3D has mirrored output modes which Tridef does not. Bottom line: iZ3D has all of Tridef's outputs and more. No argument there. The only problem is that iZ3D wants you to pay more for multiple outputs while Tridef only asks you to pay once for the whole package for a single computer.

--- iondrive ---
Last edited by iondrive on Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef? Steam

Post by iondrive »

hi again,

I'm still kind of new to Steam but so far it seems to work better with the iZ3D driver.

One way it works better is with the Steam overlay. When you press Shift-Tab during a game, you see a steam window appear and you can interact with it. This did not work when I tried it with Tridef's driver during Saint's Row 2. I had to Alt-Tab out to interact with Steam, then when I try to Alt-Tab back to the game, the game crashes. This is the only experience I have with this so reports of your experiences are welcome. So anyway, Tridef's driver does/can work with Steam but there are problems and awkwardness.

The awkwardness comes from having to logout and exit Steam in order to get the Tridef driver to work with the Steam game you're trying. You then start your game from the Tridef program window and login and hopefully it will work. I'll post a more detailed explanation on the Tridef forum. Basically, every time you want to play a different Steam game with Tridef, you have to logout and login again during game startup via the game icon in the tridef program window.

With iZ3D, you don't need to restart Steam for each game and the Steam overlay works fine with it's shift-Tab function. It all works nice and smooth. The iZ3D team deserves a "good job award" for that.

Other online systems:
I still have to try some "Windows Live" games but I'll save it for later. Then there are other "online" things that can cause problems for these drivers but I have to leave it up to other people to report on that since I don't use any of those. Happy testing, people.

--- iondrive ---

Update: did some testing and if the games use the same 3d settings, then you don't need to restart Steam. Details will be on the Tridef forum.
http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=99&t=5928" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Last edited by iondrive on Sun Mar 14, 2010 9:47 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Neil
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by Neil »

While it's not my place to encourage conflict between driver solutions, we have NVIDIA forums too.

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Neil
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nvidia

Post by iondrive »

Hi Neil,

Yes, it turns out I'm neglecting nVidia but that's just how it will have to be for me since I don't plan on getting their 3d-vision product. It will have to be something for someone else to do if they want to start topics about how nVidia compares to other 3d solutions. I have older old-school (winXP) games and ancient-school (win98se, DX8 and below) games that work in s3d but there are only so many hours in a day and my hands are full with the more recent stuff.

My intent is not really to encourage conflict but to help people understand the differences between the drivers so they can make a better decision when they choose one or preferably both. As I've said before, each is better in different ways not counting personal opinion and I'm hoping/expecting each driver to get better with time and version upgrades. I see them as complimentary since one often works when the other does not.

--- iondrive ---
Last edited by iondrive on Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by Neil »

No problem.

Regards,
Neil
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by iondrive »

3 more ways iZ3D is better:

1) iZ3D's driver handles DirectX 9 and some DX 8 games while Tridef only does DX9. I'll have to update this as they both add DX 10 and 11.

2) iZ3D has 3 preset hotkeys and Tridef has none. Tridef does have 3 fixed-mode settings per game but there's no way to quickly select any one of them using hotkeys.

3) a handy little s3d test program (the dynamic iZ3D logo test)
I've used this alot when trying things and I'm glad it's there. Tridef does not have an equivalent thing so you have to use some other program. But for iZ3D, I've recommended that the dynamic test use the "default" profile because now it has it's own profile settings and you can mistakenly think that the "swap left/right" view checkbox doesn't work.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by iondrive »

readable/editable config files:

I'm very glad that iZ3D chose to use xml files for their config files because they are easily readable and editable as plain text and that's what enabled me to fix the bad-sky-depth problem in Starwars Battlefront. I expect other users will do something similar over time. TriDef uses a special format that is not readable/editable as plain text.

More info in this thread: iZ3D game profile tweaks
http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=6972" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by Dilip »

Does IZ3D drivers support Zalman Output in lower resolution like 1600X900 on ZM-M215W?
As there are many good old games which don't have option of HD resolution

Any findings or suggestions?
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by KindDragon »

Dilip wrote:Does IZ3D drivers support Zalman Output in lower resolution like 1600X900 on ZM-M215W?
As there are many good old games which don't have option of HD resolution

Any findings or suggestions?
Next version will support it DX9 driver
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by Dilip »

That will surely be nice Add-on feature!
As it will automatically expand list of supported games.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by CapitainJack »

That is it. Considering (specialy for me, here in Brasil) that the "TriDef 3D Software" (it have another concept than a driver) is not an option because of the cost and hardware supported (I haven't bought any, spent nothing and neither my friends that have older NVIDIA VGA hardware but brand new processor AMD Phenon x4 Black edition...).

I still wanted to know from the DDD's company why they charge for an old and color imprecise solution in 3D :anaglyph (here in Brasil we had only 5 or so "Anaglyph 3D cinema" in Sao Paulo, it didn't make it because of the equip. cost too)...

I didn't tested the "trial" because I'm not sure if it will unistall correctly or what will it mod.

I have to be very thankfull to Iz3D for the work and wisdom.

(If they peform similar, cost almost the same and Iz3D is a more human company, is there I'll put my "sweated honest money").

Iz3d RLZ!
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by cybereality »

@CapitainJack: The DDD driver is fine. I don't believe there is any problem uninstalling it (I've done so multiple times).
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by Likay »

I use both iz3d as well as tridef. There's no problem having both installed for as long as the iz3d-driver is deactivated while using tridef. Tridef have their own launcher and it seems tridef ignition is deactivated while not using their launcher.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by cybereality »

Likay wrote:I use both iz3d as well as tridef. There's no problem having both installed for as long as the iz3d-driver is deactivated while using tridef. Tridef have their own launcher and it seems tridef ignition is deactivated while not using their launcher.
Actually I think there can be a conflict. It involves games installed under Steam. If you use the TriDef launcher to launch a Steam game, it will hook into Steam.exe in order to load the game (Steam.exe does its DRM magic and then loads the real exe). However once you do this, the TriDef service is hooked into Steam. Even exiting the game does not break this connection. If you want to play another game with iz3d right after this (not just that game, any game on your Steam account), you need to log out of Steam and then restart Steam and log-in again. Then you can enable the iz3D driver and play in 3D.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by Likay »

You're probably right. I'm old school and really prefer having original discs with my games rather than downloaded ones.
Of all games i only have the hl2 orange box which needs steam. Might explain why i never experienced the phenomena. :lol:
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by ZalmoxisX »

I don't know about Tridef, but iZ3D does support CrossfireX on the outputs that only use a single display device like anaglyph, color-code, DLP etc.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by cirk2 »

the DDD driver itself is quite fine

But their License system sucks hard... My licencs had deactivated itself (no plan why) and support won't get it that I need my activation reset (you have to write to the support everytime you change hardware, reinstall driver or something misterious happens).
Because of that I currently don't use the driver.

iz3D is there way better.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by Likay »

Yeah. DDD locks the driver to your hardwareconfig during install. No way to deactivate and change it as with iz3d. A bit of bummer...
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by Neil »

Which hardware does it lock?

I'm able to change graphics cards and 3D monitors no problem. In this case, I switched from a 22" to 24" Zalman. Is it the motherboard it locks too?

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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by cybereality »

I have altered my hardware and the DDD driver still works. I have went through 3 different video cards, removed a PhysX card, and added hard-drives. It never complained and it still works fine. IZ3D also ties your license to your hardware, but they have a nice web interface where you can adjust this yourself if you are upgrading (but of course you need to de-activate the driver license *before* you upgrade).

Also, now that I am testing the DDD driver just now, I think it has better rendering than iz3d. The default DDD profile is crap, but if you spend some time adjusting it you can get a better picture. Specifically, the gun in FPS games is not un-naturally separated like with other drivers. I think this is due to their advanced focusing options. Look at the following screenshot from HL2. No way with iz3d can I get that much depth and still have the gun at an acceptable separation. This makes it easier to aim on DDD without using left/right shift like with iz3d.
HL2_LC_DDD_01.jpg
HL2_LC_DDD_02.jpg
Now it is not so much that I think the 3D effect is amazing in those shots (its probably about average). What is remarkable is that the gun is comfortable to look at, which is not the case with other drivers.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by Likay »

Neil wrote:Which hardware does it lock?

I'm able to change graphics cards and 3D monitors no problem. In this case, I switched from a 22" to 24" Zalman. Is it the motherboard it locks too?

Regards,
Neil
I don't know which specific hardware or id it "locks" on. I do know that a separate license for each computer is needed. I don't remember the exact activation process since it's quite some time ago i started using it. If given code i have a hard time imagine that it would work on other computers for obvious antipiracyreasons. Curious: What happens if you make a total reinstall of the os and registry is lost? It's good to hear that they ca and do fix it on request via the support. I've saved the ddd-registryposts just in case of reinstall since i don't seem to get the codes otherwise (except the support). I haven't tested changing hardware with tridef drivers and don't know what objects they locks on (or if it's only the keys which i don't really find plausible.). It's simple but not so wise if one key that works for one computer also works for another....

The iz3d driver can (and must) be deactivated before changing hardware. My dvd-burner once fried and changing/removing it instantly rendered the iz3d-license useless. Since the loss of dvd changed my hardware i wasn't able to reset it. Support was excellent and they reseted it within hours. While changing dvd-burner made the iz3d-license fly, altering monitors, graphiccards or hdd's on the other hand didn't.
cybereality wrote:Also, now that I am testing the DDD driver just now, I think it has better rendering than iz3d. The default DDD profile is crap, but if you spend some time adjusting it you can get a better picture. Specifically, the gun in FPS games is not un-naturally separated like with other drivers. I think this is due to their advanced focusing options. Look at the following screenshot from HL2. No way with iz3d can I get that much depth and still have the gun at an acceptable separation. This makes it easier to aim on DDD without using left/right shift like with iz3d.
Now it is not so much that I think the 3D effect is amazing in those shots (its probably about average). What is remarkable is that the gun is comfortable to look at, which is not the case with other drivers.
I'm just checking but about the gun in fps-games: ticking the "simple stereprojection" option helps heaps but unfortunately doesn't work for all games.
I definitely have to agree that tridef give a more qualityexperience with less artifacts than iz3d when playing tridef supported games. The support outside the tridef gameslist seems quite weak though. Iz3d-drivers generally have relatively good chances to work outside their supported list. Personally i love to have both options since it gives the oppurtunity of choosing from two worlds. Still kinda miss nvidias stereosupport but what to do...
As is today i mostly play using the iz3d driver because games runs smoother with iz3d. This is of course a matter of hardware but in these times with s-3d in mind i'm like a donkey between haystacks... Dunno what to choose....
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by cirk2 »

The DDD licence locks on hardeware and COMPUTER NAME. Biggest bullshit ever. I changed my network config just prior to my licence problems. Now having a Domain for my network --> No re-activation possible.

The prior "deactivation" occured when I set my Windows to "test mode" to tinker arround with experimental drivers for my 3Dconnexion mouse...

And one time I asked why they don't have a user friendly activation system like IZ3D. Reply was: We're a to small company to run a full featured DRM System.
I realy doubt that IZ3D is that mouch bigger than DDD...

But the IZ3D driver works fine also after I have changed my Grafics card...
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by cybereality »

Forgot to mention that I also installed a Blu-Ray drive recently and neither the DDD nor iz3D drivers had any problems.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by artox »

Guys, I have been thinking of getting the DDD driver with 50% off, since I do have an AMD card, however from their site it looks as if I'll be just buying the AMD license and won't be able to use SBS if I feel like it. With IZ3d I got the whole set of outputs for 50% off, but with DDD I'm not sure if I'll be getting all outputs. They don't even force you to scan your hardware. What stops anyone with a Nvidia card of buying the driver with 50% off and than just using the non-AMD outputs. Anyone care to elaborate on this situation?

PS.: sorry if this post concerns more Tridef than Iz3d. I'll repost in the DDD section if necessary.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by cybereality »

I've had a driver license for a while and I recently updated (for free) and now I have the AMD HDMI 1.4 option in the drop-down menu. This is with the TriDef experience full software which includes the TriDef Ignition driver and their video/photo player for $50. If you buy their AMD HD 3D driver for $25 it appears you may only get access to the HDMI 1.4 display mode. However the full driver does also include this support.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by artox »

Thanks for the info, cybereality. That's too bad. As a matter of fact I find it misleading, since one may actually think he/she is getting the same product as the retail one for 50% off, while in fact he/she is probably better off getting the whole package for 50$.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by cybereality »

I ran the AMD compatibility checker on my Nvidia system and this is what I got (which supports our theory that this is an AMD only version of the software):
WARNING: Your graphics hardware does not support AMD HD3D technology, so the promotional version of TriDef 3D will not work with your system.

AMD HD3D technology is currently supported on AMD Radeon™ HD 5000 series and 6000 series graphics hardware only.

If you still wish to purchase TriDef 3D, please go here to get the standard version.

However, if you're absolutely sure that your system supports AMD HD3D technology, you may purchase TriDef 3D for AMD HD3D. Please note that TriDef 3D for AMD HD3D will not run on an incompatible system and will only work in conjunction with AMD HD3D compatible 3D displays.
However it still might be the same software and this message is just to scare people into paying double. I guess there is one way to find out...
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by Guig2000 »

I goes for iZ3D because I had no other choices to make my stereo-mirror rig to works in games.

Like Likay, I had a license problem one time and they solved it in hours, that's very good and uncommon.

One other good point present is the free anaglyph driver. DDD does not have it, so that I cannot use it as a secondary driver for tries, like I do with 3D vision.
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by crash27 »

custom 3d sights for fps games!!! ;)
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Re: How is iZ3D better than Tridef?

Post by Likay »

crash27 wrote:custom 3d sights for fps games!!! ;)
Lol! And you got a few too!
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