In case you hadn't noticed, there was some trouble brewing in the NVIDIA camp. After ages of reigning atop the land of stereoscopic 3D playback on the PC, NVIDIA is finally being confronted with a real, bona fide standard for 3D, with zero GPUs capable of meeting it. The current NVIDIA
3D Vision-compatible cards pump out the necessary pixels over DisplayPort or dual DVI plugs, while the official spec for 3D TVs is an
HDMI 1.4 plug that accepts data from both frames at once. We were in doubt there for a moment, but it turns out NVIDIA's cards upgrade to 1.4 just fine, and all 3D Vision customers will be getting this as a free upgrade later this spring. NVIDIA will also be offering this 3DTV Play software in a standalone version for $40 to folks who don't want to bother with NVIDIA's 3D Vision stuff at all (with HDMI 1.4 you can just use the stereoscopic glasses that come with your fancy new 3D TV, no need for NVIDIA's setup). NVIDIA is naturally hitting all the high points of the 1.4 spec, with 1080p24, 720p60 (the official gaming spec), and 720p50. The cards will also support 3D Blu-ray. So, just about time to splurge big on that home theater PC? We don't know... is it just us, or does that guy and his couch look a little
lonely?
posted March 15th 2010 10:40AM
Will my shutter glasses from nVidia's 3D TNT2 card, from 10 years ago, still work? Probably not, my guess is that nVidia wants to forget their 3D gaming failure 10 years ago and pretend this is all new.
He's playing a PC with a gamepad? Kid's gonna get pwnd!
He looks lonley aww
@brlb
What are you talking about, he's got a pet dinosaur right there to keep him company.
Wow, this is actually pretty nice for anyone whos adopting Nvidia's 3D tech. Now you can just play it on a new 3D tv rather than having to rig it up with a monitor and Nvidia's . Im actually in the market for one of them new TV's most likely Sammy c7000 or c8000 so now I might wait for nvidias latest graphics offering and it might be worth buying.
@Mesh
Not sure it's going to workout for me. I currently have a 3D VGA projector and 3D Vision, but sounds like this only works with DVI or HDMI displays. :(
That MUST be Crysis!
Did anyone else have trouble actually processing the information while you read this blurb? I'm half blaming it not yet having my coffee, but the other half goes to the specs overload.
@To Hell
I am having a little bit of an issue parsing it. Mainly it's due to the fact that I have a supported 3D projector for 3D Vision, so I'd think I'm covered, but it's VGA only so I think I may be SOL.
oh no!
that guy's just driven his RC car into his fishtank, and now a dinosaur's escaped from it.
The thing that concerns me about 3D is how the industry is suddenly promoting it like crazy. 3D? Its like they all got together and said "Sales are down, what can we sell these fools next? I know, lets all start pushing 3D like its the holy grail!"
@One Love
Wow yeah.. That's a new model. (/massive sarcasm) "Hey, how can we make consumers what to upgrade?"
This is how the retail market has been for ages. More recently; Remember HD? Full HD 1080p? HDMI? 120hz? Exact. Same. Thing.
@One Love : That method of thinking is actually preventing me from buying a new TV. At first I wanted an LED lit LCD TV but then I read that article about the laser projected polarized 3D so I'm holding up for that. I probably won't buy a new TV now unless it supports polarized 3D glasses, not the powered shutter glasses.
@One Love
That's just how the industry works. Like others have said, first it was color, then it was HD, then True HD, etc, etc. Technology improves and companies need to keep innovating and creating new things like 3D in order to keep people buying new things from them. There are also ulterior motives for 3D though, such as it being difficult to pirate with a camera in a theater. It's currently one of the few reasons I have to see a movie in the theater as opposed to seeing it in the comfort of my home theater.
Holograms anyone?
The 3D push comes from Hollywood's inescapable ability to actually produce anything worth watching rather than stealing. If Hurt Locker is the best thing they think they can make it's no wonder that movie piracy is up - nothing worth watching is worth paying for.
But just like the 50's and the advent of television, Hollywood is turning to 3D to keep people in the theaters. And just like the 50's release of a color television standard everyone ignored the movies because they could see the same shit at home.
Then in the 60's Hollywood started making movies worth watching again. Once the 70's hit with Beta/VHS Hollywood went berserk once again trying to figure out how they were going to keep making money, so they decided to sue everyone for not going to the theater.
In the 80's you had John Hughes and everyone was feeling good again - Hollywood had people in the theaters, and the people were happy to go.
Now the cycle continues...
This is crap compared to the 3D Vision that's been available for over a year. With this and the new 3DTVs you max out at 720p 60hz for gaming and with the old 3D Vision you max out at 1080p 120hz.
The HDTV manufacturers need to implement proper 3D vision support because I will not be buying a 3DTV that supports 1080p for movies and only 720p for gaming. I didn't get Quad SLI just to play my games at Xbox 360 graphics....
Here's something else these HDTV companies need to announce and release: 1080p 3D projectors using active shutter glasses! So far the only announcement for a 1080p 3D projector has been LG's using SXRD and passive polarization for $10,000!
@Vanillacide Thank the consoles for that. They think that's "HD". : (
@peter0328 3DTV manufacturers have proper implemented support for 1080p 120hz with HDMI1.4. However, no NVIDIA products support HDMI 1.4 yet. With HDMI 1.3, 1080p24 per eye is the best current NVIDIA cards can output at. Sony's PS3 will do the same with it's HDMI 1.3 connector as well.
Until video cards and gaming consoles start coming out with HDMI1.4, those resolutions are the max HDMI1.3 will allow
It's worth mentioning that the *only* addition that 1.4 will bring is high-rate 1080p 3D. Even 1080i 3D will be available from HDMI 1.3 devices. 1080 24p should also be available from 1.3 devices.
We should panic a bit less.
Without true 120Hz support I don't care. Finding real info on HDMI 1.4 and whether it will do 1080p/120 has been problematic. As a video freak that is all I really want. Video is 30 or 60Hz. Film is 24. Being able to drive a panel at 120Hz from a video processor or HTPC would be awesome.
I still don't understand what the big deal is about "3D". Call me when its a hologram that I can see without using silly glasses.
@TendoMan
Glasses-free 3D televsions have been around for a few years now. I saw one on display at CES. The problem is that they have "sweet spots" that you have to be in to get the effect. If you're off axis from one of these spots, it's all fuzzy and you don't get the effect fully. The technology is getting there. Give it a few more years.
3DTV Play?
Shouldn't that be 3DTV Watch?
*writes comment with Dell Type and submits with Logitech Click*