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Acer's GD235HZ 23.6-inch 3D display is ready for your glasses-equipped exploits
You could say 3D has hit the mainstream computer today (or something similarly bombastic and partially untrue), as Acer has just released its GD235HZ 120Hz LCD, specially prepped for working with NVIDIA's 3D Vision active-shutter glasses system. The 23.6-inch, 16:9 display retails for $399, and while it's going to be great for 3D gaming for the next few months until you grow bored of Avatar and frustrated by Left 4 Dead 2, the 1920 x 1080 resolution is going to really come in handy once the first crop of 3D Blu-ray movies starts hitting. Of course, the NVIDIA 3D Vision kit is sold separately for $199, and requires a compatible NVIDIA card, but that's a small price to pay for total spatial immersion, right? PR is after the break.
NVIDIA shows its 3D Blu-ray readiness in run-up to CES, Acer demos 120Hz LCD
We recently got a chance to check out NVIDIA's 3D Blu-ray ecosystem, and while we're sure we'll be all 3D Blu-ray'd out by the time CES is over, it was our first chance to see the new tech in action, and it seems pretty raring to go. Specifically we got to check out a movie film (we can't say which for legal reasons) on a fancy new upcoming Acer LCD (the 24-inch G245, pictured above) that does 120Hz and can be synced with NVIDIA's 3D shutter-based glasses. The 3D looked just fine, on par with other movies we've seen from NVIDIA in the past, and close to what we've seen in theaters, with the exception being that this is being delivered on a backwards-compatible, consumer-friendly Blu-ray disc. 3D Blu-ray is encoded in a new MVC-AVC format, which passes through a regular 1080p video for incompatible hardware, but provides a 3D image for the software and decode hardware capable of sussing it out. Right now NVIDIA's 3D Blu-ray capable on existing GeForce GT 220 and GT 240 GPUs, along with its upcoming Fermi cards due next year. Software is even more plentiful, with Arcsoft, Core, Cyberlink and Sonic all promising to by ready for 3D Blu-ray titles when they start shipping next year. Once the 3D Blu-ray spec is formally announced we're sure the floodgate will open even wider, but for now it seems NVIDIA has a nice jump on the tech, and we're sure they wouldn't mind pocketing a few of your gaming dollars in the meantime.
