3-D in the PC world

[Harold Baize <HAROLD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello, its harold.
Wednesday I was walking around San Francisco when I saw a sign in
a computer store saying that there would be a "3-D" graphics card
demonstration. I stopped by and it turned out to just be a slightly
faster video graphics card. It was no more "3-D" than any other
video display adapter. I think it is time for consumers to speak out
on this misleading terminology. The SoundBlaster company just came
out with "3-D Blaster" which is another monoscopic video display
adapter. What is even more misleading is that it is packaged with
a stereoscopic lenticular image on the box (they labeled the illustration
as a special limited edition stereo PHOTO, when in fact it was a stereo
computer rendering, NOT a photo, -GAWD they can't get anything right!).

Now for some true stereoscopic news. Back in March Multimedia World
magazine announced that the disk drive company Chinon would be introducing
an LCD shutter glasses adapter for PCs. It was to be out in the Spring
of 1995, would connect to the feature connector of video boards, and
would cost $150. I kept looking for it but it didn't arrive. Then in the
December issue of the Damark catalog it appeared. It costs $200 and
connects to the parallel port. I also saw it at CompUSA for the same price.
Meanwhile, 3-D Max claims that they will be distributed in the US by
the Reveal multimedia company begining in January of 1996 and their
LCD shutter glasses system will also cost $200. They have a new website
at http://pcvr.kasan.co.kr
I'm one of those who hacked a pair of Sega glasses to work with my PC
and it is a bit of a kludge. The drivers are limited to 800x600 at
256 colors. I'd like to move up to one of these LCD systems but it is
difficult to chose. The Chinon system does not give specs on resolution
or vertical refresh rates. Still, it is encourageing to see more activity
in affordable genuine stereoscopic displays.
HB


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