Re: 3D SPEX

[P3D Larry Berlin <lberlin@xxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Fri, 22 Aug 97
>From: P3D  Duane Perry writes:
>
>I recently bought the 3D-SPEX liquid crystal glasses to view 3D 
>photos on the web and as a start to viewing my 3D photos on my
>monitor.  I have been unable to view any of the JPS images on the
>web yet and called NuVision but the tech I talked too could only
>promise that they were working on software that would allow my
>glasses to view these files sometime in the coming months.  

The 3D-SPEX are very good glasses, but by themselves they can't do a lot.
The current software with the glasses uses DOS only routines to generate
page flipping, an option unavailable within Win95 itself. To use JPS images
you need to be able to operate the glasses within Windows. Usually this is
best with an accelerator board such as the Total3D card from Canopus Corp.

>I was
>somewhat disappointed but I could still view the images that came
>on the CD's from NuVision.  Their viewer will accept other images
>but they must be in .BMP format and be separate files. 

****  For now you could convert any images you want to see into separate
left and right BMP images.

> I was also
>experiencing annoying flicker.  The instructions said to set the
>refresh rate higher (100-120Hz) so I tried to find out if my home
>system would go higher and what little documentation I had seemed
>to indicate it was already about as high as it could go.  

****  Usually this setting is in the Control Panel/Display properties
dialog. Systems without an adequate graphics acceleration card usually don't
go over 60 Hz. Since such cards often don't offer the highly desirable color
depths of 16, 24 or 32 bit, it's best to get a good accelerator card. I
recommend at least a 2MB board with 4MB being much better. In addition to a
good accelerator card (which any good computer system needs) you need to
check your monitor specs. Try to get one that supports at least 100 Hz. at
the primary resolution you will be using. My monitor is very good, but will
only handle 85 Hz at 1024 x 768. It goes faster than that at smaller
resolutions, so is satisfactory.

>I still
>held out high hopes for my brand new Gateway 2000 system but 
>despite spec sheets for the video card and monitor that boasted of
>refresh rates of 120 Hz and many references in the documentation
>to "increasing the refresh rate" I could find no instructions for

****  The instuctions for how to change the rates usually isn't obvious in
the documentation. I guess they consider it less than necessary to elaborate
about it. Typically go to display properties...

>doing so.  After much web browsing and several phone calls I was
>told by a Gateway tech that they did not "support" higher refresh
>rates than the standard 85 Hz. 

*****  This is a case where I would believe that you talked with a tech who
had no clue about reality!!! You seem to have read further than he had. If
their spec sheet says that it will support 120 Hz. at a particular
resolution, I would expect the product to perform as advertised or get my
money back. The tech was likely just guessing and hadn't actually seen a
system higher than 85 Hz. for himself. My computer dealer talks Gateway
computers down, but that could be explained by other than quality issues... ;-)

> I am glad I did not buy this 
>system from the spec sheet expecting to use these glasses.  .........

****  You probably would have been OK if both the card and the monitor
claimed to support the rates you want. Find out what the rates are for each
resolution mode though!!!

You could save yourself a lot of hassle by getting the Total 3D card. It's
an excellent accelerator card with 4MB onboard RAM to support stereo page
flipping and other graphic acceleration tasks. The board comes with one pair
of 3D-SPEX and they plug into the back of the board. It's simple to install
and adjust. The board will drive up to five pairs of glasses. It works very
well and I have very high quality stereo anytime I want it. (cost is quite
reasonable - $249 now? - considering it's both an acceleration card and
support of stereo viewing). I wouldn't be without such hardware
acceleration. It's possible to enjoy stereo without the extra power, but it
does make a difference, especially in regards to the flicker problem.

Larry Berlin

Email: lberlin@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.sonic.net/~lberlin/
http://3dzine.simplenet.com/


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