Nvidia GeForce 3DVision gets reviewed
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Jan 10th 2009 6:01AM
posted Jan 10th 2009 6:01AM
The short, happy history of 3D gaming has been unimpressive -- dual-display glasses and high-priced 3D monitors have generally failed to bring source material originally built for two dimensions into the three dimensional world. Keeping this in mind, the kids at bit-tech seem to be as wary as we are, but when all is said and done they came away from the sordid affair rather impressed. "An excellent piece of tech," they said -- one that actually seems to work on existing games -- although the fact that a new monitor is required to use it "knocks the legs out from underneath." Sure, it worked well enough that the well-heeled, hardcore gamer might be interested in it, but for the time being this doesn't seem to be an option for the casual consumer. But don't take our word for it: hit the read link for the in-depth review.
It's hard to believe that the GeForce brand is still around.
Oh, yeah, I find it hard to believe that a company chose to continue a brand that is their main source of income.
Yes, particularly with its stellar record of success of late. I can't possibly imagine a company wanting to reinvent itself in the name of progress. You're right, I'm a bloody ignoramus.
It's a globally recognized brand in computing and products under the brand have a huge market share, why are you surprised it's still around? I'd be surprised if they got rid of it because trying to build a new brand is difficult, and pointless if you already own a well recognized/respected one.
@ Gilbert,
Could you please point me to this drastic downturn in Nvidia's fortunes? While I agree they no longer hold the top slot in system builders books (I personally prefer my ATI 4870), but they still hold a bigger market share then ATi, and thanks to price cuts their current offerings are at least competitive, and Ati has held onto their Radeon branding for similarly long.
You really think that a couple batches of bad laptop cards are going to make Nvidia try start from scratch with a new brand name? If anything it would lose them customers, because people are generally wary and scared of new things. GeForce is familiar and while it they had some recent trouble they've always been known to be good cards.
Nvidia doesn't need to change it's brand name in order to achieve progress. Look how much they've expanded just lately. 8800 and above cards all have build in physics processing, they've released products that use your graphics card to work with your processor in video conversions and other tasks, they worked with Adobe in developing CS4's new features, and now they have 3D glasses that also work with 8 series cards and above. All of that is under the GeForce name. It would be idiotic to through recognition of all their achievements away.
@Gnormie:
http://gizmodo.com/5021713/lots-of-nvidia-laptop-graphics-cards-are-overheating-dying
Likewise, take a look at the share price a year ago and take a look at it today. Today the price is perilously close to what it was ten years ago, when the GeForce first launched. Oodles of progress, it seems.
Look, I'm not saying it's a bad product at all (barring instances like the one above, which any company is subject to, really); what I'm saying is that at some point things become stagnant. In my eyes, that's how I view the GeForce brand. When one comes out with a new number at the end, do you really get excited? It's nice to see something new, particularly from a manufacturer whose primary industry thrives on innovation.
You could of course argue the subject of this post is indicative of innovation, but to me, it's just another model number.
even bad publicity is good publicity
@ Gilbert
Look at any company today and it's share price will be similar to what it was years ago, because you know the ECONOMIC RECESSION. I'm not saying they haven't had some knocks, but they still hold the highest share in the discrete graphics card market, and overall are in a strong position to survive, and I don't see how the GeForce name can 'stagnate' these aren't food goods, they're technology and are rated on their individual pros/cons regardless of what banner the cards are held under.
I was hoping someone would bring up the recession. It's the same as saying, "HA! My portfolio only lost 10% and yours lost 30%, so I win!" No, you both lost.
Recessions are generally a prime example of a time when companies need to reinvent themselves. I certainly agree that Nvidia is likely to stick around. At the same time, I think it's funny that most are missing my point. I'm not saying to mess with success, whatever that means in terms of a company that's a mere 50% skid (hey, it's a recession, right?) away from being delisted from the exchange.
My point was that it's a surprising thing that the brand is still around. Immediately, the interweb assumed I meant something bad. Like I said, it's hard to believe. Intel, with its near-monopoly on PC processors, found a way to move forward after the Pentium brand. They said, "hey, we've been at the Pentium game for years and it's time to show the world we're made of more than this one thing."
When I look at a company objectively, I look at how many time they've made that precise statement and proven themselves afterward.
Clearly, the GeForce brand is solid. After all, if it wasn't then this conversation would be moot. More importantly, however, what's next?
@Gnormie:
I specifically chose to ignore your statement about how a brand can become stagnant, simply because their are literally tomes worth of evidence to suggest that very possibility.
At the same time, if you are suggesting that it is impossible that a brand become stagnant when it is associated with a proven success, I, in turn, point you to In-N-Out Burger, whose famously simple menu has not changed for decades. Nevertheless, if one takes a deeper look, they see there is a whole secret menu 'neath the surface from which the more experienced can order. It might not be official, but its a very rare example, of fear of stagnation in the face of a highly respected brand so great that the customers took it into their own hands to induce change.
Please excuse my erroneous comma.
Successful troll is successful!
@Gilbert Tang
And using the 'Pentium' name as a prime example for brand change, you think they changed it primarily because they thought they held the name too long? It looks like you're unaware of what intel did to the Pentium name, they made it hotter, consume more power and manage to still be slower than the competition (a.k.a. Athlon X2). I think they decided that a new name was needed because they have managed to make 3 iterations of these 'not-so-good' processors, a long enough time for people to associate Pentium with being hot, power-hungry and just slower.
With 'GeForce' they've managed to slip-up once, namely the FX series. Fortunately due to the quick product refresh with video cards, they managed to drop the 'FX' and just move on and create 6, 7, 8 and 2xx. ATi, it's pretty much the same case and they have managed to slip up only with the 2000 series.
AMD really didn't have trouble with the Athlon naming, though it has been a while since they released a new product, so a seemingly 'menacing' name would help with marketing a new product. Though the end product was not all that it was hyped up to be, though it is still a good product.
Your In-N-Out statement is just a complete fail at best. Food would usually taste the same (unless management decides to change the recipe or fire the cook), technology keeps changing, so the GeForce you get today is not the same GeForce next year.
I played around with these in CES. Not perfect, when they told me the MSRP was $200, I knew what I was getting as soon as I got my next paycheck, but then they told me I'd need a new monitor. Oh well.Still really interesting tech.
Good review and video of this tech here: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=656
I've noticed a lot of 3D talk lately.
On the driver side, it sounds like Nvidia have done some interesting work. The requirement of a 120Hz display and non-brightly-artificially-lit surroundings (and heavy-ish glasses, and price) and native monitor resolution isn't, though. Game compatibility and 'text issues' are also iffy. Also 'preparation' for 3D is way too much for the average user, I reckon.
Perhaps in a few years 3D will hit Joe User at mass retail, but I doubt this will make it.
Also removable batteries for the glasses I somehow doubt they've bothered with; there was no mention of them in the review. More disposability. Though the battery life is great per charge.
Nice geeky toy, but 3D needs to get away from that geek toy stigma to make it (ie. no special glasses).
I dissagree.
Simplicity and universal formats are needed, but theres nothing wrong with glass's.
Millions of people ware glass's every day, its hardly a bother.
Especialy as seperation of left/right with glass's is an order of magnitude higher quality then stand-alone 3D solutions. (which basicly half the resolution and require someone to be sitting in a specific position).
Allthough non of this tech does it, glass's would also make it trivaly simply to use headtracking to enhance the effect.
Such as Johney Lee demostrates with the wiimote;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
(I have downloaded the demo and tried it myself, and even without steroscopicness this is far more immersive "personal viewpoint" then any other techique I have seen. Combined with stero vision this would be a killer-app for any game or game system).
Sounds cool...
but i've been waiting for APX2500... where is it gone?
Can anyone help me? do these work on color blind people?
Not if they have bionic eyes that are B&W.
I'm jesting btw, of course they work for colorblind people, they are just opening and closing for each eye alternatively.
You need a 120Hz (or more) monitor though, and currently most all LCD's are not that fast, only now they are starting to appear in shops, but you have to put down more than 350 bucks to buy one, plus the cost of the glasses.
Looks like just a pair of shutter glass's to me, same thing eDimension and others have been saleing for decades.
I guess the "new moniter" requirement probably dosnt apply is your using an old CRT screen rather then a flatscreen. (which are mostly polarised thus LCD shutter specs dont work).
Still, if this means NVidia actualy puts some more effort into their sterodrivers everyone benifits, regardless of the device used for seperation.
I still have a couple of sets of LCD (well.. no display, just "LC", I guess) shutter glasses at home that came with a couple of old ASUS video cards (TNT2 & Geforce boards, I think?). Along with the supplied drivers, they'd work with any 3D game around (some better than others) to give you stereoscopic, 'full 3d' vision, that worked brilliantly.
Only kicker was that - due to it alternating a left and right eye view per frame on-screen, you'd only get half the refresh rate, meaning your monitor had to operate at 120Hz to get an effective 60Hz. Perfectly fine on a good old CRT monitor, but I don't think there's an LCD created that can give that sort of refresh.
It's so disheartening to see all these massively expensive new options around to do something that was actually pretty trivial not so long ago.
I wish someone would hurry up and release a 120Hz 24 inch monitor for these things, I would never replace my 24" with a 22" now that I'm used to the bigger size, even if the smaller one allowed 3d. I really like the idea of the 3d and I'd be tempted to get a 120hz one as a second monitor, but that's a lot of money for something that is so non-essential to gaming.
Personally i bought a new monitor recently, so shelling out more cash for glasses / monitor / graphics card (50% FPS using 3D, in most cases) isnt an option...
While this idea is pretty much a consumer kick in the nads, if nvidia actually keep it going / build it into games for the next 5 years etc... 120hz Monitors will become a standard.. the glasses prices will come down... might just be one of those things everyone will have laying around in xx years time.. assuming its all maintained etc.
if nvidia do this for a year, then think ah sod this & give up supporting... then yeah, this is gunna fall flat on its face.
Also if it is maintained, im seriously thinking about a new PC later this year as usb3.0 / i7 processor / ddr3 ram / new graphics cards are a nice step foward from my core2duo 6600 & 8800GTX... maybe then.. maybe... ill think about a 120hz monitor, assuming all the bugs are worked out of the 3D
Wow, Nvidia has rebranded the Elsa 3D Revelator all the way back from 1999. This tech is 10 years old.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/revelator/default.asp
Personally, I think they're approaching the problem from the wrong angle: Instead of requiring the user to wear some special glasses and get a new monitor, why not start working on way to make realtime holographic display technology affordable for the average person?
I don't want to wear some stupid looking 3D glasses just to play a game. I feel the 3D should come to me, not me having to come to it.
I have the Elsa Revelator glasses. Problem is that I didn't have Nvidia graphics card for long. Even my iMac got ATI (and non-supported display built-in of course). To make it work with my PC + ATI card, I added some flipflop logic to support interlaced mode for my old CRT. But eventually I want to throw away the CRT.