Introducing the 3D technology
Depth in vision is formed in human brain when the two slightly different images from both eyes are formed in to one. (A.) The image from the 3D display bases on the same idea. Both eyes are sent a slightly different image and the brains are let do the rest on forming the image in 3D. (B.)
Zalman uses polarization as the way to separate the image to left and right eye. The light coming from the panel is polarized in one direction and after that every second pixel row is circularly polarized clockwise or counter clockwise.
Lenses of the glasses (or the clip-ons) that user wears are polarized to match the polarization in the display. The lenses filter out the information what is meant for the other eye and so the left eye gets only the image from the paired pixel rows and the right eye gets only the image from the unpaired rows. When the picture is formed correctly on the display and the user wears the 3D glasses (or the clip-ons) the brains form the image in 3D with good knowledge about the depth information of the objects.
Using the 3D Stereo features
Zalman cooperates with nVidia and 3D Stereo gaming is possible only when using graphics cards from nVidia. ATI or other manufacturers are not supported. As a small comfortation the 3D video viewing is possible with every graphics adapter.
As the nVidia display card is required it is natural that the nVidia's normal drivers are required to get the 3D acceleration in use. Using the 3D Stereo gaming functions it also requires that the 3D Stereo drivers are installed. From the 3D Stereo Control Panel user can adjust the amount of 3D depth, hotkeys, and check the settings which are suggested/working for games. Driver and 3D Stereo driver combo limits the usable graphics cards nowadayss to GeForce 6 series and later with Windows Vista 32-bit to enable the displays 3D features. SLI configurations are naturally supported.
As the biggest matter the 3D Stereo Control Panel offers the adjustment for the depth in 3D and adjustments for the hotkeys for this adjustment and turning the feature on and off. These hotkeys were found really useful in the test sessions as mainly every game utilizes a bit different setting for the optimal game experience. The settings can be saved and you don't need to set it up to the optimal position every time.
Settings (and the display) only won't make the 3D technology usable, the user needs to wear the stylish 3D glasses. For the people with eyeglasses there are also clip-on 3D glasses that are a bit massive. 3D glasses and clip-ons are really lightweight because the lenses on them are just a thin layer of plastic that are polarized to match the layers on the display. 3D glasses stay on well in gaming but in longer gaming session with headphones they started to press the tester's head in a bit annoying way.
Zalman instructs people to use eyeglasses or contact lenses if they normally do so when using the 3D functionality. The clip-ons attached nicely to the tester's eyeglasses and the glasses did not feel annoyingly heavy. The gamers look with the clip-ons has a small trace reminding from the 80's but the 3D glasses aren't that special. The structure on the 3D glasses could be better as the lenses are attached to the frame in a really weak way and one of the lenses did fall off from the glasses in a test session when they were handled with care. It is sad that Zalman has not made the glasses better with the display's retail price as the 3D glasses are perhaps the most important part when using the 3D functionality.
3D Stereo gaming
Using the 3D Stereo mode needs some small adjustments from the drivers, sometimes also from the games and the use of the 3D glasses or clip-ons but what does 3D look like? Let's have a look to couple sample photos from Crysis. The upmost picture is a "normal" view from the game with the displays 3D Stereo turned off. The middle picture is the view with the 3D Stereo on without the 3D glasses and the picture in the bottom is the view through one lens of the 3D glasses with the 3D Stereo turned on. Full size photos open up in a new window and are approximately size of a one megabyte.
Without the 3D glasses the view is pretty much unviewable but when you wear the 3D glasses the view is back to normal. When staying stationary the view in 3D Stereo mode is pretty lame and the edges in the picture are bit rude. When adding movement to the picture the 3D functionality really kicks in and the edges also blend in nicely. The 3D effect feels the most in a fast movement in a environment where there is a lot of objects in different depth.
Using the 3D functionality in the beginning is a bit fooling around in front of the display as the viewing zone is vertically only about ten degrees. Horizontally the area is much bigger (about 90-degrees). Due to the limitations on the 3D viewing zone you cannot move that much when gaming so it restraints a bit the hardest gaming. In comparison to other 3D displays in the market the viewing zone is the largest and the image in 3D mode is the sharpest in Zalman monitors.
In test sessions there were no problems using the 3D functionality. No headache or dizziness occured even in gaming session that lasted for hours. Notable is that the usable amount of the 3D effect did grow a lot in the two weeks time when the display was tested. Human vision and brains adapt to the 3D vision better and better with time.
Gaming experience using the 3D Stereo technology gave just a new dimension to intensity and experience in gamings. Even the best surround sound or game controllers have not given the same experience so far what the Zalmans 3D display did give. Games just feel one step closer to reality when you really see and feel things in three dimensions.
Intensity of the 3D experience varies notably much depending from the game. The experience gets bigger and better hand in hand with the movements speed. In First Person Shooters the experience is pretty calm but gets a nice boost when the player has a bigger battleground and a possibility to go outdoors or ride some vehicles. Driving games give a good hint what the ultimate 3D gaming feels like and the most mind blowing experience comes from flying games where you can move really quickly. Landscape feels really real and true though you can honestly say that they are artificial.
Testbench and games used for thesting
- Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit) Service Pack 1
- Nvidia GeForce 174.74
- GeForce 174.76 3D Stereo Driver
- Battlefield 2 + Special Forces
- Crysis Singleplayer Demo
- FlatOut
- Half-Life 2: Episode 2
- Need For Speed: Carbon
- Team Fortress 2
The rigs performance and the quality settings in games can sometimes give a note from themselves as the 3D Stereo image is actually two images (for the left and the right eye) and so there is nearly a double amount of graphics to be rendered. To keep the frame rates in 3D gaming on the same level than "normal" gaming the antialiasing and the anistropic filtering needed to be turned fully off in some games that ran nicely with full details in "normal" mode. With Crysis the settings needed to be on a much lower level to keep the game playable. The image did not suffer much from the decrease of the details as the 3D Stereo "patches" the graphics to more realistic and smoother in movement mainly because of the depth in vision. In couple games some parts of the lights or shadows got bit messed up and for example in Crysis Singleplayer Demo the rocks in the ocean got a weird halo around them which looked like flat 2D graphics. From the settings you need to play the games with the displays native resolution (1680x1050) or smaller resolution so that the picture is visible on the screen with 1:1 pixel size witout scaling as it destroys 3D Stereo effect.
3D videos
In the bundle there comes a software named as Stereoscopic Player Zalman Edition for viewing 3D videos. In action the software does what it is supposed to do but you need to open the videos with a detour to prevent the software crashing. The 3D videos are just two files that include the vision for the left and for the right eye. With the help of the 3D player the amount of depth can be adjusted like in games.
The couple videos what were viewed were nice to watch and diving in coral reefs was really awesome. Unfortunately the 3D movies are probably not going to become common as the filming technique with two cameras is not used in movie industry and the old movies are not going to been seen in 3D.
Display in everyday use
In normal desktop use the display is excellent. The image is really sharp and the colors are displayed as they are supposed to be. It depends from the people if the glossy surface of the display is considered good or bad. From the users point of view I didn't fall in love with the glossy surface but I would not want to have a fully matte surface on my display either. It should be noted that the display is based on TN panel and as a typical "feature" the colors do change a bit in the displays top and bottom if one color picture is displayed. Even that the display is built on TN panel it isn't bad! The viewing angles are big enough for watching a movie with a small group of people in front of the screen. Colors are pure and even with the factory adjustments they are excellent.
Black on the display is black, white is also white and the tones near them are visible. There was also no dead or faulty pixels in the screen. The display has the backlight bleed nicely in control and it can be noticed only in a room with no light on and with a fully black picture. In the picture the backlight bleed is somewhat pretty close to reality - in a room with no light in it - but it does not tell the whole truth. The areas of the backlight bleed are very close to real life.
Display's on screen menus are pretty simplified but really functional. The factory settings are very close to optimal. Display has also a pair of speakers built in and the sound quality is pretty much like in every other display. There is nearly no bass in the sound and only thing you seriously could listen from them are the notification sounds.
Zalman Trimon ZM-M220W
