Advice on a new PC for showing 3D
 

OK I have been out this weekend and shot some 3D footage which on first viewing looks very promising on my Alienware 3D monitor.

However, I have noticed that the PC I am streaming it from is struggling at 1920 x 1080 resolution. It's like slow motion.

So here I am asking what spec I need to show full HD 3D streamed from a PC.

This is the current spec I am using. The PC is about 3 years old and was a middle of the road bog standard ebay buy.

Intel core 2 Quad Q6600 @240Ghz
4Gb Ram
nVidia 9800 GTX Card


So is it a processor problem, or card? The card is new ( less than 3 months) and meets the minimum requirements of nVidia to show 3D. If it's not what do I need to upgrade to?
GeForce GTX 295
GeForce GTX 285
GeForce GTX 280
GeForce GTX 275
GeForce GTX 260?

Help I need a quick solution.
Cheers
Steve

What operating system (and version) is it running?

first you have to decide the format for the movie.
H264 is common today, but really heavy to processor, so you could better encode into an easier compression (like WMV or Mpeg2)

Then you have to decide the resolution you will display.
Then you say 3D ? so you have to tell what technology you will use.

currently, a simple core2duo processor with a basic display adapter should be enough to display 3D even at full HD.

If you use page flipping, this requires a display card with this capability (nvidia quadro high end card).

Well , the alienware monitor is actually not a 3D monitor, it is just a monitor that support 120Hz refresh rate, so allowing the use in 3D.
To fully implement the 3D viewing , you will rely on the the Nvidia stereoscopic kit (drivers, infrared transceiver and LCD shutter glasses) , that is currently delivered/compatible only with some boards.
Your choice would be limited to to some bundle offering the card+ the kit.

OK I should have been a bit clearer. I have an Alienware monitor, nVidia 9800GTX+ Card, nVidia Geforce 3d active shutter glasses. I can watch 3D no problem at all.

Now I am using the demo of Dashwood 3D stereobox, and very good it is too. I will buy it as soon as I need to get rid of that large logo! but for testing I can put up with it for the moment. Just wish it was a little cheaper. The dollar is strong against the UK Pound!

Now the problem I am having is when I play back the 3d footage I have created, it doesn't play smoothly. Its jerky. So I am either doing something wrong when I make the clip, or my processor/graphics card/something is not right.

I am making the 3D with side by side format.

Now I am sure where I am going wrong is rendering out at too high a bit rate, as I have downloaded some samples in the last hour and a half and they all play fine.

So question. What do you make your movies with? I am using FCP and outputting to quicktime conversion Flip4mac WMV. Results are mediocre. Exported to compressor and tried Program stream Mpeg 2. Jerky results.

So what is best for you? Format of 3D, codec and bit rates?

Thanks
Steve

I am making the clip on my mac with Dashwood 3D streo Toolbox, then streaming it on my PC ( after I copy the file across the network. I am not streaming over the network. PC is running Vista 32 bit.

With 32-bit Vista you should just get the latest nVidia stereoscopic driver and it should work. Your system is more powerful than mine, yet I can watch 3D videos.

Adam, I can watch them no problem. The problem is my rendered efforts seem to be jerky/slo mo.

I will spend the morinng experimenting to see if I can fathom out what I am doing wrong.

Cheers
Steve

Well, I have solved the jerkiness problem on my system by downloading the Process Explorer from sysinternals. I use it to give my video viewers high priority, while leaving everything else at whatever default priority they run.

To do that, I run the Process Explorer, then right click on the name of the program within the Process Explorer, choose Set Priority / High: 13. That gets rid of any jerkiness.

What about the hard drives? How fast are they? Do you dedicated drives to write rendered files?

Its not the hard drives. Think it must be the graphics card.
If I show the footage full screen but not in 3D, it runs fine. As soon as I show it in 3D the clip goes into slo-mo.

I'll try a clip with a much lower bit rate to see if that makes a difference.