A new 3D player
 

I just found a nice new 3D player. It is not a new player, but its new version can play 3D Blu-rays and DVDs (I just tested it on a line-alternate version of the Spy Kids 3D movie and it worked properly).

It supports various types of 3D displays, it supports the 3D mode of an nVidia video card (that is how I use it), and of course it supports the good ole' anaglyph.

The software is ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 5. I bought it directly from ArcSoft for $99.99, plus $10.50 for the optional mail-in disc. I downloaded it from their web site as soon as I paid for it and installed it on my new computer.

This is a very nice player. I have not tested it on a 3D BD because I do not have one of those yet (I am still waiting for Avatar to come out in 3D). But it works on my computer with a regular 2D display (I have my nVidia card set to show 3D content as anaglyphs).

I was finally able to test it with a 3D BD as I ordered Disney's A Christmas Carol from amazon.com and it arrived today. The player correctly sent the 3D video to my nVidia video card which displayed it in the anaglyph mode (since I do not have a 3D monitor). As all anaglyphs, it was pretty dark but it was definitely showing in 3D.

Now I am tempted to buy a 3D monitor. They are not too expensive anymore, but I still do not like the idea of active glasses, especially since I am already wearing regular glasses.

Adam could your nVidia card drive a 3DTV? Apparently Vizio has a 65" polarized display for about $3500 which is a lot better than the $10,000 polarized displays that have been out there. I know it still needs glasses but doing away with the shutter glass aspect would seem to help with wearing regular glasses, probably clip ons will be available.

Vizio XVT3D650SV 3D HDTV doesn't require active-shutter glasses | Gear Live

According to this online test, my nVidia card can indeed be hooked up to an nVidia compatible 3D monitor. $3500 is, unfortunately, out of my price range at this time. About the only thing I could still afford is this monitor with these active glasses.

Hi Adam,

The link for the monitor did not work, so just in case you were thinking of a Samsung monitor I thought I would warn you they offer a very poor 3D viewing experience. The poorest of any I have ever used. If you must get an active monitor I suggest a panasonic.

-John

Thank you. The link is for the Asus VG236H monitor. At any rate, I have not ordered any of it because I am worried about using the active glasses when I need to wear regular correction glasses. I wish I had a way to just try and see if it would work for me, but living in the boonies means there is no place anywhere near where I could just try it. :(

Hi Adam, Vesely Novy Rok. Just about all the newer active 3D glasses are made to fit over prescription glasses, including the nVidia ones. I have several of them, and there is space for corrective vision glasses, so unless you have some very unusually thick ones, they should fit o.k. Actually they fit much better than the theater passive ones. We in the TV industry think of these things once a while ;-)

Thanks, Pavle. No, I just have regular glasses (well, they have transition lenses, but that does not affect their size). But I use full-size wire rim frames, and somehow I am always worried that the active glasses might only fit over small glasses. :) Anyway, I am wearing those glasses in YouTube - A Message to Congressman Steve King - 3D, if that helps determine whether the nVidia glasses would fit over them.

Šťastný Nový Rok to you, too.

P.S. I guess I can just append a picture with my glasses right here.

Well, I decided to take the plunge. I noticed that the monitor is actually a combo deal, the monitor + the nVidia 3D package, so that saves me some money. So, as the last purchase of the year, I ordered it.

I noticed amazon.com has the same combo for about $20 less but it is a third party that is selling through amazon.com, and the vendor has had a 10% negative rating, so I decided not to take any chances and ordered it from newegg.com instead.

I will let you know how it all works out once I receive it. I do like the customer comments about this product on both the newegg and the amazon web sites. It is a $500 solution to true 3D as opposed to the anaglyph I have been using till now.

NewEgg is great about returning, if the product is not suitable, so you made a good bet. You have quite normal corrective glasses, and there should be no issues. Unfortunately, the 3D glasses, will filter out lot of the light, so you will not need the darkening feature of your prescription glasses. That is the biggest drawback, the light to each eye is shut-off over 50% of the time. Some people may be irritated by the 60Hz flicker. I think that 24 Hz would make me foam... The technology has quite a while to go before there is commonly available, really comfortable, viewing angle (at least semi-) independent auto-stereoscopic solution for large audiences. I've see some attempts, but they have several years to go to achieve cost effective and practical implementation. At least these active systems do not filter out color and have horrible cross-talk, like anaglyphs. I'd say that if you can tolerate the flicker, the fit over prescription eyewear should not be an issue. I hope it works out for you.

I'm not a fan of active glasses. Even at 200Hz (100Hz per eye) I find the flicker distracting. I much prefer passive.

I agree, but unfortunately, from my point of view, the market is way too small for companies to invest too much into more "pleasant technologies". That requires a great deal of expense and market risk. It is much is easier and cost effective to adapt the current display technologies to fast switch successive L/R frames and sync the glasses to it, than try to compete with much more costly sets that can display both frames simultaneously in some polarized manner, so that each eye can get it's own picture. These passives are sometimes not so good for 2D viewing as good 2D sets are, and combined with much higher cost and the slowness of adaption, they will take much longer to adapt. Combined with tiny amount of content in comparison to 2D, it is amazing anyone invests anything into better display technologies in this economy.

It took a long time for the SD > HD to get adapted, and there were no unpleasant viewing experiences associated with it, just higher costs and lack of content.

The active wear is being standardized, and unless the passive technology and content gets on the ball quickly, 3D will continue to be niche for a long time. I sure wouldn't want to watch it for 8 hours every day. But I did see some very promising examples of auto-stereoscopic work done in the Universities in Japan couple of years ago at NAB.

From my viewpoint, we mostly need a huge amount of "pleasant" content, as well as better display technologies for 3D to really take off - like in the HD adaptation, it requires a cooperative positive approach from all contributors to the solution.

The transition lenses get only dark in the presence of UV rays, so the video monitor will not affect them. I'll be fine in that area.

Just to keep you posted, my monitor package (including the active glasses) arrived today. I just finished watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs on it. I was pleasantly surprised, both by the active glasses and by the movie. The glasses caused no flicker. Everything was in full color 3D and it seemed so incredible I took the glasses off just to see what it looked like without them. I saw the left and the right views over each other at the same time, indicating the 120 Hz is beyond the brain's ability to see as two separate images. I put the glasses back on and everything was in full color 3D again.

The movie surprised me, too. I saw it before in 2D and thought it was an OK movie. But in 3D it was a much better movie. This confirms my conviction that just as 2D movies should not be converted to 3D, 3D movies should not be "converted" to 2D (by releasing just the left view or just the right view or whatever they do). Both require a different way of shooting. And just as the 2D way of shooting is wrong for 3D, the proper 3D way of filming is wrong for 2D.

Sorry Adam, i've just seen this thread.

Too late to advise back but i would have suggested to get an Acer 5360 PJ instead of a small monitor:




It's a 720p DLP-Link PJ and the screen will be 100 inch or more in that case and the screen size is much important on 3D watching experience. (after watching 3D BD on 100 inch PJ screen, 50 inch diagonal 3D TV never satisfied me.-more than 4 times)

(and you may use any additional 100 bucks eye-wear (like XpanD x102 or Optoma BG-ZD 101 instead of additional nVidia glasses.)