3D monitors? Bit of a noob question

Devrij · 1 Jan 2010 at 19:46

This is my confused face.

Having just seen Avatar in 3d at the cinema, I'm quite liking the idea of watching bluerays and other content in 3d, and coincidentally am also shopping for a new 24" monitor. So here's the bit where I get confused:

A) Can 3d movies be watched on a standard 60Hz display with those robot shades they give ya, or do you require a 120Hz monitor to create two 60Hz layers?

B) if you can, then what is all this I've read about 120Hz 3d monitors creating two 60Hz layers? Does this negate the need for the terminator shades or what?

C) My primary use for the monitor will be gaming and standard dossing about, with bluerays inbetween. Would a 3d monitor be worth the money or would I be scarificing quality for a gimmick?

D)With a budget of £200 is it even worth asking these questions?

Thanks for satisfying my burning desire for knowledge

sean · 2 Jan 2010 at 00:23

I've been looking into this stuff for a while and 3D is kind of all over the place right now with many competing technologies on the market: We've got full sceen polarised displays, line-polarised, DLP checkerboard and 120Hz frame-sequential 3D displays (the one you're talking about here)

A) You need a 120Hz display. 60Hz kits used to exist years ago and were flickery nightmares apparently

B) You'll need to wear some sort of glasses with 99.999% of the 3D tech out there. With 120Hz displays they'll be expensive, electronic shutter glasses. With the polarised displays they'll be more like the glasses used at the cinema

C) I'd wait. I was almost set on buying the 24" Acer but 3D really deserves to be seen on the big screen.

D) Not right now anyway. The monitors are around £240 - £300 and projectors start at £500-ish

Devrij · 2 Jan 2010 at 03:13

Thank you, wonderfully concise and informative.

sas.wlv · 2 Jan 2010 at 10:46

i got the samsung 120hz monitor early on in its release and as such could only get it with the 3d glasses. I cant really comment too much on the 3d as ive only used it for about 1-2 hours. The kit itself is great and some of the effects are really good but 3d gaming doesnt really interest me much at the moment.

However the monitor itself is amazing, would never go back to 60hz and switching it to 60hz from time to time as example to friends just reinforces how much difference there really is.