iZ3D Monitor

The iZ3D monitors have been generating a lot of buzz lately between the custom paint job models they have recently offered, as well as the unique position of being a forefront company developing a true 3D presentation in gaming and movies.  Whether that is necessary or desirable will depend entirely on taste and is outside of the scope of this review–my interest here was how well the tech worked.

The iZ3D renders games, videos and photographs in a stereoscopic 3D presentation with the aid of glasses.  These peripherals are lightweight and look like normal sunglasses, and are comfortable enough for long media sessions.  The monitor came with two pairs of glasses as well as a snap-on overlay for those who already wear glasses.  The package also came with a slew of cabling, drivers and an array of documentation.

This unit is compatible with VGA or DVI output, and this review tested the dual-DVI setup on a Geforce 260 card using Vista x64.  Setup was a bit difficult, but that goes without saying for any device on Vista x64 so I can hardly fault the manufacturer on that.  I feel quite sure any user experience on 32-bit Vista or XP would be MUCH smoother than mine.

Luckily, iZ3D was really helpful in addressing the issues I had with my setup and after patching to the newest drivers (the recommendation is to use the newest NVIDIA drivers if you have that chipset) and fixing my cabling and dualview setup, I had the unit ready to tune.  Tuning consists of adjusting the convergence and separation of the two panels built into the monitor that present the 3D image until it syncs and is crisp.

So it takes a bit of time to fine tune to the desired levels, but produces a distinct effect when that is done.  Games tested on the unit were Left 4 Dead and Fallout 3 and both games looked great with glasses on or off on the monitor.  The monitor only does a 1680 x 1050 resolution, which may be a turn-off to some, but it does deliver a very colorful and crisp image in the traditional 2D viewing mode.

In 3D the picture gets a tiny bit blurry even at the tightest tuning, but still looks great.  The 3D effect really does come off very well, adding a great deal of increased depth to characters and environments.   Finding a proper viewing depth and angle as well as adjusting the monitor settings in tandem to get the best picture does take a great deal of fine tuning, and at times I still got a bit of a glare off of very white surfaces.  I suspect that these limitations are temporary, as an exploration of the iZ3D website reveals a quick driver update rate and a very passionate community of users that are quite enthusiastic about the product.

So it takes a bit of time to fine tune to the desired levels, but produces a distinct effect when that is done.  Games tested on the unit were Left 4 Dead and Fallout 3 and both games looked great with glasses on or off on the monitor.  The monitor only does a 1680 x 1050 resolution, which may be a turn-off to some, but it does deliver a very colorful and crisp image in the traditional 2D viewing mode.

In 3D the picture gets a tiny bit blurry even at the tightest tuning, but still looks great.  The 3D effect really does come off very well, adding a great deal of increased depth to characters and environments.   Finding a proper viewing depth and angle as well as adjusting the monitor settings in tandem to get the best picture does take a great deal of fine tuning, and at times I still got a bit of a glare off of very white surfaces.  I suspect that these limitations are temporary, as an exploration of the iZ3D website reveals a quick driver update rate and a very passionate community of users that are quite enthusiastic about the product.

There are a few aspects here that may turn off prospective buyers from this device, in that the resolution tops off at 1680 x 1050 as mentioned above and the difficulty in using a two-monitor setup with the iZ3D.  A single card with two DVI outputs can only support the iZ3D alone, a second monitor in addition to that requires a second card in SLI.  It also has a very beefy depth in form factor that requires a bit more desktop space than normal monitors do.

Another hangup I had with this device is there is a very limited on-screen menu for adjusting video settings. As far as I could tell only brightness level could be controlled with the menu button.  One final drawback to the unit is that HD movies are not rendered in 3D.  Well, iZ3D says they aren’t, but I could swear I saw the effect on a Blu-Ray copy of 300.

The IZ3D is one of the most unique displays I’ve ever seen.  The versatility it has in both a 2D mode with the glasses off and the 3D mode with them on is very compelling.  It looks absolutely astounding in both modes and makes the 22″ size limit and average resolution constraints very easy to bear.  iZ3D is being very active in generating free software and drivers to get the most out of this device, which is a very refreshing thing to see in a hardware company and something that bodes very well for the future of this device as well as those who buy it. 

If you are looking for something different for your PC gaming or media time, the IZ3D Monitor is definitely worth a purchase.

The IZ3D is one of the most unique displays I’ve ever seen.  The versatility it has in both a 2D mode with the glasses off and the 3D mode with them on is very compelling.  It looks absolutely astounding in both modes and makes the 22″ size limit and average resolution constraints very easy to bear.  iZ3D is being very active in generating free software and drivers to get the most out of this device, which is a very refreshing thing to see in a hardware company and something that bodes very well for the future of this device as well as those who buy it. 

If you are looking for something different for your PC gaming or media time, the IZ3D Monitor is definitely worth a purchase.

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/review-iz3d-monitor-20081218/