NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision Glasses

Name: NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision Glasses - Page 2
Brand: NVIDIA

by Marco Chiappetta — Thursday, January 08, 2009, 09:00 AM EDT

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As we've already mentioned, the NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision kit consists of rechargeable 3D shutter glasses, an infrared emitter / base station, cables, software and a few handy accessories.

Let's start with the glasses. Dare we say, the first thing you'll notice is that they're more stylish than most of the other 3D glasses out there (remember ELSA's 3D Revelators? Yikes.). There's a power button and indicator LED on the top of one side (visible at the upper-right in the image above), and a USB port on the underside. The USB port is used to charge the glasses, which can operate for about 40 hours between charges. 40 hours of use should be plenty for a couple of days of gaming--that is unless you're a marathon gamer that never sleeps.

The GeForce 3D Vision glasses work by blocking the light to alternating eyes. Each lens is essentially a monochrome LCD display that can be turned on or off. When off, light can pass though; when on, it cannot. This effect allows only certain frames in a game to be viewed by each eye, and each alternating frame is slightly offset, which in turn is perceived by our brains as a 3D image. Much in the same way our eyes actually work. We should note that the glasses provide better viewing angles and resolution than most passive glasses, through the use of higher-quality optics.

To accompany the glasses, NVIDIA includes a couple of additional nose-pads, a carrying case, and a micro-fiber cloth for safely removing fingerprints, etc. A pair of USB cables are includes as well (not pictured) for charging the glasses and for connecting the base to a PC, as is a driver CD with some sample imagery. A DVI to HDMI cable is included as well, along with a VESA 3-pin stereo cable, to accommodate certain televisions.

Which brings us to the base station / IR emitter. The IR emitter is used to sync the glasses to whatever is being displayed on screen. The emitter transmits data directly to the wireless shutter glasses, within a 20 foot radius. The emitter also features a real-time 3D depth adjustment dial on its back. This feature is crucial for those that tend to get pseudo-motion sickness using stereoscopic 3D glasses like these. Turning the dial alters the 3D effect, which can help uses more easily get acclimated to wearing the glasses.

Tags: Nvidia, GeForce, LCD, USB, 3D Vision, Stereoscopic

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com