|
Posted by
Paul
"Crazyace" Bouthiller on February 19, 2002
Manufacturer: Dimension
Technologies
Product: 2015XLS
3D LCD Display
I must say, the display unit is a real
eye catcher. The unit was shipped in black (I believe it’s
the only color available at this point), and makes a great
conversation piece abroad your computer desk. I really liked
the size of the unit; it was so compact that I set it up
right in front of my 19” monitor while testing. There was
actually still space available to do things in front of it,
which makes this a wonderful space saver, just as most flat
screen displays are. No more bulky desks that take up half
the room just to accommodate a monitor with this slim little
guy.
Connecting the unit was very easy; there
is an analog connection to your video card, and another to
your computers COM port. The use of analog was to improve
compatibility. As my computer booted up, everything was
pretty normal. The display unit looks like a normal 2D flat
screen display panel, although the image quality is quite
nice. I must say, the image quality is some of the best
I’ve seen on a flat screen display panel, which is
absolutely amazing due to the fact that with a click of a
button, it turns into 3D. The only thing that was a bit of a
bummer to me was the fact that the screen resolution was
adjustable only to 1024x768, because I usually prefer
something a little higher. This becomes more of an issue
when playing games, especially for those of us who enjoy
high resolutions. I can’t really complain about it to much
though, because it is only a 15” screen.
One thing to note about the unit is that
it’s designed to work with Nvidia based cards, to be
specific, Elsa cards (other cards are supported though, here's
the list). They recommend using ELSA video card drivers,
but the latest detonators worked fine for me. When I
received the unit, I had Windows XP as my operating system,
and Nvidia did not make a stereo driver compatible with XP.
Well, needless to say, I installed Windows ME on a separate
partition for the test. A few days later after installing ME
on the partition, I noticed that Nvidia just released the
stereo driver for XP, perfect timing on my part (arggg).
Anyhow, the stereo driver needs to be installed in order for
the 3D to work, as does the driver for the display. Other
than that, I also installed the virtual 3D demo, which was
also packaged with the monitor.
The first thing I loaded up was the demo
disk, and man, the 3D looks pretty wild. Yes, it does work,
and it’s extremely simple to switch from 2D to 3D. It’s
done by using a button on the front of the unit. When you
want 3D, you simply select it on the on-screen menu, and
that is it! Switching back to 2D is also effortless, which
is really the
high point
for this unit.
There is a red light on the front of the
unit, which is used as a reference point for your sitting
position. The way the technology works, you have to be in a
certain position to be able to get the full effect. The
light on front of the unit dulls when you are perfectly
seated, and you can defiantly tell a difference in the way
the 3D looks. They recommend you sit arms length from the
display to get the full effect. As you drift away from the
sitting position, the display begins to look blurry. There
really isn’t much leeway in where you need to sit, but you
don’t have to stay perfectly erect.
Next, I loaded up 3D mark, and let it
roll. It was a pretty neat experience just watching the
objects fly all over the place in a 3D environment,
defiantly high on the cool scale. Quake 3 was also very
cool, certain things on the screen just seemed like they
popped out at you. The technology defiantly works, and it
really is pretty amazing.
|
First
Impressions & Installation
