The iZ3D 22-Inch LCD looks like an unassuming piece of technology. With LCD monitors becoming rather standard these days, even a widescreen 22-inch one has to do a lot to move out of the pack. But since gamers are always on a quest to improve their gameplay experience, the iZ3D is interesting because it offers something few would have thought possible: a true 3D gaming experience.
Now I was getting ready to upgrade my gaming system anyway, but I was going to go a different direction. I, like many others, was thinking about going with a large screen. The size I wanted to move to would have cost more than $599, so the iZ3D already had a leg up. But could a normal-looking LCD really provide a superior gaming experience with titles that I already love like Call of Duty 4 and World of Warcraft? It was nearly time to find out.
Setup of the monitor was a little bit different than putting together a standard one, though not too much more difficult. The big difference is that you have to hook up both inputs coming out of your video card into the monitor. These can be two DVI or one DVI and a VGA. Most video cards have two inputs so that they can be hooked into multiple monitors or either a digital or analog one. I used an ATI X1950pro and this proved more than up to the task. The second input is used exclusively when playing 3D games to offset the screen image so that there are two images shown, and it looks 3D when viewed through the polarized sunglasses. If you only have one output on your video card, you will need to upgrade before the 3D monitor will work.
It’s worth noting here that you need to have pretty good vision in both eyes as well for this effect to work. If you have one eye that is overly strong then you might not get the effect you need. If you have vision problems then you probably already know this, but its worth mentioning just in case. The technology itself works just like, or almost just like, 3D movies. If you have trouble with them, you won’t fare any better here. But most people should be able to use the iZ3D monitor just fine.
The iZ3D ships with a pair of sunglasses that fit comfortably on my face. They seem like slightly tinted black glasses and not the old red/blue glasses of yesteryear. Also, they don’t have any UV protection, so don’t take them outside and think you are protected from the sun. They are light enough that you can wear them indoors and not be too hindered by the slight decrease in brightness. There is also a clip-on version of the glasses that attach over your normal glasses if you wear them.
So now that the monitor was setup and I was wearing my glasses, I booted the system and got ready for my 3D experience. Only nothing special happened. You see, the iZ3D can be used as a perfectly normal monitor. When you boot Windows XP or Vista, it will look just like it does on any 2D monitor, so you can take the glasses off. I went ahead and tried a bunch of programs like PhotoShop and Microsoft Word just to make sure they were the same as before. The iZ3D has a very nice screen and would be a good choice even without the 3D capabilities, though just a bit expensive without its big ace in the hole. Oh, and if you have a 64-bit OS, the iZ3D supports it now, though I did not get a chance to test this feature.
Ok, so far so good, but this is a gaming monitor so it was time to see how it did with, well, games!
I first loaded up Call of Duty 4, which is one title on the list of supported games. There are over eighty that are fully supported, though even the ones that are not seem to run okay. Anyway, the supported ones include all the top games in the industry like CoD4, Bioshock and of course World of Warcraft. There is a full list of supported games right here.
So Call of Duty 4 looked pretty much like it did before when I first started. Then I activated 3D and"promptly got killed walking around in a daze. It was like Dorothy falling into Oz and seeing color for the first time. Once I recovered my wits and started again, I was still stunned, but I kept my head down. I was playing one of the first missions where you are trying to move through that African town looking for the rebel leader and getting shot at from all sides. It was like I was there! My men strung some barbed wire out in front of me to block off the street and I swear I jumped back so as not to get stuck.
Now the 2D world for Call looks great as any of you who have played can attest, but it was nothing like the 3D version of the game. When a rebel with an RPG popped up on a balcony I could actually see him like he was really there sitting behind some stone blocks but in front of the background of the room behind him. Not only that, but I instinctively knew the distance he was from me because I could tell he was about 40 feet away, just like you would if you see someone in real life. There was no need to interpret the 2D data into 3D in my head, something that I must have been doing all along but never knew. I snapped off a shot and took him out.
Unfortunately, another bad guy with an RPG popped up in a different window and shot at me. I was almost glad he did because I got to see the rocket zooming in. It was like someone had thrown a baseball at me and I could actually see it approaching, only this projectile was trailing a long plume of white smoke. It was awesome and beautiful, even if it did kill me.
Inside of buildings the effect is almost more intense, as looking around corners in the game is actually like looking around corners in your home. You can see depth when you peer down the long hallways, and feel the relative safety of the wall you are leaning against. Again, it’s like really being there.
There are even some games that you would not think are supported by the 3D viewing technology, like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, which although one of my favorite games of the year, was not exactly a high budget title. I asked iZ3D about this and was told that while specific 3D code can be entered into games to make them work perfectly, that you don’t really need it for most titles because they are designed in 3D. All the 3D data is there and is simply rendered in 2D because of the limits of your current monitor. All the iZ3D 22-Inch LCD really does is unlock the data that is already there.
Case in point: World of Warcraft. I have been addicted to WoW almost since the beginning and really enjoy hanging out with my guild buddies and adventuring. And while the graphics are good, I did not think they would be greatly improved by 3D. Boy was I wrong. Suddenly when looking at the world in 3D it all comes to life. Monsters are actually pretty scary sometimes, but the real joy for me was the architecture. Instead of merely appreciating the cartoon-like world, I was actually inside it. I had seen a fountain near one of my favorite cities forever, but now I could actually appreciate it. Jumping around inside it was like jumping inside a real place. Suddenly even the places I had taken for granted seemed real and I found I could appreciate the artwork and style of the game much more. And magical effects were amazing when delivered in full 3D. I could not recommend it enough to my guildmates, who could not believe how excited I was just walking around the world. I think we are all going to try to get iZ3Ds now.
So are there any negatives to using the iZ3D 22-Inch LCD gaming monitor? I did find one minor issue with frame rate. When you switch from 2D to 3D, you will see a slight hit on your frame rate with some games. You probably will only notice when you are monitoring it, no pun intended, and the drop for me averaged about four frames per second. But a drop from 30fps to 26fps is not too much of a big deal, and probably happens because your computer needs to render more data at the same time. But believe me, the rewards are worth it for gamers.
Also I expected that the glasses would give me a headache or something like that, but I have not experienced anything of that nature yet. I played WoW for six straight hours in 3D followed by two hours of Bioshock (the things I have to do for GiN) and never felt any discomfort.
The $599 price tag may seem a slight bit high, but given that a good LCD would run you about that much anyway, it’s worth it if you are a gamer. And the only other option I can think of would be to buy a huge screen, which would still be in 2D and thus not as good, but probably be a lot more expensive. Trust me, until they find a way to implant video game inputs directly into your brain, the iZ3D 22-Inch LCD gaming monitor is the next best thing. And that makes it valuable at any price.
To learn more about stereoscopic 3D technologies in general and help advocate this industry visit mtbs3D.com.