Thursday 6th December 2007

Hands on with Zalman's 3D Trimon monitor

Posted at: 5:23am 6th December 2007 by Alex Watson

We've spent a week staring into the next dimension with Zalman's incredible 3D TFT screen - read on for our impressions

Along with the words ‘starring Robin Williams’ and ‘a heartfelt comedy’, ‘in 3D!’ used to be the line on a film poster that would strike fear into one’s heart. Technical limitations 3D visuals became little more than a fad, fit only for the back of a box of Frosties. The kind of novelty 3D illustration – technically termed anaglyptic images – seen on breakfast cereals usually requires glasses with red and blue lenses and lots of patience. It’s a somewhat sad state of affairs considering a usable 3D PC screen seems a rather distant prospect.

You can imagine our surprise then when Zalman announced it would be making a range of 3D TFT screens. Even given consumer grade 3D imaging’s ropey reputation, the fact Zalman is best known for its coolers and cases meant the news came out of the blue. Our scepticism grew when we were offered the chance to check out hand-built early samples screen in the summer at the Computex show in Taiwan and they proved to be extremely temperamental and incapable of generating a decent sense of 3D space.

However, that has all changed – we’ve had a production sample of Zalman’s Trimon ZM-M220W, the company’s 22in widescreen 3D screen, in our labs for the past week and it’s a remarkable piece of kit. It’s certainly not perfect, but the sense of 3D space and depth it creates is genuinely impressive, particularly in games such as World of Warcraft. Everyone who dropped by the CPC lab and saw it in action was surprised and, it’s not hyperbole to say, amazed by its abilities.

There are, of course, some downsides, limitations and quirks. While the Trimon doesn’t rely on anaglyptic images to produce 3D images, you do still need to wear special glasses in order for its 3D powers to affect you, as it works using a technique known as stereoscopy. This involves showing the viewer two offset images, which the viewer’s brain then interprets as being single scene with depth. The Trimon achieves its stereoscopic effect with polarized glasses that work in tandem with two polarizing filters on the surface of the monitor itself. The two polarizing filters are orientated at right angles, as is the filter in each lens in the pair of glasses; the lenses’ filters then only allow light of similar orientation to pass through, which is how the system presents each eye with a slightly different picture. Your brain then does the rest of the work and you see a 3D image.

Unlike with anaglyptic glasses, the combination of polarizing filters and glasses preserve the colour integrity of the image on screen, so as well as creating the impression that you’re seeing 3D, the shapes you see retain their original tones, which certainly helps make the image more convincing.

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Zalman Trimon 3D screen - how it works

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Comments

Nice...

Umm... Where are the magical monitors that can do it without glasses...some links would be nice otherwise ill put it down to internet fad. And yeah there have been stereoscopic glasses around but they notoriousley fecked colour reproduction. let alone the indused nausia they caused or the fact that no one with glasses could use them. Oh and then there were the epileptics...

Comment by reashlin at 2:35pm 11th December 2007

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????

There have been monitors that do this without glasses???? That seems extremely unlikely, where can I fond one of these magic monitors?

Comment by slicc2 at 7:47pm 8th December 2007

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old hat this come on guys wake up

there have been monitores that do this out for the last 5 years with no glasses and laptops for 4 this is old school i had one for 3 years so a you dont need glasses has there are monitores out there be this is old hat not new

Comment by koganinja at 8:06pm 7th December 2007

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CRT

Steroscopic glasses have been available for a few years, but only worked with CRT monitors, and all you need to buy are some £10 to £20 glasses that you plug into your VGA port on the PC. From what I remember they worked extremely well.

Comment by slicc2 at 1:19pm 7th December 2007

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hmmm vomit everywhere i think for those gamers that suffer from fake 2d made to look 3d.

Comment by faceplant at 12:51pm 7th December 2007

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moar Pr0N

how long until I can watch 3d pr0n

Comment by paulpowers at 12:23pm 7th December 2007

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I know its rubbish. Just like those that have gone before and failed. But why do I feel the need to see Warcraft running in all its 3D glory? Damn you Blizzard and your addictive games!

Comment by pveater at 7:36am 7th December 2007

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Might work

But it probably wont take off, it's the same thing they've been using in 3d cinemas at theme parks for years.

Comment by WoodSpoon at 12:35am 7th December 2007

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I remember when my 8-bit sega master system did the same thing (same 3d technique, the flickery galsses plugged into the console) on the tv without a piece of expensive kit.

Comment by azwipe at 9:45pm 6th December 2007

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3D what next 4D?

lol this remind anyone of something? what happened to virtual reality a few years ago? sounds awfully like it. also having to sit at the right height to get the full effect could be abit dodgy, lol will improve posture though. think ill be watching this one as well, i think it'll take awhile to get off the ground much like when dvd's came out quite a few years ago. also can you really see film company's shooting two different versions of the same film or just shooting it with the dual cameras? its gonna be a big gamble for all. very interesting indeed.....hmm can you imagine what star wars would have been like in 3d or that seen in the Patriot with the cannonball coming straight towards the screen. OMG its starting already, i want one!