Hi,
I have the 22" version of the Zalman monitor.
Here is my own personal experience from purchase to watching videos and playing games. Please no comments on if im wrong or it’s a crap review it just my personal experience. peace . PS sorry for bad English and speeling
My pc spec
Dual Core 2.6Ghz
2 Gig Ram
8800GTS 768mb Nvidia graphics card
Zalman 22” 3D monitor
Windows Vista 32 bit
About a year ago, I found an article on the net about this fantastic world of 3D gaming. Since then I have been on the hunt to fulfill my expectations of playing my favorite games in 3D. Over the last year I have come across quite a few solutions like anaglyph and shutter glasses but these have never satisfied my lust for 3D. My most recent quest was to purchase the Zalman 22” 3D monitor which is around £400. So last month, after a bit of saving, I ordered my monitor and was itching with excitement for it to be delivered. With Zalman offering 3D at a resolution of 1680 x 1050 and Ghost free with drivers from Nvidia this was like a wet dream come true. But would the monitor really live up to its promises?
I received my Zalman monitor the next day after ordering it from scan.co.uk. When I opened the box I was very pleased with the packaging and there was no chance it could get damaged in delivery. I slowly started to pull the monitor from its secured position within the box and was straight away surprised by how glossy the screen was and obviously concerned about reflections appearing on screen when using it. I attached the monitor to my pc via the DVI cable provided (analogue cable also provided) and then booted my machine up as normal. Windows vista (32 bit) detected the monitor and the glossy effect didn’t cause a problem as the brightness of the image coming from the screen drowned it out. However it is slightly noticeable when viewing black/darker colours.
I then pulled the pin out of the back of the stand for the monitor to raise its height to adjust to my viewing level and then installed the stereo driver from Nvidia and the free stereoscopic player that came bundled with the monitor, which is used to view 3D films.
(My try at 3D video)
When I checked out 3D video, I played the 3D video that came on the disk and was a bit disappointed until the fish scene when it felt as if it was coming out of the screen. As I said, I found the video a bit disappointing and boring but the fish scene did tell me one thing that there's potential here and that this monitor can produce a real 3D experience. So then I searched the net for more videos and was further disappointed to only find a few videos which I could watch in this 3D mode none as S-3D. The only 3D videos I could really find were for Anaglyph mode which I don’t want to use. Why? Because I have just spent money on this new S-3D monitor and well, anaglyph is inferior in my view and as I said at the start it just doesn't fulfill my lust for that true 3D experience.
After a bit of searching I found out that the Zalman monitor range produced S-3D in the same way as the IMAX cinema. Then I remembered my mate had seen the film Beowolf in 3D a while back, so I though this is a must that I will be able to find and view Beowolf in S-3D. But unfortunately there is no S-3D version, it then struck me why would they release a S-3D version when everyone who wanted to see it in 3D would of gone to the cinema and that nobody except a very very very small percentage would have a device to be able to view it in 3D. So instead they just released the 2D version which then made me think that there's not going to be films in S-3D in the future not unless everyone has a 3D solution in there front room. I then searched for software which would
Convert my 2D films into 3D and found a company called
www.ddd.com which has created such a piece of software. I paid around £30 for it and loaded it up and stuck one of my old school favorites films Twelve monkeys in my pc. I then adjusted the depth and out of screen experience as the film started and began watching it. There was a feel of depth but just nothing like the Imax cinema or the fish swimming out of the screen, it just didn't meet my expectation but then again converting 2D into 3D is like converting black and white into color when you look at complexity of converting such a media.
Overview
I guess by seeing the fish come out of the screen that the monitor is ready for 3D films but that rather films aren't ready for the monitor and that we may not see mainstream films for this type of monitor until there's a mainstream TV in everyone's front room that makes its attractive for large corporations to start releasing and making more films in 3D.
Unfortunately I also feel that these types of 3D monitors are not going to become mainstream, as having to wear glasses being the biggest draw back and that people are only just taking on HDTV. Maybe in 5-10 years time will people be ready to indulge themselves in such a new technology. At this point I would like to suggest you take a look at the Philips 3DWOW TV, which im guessing will be the type of 3D TV that will become mainstream. There’s no need for glasses and you can view it at any angle and it appears to be ghost free, this type of technology is known as autostereosocpic and is priced at £7000 at the mo and probably still needs a few good years to be tweaked.
Visit
http://www.inition.com/inition/product. ... ubCatID_=1
So overall I feel a bit disappointed with trying to view 3D video on my Zalman but I must point out it wasn’t due to the Moniotr not being able to do its job it was down to not having the 3D media there to watch.
(My try at 3D gaming)
After feeling disappointed with the 3D video side of things I felt it was time to test this monitor based on the reason why I brought it which was to play my games in 3D. When I knew my 3D monitor was going to arrive soon I installed all my favorite games at the ready for 3D gaming. Fear / Stalker / sonic the hedgehog (jokes) / Bioshock and Call of duty 4 which I like to point out is my favorite. I stuck my 3d Glasses on which are slightly tinted but don’t block out any of the brightness from the screen unlike shutter glasses. I first loaded up fear which again to my disappointment didn’t work. Emmm not having much luck here… Fear didn’t work though as the game doesn’t run in the resolution that the monitor needs to convert it into 3D. Next I loaded up
Call of Duty 4, changed the in game resolution to 1680 x1050 and then hit the Ctrl – T which switches the monitor into 3D mode. BANG the 3D effect was felt immediately, I could truly feel the depth and there was no loss in the graphics at all. I then further tweaked the depth and out of screen experience which further enhanced my 3D experience. I did however feel ghosting and had to change the height and angle of the monitor which fixed this. However every time I jumped for joy at nearly coming first in a free for all game in COD4 I would have to reposition myself back into where I was sitting before or move the monitor again to get rid of the ghosting effect. I felt this gave my body/head a restriction of movement and it’s a tad annoying to always having to be careful of this. However you do get used to this over time and it’s not a big deal to be honest when you’re fully immersed in a game. After an hour or two I did feel a slight bit of eye strain which was a bit more then I normally would have after playing this long. However over the last month this has faded to zero. I also use my Zalman glasses over my normal glasses and have no problem with them fitting over the top or causing me any other issues. I then tested Bioshock and was again very impressed with the overall 3D experience. This monitor was truly living up to my expectations and the 3D experience was fantastic and so enjoyable and made the game even better then it was in 2D. I guess all I need to do now is wait for new games to be released and hope that they can run in the 1680 x 1050 resolution which is needed for 3D mode or I guess I can just play it in 2D mode.
Overview
Well it works, you can play games in 3D and get in my view ghosting down to 1-0%. But you do need in my experience to maintain your head position which is a bit uncomfortable. I managed to get some games to work like COD4 and Bioshock but was unable to get some other (older) games to work due to there restriction that 3D will only work with the resolution of 1680x1050. However I assume that all new games will be able to handle this required resolution. Overall Im still happy with my purchase and truly enjoy the 3D experience and do recommend this monitor as a 3D solution as long as you are aware of the problems which I will feel will come with any 3D monitor and until game and films are made with the fact that some people may wish to view it in real 3D.
My rating (***** = Great / * = SHITE)
Ghosting ***
Image quality 2D *****
Image quality 3D *****
In movie 3D effect ****
Available movies compatible *
In Game 3D effect ****
Available games compatible ***
Overall rating ****
PS if you have any more questions then please post and I will try to answer.
Take care and good night
