What do I need to watch 3D movies?

April 24, 2010 10:14 AM

Do I need a GeForce graphics card to utilize the Nvidia 3D Vision Kit? I know I'll need a 120hz screen, but wasn't sure if I really needed the graphics card to just view the tech demos and The Masters in 3D.
posted by geoff. to Technology (8 answers total)

I'm fairly certain you do; since the glasses are "wireless" that implies they need the NVidia driver. They have a tool at that link to see if you have a compatible GPU, which implies some NVidia cards won't work, which probably means all non-NVidia cards won't work. Plus it just makes business sense for them this way.
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:58 AM on April 24, 2010

http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion/index.php?t87660.html

You need an NV card.
posted by Rendus at 11:01 AM on April 24, 2010

Response by poster: Are there any non-NVidia solution out there? My CPU is entirely capable of rendering the 1080i source, the GPU check to get the shutter sync to work is lame as I doubt anything actually utilizes the GPU for that. I don't want to play games, just watch video.
posted by geoff. at 11:30 AM on April 24, 2010

Like PhysX, 3D Vision a feature Nvidia uses to differentiate its cards from ATI/AMD's. Hell will freeze over before they let you use it with another manufacturer's card. Apparently, a $110 GT240 (but not a more powerful members of the 200 family) would be enough to do blue ray playback, and recent cards could play 3D video files.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 5:26 PM on April 24, 2010

I'm pretty sure that those won't work with LCD's. I think you have to have a CRT.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:19 PM on April 24, 2010

Do people not read product pages anymore?

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_GeForce_3D_VisionKit_us.html

support the latest pure 120 Hz LCDs and DLP® HDTVs

Check to see if you have a compatible NVIDIA GeForce GPU

There's also a tool that will check if your computer is compatible.

posted by wongcorgi at 12:43 AM on April 25, 2010

Best answer: ATI has plans to introduce a 3D stereo solution that will probably be similar to NVIDIA's but also probably require a different set of glasses and emitter. To use the GeForce 3D Vision package, you need a (fairly recent) NVIDIA card. The requirement is partly due to the syncing they have to do with the framebuffer and the emitter. That work goes into the drivers for the video card and the emitter. NVIDIA doesn't really have any incentive to put hacks in the kit to make it work with third-party video drivers.
posted by demiurge at 3:30 AM on April 25, 2010

Response by poster: There seems to be a lot of vendor lockin in regard to the glasses and the emitter, I think I'll wait until the market matures. There are only two 120hz screens at the moment anyway. ATI's seems to be going for a solution that doesn't matter which GPU you use. I assume once 3D movies become more prevalent and it isn't so focused on stereoscopic games, they'll be more choices.
posted by geoff. at 12:29 PM on April 25, 2010