First look: Zalman’s 3D gaming monitors

Evan Gower October 7, 2009

Cooling specialist Zalman has announced a pair of 3D monitors to be launched in the UK in time for Christmas. PC Pro took the opportunity for some hands-on time to find out whether 3D still means silly glasses and Paracetamol after five minutes, or if this could genuinely revolutionise our home entertainment.

We were a little apprehensive as we entered the test room to see several pairs of glasses in front of a fairly ordinary looking screen, but the good news is that they now look just like any normal pair of polarized sunglasses – not a red or green filter in sight.

Each monitor has a pair of polarizing filters in front of the screen; the lenses of the glasses are also polarized at different angles, so each eye receives the picture from a slightly different perspective. This tricks the brain into thinking it is seeing a true 3D image, and the technique means there is no need for the alternating images that plague older 3D technologies by causing that headache-inducing flicker. With around ten people in our Labs giving it a go and not one complaining of dizziness or nausea, the technique certainly seems to be an improvement.

Real-world performance

The impact varies considerably depending on what content you are viewing. Demonstration video clips were certainly impressive in places, such as a fish swimming out of the screen towards us, and a parade of people showing off the depth of field tremendously well. However it’s hard to know how much specially filmed video content will be available.

More exciting, and reliable, is the support for 3D games, although numbers right now are limited, as you’d expect. We saw Painkiller running and the effect was certainly more immersive. Large objects and architecture benefit the most with walls looming towards you, but strafing around objects or enemies produced a strong sensation of 3D. Even little details like the HUD are improved, by being placed clearly in front of the rest of the action.

Drivers are still at an early stage and we did see issues with some objects, which looked blurred. The monitors will only generate the 3D effect with Nvidia graphics cards, as the company is working closely with Zalman. The current driver only supports up to series 7 GeForce cards for DirectX 9 games under Windows XP. However a new Vista driver with support for series 8 cards is expected soon.

The 22in widescreen ZM-M220W will sell in the UK for around £430 inc VAT, with the standard-aspect 19in ZM-M190W costing £380 inc VAT, both from www.quietpc.com. They will be available from mid-December, and we’ll have a full review in the next issue of PC Pro, out December 13th.