The Ultimate 3D projection system: A Practical Discussion Thread - Page 47

Yes, I have the smaller variety. 35 x 47 (actually it's 55mm). I tried to measure the image projected on a paper at lens but as you can't focus at that close range I cant do a health measurement. So I am really not sure about this.
Also, at 240" you would get a pretty dull image. less than half of what I get from my projectors according to projectorcentral.

Do you have more info you can share on the demux unit that will work w/ 120 hz 3Dvision?

I don't have a French equivalent to my dual-projector thread, I only have the thread down here in my signature and a copy of that thread at MTBS3D forums (where other people from MTBS also participate)
The French thread I often visit is a generic "any kind of 3D" thread at hardware.fr forums, but there aren't any extra information you won't find here.

I do need to rewrite my 3D projector thread, probably from scratch since so much stuff has changed since I originally wrote it :
-I now have better knowledge about polarisation
-I now have better knowledge about projectors in general
-I now have 2 different types of polarising filters and am about to get the Omega filters
-I have stumbled upon Eyefinity bugs, found their source and work-arounds
-The thread misses information about the iZ3D driver special configuration to get the side by side Eyefinity mode running
-I have just bought DDD Tridef drivers (yesterday) and they support side by side Eyefinity mode directly using both the traditional dual-outs mode and the side by side output.

I'll wait to get my hands on the Omega filters and test them properly before I start actually rewriting my thread.

Dual projectors with Nvidia cards ?
You won't be able to use the side by side mode since Nvidia mandates 3 displays to use the surround mode, but you'll still be able to use the traditional dual-outs mode (but you won't get frame lock).
Both iZ3D and DDD drivers have dual outs support working with both GPU brands.
A few games (Avatar and Crysis 2) also support dual-out stereo.

HD3D ?
AMD HD3D supports Hdmi1.4 and DisplayPort3D displays only (and also one Dual-link DVI display). Dual outs are not supported.
I don't have Optoma 3DXL boxes so I cannot test HD3D.


Games I've played on the dual projector :
Just about any game working with iZ3D and DDD drivers work with the dual projector using the side by side dual-outs mode.
I encountered a few bugs with some games using the iZ3D driver because the side by side Eyefinity mode was beta feature and the driver is no longer updated (for example the mouse cursor is broken in 50% of games), so far for the games I have tested the DDD driver is working just as well as any other type of 3D display.
Most games with native 3D side by side mode can run the projectors but the aspect ratio will often be wrong. Although I did get some surprises :
->Avatar : the game config file has plenty of options to adjust aspect ratio but they don't work with 3D (no good)
->Crysis 2 : there is no aspect ratio setting (no good)
->Sonic Generations : When activating 3D, the game assumes you have a 16:9 display no matter what the internal render resolution is (lucky game ! render 3840x1080 and it works)
-> Trine 2 : You can tweak the settings file so that the game renders at higher resolution and resizes the side by side picture at the proper aspect ratio (not optimal but works).

If you go for dual-projectors, I still recommend to take BOTH drivers, because some games still work better with iZ3D than with DDD (like Dolphin the Gamecube/Wii emulator). And I noticed that FPS performance was significantly better with iZ3D on quite a few key games I play.

I am curious too! Please give us your plan.

ive found they can be had at least. in low quantity ~1k higher qty ~ 500 but i have to see what we are going to offer. not a bad price even if we need to go 1500 considering it can do demux, scaling and edge blending for two units all in one box. i think the box pteradactyl is working on is similar and will be competitive.

They seem to have two boxes capable of demuxing 3d. The 501 and the 502 which has quite a few more features. Was your quote for the 501?

the quote was for the 501, the 502 is not supposed to be a lot more and i heard there may be a cheaper alternate they will have as well. it really depends on the quantity one can purchase at one time. most of us dont need what the 502 can do but the idea of using a curved screen for gaming is very interesting.

Exactly what I'm keen to know as well (but it doesn't look like it from what I could read on the specs)

(you really do seize the moment rdjam -well done). I'll probably mull it over for a few weeks before ordering

The new features with the latest nvidia cards look like they could help those with a dual projector setup.

As blackshark mentioned this was difficult with previous nvidia cards


The new nvidia cards have new multi screen modes and these support upto 4 screens on one card. However I can't tell from the info so far whether this works like AMD's eyefinity. However from Nvidia's website it does also mention that you can also now "define whether application windows should be maximized across all displays.". Not clear if that is quite what is needed or not but there is more info here:
http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/art...rce-gtx-680/#1

Potentially this could give another option for those using dual projector and just wanting to display films. However for gaming it looks like we are still stuck with the DDD or iZ3d options blackshark mentioned earlier. And the best option seems to vary from game to game. This is where if there was a box to make dual projection work with standard 3d vision mode it would be so much easier.


(also thanks for your post earlier blackshark. Would love to see an update of your thread with your latest impressions. Ps did you mean you had the 7970 I thought the 7990 isn't out until q2 )

Damn and I just installed a 2.5GB GTX 570 (first of 2)... I didn't even realize this was about to come out... 3D vision surround on one card!?!? I wonder if there's really anything different in the hardware to make this work, or if they just fixed the drivers (and yet will proceed to lock out this feature by detecting the older cards and disabling it, just to make more $$$ selling them in pairs).

That software fix is the maximizing windows fix, where they snap to individual screens instead of spanning all 3, a feature Matrox had in the Triplehead2go years ago (a lot of people were using the Matrox software to get around this missing feature in Nvidia surround).

Indeed I made a typo mistake. I have a 7970.

I am pessimistic about Nvidia surround support for dual projectors.
Nvidia systematically associate surround with triple screen, even in their hardware requirements they keep saying you need 3 screens.
They haven't updated their surround hardware requirement and supported resolutions page for their new 680 card yet, but from what they claim on the geforce 680 page, they're still thinking with the "it's made for 3 displays only" mentality : they even refer the 4th screen as an "accessory" screen (ie : you don't game on it)

To rdjam and everyone on here making this happen, thank you! Well I didn't really need a new project but with the Omega Kit it looks like I'm hoping to head down this road too. I've been through the thread and have some questions, sorry if they have been asked already.

I'm still a bit confused when it comes to all the parts needed to make this happen. It seems a few on here are very HTPC focused. While I will need to upgrade my HTPC at some point, I was curious how my current sources would work first.

I have the Panny bluray player (110), xbox 360, PS3, and a Yamaha 3d passthrough receiver along with a non 1.4 compliant htpc right now.

I think I can have the 360, ps3, and 3d bluray player stay where they are on the receiver? My chain would look like this.

(360, ps3, bluray player) --> receiver --> hdmi splitter --> 2-3DXL's --> hdmi out to projectors.

At the moment, will the above work without a PC in the mix?


Adding the pc into the mix, I have stereoscopic player on my current non 1.4 PC (Acer Revo) - It can handle most things I throw at it except 3d bluray. As stereoscopic player can sort of play 3d bluray right now with the SSIF files, would we still need a 1.4 compliant video card if going through the chain above?? Also regarding the computer, it seems that with the right video card, you could possibly skip the need for the 3DXL's? Just confirming if that is true but the 3DXL's seems like a great 'catch all' solution with or without an hptc.

I read in the thread somewhere that the 3DXL was only doing 720p, but I think that is for gaming systems only, is that correct?

PJ's I'm considering need to be CIH with a very short throw (10'6" lens to 88" wide 2.35) as an extra variable. I am researching them more at the moment, any comments on the PJ's below for this setup are welcome. My biggest concern for the following projectors is that a true frame interpolation method is not present. This is my budget however. Can anyone comment on the fake CFI for the panny (smooth motion?) or others??

Viewsonic Pro8200
Panasonic PT-AR100U
Benq 1100 and 1200
Epson 8350

Currently I'm using Cinemavision 1.3 screen. Glad the Omega filters do away with most things in relation to light polarization, can't wrap my head around all that just yet!!

Thanks again everyone for this thread and looking forward to some input on my specs before I jump in with both feet!! The wifey is going to kill me during the process but I'm sure she will love the end product

On the non pc setup you mentioned that's fine. You may not need the splitter if you can use 2 outputs on your amp.
The 3dxl's do convert the HDMI 1.4 spec 3d signal to the dual projectors and can do this at 1080p 24hz. Used as a single box they will convert the frame packed signal from your source to page flipped for the 720p active 3d projectors that can only accept page flipped only such as acer 5360 (this feature isn't relevant here unless you want active 3d and have one of these projectors)

Yes you are right if you are happy to play 3d films from your pc then you wouldn't need the 3d xl boxes

If your budget is limited to non FI projectors then this could be done on the pc as well. Several options to do this but one would be the smooth video project. http://www.svp-team.com/wiki/Main_Page

smooth video project - that seems interesting, and this would work with 3D Bluray? I'm not a huge gamer, wondering now if $800 would be better spent on the 3DXL's or a new PC build. New PC build would also be game capable. I like the ease of the consoles and the fact you can't waste too much time tweaking lol. hmmm

Thanks for the response.

J&R is offering the 3D-XL unit for $299US (price includes a $29 built in rebate) through March 31 for those that might be interested.

http://www.jr.com/optoma/pe/OTM_3DXL/

I've also seen them as low as $250 without the glasses, Tru3d has them for $260 right now. If you only plan to use them with dual projectors get them cheaper without the glasses!

looks like i may be able to offer the geo 501 box with the omega filter set and glasses but ill have to see if its going to be cometitive with getting the two 3d xl boxes and a splitter. i really need to get one and test it out with a blueray player, a playstation and a pc that had hdmi output. i also need to get two better projectors than i have as well. i may be able to find a projector pair to package but that is harder as the set must be appealing to a range of people.

what do you all think about a curved screen with HD 3D capability ? i want to see if i could get a geo502 box and 2 pairs of projectors and a curved screen for a project and use edge blending and well as distortion adjustemnt for this wide curved screen app. mostly for gaming but movies would look pretty awsome i think. kind of expensive i know but immersive ?

Why would you want it any other way.
And is there any other comparable way.(4k blu-ray aside)

So 4 projectors with some kind of curved screen that supports 3d. I think it would be awesome. Will be noisy and expensive but sounds intriguing.

I'm thinking of doing the same with four 720p LED projectors using 3M Vikuiti rear screen film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce3Jf4n7R14

yes its a great idea. here is what im talking about but with my passive 3d as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsUkwgyxyXY

would be noisy but who would notice while gaming

Very very interested it that. I have been running a 3 x active 3d projector setup for a while now and the triple screen at the size of a projected image is easily as important for immersion as 3d. However i only got that setup as a temporary solution as I'm very keen to change to a passive setup with 6 projectors. However there is no driver option for that at the moment although I have been pushing for pterodactyl's box to include a page flipped to dual projection convertion option which would make it possible. (this would make nvidia 3d vision surround work without any hacks) I briefly thought the geo boxes you mentioned would solve this but it appears they don't have that option. The edge blending and distortion adjusments are definitely useful features for me too. I have only evaluated a software based solution up to now.( I wasn't aware there were hardware based options for this)

And having lots of projectors close together to line up on a curved screen gets seriously hot too!

the geobox 502 can support multiple sets like the 3 pairs your talking about. at least from the pdf they sent me. edge blening and distortion and multiple outputs with splitters. i will try to find the pdf and post it next week.