A recent survey released by the UK charity, Eyecare Trust, claims that almost 12 percent of Britons can’t see 3D images because of poor binocular vision. This rounds out to about six million people that will either be unable to see 3D at all, or who will get massive headaches after trying it out for a while.
This must be gutting for those who are gamers and want to try their hand at some of the truly delicious 3D products out there at the moment. ASUS have been heading up this revolution really well and, once again, demonstrated a spot of psychic brilliance by designing and releasing 3D products long before everybody else started to go a bit nuts about it.
So what does this mean? Do these poor people never get the chance to see everything leap out the screen at you? That seems pretty tragic to me. Of course, they will always be able to enjoy all sorts of fantabulous games and movies on any one of the enormously screened laptops and monitors available today, but no 3D fun.
I remember when I read about the PG276H. No, that is not a secret code that unlocks the World Bank, that, my friends, is the 27-inch full HD 3D monitor that ASUS announced at CeBIT this year. This enormous (and really quite tasty) monitor supports nVidia’s 3D Vision technology with 1920×1080 full HD resolution.
Wait, there’s more. You also get 400cd/m2 brightness, a contrast ratio of 20,000:1, 2ms response time and a 120Hz refresh rate. Plus there are enough connectivity ports for the console fan too. You can enjoy this beauty using the nVidia 3D Vision glasses – wearing your sunglasses at night is about to become super cool!
I know that I’ve spoken a lot about 3D lately. I guess it’s because it finally feels as if the potential for this technology may finally be coming of age. Let’s face it, 3D has been around for a looong time. Back in the 80s, Jaws sported it in cinemas and mostly gave you a bit of a headache. No, I don’t have poor binocular vision.
Huge strides have been made in 3D tech and, as mentioned before, it looks like most of the bigguns are throwing their marketing budgets at it with great enthusiasm. Even though I have perfect 20/20 vision and can enjoy the beauty of 3D it isn’t long before I feel a little queasy, and stiff from sitting rigidly in one position (yes, most tech now still demands that you find the sweet spot and stick with it for it to work really well).
I have to wonder whether these kinks are even possible to iron out. I’m no genius puttering around in a lab and eating equations for breakfast, but it strikes me that this is one of the biggest pitfalls. And possibly one that cannot be fixed. Sure you could probably get a bit more flexibility in the angle of viewing for 3D wonder, but will you be able to fix the fact that 3D viewing is really a short term thing?
I can’t watch for longer than around two hours without needing a bit of an eye break, myself. How long can you go for?
Still, this isn’t going to stop me from feeling stupidly excited about the fact that 3D is coming, and coming fast. That this 27inch monitor of wonder (actually the world’s LARGEST 3D monitor to date) is going to one day rest on my desk. Yes, it is. I even cleared a nice space for it.
Two hours view time or not, owning such a beautiful slice of the technology cake will make me one happy woman.