The Future of PC Monitors - Part 1

As they were growing up they had without a doubt seen something on the TV which made us think "cool, I require one". Well there were probably several things, but this particular thing was featured on Star Trek, Star Wars & even CSI Miami.

Did that last throw you a bit, because it is not a space ship? I am speaking about holographic screens. Used on lots of Hollywood films & even some TV series, the unfortunate reality is; they aren’t actually real! They are props or a small tiny small tiny small little bit of fancy CGI, & even today the humble PC monitor is not something they might've dreamt it would be by now. Although recent attempts have been made to bring such technology to life, they have so far been a case of spinning mirrors, holographic 'diffusers' & high-speed projectors; none of which is cheap, & none of which is as functional as actual PC monitors.

Perhaps the most promising step in to the realm of 3D displays has been made not in the PC monitor world, but in the TV screen world. Screen manufacturers including LG, Philips & Samsung have embraced a new technology using lenticules- hollow cylindrical lenses arranged in such a way that each eye perceives a slightly different picture. This technology is still in the prototype stage, but some early users of the devices are critical of the restrictive viewing angles; the viewer must be in a sweet spot much directly in front of the TV for the 3D effect to work. There is also the downside which, regrettably, makes this technology unsuitable for the PC monitor; everything it displays must be specially encoded & shot stereoscopically (in the same way as those 3D films where you wear those comically annoying glasses). Also, like when watching films with those annoying glasses, the feeling of seasickness is still an underlying issue. This is caused by the brain working hard to technique different signals being received by each eye. Another type of auto stereoscopic display has been showcased by monitor manufacturer Eizo. The Eizo DuraVision FDF2301-3D makes use of currently unknown technology inside an immense box to output 3D content at Full HD resolution, on a 23 inch screen, without the necessity for 3D glasses. Because so small is currently known about the technology inside the box it is difficult to say which approach delivers the best experience but without a doubt they will both be developed further.

Similar technology has been demonstrated by Sharp in a new inch auto stereoscopic 3D display that is designed for mobile devices. Rumored to be used in the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, the screen is ideal for 3D viewing without glasses at the fixed distances & viewing angles that handheld betting devices are often used at. Toshiba have also developed an auto stereoscopic display that is slightly larger 21 inches, making it suitable as a PC monitor. Sony also unveiled an immense & promising screen (this time a 24.5 inch auto stereoscopic 3D OLED display) at CES 2011. Due to the prohibitively costly cost it will be initially restricted to the professional use market. The aforementioned drawbacks do still apply here, however, so the technology will probably require some refinement before it is prepared for the mainstream market.

Microsoft is taking an alternative approach in an try to solve these issues -they have come up with a special wedge lens (below). The lens is thinner at the bottom than the top, & is designed to trap light from a monitor & then focus it at the viewers eyes using LEDs at the bottom of the lens. The technique includes a camera at the bottom to track head movement & focus light at the correct place (i.e. right in to your 3D-glassesless eyes)

Not only does this technique permit stereoscopic 3D effects, by projecting different images in to each eye; it can also beam different 3D images to different viewers or 2D images to different viewers simultaneously. The lens is only 11mm thick at the top & 6mm thick at the top, allowing it to be integrated in to existing monitor designs fundamentally.

Graphics card manufacturer Nvidia has launched a product imaginitively named 3D Vision. Fundamentally they are a pair of shutter glasses; the left & right eye are shut off alternately so that they each perceive a different picture being displayed by a special PC monitor. They are not actually that bad looking, are comfortable to wear & work with much any new game & out of box 3D application. They have recently expanded the experience by offering 3D Vision Surround which makes use of the power of multiple graphics cards to output 3D images across screens. a few 120Hz 3D monitors that work with the know-how are currently available from Samsung, Acer, Dell & LG with further manufacturers set to embrace the know-how in the future.

Most TFT PC monitors display an picture at a refresh rate of 60Hz - meaning a maximum artifact-free frame-rate of 60fps can be displayed. For the Nvidia 3D Vision know-how to work properly, you need 60fps in each eye; the monitor must have a refresh rate of 120Hz to be able to support this. Thankfully, a new range of PC monitors dubbed 3D monitors supporting such high refresh rates have been released for this purpose. The monitors are manufactured by the likes of Samsung & LG, & although they are currently the only way to appreciate true 3D graphics on a PC, their 2D performance has left something to be desired. Although they are by no means poor, the contrast ratio & colour richness is fundamentally not up to the standard of other similarly priced non-3D monitors. This will no doubt improve as the know-how matures, & advantage they do give to game fanatics in normal 2D viewing, is an improvement in frame rate. Because a monitor with a 120Hz refresh rate can display 120fps moving images without any kind of visual distraction or tearing, you gain additional performance when v-sync is enabled. Likewise, in some more demanding games or applications v-sync can be disabled for excellent performance without tearing (assuming the frame rate does not exceed 120fps). They do not doubt that similar or better performance could become available without 3D glasses time the autostereoscopic 3D monitors & systems (explored in the earlier section) are refined.

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