My Acer GD245HQ review experiences of a new 3D vision user
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26-2: Here's my review of the Acer GD245HQ. Please note:
- I have no previous experience with 3D vision, or with other 120Hz monitors. I cannot compare therefor to other 120Hz monitors like the AlienWare currently on sale.
- I've always been a CRT fan. Ghosting is non-existent on them. I loved my Iiyama visionmasters and Sony F520 (the ultimate CRT imo). The first LCD I got was Samsung's 2ms 226CW. It was one of the few really fast screens at the time, but never as good as a CRT. For 2D, I will be comparing mostly to the 226CW.

One more note: my 3D vision kit will arrive tomorrow, so I'll update with 3D experiences then. For now, my first 2D impressions.

[b]Package[/b]
Just one day after ordering, it arrived today: the Acer GD245HQ. Neatly packed in a black box with 3D printed on the side rather large. This monitor was made for 3d Vision, clearly. The box easily opened, in it the screen and the stand, a manual and warranty booklet, CD with Acer software, two powercables (UK/EU), a DVI-dual link cable, D-sub cable and a mini-jack audio cable.

[b]Assembly and build quality[/b]
Assembly is childsplay: the screen can be snapped onto the plastic base with orange details. The orange is a much better color than I had expected, less obtrusive and more of a metallic look. Although I would have preferred a more neutral base - the AW has a much more stylish one - I don't find these as distracting as I had expected from the pictures on the net. The base is plastic and plastic only, and here is where Acer could have done a little better. The Samsung I own has a metal plate inside the plastic base, making the whole thing more stable. The Acer dances a little on it's plastic penguin feet, probably also because the screen is not very heavy either. Unsuitable on a wobbly desk I suppose, thankfully mine is rocksolid.

[b]Connecting[/b]
At the back are the connectors, D-sub, DVI and HDMI and audio, though I will not be using that, and power of course. I put the base on my desk, slid the screen on top of it, turned it upside down and put in the DVI and power cable, easy peasy. The screen does not rise far above the base, a little less than my Samsung 226CW. The only way to adjust the height is to put something under the base. No swivel, but I don't care fot that.

[b]First impression[/b]
Turned on the screen and had to wait several seconds before it came on. I noticed it is also slow coming back on when changing resolutions. I had most games still configured for 1680x1050, and when I fired them up I heard the music of the opening titles play but was still looking at a black screen for a few moments, before it had switched. Having them at the native resolution solves this problem ofcourse, but for those switching res a lot this might be annoying.

[i]Edit: It seems that the nVidia card was not always changing the output resolution, simply scaling the image itself. The monitor said it was still at 1920x1080x120Hz, although the image was clearly low res and scaled. I've been able to change the output res, and the same thing occurs. Hooked up my 226CW Samsung in clone view, when coming out of slumber, the Samsung is the first back online in roughly one second, the Acer takes 4-6 seconds.[/i]

The first thing I noticed is the screen is very bright. Imo most LCD's are set way too bright factory-out, so I turned it down to 30. Contrast was good ootb, color a tad off but easily adjusted in the on-screen-menu. For now the USER setting will do nicely. Navigating through the on-screen-menu of the monitor is not very intuitive, but I kept pressing the buttons and found the right ones eventually.

Colors are vibrant, equally good if not better than my 226CW. Tested for dead pixels, found none - hurray. The screen is more or less uniformly lit, at first glance I didn't notice any bleeding or dark/white spots, but then again it is still in the middle of the day here.

Moving from side to side I found the viewing angles to be respectful - works fine for me up to about 45 degrees off center, not bad for a TN-panel. Up-down is more sensitive, as was to be expected. I can live with that, I know this is a trade-off for having a fast responding screen. The 24" IPS I have at work has way better viewing angles, very important of course for viewing documents and editing text ;) To those that find picture quality important and want to do quality photo-editing, I'd recommend getting/keeping a monitor with anything but a TN-panel. Coming from the 226CW, a TN-panel also, the Acer does a great job in my experience.

[b]120Hz 2D gaming[/b]
With the dual link cable connected, Windows 7 automatically recognized it and I can set the desktop refresh to 59, 60, 100, 110 and 120 Hz. And here is where I can already say: WOW, it is a noticable difference. Set it to 60Hz, move the mouse around, open and minimize windows and move them about. Now do the same at 120Hz and see the difference. Much smoother motion of the cursor, windows and animation. I fired up a few games, and in 2D, it looks as good as my trusty Sony CRT did (the F520 - a fine specimen). Actually, I'm inclined to say it looks even better. I didn't find any ghosting at all, and was flying through HL2's episodes again, forgetting I was playing on an LCD. The image is stunningly good, and beats the 2ms Samsung - fast in it's day - hands down. For those that don't care about 3D and just want an ultra-fast 2D screen, I would definately recommend the Acer.

[i]Edit: added the next part om 28-2[/i]

[b]120Hz 3D gaming - brightness[/b]
Well, here's what this monitor is all about. Installed the 3D drivers and little pyramid, ran setup and voila presto, it works. And it's awesome. Games finally look the way they should in my opinion. Getting the game depth and convergence right takes a little time, but once set, running around in a real virtual world was the most fun I've had in years. Analysts predicting 3D gaming/TV/movies is the future are probably right.
The monitor is automatically switched to it's maximum brightness, which is needed, because the shuttering glasses take away a lot of that. I'd say the image left is acceptable, but not brilliant. Dark areas are easily very dark. The display is very bright however, pains my eye's at max without glasses. The upside is the glasses darken the surroundings, making the 3D experience a little more intense. I don't know how bright the other models are, but with the shuttering technique I´ve found this to be more important than I thought.

[img]http://i45.tinypic.com/10h6phi.jpg[/img]

This picture shows what the screen looks like without the glasses on. You will see both images overlapping, and funny enough they don't flicker =)

[img]http://i45.tinypic.com/vpu9vk.jpg[/img]

This is the same scene, but now through the right eye. You'll see how well the left image is blocked out, the character being slightly out of focus is due to a longer exposure of my camera.

[b]120Hz 3D gaming - ghosting[/b]
I'd seen the snapshots in another review, showing the ghosting you can expect, and found about what I was expecting. I played Assassin's creed, Left 4 Dead, Half Life 2, and various Need for Speed games to see how they do. Need for Speed Pro Street gave me some problems and a fair amount of ghosting around the cars and buildings, otherwise in the other games it was hardly noticable. But then again there will be some, mostly when very bright or very dark parts are in the scene.

[img]http://i49.tinypic.com/96de0m.jpg[/img]

An image of Assassin's Creed where you wouldn't see any.

[img]http://i50.tinypic.com/ev7te9.jpg[/img]

Here you clearly see the ghost image of Altair, though this is not actual game play of course. In game you will see this only in certain light conditions. I've added two video's to show how well and poor the 3D Vision works.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRu1xcWnFK4"]Image quality on the Acer - video on Youtube[/url]

[url="http://nl.tinypic.com/r/2pt6p85/6"]Ghosting visible on the Acer - video on Tinypic (youtube gave me trouble today)[/url]

Note that the second video was slightly enhanced to show the ghosting. It isn't as pronounced as you see in the video, but it is there nonetheless.
[i]Edit: I've discovered that running the 3D Vision at 100Hz in stead of 120Hz really helps in decreasing the amount of visible ghosting to a point where it is almost extinct. Those sensitive to low refresh frequencies might notice the flickering of the lenses though.[/i]

In Half Life 2, you will find most ghosting in high contrast areas, such as dark buildings or lines across a clear sky, as you see here:

[img]http://i47.tinypic.com/selppc.jpg[/img]

[b]2D Desktop[/b]
Well, one thing I overlooked in all my haste to get to (3D) gaming was the image quality in day to day use. I find the colors to be quite good, something my 226CW was always lacking. I can notice some banding though, as it probably is a 6bit panel or something similar, but hey - it's an ultra fast TN-screen, so what was I thinking?

The image is also sharp, very sharp. Actually, here's my problem: the image is too sharp. I would like the pixels to blend together more. My Samsung does a better job at that, even though that also has a TN panel. It could never match the quality of a PVA or IPS screen though.

But there's another problem. Around dark letters a light halo appears, which makes reading of text on anything but a bright white background annoying. To illustrate two images of the same text on the cloned displays.

[img]http://i47.tinypic.com/35jma1k.jpg[/img]

Here's the Samsung, the black letters on grey background nicely displayed.

[img]http://i50.tinypic.com/v7glj8.jpg[/img]

And here's the Acer. Note the white 'shadow' around the black text. I've switched the display cables and outputs, but there's no difference. I'm unsure what is causing this, but I can tell you there's no setting in the monitor menu to correct this issue. I find this rather disappointing.
[i]Edit: I found a sollution for this, although it does include messing with the service menu. Read about that [url="http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=160941&view=findpost&p=1009658"]here[/url].[/i]

[b]Conclusion[/b]
Although the build quality isn't top notch, all in all the monitor has serious good points. The 120Hz is a truly noticable difference over previous 60Hz 2ms panels. It is very fast and responsive, and gaming enthousiasts will love it for that, even without 3D Vision.

The 3D Vision use on it is good in my opinion, only in specific conditions is ghosting visible and it doesn't really affect gameplay. It is still there however, so for those that want a 3D experience without [i]any[/i] ghosting this is not the display of choice. For the little less critical users that want some 3D fun, this monitor works well.
[i]Edit 9-3: I've found that using 100Hz in stead of 120Hz does help minimize the ghosting, to the point where it is hard to notice during gameplay.[/i]

The 2D regular use is a bit of a let-down for me though. Although colors are good and I do like the 1920x1080 resolution, the image shows some banding, is too crisp and has problems in contrasting areas. Reading is way less comfortable on it than I had expected, and because I also do this a lot, this poses a problem. I'm inclined to keep my older monitor for day-to-day use - although I haven't yet figured out where to put it.
[i]Edit: updated the review with new info on this. The fix improves the quality, but don't expect it to be as good as a PVA or IPS screen.[/i]

To sum it up: very good for gaming, the best gaming LCD I've seen so far, and the 3D experience is mind-blowing in my opinion. Old games are more fun than they were, and playing in true 3D is a new experience. It's actually hard to imagine these games being designed in 3D, but then displayed in flat 2D on regular displays - such a waste. Alas the Acer has it's downsides too: with the overdrive enabled, too much has been sacrificed in image quality to give it an acceptable desktop picture. For anyting but gaming, I would certainly not recommend it. Turning the overdrive off (see post mentioned in the edit above) does make it look much better - at this point acceptable to me. This requires a bit of tweaking though, and could be made a lot more user friendly by Acer.

( my rig: Asus Striker II Extreme, 4 GB Ram, Q9650, 2 x 8800GTX WC SLI, 3 x 1TB Samsung HD, Win 7 Ultimate x64)

[i]Edit 1-3-2010: added review links[/i]
More reviews:
[url="http://3dvision-blog.com/tag/acer-gd245hq-review/"]3D Vision Blog review[/url]
[url="http://www.daves3dphotography.com/"]Dave's 3D Photography[/url]
[url="http://www.digitalversus.com/article-357-7352-38.html"]Digital Versus product survey[/url]
[url="http://www.smart-blogs.com/acer-gd245hq-monitor.html"]Smart Blogs[/url]
26-2: Here's my review of the Acer GD245HQ. Please note:

- I have no previous experience with 3D vision, or with other 120Hz monitors. I cannot compare therefor to other 120Hz monitors like the AlienWare currently on sale.

- I've always been a CRT fan. Ghosting is non-existent on them. I loved my Iiyama visionmasters and Sony F520 (the ultimate CRT imo). The first LCD I got was Samsung's 2ms 226CW. It was one of the few really fast screens at the time, but never as good as a CRT. For 2D, I will be comparing mostly to the 226CW.



One more note: my 3D vision kit will arrive tomorrow, so I'll update with 3D experiences then. For now, my first 2D impressions.



Package

Just one day after ordering, it arrived today: the Acer GD245HQ. Neatly packed in a black box with 3D printed on the side rather large. This monitor was made for 3d Vision, clearly. The box easily opened, in it the screen and the stand, a manual and warranty booklet, CD with Acer software, two powercables (UK/EU), a DVI-dual link cable, D-sub cable and a mini-jack audio cable.



Assembly and build quality

Assembly is childsplay: the screen can be snapped onto the plastic base with orange details. The orange is a much better color than I had expected, less obtrusive and more of a metallic look. Although I would have preferred a more neutral base - the AW has a much more stylish one - I don't find these as distracting as I had expected from the pictures on the net. The base is plastic and plastic only, and here is where Acer could have done a little better. The Samsung I own has a metal plate inside the plastic base, making the whole thing more stable. The Acer dances a little on it's plastic penguin feet, probably also because the screen is not very heavy either. Unsuitable on a wobbly desk I suppose, thankfully mine is rocksolid.



Connecting

At the back are the connectors, D-sub, DVI and HDMI and audio, though I will not be using that, and power of course. I put the base on my desk, slid the screen on top of it, turned it upside down and put in the DVI and power cable, easy peasy. The screen does not rise far above the base, a little less than my Samsung 226CW. The only way to adjust the height is to put something under the base. No swivel, but I don't care fot that.



First impression

Turned on the screen and had to wait several seconds before it came on. I noticed it is also slow coming back on when changing resolutions. I had most games still configured for 1680x1050, and when I fired them up I heard the music of the opening titles play but was still looking at a black screen for a few moments, before it had switched. Having them at the native resolution solves this problem ofcourse, but for those switching res a lot this might be annoying.



Edit: It seems that the nVidia card was not always changing the output resolution, simply scaling the image itself. The monitor said it was still at 1920x1080x120Hz, although the image was clearly low res and scaled. I've been able to change the output res, and the same thing occurs. Hooked up my 226CW Samsung in clone view, when coming out of slumber, the Samsung is the first back online in roughly one second, the Acer takes 4-6 seconds.



The first thing I noticed is the screen is very bright. Imo most LCD's are set way too bright factory-out, so I turned it down to 30. Contrast was good ootb, color a tad off but easily adjusted in the on-screen-menu. For now the USER setting will do nicely. Navigating through the on-screen-menu of the monitor is not very intuitive, but I kept pressing the buttons and found the right ones eventually.



Colors are vibrant, equally good if not better than my 226CW. Tested for dead pixels, found none - hurray. The screen is more or less uniformly lit, at first glance I didn't notice any bleeding or dark/white spots, but then again it is still in the middle of the day here.



Moving from side to side I found the viewing angles to be respectful - works fine for me up to about 45 degrees off center, not bad for a TN-panel. Up-down is more sensitive, as was to be expected. I can live with that, I know this is a trade-off for having a fast responding screen. The 24" IPS I have at work has way better viewing angles, very important of course for viewing documents and editing text ;) To those that find picture quality important and want to do quality photo-editing, I'd recommend getting/keeping a monitor with anything but a TN-panel. Coming from the 226CW, a TN-panel also, the Acer does a great job in my experience.



120Hz 2D gaming

With the dual link cable connected, Windows 7 automatically recognized it and I can set the desktop refresh to 59, 60, 100, 110 and 120 Hz. And here is where I can already say: WOW, it is a noticable difference. Set it to 60Hz, move the mouse around, open and minimize windows and move them about. Now do the same at 120Hz and see the difference. Much smoother motion of the cursor, windows and animation. I fired up a few games, and in 2D, it looks as good as my trusty Sony CRT did (the F520 - a fine specimen). Actually, I'm inclined to say it looks even better. I didn't find any ghosting at all, and was flying through HL2's episodes again, forgetting I was playing on an LCD. The image is stunningly good, and beats the 2ms Samsung - fast in it's day - hands down. For those that don't care about 3D and just want an ultra-fast 2D screen, I would definately recommend the Acer.



Edit: added the next part om 28-2



120Hz 3D gaming - brightness

Well, here's what this monitor is all about. Installed the 3D drivers and little pyramid, ran setup and voila presto, it works. And it's awesome. Games finally look the way they should in my opinion. Getting the game depth and convergence right takes a little time, but once set, running around in a real virtual world was the most fun I've had in years. Analysts predicting 3D gaming/TV/movies is the future are probably right.

The monitor is automatically switched to it's maximum brightness, which is needed, because the shuttering glasses take away a lot of that. I'd say the image left is acceptable, but not brilliant. Dark areas are easily very dark. The display is very bright however, pains my eye's at max without glasses. The upside is the glasses darken the surroundings, making the 3D experience a little more intense. I don't know how bright the other models are, but with the shuttering technique I´ve found this to be more important than I thought.



Image



This picture shows what the screen looks like without the glasses on. You will see both images overlapping, and funny enough they don't flicker =)



Image



This is the same scene, but now through the right eye. You'll see how well the left image is blocked out, the character being slightly out of focus is due to a longer exposure of my camera.



120Hz 3D gaming - ghosting

I'd seen the snapshots in another review, showing the ghosting you can expect, and found about what I was expecting. I played Assassin's creed, Left 4 Dead, Half Life 2, and various Need for Speed games to see how they do. Need for Speed Pro Street gave me some problems and a fair amount of ghosting around the cars and buildings, otherwise in the other games it was hardly noticable. But then again there will be some, mostly when very bright or very dark parts are in the scene.



Image



An image of Assassin's Creed where you wouldn't see any.



Image



Here you clearly see the ghost image of Altair, though this is not actual game play of course. In game you will see this only in certain light conditions. I've added two video's to show how well and poor the 3D Vision works.



" rel="nofollow" target = "_blank">Image quality on the Acer - video on Youtube



Ghosting visible on the Acer - video on Tinypic (youtube gave me trouble today)



Note that the second video was slightly enhanced to show the ghosting. It isn't as pronounced as you see in the video, but it is there nonetheless.

Edit: I've discovered that running the 3D Vision at 100Hz in stead of 120Hz really helps in decreasing the amount of visible ghosting to a point where it is almost extinct. Those sensitive to low refresh frequencies might notice the flickering of the lenses though.



In Half Life 2, you will find most ghosting in high contrast areas, such as dark buildings or lines across a clear sky, as you see here:



Image



2D Desktop

Well, one thing I overlooked in all my haste to get to (3D) gaming was the image quality in day to day use. I find the colors to be quite good, something my 226CW was always lacking. I can notice some banding though, as it probably is a 6bit panel or something similar, but hey - it's an ultra fast TN-screen, so what was I thinking?



The image is also sharp, very sharp. Actually, here's my problem: the image is too sharp. I would like the pixels to blend together more. My Samsung does a better job at that, even though that also has a TN panel. It could never match the quality of a PVA or IPS screen though.



But there's another problem. Around dark letters a light halo appears, which makes reading of text on anything but a bright white background annoying. To illustrate two images of the same text on the cloned displays.



Image



Here's the Samsung, the black letters on grey background nicely displayed.



Image



And here's the Acer. Note the white 'shadow' around the black text. I've switched the display cables and outputs, but there's no difference. I'm unsure what is causing this, but I can tell you there's no setting in the monitor menu to correct this issue. I find this rather disappointing.

Edit: I found a sollution for this, although it does include messing with the service menu. Read about that here.



Conclusion

Although the build quality isn't top notch, all in all the monitor has serious good points. The 120Hz is a truly noticable difference over previous 60Hz 2ms panels. It is very fast and responsive, and gaming enthousiasts will love it for that, even without 3D Vision.



The 3D Vision use on it is good in my opinion, only in specific conditions is ghosting visible and it doesn't really affect gameplay. It is still there however, so for those that want a 3D experience without any ghosting this is not the display of choice. For the little less critical users that want some 3D fun, this monitor works well.

Edit 9-3: I've found that using 100Hz in stead of 120Hz does help minimize the ghosting, to the point where it is hard to notice during gameplay.



The 2D regular use is a bit of a let-down for me though. Although colors are good and I do like the 1920x1080 resolution, the image shows some banding, is too crisp and has problems in contrasting areas. Reading is way less comfortable on it than I had expected, and because I also do this a lot, this poses a problem. I'm inclined to keep my older monitor for day-to-day use - although I haven't yet figured out where to put it.

Edit: updated the review with new info on this. The fix improves the quality, but don't expect it to be as good as a PVA or IPS screen.



To sum it up: very good for gaming, the best gaming LCD I've seen so far, and the 3D experience is mind-blowing in my opinion. Old games are more fun than they were, and playing in true 3D is a new experience. It's actually hard to imagine these games being designed in 3D, but then displayed in flat 2D on regular displays - such a waste. Alas the Acer has it's downsides too: with the overdrive enabled, too much has been sacrificed in image quality to give it an acceptable desktop picture. For anyting but gaming, I would certainly not recommend it. Turning the overdrive off (see post mentioned in the edit above) does make it look much better - at this point acceptable to me. This requires a bit of tweaking though, and could be made a lot more user friendly by Acer.



( my rig: Asus Striker II Extreme, 4 GB Ram, Q9650, 2 x 8800GTX WC SLI, 3 x 1TB Samsung HD, Win 7 Ultimate x64)



Edit 1-3-2010: added review links

More reviews:

3D Vision Blog review

Dave's 3D Photography

Digital Versus product survey

Smart Blogs

#1
Posted 02/26/2010 09:09 PM   
can you go 1680x1050@120Hz?
can you go 1680x1050@120Hz?

#2
Posted 02/26/2010 10:57 PM   
[quote name='edible' post='1008716' date='Feb 27 2010, 12:57 AM']can you go 1680x1050@120Hz?[/quote]
Well, here's the thing. I can set any res below 1920x1080 at all the different refresh rates, and they will be displayed. So running the desktop at 1680x1050@120Hz is possible. However, the monitor states it is still receiving a 1920x1080@120Hz signal. So it seems the nVidia cards are doing the scaling, and only outputting 1920x1080@<refreshrateofmychoice>

There used to be a setting in the drivers for the nVidia card scaling, setting it to either fill up (like it does now), do aspect ratio correct scaling or do not scale (1:1). I can't seem to find that though.

In HL2, lowering the resolution has no effect on my FPS, but these were fine to begin with. In Assassin's Creed, it works like a charm. Going from 1920x1080 to 640x480, my FPS goes up 5,5x.

Note this is all in 2D, haven't tried with 3D Vision enabled. Will try that when the goggles arrive.
[quote name='edible' post='1008716' date='Feb 27 2010, 12:57 AM']can you go 1680x1050@120Hz?

Well, here's the thing. I can set any res below 1920x1080 at all the different refresh rates, and they will be displayed. So running the desktop at 1680x1050@120Hz is possible. However, the monitor states it is still receiving a 1920x1080@120Hz signal. So it seems the nVidia cards are doing the scaling, and only outputting 1920x1080@<refreshrateofmychoice>



There used to be a setting in the drivers for the nVidia card scaling, setting it to either fill up (like it does now), do aspect ratio correct scaling or do not scale (1:1). I can't seem to find that though.



In HL2, lowering the resolution has no effect on my FPS, but these were fine to begin with. In Assassin's Creed, it works like a charm. Going from 1920x1080 to 640x480, my FPS goes up 5,5x.



Note this is all in 2D, haven't tried with 3D Vision enabled. Will try that when the goggles arrive.

#3
Posted 02/26/2010 11:39 PM   
Hey Appelsap,

Where did you order the screen and the nvidia goggles?
Hey Appelsap,



Where did you order the screen and the nvidia goggles?

Intel core i7 940@3.7ghz, EVGA GTX 470, CoolerMAster 600W , OCZ Vertex 3 60 GB, Gigabyte X58A-UD3R, OCZ 6 GB triple channel

#4
Posted 02/27/2010 04:12 PM   
Cool, let me know how the thing works for 3D. I've been thinking about getting one for at the office so I can game in 3D at work or home :)
Cool, let me know how the thing works for 3D. I've been thinking about getting one for at the office so I can game in 3D at work or home :)

Ubelsteiner Rig

Intel Q9550 @ 3.9Ghz

Asus P5E-VM HDMI

4x2GB DDR2-1000

Nvidia GTX 570 (900/1800/2000)

Creative X-Fi

In-Win BR-665

Mitsubishi 60" DLP

#5
Posted 02/27/2010 04:22 PM   
[quote name='Aquaknox' post='1009021' date='Feb 27 2010, 06:12 PM']Where did you order the screen and the nvidia goggles?[/quote]
The goggles I got from Conrad, the screen from Take it now.

Sorry folks, I have to get some sleep, one of my kids is ill and I need my beautynap. I'll update with more 3D and 2D experiences tomorrow - some good, others less. I took some snaps as well, and recorded a little video, will add that too.
[quote name='Aquaknox' post='1009021' date='Feb 27 2010, 06:12 PM']Where did you order the screen and the nvidia goggles?

The goggles I got from Conrad, the screen from Take it now.



Sorry folks, I have to get some sleep, one of my kids is ill and I need my beautynap. I'll update with more 3D and 2D experiences tomorrow - some good, others less. I took some snaps as well, and recorded a little video, will add that too.

#6
Posted 02/27/2010 11:16 PM   
[quote name='Appelsap' post='1009194' date='Feb 27 2010, 04:16 PM']The goggles I got from Conrad, the screen from Take it now.

Sorry folks, I have to get some sleep, one of my kids is ill and I need my beautynap. I'll update with more 3D and 2D experiences tomorrow - some good, others less. I took some snaps as well, and recorded a little video, will add that too.[/quote]

Thx for the info. I'm looking forward to your 3d vision experience. Beterschap!
[quote name='Appelsap' post='1009194' date='Feb 27 2010, 04:16 PM']The goggles I got from Conrad, the screen from Take it now.



Sorry folks, I have to get some sleep, one of my kids is ill and I need my beautynap. I'll update with more 3D and 2D experiences tomorrow - some good, others less. I took some snaps as well, and recorded a little video, will add that too.



Thx for the info. I'm looking forward to your 3d vision experience. Beterschap!

Intel core i7 940@3.7ghz, EVGA GTX 470, CoolerMAster 600W , OCZ Vertex 3 60 GB, Gigabyte X58A-UD3R, OCZ 6 GB triple channel

#7
Posted 02/28/2010 02:47 PM   
I've updated my review in the first post. As soon as YouTube will accept the second video, I'll add the link. It's the one showing the ghosting quite clearly.
I've updated my review in the first post. As soon as YouTube will accept the second video, I'll add the link. It's the one showing the ghosting quite clearly.

#8
Posted 02/28/2010 03:42 PM   
You meant 3x1TB Samsung HD in your description. Maybe you can still change the screen for another one.
It should be usable for all day use.
You meant 3x1TB Samsung HD in your description. Maybe you can still change the screen for another one.

It should be usable for all day use.

Intel core i7 940@3.7ghz, EVGA GTX 470, CoolerMAster 600W , OCZ Vertex 3 60 GB, Gigabyte X58A-UD3R, OCZ 6 GB triple channel

#9
Posted 02/28/2010 04:09 PM   
I totally agree with your well crafted review, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds desktop use sub-par.. I was starting to think I was losing it /omg.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':omg:' /> .

I'll just add a couple of thoughts on depth + convergence.. I have mainly been using Borderlands as a test subject as it has been said that the game works well in 3D. As you scroll the pyramid wheel to add depth you can see the ghost image move further and further away from the main image. I'm not sure where this leaves me as to have no ghosting I have to set depth to 0, so I might aswell turn it right up, as any ghost [near or far from the main image] is as bad as another. The same effect seems to occur with convergence, as you move up and down you can see the image split into 2 and go their seperate ways. I've yet to find a way to get depth and convergence to cancel each other out and and leave me with 1 image.

I should also say I suffered from some flickering [white frames flashing up every 30 secs or so] last night, I'll have to do some more testing but I think it's down to ambient light conditions.

Borderlands does suffer from a lot of high contrast scenes, as most of the game is set outside with large expanses of sky, and when it turns to night it's so dark with the glasses on it's hard to see much at all.

I've also tried Burnout Paradise.. Which looked really good in 3D, with very little noticable ghosting, it's just a shame the actual games a bit naff.

I tried Crysis not expecting much as I'd heard bad things about it and 3D.. Sadly it was totally unplayable [and almost unrecogizable].

Fear II looked really good, did suffer some ghosting but at a kind of level I can tolerate [and I am fussy], unfortunately you get a huge crosshair you can't get rid of that preety much kills the experience.

Grid looked a bit weird to me with alot of discolouration. I think with some settings tweaks or a profile though this game could be made to look alot better in 3D.

That's about it so far, I'll report back with more findings as and when they appear. By the way does any one know much about 3D profiles.. Where to get them from, how to use them properly etc etc.
I totally agree with your well crafted review, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds desktop use sub-par.. I was starting to think I was losing it /omg.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':omg:' /> .



I'll just add a couple of thoughts on depth + convergence.. I have mainly been using Borderlands as a test subject as it has been said that the game works well in 3D. As you scroll the pyramid wheel to add depth you can see the ghost image move further and further away from the main image. I'm not sure where this leaves me as to have no ghosting I have to set depth to 0, so I might aswell turn it right up, as any ghost [near or far from the main image] is as bad as another. The same effect seems to occur with convergence, as you move up and down you can see the image split into 2 and go their seperate ways. I've yet to find a way to get depth and convergence to cancel each other out and and leave me with 1 image.



I should also say I suffered from some flickering [white frames flashing up every 30 secs or so] last night, I'll have to do some more testing but I think it's down to ambient light conditions.



Borderlands does suffer from a lot of high contrast scenes, as most of the game is set outside with large expanses of sky, and when it turns to night it's so dark with the glasses on it's hard to see much at all.



I've also tried Burnout Paradise.. Which looked really good in 3D, with very little noticable ghosting, it's just a shame the actual games a bit naff.



I tried Crysis not expecting much as I'd heard bad things about it and 3D.. Sadly it was totally unplayable [and almost unrecogizable].



Fear II looked really good, did suffer some ghosting but at a kind of level I can tolerate [and I am fussy], unfortunately you get a huge crosshair you can't get rid of that preety much kills the experience.



Grid looked a bit weird to me with alot of discolouration. I think with some settings tweaks or a profile though this game could be made to look alot better in 3D.



That's about it so far, I'll report back with more findings as and when they appear. By the way does any one know much about 3D profiles.. Where to get them from, how to use them properly etc etc.

#10
Posted 02/28/2010 04:29 PM   
[quote name='Aquaknox' post='1009550' date='Feb 28 2010, 06:09 PM']You meant 3x1TB Samsung HD in your description. Maybe you can still change the screen for another one.
It should be usable for all day use.[/quote]
Thanx, tiny glitch, updated the specs.

I'm thinking of keeping the Acer, and getting a good all day use screen. Maybe I can mount them on the same stand back-to-back, and turn the whole thing around for gaming. /stud.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':stud:' />
[quote name='Obone' post='1009559' date='Feb 28 2010, 06:29 PM']I totally agree with your well crafted review, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds desktop use sub-par.. I was starting to think I was losing it /omg.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':omg:' /> .[/quote]
No need to doubt yourself so soon :)

[quote]I'll just add a couple of thoughts on depth + convergence.. I have mainly been using Borderlands as a test subject as it has been said that the game works well in 3D. As you scroll the pyramid wheel to add depth you can see the ghost image move further and further away from the main image. I'm not sure where this leaves me as to have no ghosting I have to set depth to 0, so I might aswell turn it right up, as any ghost [near or far from the main image] is as bad as another. The same effect seems to occur with convergence, as you move up and down you can see the image split into 2 and go their seperate ways. I've yet to find a way to get depth and convergence to cancel each other out and and leave me with 1 image.[/quote]
In some cases, I've had the same problem. Adding depth means moving the objects further apart - thus the ghost image will be visible more. Changing the convergence means moving close objects even closer, in which case I ended up looking at two seperate pictures in stead of 3D. I believe you cannot solve ghosting this way - it's an inherent flaw in the design, the panel just cannot change certain pixels that fast. The only real sollution will be to buy a CRT/DLP or wait.

[quote](...) Burnout Paradise (...)[/quote]
3D won't change the nature of the game. If it wasn't really good to begin with, it will certainly not get any better =)

[quote](...) Crysis (...)[/quote]
Hmm, any particular reason 3D doesn't work well for Crysis - is it because you need eight quad-SLI rigs in a grid to get a decent framerate at an acceptable visual level, or do the graphics simply not work right?

[quote]Fear II (...) really good (...) huge crosshair (...) kills the experience.[/quote]
That crosshair thing is annoying. Thankfully the Source engine can turn it off, playing with it does 'kill the experience'.

Found some small glitches, such as the brightness level not resetting right after exiting 3D gaming mode, but those are minor gripes imo.
[quote name='Aquaknox' post='1009550' date='Feb 28 2010, 06:09 PM']You meant 3x1TB Samsung HD in your description. Maybe you can still change the screen for another one.

It should be usable for all day use.

Thanx, tiny glitch, updated the specs.



I'm thinking of keeping the Acer, and getting a good all day use screen. Maybe I can mount them on the same stand back-to-back, and turn the whole thing around for gaming. /stud.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':stud:' />

[quote name='Obone' post='1009559' date='Feb 28 2010, 06:29 PM']I totally agree with your well crafted review, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds desktop use sub-par.. I was starting to think I was losing it /omg.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':omg:' /> .

No need to doubt yourself so soon :)



I'll just add a couple of thoughts on depth + convergence.. I have mainly been using Borderlands as a test subject as it has been said that the game works well in 3D. As you scroll the pyramid wheel to add depth you can see the ghost image move further and further away from the main image. I'm not sure where this leaves me as to have no ghosting I have to set depth to 0, so I might aswell turn it right up, as any ghost [near or far from the main image] is as bad as another. The same effect seems to occur with convergence, as you move up and down you can see the image split into 2 and go their seperate ways. I've yet to find a way to get depth and convergence to cancel each other out and and leave me with 1 image.


In some cases, I've had the same problem. Adding depth means moving the objects further apart - thus the ghost image will be visible more. Changing the convergence means moving close objects even closer, in which case I ended up looking at two seperate pictures in stead of 3D. I believe you cannot solve ghosting this way - it's an inherent flaw in the design, the panel just cannot change certain pixels that fast. The only real sollution will be to buy a CRT/DLP or wait.



(...) Burnout Paradise (...)


3D won't change the nature of the game. If it wasn't really good to begin with, it will certainly not get any better =)



(...) Crysis (...)


Hmm, any particular reason 3D doesn't work well for Crysis - is it because you need eight quad-SLI rigs in a grid to get a decent framerate at an acceptable visual level, or do the graphics simply not work right?



Fear II (...) really good (...) huge crosshair (...) kills the experience.


That crosshair thing is annoying. Thankfully the Source engine can turn it off, playing with it does 'kill the experience'.



Found some small glitches, such as the brightness level not resetting right after exiting 3D gaming mode, but those are minor gripes imo.

#11
Posted 02/28/2010 04:52 PM   
Hi there I have the same monitor and for your Assasin's creed screen (double image shot), you can fix that with convergence and depth tweaking. First thing I do when playing games is make sure that the main character is "aligned" then check for double imaging, this monitor is really good at that comparing to last gen. Made it worth upgrading for sure.
Hi there I have the same monitor and for your Assasin's creed screen (double image shot), you can fix that with convergence and depth tweaking. First thing I do when playing games is make sure that the main character is "aligned" then check for double imaging, this monitor is really good at that comparing to last gen. Made it worth upgrading for sure.

#12
Posted 02/28/2010 07:25 PM   
Hahah! I knew it. I found a way to improve the 2D quality, to get rid of the weird white shadows around black text on a grey background.
/banana.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':banana:' />
In my review I described the annoying bad 2D quality. Well, that can disappear. Here's what it looked like:

[img]http://i50.tinypic.com/v7glj8.jpg[/img]

Note the strange whitish glow around the black text. You can also clearly see the bluish-white glow around the the YouTube logo. Yuck.
Here's what it looks like now:

[img]http://i49.tinypic.com/11k8ikz.jpg[/img]

As you can see, the horrid whitish shadows are gone. I figured it might have something to do with the panel's overdrive. A fast panel like this can only be so fast using an overdrive feature. It would also explain the weirdish colors appearing now and then, like in the screenshot on Lara's boat in an [url="http://3dvision-blog.com/acer-aspire-gd245hq-120hz-3d-vision-ready-monitor-review/"]excellent review found here[/url].

This assumption turned out to be correct. However, the regular user on-screen-menu does not mention any overdrive feature - nor does the Acer software bundled with the display. So to the service menu we need to go: /yes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':yes:' />
(minor note: [i]proceed at your own risk! I am not responsible for people messing up their display here.[/i]

- first power off the display;
- next, press the left-most menu button on the panel, keep pressing it and then shortly press the power button on the monitor;
- you can release the left-most menu button when the screen comes on (perhaps sooner, haven't tried);
- press the middel button (third from either left or right);
a (perhaps the) service menu comes up. [b]BE CAREFUL HERE[/b], you don't want to mess things up here. [b]USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK[/b].
- press the 'up' button, this is the second from the right. It is best to move up from here, because moving through the color settings will automatically change the color of the screen, regardless of any changes made;
- move up to the [b]OD[/b] option. Now press the middle button to access it's settings, and use the up/down buttons to change this.
- use the exit button - second from the left - to exit the menu
- power off the display
- turn it back on and: VOILA PRESTO. /sorcerer.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':sorcerer:' /> Overdrive is off, screen looks infinitely better. /thumbsup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':thumbsup:' />

Please note that I have not yet tested how this will affect the responsiveness of the screen, most likely it will become dramatically worse, and so ghosting will be a lot worse too. It does however fix the image problems described above, and is ofcourse reversible by changing the settings back, this can be done in exactly the same way.

Now all Acer needs to do is add the [i]turn off overdrive[/i] feature in the user-menu (firmware upgrade please!) - or better still, only activate the OD at maximum brightness, which is automatically used for 3D Vision anyway. B)

[i]edit: wrong first pic, updated[/i]
Hahah! I knew it. I found a way to improve the 2D quality, to get rid of the weird white shadows around black text on a grey background.

/banana.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':banana:' />

In my review I described the annoying bad 2D quality. Well, that can disappear. Here's what it looked like:



Image



Note the strange whitish glow around the black text. You can also clearly see the bluish-white glow around the the YouTube logo. Yuck.

Here's what it looks like now:



Image



As you can see, the horrid whitish shadows are gone. I figured it might have something to do with the panel's overdrive. A fast panel like this can only be so fast using an overdrive feature. It would also explain the weirdish colors appearing now and then, like in the screenshot on Lara's boat in an excellent review found here.



This assumption turned out to be correct. However, the regular user on-screen-menu does not mention any overdrive feature - nor does the Acer software bundled with the display. So to the service menu we need to go: /yes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':yes:' />

(minor note: proceed at your own risk! I am not responsible for people messing up their display here.



- first power off the display;

- next, press the left-most menu button on the panel, keep pressing it and then shortly press the power button on the monitor;

- you can release the left-most menu button when the screen comes on (perhaps sooner, haven't tried);

- press the middel button (third from either left or right);

a (perhaps the) service menu comes up. BE CAREFUL HERE, you don't want to mess things up here. USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

- press the 'up' button, this is the second from the right. It is best to move up from here, because moving through the color settings will automatically change the color of the screen, regardless of any changes made;

- move up to the OD option. Now press the middle button to access it's settings, and use the up/down buttons to change this.

- use the exit button - second from the left - to exit the menu

- power off the display

- turn it back on and: VOILA PRESTO. /sorcerer.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':sorcerer:' /> Overdrive is off, screen looks infinitely better. /thumbsup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':thumbsup:' />



Please note that I have not yet tested how this will affect the responsiveness of the screen, most likely it will become dramatically worse, and so ghosting will be a lot worse too. It does however fix the image problems described above, and is ofcourse reversible by changing the settings back, this can be done in exactly the same way.



Now all Acer needs to do is add the turn off overdrive feature in the user-menu (firmware upgrade please!) - or better still, only activate the OD at maximum brightness, which is automatically used for 3D Vision anyway. B)



edit: wrong first pic, updated

#13
Posted 02/28/2010 08:10 PM   
Glad you fixed the problem. :D
Glad you fixed the problem. :D

Intel core i7 940@3.7ghz, EVGA GTX 470, CoolerMAster 600W , OCZ Vertex 3 60 GB, Gigabyte X58A-UD3R, OCZ 6 GB triple channel

#14
Posted 02/28/2010 08:38 PM   
Nice work Appelsap.. I think I'll just hang on a while and see what your results are like in other areas before I go tinkering as I am a clumsey oaf, and will probably break something.

Hope you come back with good news :).
Nice work Appelsap.. I think I'll just hang on a while and see what your results are like in other areas before I go tinkering as I am a clumsey oaf, and will probably break something.



Hope you come back with good news :).

#15
Posted 02/28/2010 09:23 PM   
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