I got the eDimensional wired glasses for review, but there is also wireless version. When I unpacked this little box there was this items: wired glasses, power adapter (for use with older graphics cards through a keyboard connector), E-D Glasses adapter cable - used between monitor and graphic card (place where E-D Glasses has to be plugged in), another set of shorter temples for E-D Glasses and a users guide.
Installation
Installation of E-D Glasses is very simple due to included users guide. I was following step-by-step installation notes. And there was no problem. I was not using power adapter. My computer for this review is Athlon TB 800, 256 MB RAM, GeForce 2 GTS, 17" Trinitron monitor NEC FE 750+ with Windows XP Professional.
Performance
I'm using 3D Mark 2001 by MadOnion for performance testing. At first I did benchmark on my computer without installing E-D Glasses with detonator drivers version 21.83 result was 2692 points. After this I did install version 28.32 because 3D glasses are supported by nVidia by detonators version 23.11 and higher. I plugged in glasses and turn their function on. Result was only 1142 points. But this is caused by double rendering for one frame and it has no affect on visual performance. There is only little slowdown in my opinion it may be at most 10%-20%. I can recommend using the best vertical frequency that your monitor support - higher is better. In WinXP and Win2k is problem setting this for nVidia cards, but there are some great utilities for this problem - for newest detonator drivers it's NV refresh tool by David G. and Mike C. and for older version of detonators with uncompressed format data there is nVidia Refreshrate fix by Sten Uusvali.
Visual benefits
I tested all games on resolution 1024x768 with 32bpp and vertical frequency 100Hz.When I was watching on 3D Mark scenes through E-D Glasses I was simply amazed. This glasses bring me great vision that I never expect from them. Scenes in dragon flight were incredible all space in this vision was more realistic. Next scene in Max-FX engine - used in game Max Payne was really fantastic - flying fragments after bullets contacts was really great, because I saw where they really are in space. But it was only the beginning…
Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis - I think this is one of the best games ever. First I had some problems with menu - there was another incorrect 3D placement, but I found the way to run this game with no problems. I recommend you disable E-D Glasses in control panel and after you run this game and menu is loaded, enable E-D Glasses by pressing hotkey Ctrl+T. Another problem was in game when I was playing as soldier, my gun was doubled in vision - I recommend use of hotkey Ctrl+F3 for less stereo separation or CTRL + F5 for less convergence. After these settings adjustments the graphics looked excellent. For example I finally saw how deep the bush is and I saw each shape and its 3D placement. Space orientation was incredible. Game effects were more realistic. For example sitting in tank as gunner was as looking around as through real glass optics! In T55 I really saw the position where the machine gun is firing and tracers too. When I fired from main gun I saw real smoke. And with smoke in this game being very good you can feel it best with E-D Glasses. External view from each vehicle gives me great vision on textures placement and great 3D design. I was surprised with vision like this. It was more detailed than ever before. I wanted to use some add-ons with great textures. I did create own mission with desert add-ons by Maac&Marfy and I used every vehicle. My result? It was great. Driving each vehicle gives you real feeling and flying with each plane or chopper gives you real sense of flying high above the terrain. When I used NV Goggles in night mission it was same as if I had NV Goggles on my eyes. Looking through optics is absolutely perfect.
Half Life - when I used these glasses on this game it was fantastic, real space with good area positioning gives me never known sense of situational awareness and immersiveness in the action. I was viewing my enemies as if they were real bodies. When firing on them I saw pieces of meat flying in space. Dead bodies on ground has their space form not only contour. Using E-D Glasses in this game was very useful.
Rally Championship 2000 - I always wanted to use these glasses with some kind of simulator and I selected this game because I like it. When I drive this car before E-D Glasses it was only on bumper view, because it gives me better feeling from speed. Internal view from driver place was not good as I was tired with nonsense driving. But E-D Glasses gives me new sensation of glass on windows and scenery around car. Driving was vastly improved, especially with my FF wheel. But there was another great view - view behind a car. This view gives me real feeling of contours of car I was driving. Using E-D Glasses in this game was very useful.
MechWarrior 4: Vengeance - another great simulation. There was first problem, because of incorrect 3D object placement in menu but it's not problem every time you can disable 3D vision by hotkey Ctrl+T. In game vision was really great; objects were very realistic and I has only one problem I couldn't stop playing.
Conclusion
My result is simple - using E-D Glasses in game especially in Operation Flashpoint gives you a more realistic vision then you can ever imagine. Thanks to E-D Glasses there is no need to use anti-aliasing. There is another great hotkey Alt-F1 for creation of stereoscopic screenshots from your game. There is list of many games in control panel with some little description about using with E-D Glasses. This all helps to really improve your gameplay. They are a vast improvement over any older similar technology you may be familiar with. I recommend them as a must-have for any hard core gamer and you won’t be disappointed. For purchase information and an online list of thousands of supported games you can visit eDimensional website.
I got the eDimensional wired glasses for review, but there is also wireless version. When I unpacked this little box there was this items: wired glasses, power adapter (for use with older graphics cards through a keyboard connector), E-D Glasses adapter cable - used between monitor and graphic card (place where E-D Glasses has to be plugged in), another set of shorter temples for E-D Glasses and a users guide.
Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis - I think this is one of the best games ever. First I had some problems with menu - there was another incorrect 3D placement, but I found the way to run this game with no problems. I recommend you disable E-D Glasses in control panel and after you run this game and menu is loaded, enable E-D Glasses by pressing hotkey Ctrl+T. Another problem was in game when I was playing as soldier, my gun was doubled in vision - I recommend use of hotkey Ctrl+F3 for less stereo separation or CTRL + F5 for less convergence. After these settings adjustments the graphics looked excellent. For example I finally saw how deep the bush is and I saw each shape and its 3D placement. Space orientation was incredible. Game effects were more realistic. For example sitting in tank as gunner was as looking around as through real glass optics! In T55 I really saw the position where the machine gun is firing and tracers too. When I fired from main gun I saw real smoke. And with smoke in this game being very good you can feel it best with E-D Glasses. External view from each vehicle gives me great vision on textures placement and great 3D design. I was surprised with vision like this. It was more detailed than ever before. I wanted to use some add-ons with great textures. I did create own mission with desert add-ons by Maac&Marfy and I used every vehicle. My result? It was great. Driving each vehicle gives you real feeling and flying with each plane or chopper gives you real sense of flying high above the terrain. When I used NV Goggles in night mission it was same as if I had NV Goggles on my eyes. Looking through optics is absolutely perfect.
Half Life - when I used these glasses on this game it was fantastic, real space with good area positioning gives me never known sense of situational awareness and immersiveness in the action. I was viewing my enemies as if they were real bodies. When firing on them I saw pieces of meat flying in space. Dead bodies on ground has their space form not only contour. Using E-D Glasses in this game was very useful.
Rally Championship 2000 - I always wanted to use these glasses with some kind of simulator and I selected this game because I like it. When I drive this car before E-D Glasses it was only on bumper view, because it gives me better feeling from speed. Internal view from driver place was not good as I was tired with nonsense driving. But E-D Glasses gives me new sensation of glass on windows and scenery around car. Driving was vastly improved, especially with my FF wheel. But there was another great view - view behind a car. This view gives me real feeling of contours of car I was driving. Using E-D Glasses in this game was very useful.
MechWarrior 4: Vengeance - another great simulation. There was first problem, because of incorrect 3D object placement in menu but it's not problem every time you can disable 3D vision by hotkey Ctrl+T. In game vision was really great; objects were very realistic and I has only one problem I couldn't stop playing.
