Where to find Zalman or other passive monitors?

[Rudi Herbert]

Gentlemen,

I'm in need of a Zalman monitor, or any other alternative that works with polarized glasses, NOT active shutter stuff, but can't find them in any of the usual suspects here in the USA. Any suggestions?

[Bruce Allen]

EDIT: go with jonnycom's recommend instead of mine :)

place I've never heard of before has the Zalman on sale for under $300:
http://www.i-computerstore.com/LCD-Panels-20-to-28-/22-2D-3D-LCD-Monitor-3536.aspx

Aren't the IZ3D monitors also polarized?
MacMall has it:
http://www.macmall.com/p/4647250?dpno=7503864&source=MWBgooglebase

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

[jonnycom]

Fry's has the Zalman...... make sure you get the latest true HD one...... the old one can not do 1920 rez...... They kinda work. Get the new Hyundi 24" one if you can.

[Rudi Herbert]

Thanks guys,

I went ahead and got the IZ3D, since I'm in a bit of a rush. I wanted to get the Hyundai but it seems to be out of stock everywhere I looked. Let's hope the IZ3D is as good as the Zalman...

[Johnny Johnson]

At the risk of shameless self advertising, you can call me at Inition. We are independent resellers of all 3D monitors as well as 3D rig sales and hires.

johnny.johnson@inition.co.uk
www.inition.co.uk

[percy fung]

I got 3 Zalman 30" from them direct,
1 full res, very narrow viewing angle, say 10 degrees
the others at lower res and below than 1920 x1080, however have a better viewing angle, say 20 - 30 degrees

Perhaps write to Zlaman direct

[Jim Geduldick]

One note on the Zalman is the viewing angle is pretty bad. Just an FYI.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

The viewing angles are pretty bad on most all passively-polarized LCDs. Even on the $8K JVC 46" monitor. Personally, I can't stand the interlacing and I had to be at least 25ft away from the 46" panels at NAB to not see it. I saw the newest Zalman 24" 1080p there and a few others that all seem to be using the same TN 3D 23.5" panel. Acer has a model that uses the same panel and it has more inputs than the Zalman, but I don't know much about it. Amazon has it in stock for about $360, but that's all I know...

Fry's or NewEgg seem to be the best bet for getting one of the Zalman screens. But neither show them in stock on their web sites. I don't know if the 24" panels have really entered the retail channels just yet.

[Johnny Johnson]

We're quite big fans of the LG-LE950 46" passive polarised screens here. We sell them for £2.5k, which is way cheaper than the JVC 47" (£6.5k). The LG's are slightly less sharp than the JVCs, but in my opinion represent colours more accurately.

http://www.inition.co.uk/inition/dispatcher.php?URL_=product_stereovis_lg_ld920&SubCatID_=3&model=products&action=get&tab=summary

[Stefan Christou]

Hey guys, what's the advantage of passive over active stereo tech? I mean, with active glasses you can use a $100 kit to make any screen that does over 120hz a 60p 3d monitor.

Am I missing something here?

S

[Rudi Herbert]

Hey guys, what's the advantage of passive over active stereo tech? I mean, with active glasses you can use a $100 kit to make any screen that does over 120hz a 60p 3d monitor.

Am I missing something here?

S

Stefan,

I don't know where you can get that kit for $100. The glasses are $100 each, the unit that syncs the TV with the glasses between $200 and $400, and then you need to go through a lengthy install process on your TV and an even longer one if you want to do it on a monitor, as the video card must be tweaked as well. You also need specialized software to run the side by side feed needed for active shutter glasses, a feeder box and even a different TV receiver to watch 3D TV, all of which add to the cost. Right now, the cost of the kit you mention is between $500 and $900 depending on your unit and set up needs. I'm using the passive monitor in the field and can't afford to go through all this. I have nothing against the acti ve technology, it is the best of what we have right now for home viewing or studio work, but it is not as easy or as cheap as you make it sound

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Cheapest active add-on kits for HDTV's that I've seen run about $650 or so by the time you get the sync-box plus a pair of glasses, you might get two pair for that price depending on packaged deals with TVs, etc... They really only work with 120Hz and up TVs. 60Hz TVs and displays don't do so great as they can only flash each eye at up to 30fps.

Passive polarized displays are a great concept and are easier on the eyes than the active ones, I think. However, most all of them use an interleaved line pattern, which means you are watching an interlaced 3D image and only getting half resolution for each frame when watching 3D. You can also run into interlaced image artifacting between the stereo images -- combing, etc..

I've seen the LG passive display, it's nice. I think it looks nicer than the JVC right out of the box, but I prefer the JVC. Which is also 46", BTW, not 47". It is indeed a sharper display and has better overall contrast and the color is great once properly calibrated. In the USA, the JVC is about $2000 more than the LG. There is also the Hyundai 46" model, which is a bit cheaper than the LG. It's using LG's panel AFAIK -- and I think the JVC one is as well, but it has muddy colors compared to the other two. It really comes down to the internal processing on these displays.

Passive stereo is actually helping to drive displays to quad-HD resolution faster. Manufacturers interested in passive 3D tech would like to up the display resolution so they can get full 1920X1080p worth of visual info on the screen even after alternating lines/dots.

We're going to see DLP systems late this year or early next year that are built for passive polarized glasses. To me, this was a complete no-brainer and I don't know why so many companies stopped making DLP displays. ...I guess because you can't really hang them on a wall. Anyway, DLP systems already have a spinning color wheel, so it's not a big trick to add a spinning or alternating polarizing filter in line with the colors, or incorporate it into the color disc if using a disc with dual filters for each color, which several do. Given that, we'll be seeing full-HD passive 3D DLP displays and projectors really soon now. No more using 2 separate projectors for 3D and having to worry about convergence between them!

[Stefan Christou]

Hmmmm. OK guys. I wasn't really talking about TVs more PC monitors. My bad for not being clear enough. Here's the $100 kit I was talking about, turns out it's actually £100 once you get the tax rebated: http://www.google.co.uk/products?client=safari&rls=en&q=nvidia%203d%20vision%20kit&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf