NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision Review – 3D Glasses for the Masses

NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision Hardware

The NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision technology all comes in a single box including the glasses, IR transmitter, cables and software; one of the few direct-sell products from NVIDIA the packaging is very high quality and you certainly feel like you are buying a high-end piece of equipment.

The interior box on the left holds all the software and cables needed to setup the 3D Vision configuration while the right section holds the glasses, transmitter and a few nose bridge choices.


NVIDIA has included very easy to read and understand quick-start instructions that I feel any PC gamer would be able to follow without a problem and also gives you a nice lens cleaning cloth and glasses case to keep your purchase safe when not in use. 


The cables include a DVI-to-HDMI cable to connect your PC to a DLP 3D-Ready TV, two USB cables (one for charging the glasses, the other for the IR transmitter) and a communications cable to connect a DLP TV to the IR communication device. 


The active shutter stereoscopic 3D glasses are seem to be very well built and even after my weeks of use (even with some handling by the public at Best Buy) held up very well to abuse, fingerprints and more.  Don’t let the angle and great photograph work fool you though, these are not “cool” looking glasses though they WORLDS better than any other 3D glasses on the market.  My wife confirmed the “nerd-factor” for me several times. 

You will notice on the right side of this photo that there is a slight bulge just past the lens – that is the IR receiver that permits communication between the IR transmitter and the glasses to time the shutter speed of the lenses. 

The nose bridge pieces seen in this photo can be installed on the glasses and vary the height at which the glasses sit on your face.  If you use standard glasses on a normal basis these bridges will allow you to use the NVIDIA 3D Vision glasses over them.


As mentioned on the previous page, each of the lenses is effectively a single pixel LCD screen that alternates between off (clear) and on (black) and thus can alternate which eye sees the current frame on the display. 


On the left arm you will find a power button that is used to turn the shutters on when they have turned off through timing out or to re-sync them with the IR transmitter.  The LED indicator lights up when you push the button as well: green for a good charge, red to indicate they have only a couple hours of gaming left in them.


To charge the battery in the glasses you can use the included or any standard mini-USB cable.  A fully charged battery will last you about 40 hours of gaming time according to NVIDIA’s documentation and a full charge up takes about 4 hours.


The Infrared transmitter that is used to time the shutters on the glasses with your display and computer is small box that needs to have a line of sight to the IR receiver on the front of the glasses.  The single button on the front of the IR transmitter allows you to switch between the stereo 3D mode being enabled or disabled.  This allows you to turn off the feature if the 3D glasses’ battery has died or you just don’t want the effect at that time. 


The back of the transmitter has two connections: one USB connection for communications with your gaming PC and mini-stereo-type plug for communication with the 3D-Ready DLP TV.  Both connections are required if you are using the DLP display type but obviously only the USB connection is required if you chose to use a 120 Hz LCD panel. 

The wheel on the back of the transmitter is used to adjust the depth of the 3D effect on screen.  You can move the when to adjust the depth down and thus create a “flatter” effect with just a small bit of 3D added to it or push the wheel to its maximum to create the most depth possible.  This is really a personal preference that each person will have to judge for themselves on a game-to-game basis.  Some users are comfortable with the full depth setting right off the bat while others will need to start somewhere in between.  You will even find that over time, your eyes will more easily jump into the 3D effect and thus you can increase the depth of the effect to larger amounts as your eyes adjust.