3D Vision 2 brings a new level of immersion to Batman: Arkham City and Trine 2
Unboxing the ASUS 3D Vision Ready VG278H:
The 3D Vision/ASUS Bundle comes in a large box containing the ASUS VG278 display and the 3D Vision wireless active shutter glasses Kit.
As you can see, “LED Backlight” is touted along with 3D and 120Hz and it is clear that the ASUS VG278 is accompanied by the 3D Vision 2 glasses inside. 2ms “trace free” is the quoted specification from gray to gray. The precious contents is well packed for shipping and ours was double boxed.
Below we see everything out of the box and ready for the simple assembly.
The 3D Vision Kit is included with the ASUS VG278 display bundle.
Putting the base and the stand together is a snap (literally, and a click), and then turn the screws to lock it down.You can see that the bottom stand is solid and heavy to provide stable support for the display. It also has a swivel so you can turn the display on its base.
Below we see the Asus VG278 display next to the contents fully unpacked and almost ready to turn on.
There is no separate emitter; it is built into the top of the display and it is sufficient for multiple pairs of 3D Vision glasses. The built-in emitter even has the ability to tilt so as to fine tune communication with the active shutter glasses.
The screen tilts back and forth, swivels on its base, as well as lowers and raises. You can easily rotate the stand on its base to pivot your screen in all usable planes and it would work well paired with two identical displays for Surround or 3D Vision Surround. The bezel is only about three-quarters of an inch wide.
The ASUS 27″ VG278 display uses a LED backlight so it is slightly thinner than the 23″ ASUS VG236 display which is backlit by CCFL.
This is a particularly good looking display. One of the best things that we like about it other than its size and brightness is that it is a matte finish – not glossy as with our other ASUS 23″ VG236 display. It is a real advantage to use 3D Vision in a fairly well-lit room without having reflections on the screen to deal with.
Below we see it from the back.
The connector panel is underneath the display and it’s a bit difficult to access as is our older 23″ ASUS display.
Besides the power connector, we see HDMI 1.4a, HDMI and D-Sub. No DisplayPort. Make sure you use the supplied dual-link DVI cable which is mandatory to display 3D Vision or you can use the supplied HDMI 1.4a compliant-cable which has a full-sized HDMI connector on one end and a mini HDMI connector for GeForce cards on the other. Everything else is set up very similarly to the 23″ ASUS VG236 that we reviewed earlier.
There is also a headphone connector and a stereo 3.5mm audio input for the stereo speakers that are built in. They are not impressive but do the job and are especially useful if you want to connect a portable device or BluRay player directly to the speaker inputs. A subwoofer is almost mandatory for movies although the treble and midrange is acceptable.
The front panel controls are simple and easy to use and they are located along the bottom edge of the display’s bottom right corner. They are labeled by small icons printed on the edge of the front of the bezel and are buttons that are easy to feel by touch. Pressing a button brings up the easy to use on screen display with many options available. Besides the usual controls for color, contrast and brightness, are options to change the settings for LightBoost and the IR signal stength.
The ASUS VG278 is an excellent 1080P 120Hz 3D Vision 2 ready display in all of it separate areas. It is an excellent fast-response 2D 120Hz display with good color accuracy. It’s LED backlight makes it perfect for a much brighter experience with 3D gaming and there is the awesome ability to tweak it further to nearly eliminate ghosting, thus making for a much more fatigue-free 3D experience. Its 27″ is perfect for an immersive experience as bigger is better for 3D.
Since the ASUS VG278 is a TN panel, it will never match the wide viewing angles and flawless color uniformity of a high end IPS panel like this editor’s thirty-inch HP PL 3065, for example. However, it is among the best TN screens that we have seen and it is perfect for fast paced shooters in 2D as well as for 2D Vision 2. There is minimal backlight bleed in our display, but this will of course vary from display to display.
The ASUS VG278 is a beautiful display with a wonderful matte screen and our images do it little justice compared with seeing it live in 3D, in fast paced 120Hz 2D, and in person.
We are already seeing the next generation 27″ 120Hz LCDs that will not only support full 1080p gaming at 60fps using the 3D Vision built-in emitter, but they will also support the HDMI 1.4a standard which has the full 60fps at 720p and 24fps at 1080p.
Our 27″ ASUS vg278 120Hz display is the new breed of 27″ display that supports 3D Vision as well as S3D via HDMI 1.4
Here are the specifications for the ASUS display from the ASUS web site:
Specifications
| Display | Panel Size: Wide Screen 27.0″(68.6cm) 16:9 True Resolution: 1920×1080 Full HD 1080P: Yes Pixel Pitch: 0.311mm Brightness(Max): 300 cd/? ASUS Smart Contrast Ratio (ASCR): 50000000:1Viewing Angle (CR?10): 170°(H)/160°(V) Response Time: 2ms (Gray to Gray) Display Colors: 16.7M |
| Video Feature | Trace Free TechnologySPLENDID Video Intelligence Technology SPLENDID Video Preset Modes: 6 Modes (sRGB Mode/Scenery Mode/Theater Mode/Standard Mode/Night View Mode/Game Mode) Skin-Tone Selection: 3 Modes Color Temperature Selection:4 Modes HDCP support |
| Audio Features | Stereo Speakers: 3W x 2 Stereo RMS |
| Convenient Hotkey | SPLENDID Video Preset Mode Selection Auto. Adjustment Brightness Adjustment Contrast Adjustment Input Selection |
| I/O Ports | Signal Input: HDMI , D-Sub, Dual-link DVI-D (support NVIDIA 3D Vision) PC Audio Input: 3.5mm Mini-Jack AV Audio Input: HDMI 1.4 Audio Output: HDMI 1.4 Earphone jack: 3.5mm Mini-Jack |
| Signal Frequency | Analog Signal Frequency: 24~140 KHz(H)/ 50~122 Hz(V) Digital Signal Frequency: 24~83 KHz(H)/ 50~85 Hz(V) |
| Power Consumption | Power On < 65W Power Saving Mode < 1W Power Off Mode < 1W |
| Mechanical Design | Chassis Colors: Black Tilt:+15°~-5° Swivel: Yes Height Adjustment: Yes VESA Wall Mounting: 100x100mm |
| Security | Kensington lock |
| Dimensions | Phys. Dimension (WxHxD): 643x460x220mm Box Dimension(WxHxD): 732x560x176mm |
| Weight | Net Weight (Esti.): 8 kg Gross Weight (Esti.): 10 kg |
| Accessories | Dual-link DVI cable VGA cable Audio cable Power cord Quick start guide Warranty Card Nvidia 3D Vision Kit |
| Regulation Approval | Energy Star®, ErP, UL/cUL, CB, CE, FCC, CCC, BSMI, Gost-R, C-Tick, VCCI, J-MOSS, PSB, RoHS, WEEE, Windows 7 WHQL |
120Hz displays are particularly well-suited for fast-paced shooters and playing these games on a 120Hz display versus playing on a 60Hz display is almost like playing a different game. With a 120Hz display, you are getting every single frame at or below 120fps drawn to the display. At that high of a response rate, flicker is gone. The result is a similar kind of, ‘once you’ve experienced it, you can’t go back’
The 3D Vision 2 Glasses
Packed with the ASUS VG278 display are the 3D Vision 2 glasses.
The box tells you what you need for 3D Vision and what’s included in the box.
So far, we find 3D Vision 2 to be an incredibly immersive experience – a solid improvement over the original. Below are the contents of the box – the glasses, 2 extra nose pieces, the charging cable, a pouch that serves as a cleaning cloth and the 3D Vision 2 booklet.
The 3D Vision active shutter glasses
Nvidia’s 3D Vision 2 glasses are reasonably stylish and one could wear them outside in public although it is not a good idea as direct sunlight is harmful for the liquid crystal display nor do they provide any UV protection. The 3D Vision 2 glasses also have a protective mechanism and the lenses will darken and lighten rapidly when you are not gaming in 3D to remind you to take them off.
All of the electronics are located on the inner left side on the glasses and it appears to add no weight at all. The wireless glasses do not require a wire connection although the wired set of the original 3D Vision glasses do.
The wireless glasses are powered by a built-in lithium-ion battery and they will hold a charge for about 60 hours. The wireless glasses receive their synchronization signal from the IR transmitter built into the ASUS display and you may have an unlimited number of glasses receiving the same signal from a single emitter. The glasses must be located in direct view of the transmitter or the glass will not function; blink and eventually turn off.
An on-off button and a Power Battery indicator are located on the left side of the 3D Vision 2 Glasses frame; a bit more inconvenient to press than the older glasses.. The glasses will shut down automatically after a few minutes of being idle and out of contact with the emitter. The lenses blink in order to remind you that you should take them off, and an LED also blinks red when the battery is low; it is amber when being charged via the USB cable.
A standard USB connector is included with the kit and is used for recharging the battery. It takes about 3 hours from discharged to fully charged. There were no comfort issues for this editor or any of his 20 guests; even those who wore them over prescription eyeglasses. All of the guests agreed that the glasses were quite comfortable and the guests who tried both the older glasses and the newer glasses, liked the newer ones better.
These glasses can fit most faces because of the 3 different-sized nose pads that are included with the 3D Vision 2 kit. This editor found no advantages to wearing contact lenses instead of prescription eyeglasses with the Nvidia 3D Vision glasses as long as all of the lenses were spotlessly clean.
3D Vision 2 is compatible with Nvidia’s video cards, starting from the 8800 GT and 9600 GT, and including the GTX 200/400 and 500 series of cards. Dual-GPU video cards are also supported including SLI configurations with two or more cards. However, you do not want to use entry-level cards because the load on them is approximately twice what it is for 2D gaming.
Well, we know why 3D Vision 2 is improved over the original, we have unboxed the ASUS VG278 and the active shutter glasses, let’s see how Trine 2 and Batman: Arkham City benefit from the improvements.
