TS2013 in 3D!

[NKP1]

Anybody running a 3D setup? Active or passive? How does our rail sim look in 3D? Do some things appear off the screen (pop)?
Very curious about this. I'm looking at this new active 3D monitor from Asus > http://usa.asus.com/Display/LCD_Monitors/VG248QE/
It has a solid 5 egg rating on newegg > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... pk=vg248qe
$279 w/free shipping from buy.com > http://www.rakuten.com/prod/asus-vg248q ... 94157.html
Been happily using a Samsung 245BW for the past 6 years. No problems with that.
But I'm about ready to pull the trigger on this new one. Just wondered what you folks thought.

My system:
GTX 680
Phenom II X6 1090t @ 3.93ghz
Zalman CNPS9900A copper cooler
16gb g-skill ddr3
Win7 64 on OCZ SSD

[peterhayes]

If that is a "true" 144 Hz monitor it should be excellent.
I use a Samsung 2233 which is a "true" 120Hz monitor supporting nvidia 3D vision and the clarity is very good with little motion blur. (It runs at 60Hz in 3D mode). It will be interesting to see how the ASUS monitor renders TS2013 and what settings you have to use with the graphics driver to get the 144 Hz refresh rate.
Regards
pH

[NKP1]

Yes I have no idea. I'll find out in a week or so and let you know.

[NKP1]

Got monitor today. Overnight! Amazing since I selected el cheapo free 5-8 day shipping. But it came FedEx from Chicago which is only 3 1/2 hours away from me. The guy sat it down on my front porch without ringing the bell. Which is a big no-no in this neighborhood. Apparently I was lucky as it was delivered only a few minutes before I got home from work. So anyway unpacked it and right away the manual must be on the included CD as the multi language quick start instructions are about worthless. Took me a while just figuring out how to turn it on! Since it's a different configuration than my Sammy. Finally got it connected and fired up. Using it now. Got it set to 144hz but for the moment I don't know what the big deal is. Played with the brightness, contrast, presets etc. Discovered that even in ECO mode it is still brighter than what I had my Sammy set for. 3D kit arrives next week so looking forward to playing with that. Begin to wonder why I thought I needed this. There is nothing wrong with my 24" Sammy and I'm not a young hard core gamer or anything. Just an old guy that was hoping to see a little 3D on his computer. The idea was to get my feet wet and if I like it I may get a 50" 3D TV for the living room. Even though that would be passive and the computer here has a active 3D system. My Sony camera does take 3D pictures and it says I need a 3D TV to view them. This whole deal is big expensive experiment, I know.

What I don't like about this monitor at the moment is that the brightness keeps varying depending on what I'm looking at. I want it to stay right where I set it. Hopefully that will be fixed as I learn more about it.

[OlPaint]

Turn off the Auto brightness and contrast features for adjustment to room brightness or screen content if you can. I don't use them.

[NKP1]

It was the "ECO" mode. Turned that off. Now stays steady. Also went through Windows 7 calibration procedure for standard mode. That took care of a lot of it. Gamma was way off and brightness too high with contrast too low. Got that dialed in to where I like it. Very pleased with the "scenery" mode for our rail sim. Vibrant colors with good brightness and contrast. So happy with that for now.

I would like to investigate setting this 1920x1080 24" Asus beside my 1920x1200 24" Sammy. I'm reading there should not be a problem. Never tried this before so like anything else there's probably a learning curve on that
Update - it appears I cannot span across two displays with just one video card. I thought I could since my card has two DVI outputs. Well I'm not buying another $450 video card just for that.
My 6 year old Sammy definitely has far better blacks than the new Asus.

[OlPaint]

I have two Sammys side by side and you can even tell subtle differences in the pastel shades and especially in the whites. I now ignore them after spending weeks tweaking the contrast and gamma and brightness. Because the differences in manufacturing lots they are not identical displays even in the same model runs.

OlPaint

[Chacal]

FYI, you can use specialized hardware for calibrating your monitors.
I use 3 monitors and this is working perfectly.

http://spyder.datacolor.com/display-calibration/

[NKP1]

Eventually I may have to get something like that. Spent all last night until the wee hours trying to dial in the Asus to match the Sammy as closely as possible. Got closer. But I must admit the $280 Asus is meant to be a gaming monitor. While the $550 Sammy is more suited for office, CAD and photo work. So good luck trying to match those two up. I may use the Sammy pretty much as I have been for internet and photo work. And the Asus for my flight and train simulations and movies.

[NKP1]

I am back to using my older Syncmaster 245BW monitor again. Although I felt yesterday that I had the new Asus unit about dialed in for movies and our simulations. Tried all kinds of ICC profiles and assorted suggested settings but in the end there wasn't much I could do. It just consistently looked washed out and generally blah for everyday use. The panel seemed to have uneven lighting at lower intensity levels (internet and text work). Got really tired of messing with it. I stand by my previous conclusion that the new Asus VG248QE is more a specialty monitor aimed at young gamers and not good for general use and old folks that just want a good general monitor primarily for photo work, home office applications and the occasional movie and game.

[NKP1]

Sunday evening - back again with new Asus. After taking a break from it today I decided I wasn't really ready to completely give up on it (probably $50 or so to return it (shipping plus restock fee)) and did some more googling for VG248QE settings or calibration. About fell asleep reading the many discussions on this. Everyone agrees that out of the box this monitor needs some adjustments. A guy even told me how to get into the service menu by holding down the menu button then the power button together. Release then hold the menu button and you should see the service menu. This may be necessary as the regular controls do no have sufficient adjustment for brightness, gamma etc. I have not tried this as yet. Although I did follow one suggestion and tried the HDMI connection. This works fine off of my GTX680 but you are then limited to 60hz refresh rather than a perhaps more desirable 120 or 144 hz available through a DVI connection. What I did with some success is use the windows 7 calibration tool. First I reset the standard mode on the monitor to factory. Made sure I had color temp set to warm. Then I right clicked the desktop to "screen resolution" then "advanced settings" then "color management". You can skip this but I added and selected an ICC profile that looked best to me. Then select the "advanced" tab. Next "calibrate display". Click on that and follow the instructions. Do their gamma adjustment. Then it's the brightness adjustment page. Here is where I had a problem in that I could not get rid of the "X" that is displayed over the guys shoulder. So to fix that leave the brightness control on the monitor at it's factory default position which reads "90" on the monitor for standard mode. Next open the nvidia control panel. Go to "adjust desktop color settings". Drop down to "2. choose how color is set" and tick on "use nvidia settings". You will need to have both the windows 7 calibration brightness window open as well as the nvidia control panel to make this adjustment. Now watching the "X" in the brightness calibration window, slide the brightness control in the nvidia control panel gently to the left until the "X" just disappears. Then do the same thing with the contrast on the next page. Adjust the gamma to where it looks best to you. Voila! Now my monitor looks pretty darn good and is basically calibrated. Again leaving the monitors Standard mode in factory default setting and dialing in brightness and contrast in the nvidia control panel. My final settings there are brightness: 35, Contrast: 65 and gamma: .90

Now go into the C&O Alleghany route. Then the Bauer logging scenario. Now back to the monitor and select the "scenery" mode. (make sure it's in factory default for that mode) Wow! It's just gorgeous! You'll find yourself looking around quite a bit before you settle down to run a train. "I wanna ride Daddy!"

[NKP1]

WOW!! This is too frickin' cool! VG248QE 3D monitor dialed in! Nvidia 3D vision dialed in! Got down to rail level looking up at a living Berkshire! The rail, ballast and weeds extended a foot out from the monitor! The steam billowing, the smoke! Man this is really incredible! I am so there! Get one folks. You will like it!

[NKP1]

Using the new Display Port connection @ 144hz. 3D works @ 120hz. System is set to automatically change refresh rate as needed.

[NKP1]

With 3D vision TS2013 has a problem with shadows. in 3D what the right eye sees ain't what the left eye sees. They look funny. But . . when you knock shadows down to medium or less there is no problem. Also the adjustment wheel on the back of the IR emitter needs to be adjusted to where the 3D effect looks best to you. In my case it gets pretty minimized toward the left.