Last month we brought you news of the LG W2363D (also known as the LG W63D). Despite UK retail availability of this monitor being next to none-existant at the moment, the bright and high-performance 120Hz ’3D’ gaming monitor is now available in the PC Monitors shop. The LG W2363D offers an alternative design to the very popular Acer GD245HQ but with similarly pleasing performance – so it’s perfect for those who want a 23 inch 3D computer monitor but don’t like orange!

We are expecting some new 3D monitors from ASUS shortly, too, and will keep your posted when they are available.

LG W2363D now available from PC Monitors

ASUS has released the VG236H, that is more than just a computer monitor. The VG236H is sold as a complete ‘kit’, which includes a 120Hz ’3D’ PC monitor and Nvidia 3D Vision glasses and receiver. All you need in addition is a nice PC with a compatible Nvidia graphics card – most modern Nvidia GPUs will do the job nicely. The VG236H monitor itself is a highly adjustable screen and features a 1920×1080 (1080p ‘Full HD’) resolution, 2ms response time, 120Hz refresh rate and a brilliant 400cd/m2 brightness. As with the recently announced LG W63D this high brightness level is a selling point of the monitor and is given a fancy ‘technological’ name (in this case, ‘Asus Color Shine Technology’) – whether this brightness level can be achieved without washing the image out remains to be seen, but if it can then we are in for an eye-popping 3D treat. The 2ms is marginally higher than the LG W63D’s 3ms, but again it is enhanced by a special overdrive technology (in this case, ‘ASUS Exclusive Trace Free II Technology’). The ASUS VG236H is due for immediate UK release and is priced at around £385 (remember – that includes a nice monitor and an Nvidia 3D Vision set).

Update: Overclock3D has posted a review of the ASUS VG236H. They talk in depth about 3D technology and also about their ‘real world’ experiences with the VG236H. They are impressed by most aspects of the monitor but find the screen itself to be much too glossy.

ASUS VG236H 3D monitor with Nvidia 3D Vision

LG have surprised us (in a good way) with the announcement of the LG W2363D 120Hz ’3D’ gaming monitor, which is due for imminent global release. The LG W2363D, known as the W63D for short (thankfully), features ‘enhanced 3D’ through the use of 172Hz processing. This doesn’t mean that the monitor supports a 172Hz refresh rate, but if the hype is to be believed it should make for a very smooth 3D experience. Other notable features of the W2363D include a ‘G-mode’ (gaming mode, that is) 3ms reponse time and a fairly brilliant (if true) 400cd/m2 luminance. We assume this is the maximum luminance and it remains to be seen whether this can be achieved without washing out the entire image, but even if the monitor comes close to this value it should make for an eye-popping 3D experience. As you would expect from this 23-incher, it’s a TN screen with a 1920×1080 (‘Full HD’) resolution.

At around £300, the price is very much inline with recently launched 23 inch+ 3D computer monitors (such as the Acer GD245HZ. And for those of you thinking that is prohibitively expensive – look into its eyes.

LG W2363D 3D gaming monitor - look into my eyes.

The Inquirer has published an interesting article about their experiences at two recent display technology presentation events; namely Taipei Display Expo and Broadcast Asia in Singapore. They were surprised to see manufacturers showing off monitors with 16:10 and 5:4 aspect ratios, instead of the now usual 16:9. They also noted seeing a nice selection of OLED monitors (as large as 17 inches) on display for the first time as well as a plethora of LED-backlit LCD displays of all sizes, panel types and resolutions. There were also some mighty and impressive 3D computer monitors and TVs on display at the events, including the enormous 65-inch AUO ‘pattern retarder’ 3D Full HD LED TV. Some 480Hz refresh rate technology was also shown off (although most likely not a ‘true’ 480Hz but rather using pulldown and frame rate conversation techniques). For more information about the display technologies shown off at the event, see the original The Inquirer has article.

Rather unsurprisingly, Nvidia has ‘launched’ its 3D Vision Surround system. We used the term launched rather loosely, as the technology itself is found in existing hardware and is now officially supported by Nvidia graphics drivers. 3D Vision Surround basically extends 3D Vision by allowing 3 120Hz ’3D’ computer monitors (of the same model) to be used in tandem to form a kind of Eyefinity setup in 3D. Other than the monitors, users also require at least two Geforce GTX 260 (or above) GPUs and the rest of the system should also be up to scratch. Tom’s Hardware has taken Nvidia’s 3D Vision Surround for a spin on (it has to be said) a rather beefy Core i7 GTX 480 SLI system and managed to get a playable (but not quite optimal for 3D viewing) framerate on the latest game titles, including Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Just Cause 2 in full 3D surround glory. Such a powerful system is required because you are effectively outputting a 5760×1080 resolution across three displays and rendering it in 3D – this is 6 times the graphical workload of outputting an image to a single monitor in 2D. Given that such a setup requires an almighty system with 2 high end graphics cards, 3 high end monitors and at least one 3D Vision system the cost of the technology is probably going to be fairly prohibitive – there is also the problem of the monitor bezels getting in the way of the experience.