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In today's gaming market the big hype is about who has the fastest video card, who has the most fill rates, or what the frame rates are a 1,000,000 X 1,000,000, but what does that mean if you don't have anything to display it on? A typical monitor still displays everything in 2D no matter what, sure the characters and environments are rendered in 3D, but everything is still flat.

Well friends, today we have a piece of hardware that may help in eliminating some of the flatness! We have the DTI 2015XLS 15" 3D LCD Display review. Well, let me tell you that I was excited when we were put on the waiting list for this monitor. So what exactly is this monitor? What makes it different than everything else? Does it live up to the marketing hype? Well folks, all this and more inside. Let's get the show on the road, shall we?

So what is it about this monitor that sets it apart from the rest? Well I am glad that you asked. (Hold on this may get lengthy.) Here's how it works.

First, we need to take a look at the way that we see, each eye will see a slightly different picture. To test this pick a stationary object, close one eye and hold your finger over it. Then close that eye and without moving your finger open the other eye. Did your finger move off of the object? This is called Binocular Disparity. Since your eyes see a slightly different picture when you look at an object, the brain processes the differences in these two slightly different views to provide an accurate representation of the three dimensional shape and position of objects within the scene. This is the real depth 3D that we see in the real world. This is called Stereoscopic imaging.

Since they can give a detailed explanation better than I can (they patented, right?) here's an explanation directly from DTI's Technology Page:

All stereoscopic imaging systems work by creating at least two images of each scene, one image of the scene as a person's left eye would see it, and the other as a person's right eye would see it. These two images are called a stereo pair. The imaging system must cause the left eye to see only the left eye image, and the right eye to see only the right eye image.

With the DTI display, this is accomplished with a special illumination pattern and optics behind the LCD screen which make alternate columns of pixels visible to the left and right eyes when you are sitting in front of the display, or in certain areas off to the side.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the DTI system displays left and right halves of stereo pairs on alternate columns of pixels on the LCD. The left image appears on the odd numbered columns and the right image appears on the even numbered columns. For example, if an LCD is used that has 1024 columns and 768 rows of pixels, each complete stereoscopic image consists of 512 columns and 768 rows.

Both halves of a stereo pair are displayed simultaneously and directed to corresponding eyes. This is accomplished with a special illumination plate located behind the LCD. Using light from compact, intense light sources, the illumination plate optically generates a lattice of very thin, very bright, uniformly spaced vertical light lines, in this case 512 of them.

The lines are precisely spaced with respect to the pixel columns of the LCD. Because of the parallax inherent in our binocular vision, the left eye sees all of these lines through the odd columns of the LCD, while the right eye sees them through the even columns. The left eye sees only the left eye portion of the stereo pair, while the right eye sees only the right eye portion. This enables the observer to perceive the image in three dimensions. This arrangement, exclusive to DTI, is called Parallax Illumination.

There is a fixed relation between d -- the distance between the LCD and the illumination plate -- and the distance between the observer's face and the LCD screen, the viewing distance. This distance in part determines the dimensions and positions of the "viewing zones" depicted in Fig. 3. These viewing zones are the regions in front of the display where the observer can perceive the left and right eye images. Stereoscopic images can be seen from any position where one's left eye is in a left eye zone and one's right eye is in a right eye zone.

When the halves of the stereo pair are made to correspond to the scene perspective that would naturally be seen by the respective eyes, a vivid illusion of three-dimensionality is created. The objects seem to come out of the screen, giving the impression of an open window through which objects can protrude or retreat into the background. Hence the name Virtual Window.

In addition, the Parallax Illumination system is designed so that it can generate in the same display at a flick of a switch both stereoscopic and non-stereoscopic images, the latter at double the resolution. This ability to instantly switch from 3D to 2D makes the DTI monitor unique in the world. No other 3D flat panel display can provide full resolution 2D images. This allows the DTI display to become the primary desktop display, since it can be used for both 2D and 3D images with the push of a button.

Although DTI 3D displays are designed to be used by one person at a time, this technology does allow several people to view stereo at the same time. Note that the areas where left and right eye views are seen repeat to the left and right of center. One can see 3D from any position where the left eye is in a left eye zone and the right eye is in right eye zone. Additionally, there is little effective vertical restriction. The 3D effect is readily seen whether sitting directly in front of the display or standing behind the person sitting in front of it.

A big thanks to the guys at DTI for letting us use the text and illustrations from their website. You guys needed some learning up anyway, right? OK time to get to the good stuff.

Here's a brief technical overview of the 2015XLS before we move on to installtion.

Installation was pretty simple, you will have to hook up a COM port to the monitor along with the regular analog video cable. Plug in the power and you're golden.

I have to admit when LCD monitors came about I did not want to have anything to do with them . I thought the quality of the picture they were displaying at that time was horrible. With my eyes it would actually start my eyes to watering. The 2D picture on this is quite nice. Using this monitor daily, I would sometimes forget that I was looking at an LCD screen. The max res. is 1024 X 768 which I think is pretty standard for most 15" LCDs.

So after you have it all hooked up you install the drivers and the applications that are supplied with it.

To be honest, reviewing this monitor really showed me how I can really underestimate some products.

A quick note. DTI recommends that you use a nVidia based video card. According to DTI the Elsa cards are the best. I did use this monitor on my wife's HP which has an Intel 810 on it and it worked just fine. For the purposes of reviewing this monitor I used a MSI GeForce 3 TI 200.

In order to see the images in 3D you have to be specifically positioned in front of the monitor. To help you maintain this position there is a little red light on the front of the monitor. When the light is bright, you are out of position, when it is dim you are good to go. You have a little room for lateral movement, not a whole lot though. so it's not like you have to but your self in a neck brace to use it but you cannot jump around like a wild man either.

I started up the demo, which has some pictures of some cars and places, but the one that really struck me was a picture of a human skull. I was really blown away by that! (so was everyone else that I showed it to.) Also in the demo there are some screen shots of 3DMark. The screen shots got me even more excited, since there was the actual perception of depth in the helicopter scenes.

So I installed 3DMark and sat back and watched. Depth can add so much to a scene. Sometimes you feel like you could actually reach out touch it. I also tested with RTCW, Quake III, Unreal Tournament, and Serious Sam. All of them were breath taking.

Remember that I said that flight and racing simulations come to mind first. I loaded up Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2001 Pro and checked it out. It was quite amazing. I wish that I could show you what I saw. I tried taking pictures of the screen but it wasn't a happening thing. I also loaded up Sierra's Nascar Racing Season 2002. Here is where I feel that the technology really helped. Driving around the track I was able to "feel" how close I was to the car in front and to the sides of me (using the in car cam).

The unit that I received was a pre-production version. I was assured that it was pretty close to the final product.

As far as does it work? That is a definite YES! It works, rather very well I may add. When playing RTCW I did notice that sometimes I'd tend to get out of the "focus area" and the picture would become blurred or loose the 3D effect. After watching my son play on the Nintendo and watching him jump around like his pants are on fire, I thought about the other people that I have played against and got to thinking that the monitor would not be for the every day gamer, until they could resolve the "focus area" issues.

As for a coolness factor and innovative technology, on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 10. The 3D picture is not a crisp as it is on a standard CRT or LCD, I am assuming that is do to the technology. One thing that I did notice is that during fast paced games the monitor didn't suffer as badly from ghosting, if any at all, as standard LCDs do.

If you visit DTI's web site take a look at their products page. They have quite a selection, though allot of it looks as if it is for the medical research industry. Imagine being able to look at a DNA strand in 3D.

DTI has got my attention. Any one that walked into my house noticed the monitor, they were even more blown away when I showed them what it does. One of my friends said that after viewing a few pictures that he felt a little dizzy. I never felt any effects. I feel the technology is a little immature and I am looking forward to other products that will improve its uses.

Pros :

• Technology - way cool
• Compact - very small desk space usage
• No need for goofy lookin' 3D  shutter glasses
• 2D was very clear and bright. 

Cons :

• Price - The 15" is priced at $1699.00 USD the 18" is priced at $5995.00 USD. 
• Limited movement in order to see the 3D effect
• May cause lightheadedness, headaches, or may leave you feeling dizzy, though I never experienced any of these

I want to thank the folks over at DTI for sending us this unit for review. I had a great time.