HP 2311 gt 23" Monitor Review: Passive, Polarized 3D On A Budget

Features
By Don Woligroski
published

HP sent us its newest stereoscopic 3D-capable monitor, the 2311 gt. Aimed at budget-conscious customers, we take our first look at a passive, polarized monitor based on FPR technology and put it up against a more expensive, active, shutter-based system.

Polarized Displays: Potentially Vendor-Agnostic, But Not

One of what we consider to be the biggest potential benefits of passive polarized screens is, in theory, full support for both Nvidia’s proprietary 3D Vision standard (via 3DTV Play) and AMD’s HD3D open standard. HDMI is ample for 60 FPS gaming at 1920x1080 on a passive display because the visual information needed for both eyes is available in one frame of video. That is to say, it doesn't require 120 Hz to facilitate 60 FPS. The obvious caveat is that vertical resolution is halved.

When it comes to testing the theory behind this, AMD’s HD3D does deliver stereoscopic 3D at 1920x1080, 60 FPS over HDMI on HP's 2311 gt without a problem. Nvidia's 3D Vision/3DTV Play solution, on the other hand, does not work.

We mistakenly assumed that Nvidia’s 3DTV Play would recognize and work on the HP display. However, the recent 301.42 driver build was unwilling to enable the feature when we plugged in Nvidia's 3D Vision emitter. A little research revealed that the company's drivers are somewhat picky when it comes to the displays they'll allow 3DTV Play to recognize.

A workaround on the MTBS3D Forums and 3D Vision Blog pointed to a possible solution: force the monitor to utilize a driver from an Nvidia-supported model, such as Acer’s HR274H. To our surprise, this trick appeared to give HP’s 2311 gt full 3D Vision support, even without Nvidia's emitter plugged in. Unfortunately, even though our setup passed the built-in driver test, we couldn’t to get it working in a real-world game. The 2311 gt simply reported an out-of-range error.

As a result, we have to consider HP’s 2311 gt an AMD HD3D-only solution when it comes to stereoscopic 3D gaming. This isn’t a big surprise; it's not touted as 3D Vision/3DTV Play-compatible. Nevertheless, we're somewhat disappointed, particularly because limited compatibility narrows the market for HP's monitor.

As far as comparing AMD's HD3D initiative to Nvidia's 3D Vision standard, check our coverage on them both in Nvidia 3D Vision Vs. AMD HD3D: 18 Games, Evaluated and Stereo Shoot-Out: Nvidia's New 3D Vision 2 Vs. AMD's HD3D. To summarize them, both solutions work well, but certain titles are more refined under one solution or the other. So, if you're interested in playing a game on HP's 2311 gt, you might want to cross-reference it with the GameGrade3D database at MTBS3D.com.

Don Woligroski
45 Comments Comment from the forums
  • army_ant7
    I forgot if I read this before, but your GPU would have to pump out twice the number of frames for games. As it obviously seems, this is true for active shutter 3D displays. I assume that even if polarized 3D displays "interlace" 2 half resolution frames for 1 3D frame, the processing needed is still for 2 full resolution frames.

    If anyone has better knowledge on this, please correct me. :-)
    Reply
  • hardcore_gamer
    3D Vision..Y U NO SUPPORT ALL 3D DISPLAYS ?
    Reply
  • f-14
    1950's cheap gimmick idea of what 3-D is.
    complete false advertising since it's on a 1D screen.
    save your money.
    Reply
  • PreferLinux
    f-141950's cheap gimmick idea of what 3-D is.complete false advertising since it's on a 1D screen.save your money.You mean 2D.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    Radeon: Catalyst 12.6 Beta

    dont you mean 12.7 beta?
    Reply
  • vdr369
    Its not worth the price, and if you compare the quality warranty with AOC 23 inch polarized monitor AOC (which has superior color accuracy and 3 years onsite warranty)knock outs this dummy.

    and I liked the acer's 27inch polarized one because it doesn't need a software to convert 2d to 3d.
    Reply
  • army_ant7
    f-141950's cheap gimmick idea of what 3-D is.complete false advertising since it's on a 1D screen.save your money.One thing you have to understand that the fact that even 3D models in a game for example get rasterized to a 2D screen. Are they a gimmick then since 3D or 2D graphics, they still end up being 2D anyway? 3D games give us the perception of a 3D world.
    If these technologies can make us have the illusion of having a 3D view, like in real life, then I wouldn't say it's a gimmick. Are (better) in-game graphics a gimmick? A game world is also an illusion of something that isn't there, just like how it seems that you're saying 3D isn't there because it's a 2D screen.
    BTW, it's 2 different frames from different perspectives shown at the same time, just like how your two eyes work. I assume you have two, if not, I apologize.

    If you don't like stereoscopic 3D, then fine, voice out your opinions, but claiming those opinions of yours as facts is just not right. I don't mean to sound angry, but I felt obliged to "voice" this out. I'm open to debate and I don't mean to piss anyone off.
    Reply
  • hyteck9
    what about dual 3D monitors? Do any video cards even support the setup? Would it even be playable?
    Reply
  • army_ant7
    I think there's a 3 3D monitor setup possible with Nvidia cards. I'm not sure, but if what I've shared in the first ever comment on this thread is true, driving 1 3D monitor is already like driving 2 standard ones. 3 3D's would be like 6 standards.
    AMD cards can drive an Eyefinity of 6 (standard) monitors, so maybe 3 3D's doesn't sound to bad.
    Again, I'm not sure. Just sharing my observations and deductions on this, and I could be very wrong. :-)
    Reply
  • SnickerSnack
    Dual 3D monitors would be unplayable - The inside screen edges would split your character in half 99% of the time.
    Nvidia supports 3D Surround, which is three identical monitors. I haven't seen it in action, but hear it's fabulous. Pretty sure it requires at least a couple of beefy GPUs running in SLI.
    Reply