You could also accidently slip in some screenshots of the newest LFS goodies
Seriously, a triple monitor setup would rock. Combine that with a fresnel lens and the bars are gone, too. But before I can get three monitors I probably need a own apartment first
If I won in a lottery I'd totally build a curved room with a projector (or even three projectors) and add a cyberseat to that. Or I'd buy a decent car and do real racing... oh the beauty of imaginary decisions.
I use sometimes a 2 monitors solution cause it's very simple, once all new vga cards have 2 connectors. I like to use lower fov, around 50 to get the virtual cockpit at almost the same size of real cars.
I measure that doing this: I seat on my car, extend my arms in front of me and with just one eye I measure hand to hand a virtual distance from one side to other side of the track. Then I seat on my desk and do the same thing until reach the same condition, and that always gimme a fov between 45-50. Of course, even in 19LCD screen, the field's width becomes too small, the sense of speed decrease, and I have some difficult to see the others in my laterals, but the immersion is much bigger, so the gain worth the price.
I'm in intention of buying a Epson projector Powerlite S3, which is relatively cheap (about U$1000,00) here in Brazil. Its specifications says that it's svga (800 x 600) native, but also says that it's able to run xga resolutions (1024). I'm trying to talk with Epson for 2 days, but I've had no sucess yet, just to understand that supposed xga capability
The 3 monitors solutions is a good stuff for space issues, and it liberates you from rearranging your layout, in the case you have just one pc.
I'm really thinkin about build a specific pc with projector, just for race.
Sometimes I get myself complaining about spending money with such things, but I do no others things to have fun, that is my hobby, and in a automobile's world, even RC cars are very expensive, sometimes more than a good set of pc+joystick+projector.
And if you go to real cars, even karts, sure you'll spend much more, so I decided have no guiltiness when thinking about spending my money with myself illepall
But yes, the 3 moinitors, with such Matrox solution, is something to dream about, once is cheaper than a new vga, and with a price of a simple Epson S3 projector you can buy 3 19"LCD monitors.
Do a search for DIY projectors, there is details of how to make very good quality projector out of an overhead projector and LCD panel. Think there is even a topic on our forums here or RSC.
Heh, those DYI projectors are "very good"? From what I've seen its usually an internet scam. =)
I have an Infocus 4805 projector that I use for TV/Movies/PS2. I've also connected my computer to it as well, but the 4805 has a max resolution of 1024x768 and LFS doesn't look so hot on it. One thing about this Matrox device is the fact that it the horizontal resolution is so high thus allowing you to really get that peripheral vision.
I actually prefer the matrox solution too thats why you see my positive comments about it throughout the thread as for the DIY projector being a scam well it could be... but from the research I've done it does look possible if you use good parts, and as they say nothing ventured nothing gained. (but you would have to be handy at DIY projects and I didn't say it was without risk) I only posted it for SpeedSoro's as he seems set on that path.
Another problem with the projector is that while you can blow it up real nice, it's not that high res. And if you go with a 16:9 projector you're basically looking at 960x600. You can really see every pixel when you get close to that projection.
I'm definitely going to check this device out once it drops. Dell keeps running crazy deals on 19" LCDs that picking up a third isn't going to be too hard. And yeah, those are 1280x1024 @ 60Hz native, like most 19" LCD, so the 15:4 "special" mode would be much appreciated.
correcto. tentei "abrasileirar" e "me dei mal".
demasiada novela a ouvir pontapés na gramática.
"eu amo tu, porcina..."
keep it up!
ps: the only projectors worth it are imho 16:9 projectors. hdtv gave a boost of these. u can get a 1280x720 projector or a 1920x1080 projector. shame they are still so expensive. especially when compared with the solution that this thread presents
Awesome - though very expensive ^^
The idea behind it is so innovative and relatively easy ^^
It should work with any 3d card capable of handling the resolution required
Ok... what i want to know is, is there a list of graphics cards that can do these high resolutions?
All i can find about a 9800 Pro, is that the maximum resolution is 2048x1536 - which isn't enough to run at 2400x600, 3072x1024 or 3840x1024.
I was hoping the 9800 Pro would do the job, as it's a reasonably recent DX9 card, from last year, and also because i've got one sitting here just asking to be used.
Does it have a custom resolution option in your drivers?
I've got a nvidia 6600GT and it has an option for setting a custom resolution. I tried 3840x1024 and it accepted it! So I'm hoping it is ok
P.s 2048x1536 is 3.1 million pixals and 3072x1024 is about the same so theoretically it should be able... I also just checked before I put in the custom res the max res my card listed was 2048x1536 as well, my card is 256MB so if yours is it should be possible to get 3840x1024 out of it, I guess it is just if it allows custom modes.
Also on the Matrox site it says it will automatically show the resolutions that your card can support when you install it, seems any card with a RAMDAC of 300MHz bandwidth or higher will do the job, they also said as it gets closer to the release date they will publish a list of compatible cards.
At least with nvidia cards you can use whatever resolutions you want. Though I have never tried that large ones myself, I would guess it is only limited by the RAMDAC and video memory.
took 5 seconds here
as i said, i already ran WAY WAY higher res here...
ps: btw this even shows up in my f520R because this beast eats it all
my usual windows desktop is 4:3_1440x1080 (hdv format default coincidently but for 16:9) because i like seeing pixels on a 21". my usual gaming res are 1600x900 (memorized vertical stretch to match pixelratio, monitor creates the black bars) or 1280x720 using same technique. i also output native 16:10_1280x768 to the tv_lcd (75cm diagonal) i have here which i use mostly for divx viewing.
The 75Hz limitation seems a bit worrying. I find 75Hz to be barely bearable when using a single monitor, but with multiple monitors at least 80-85Hz is a must for the side monitors since the eye has higher 'refresh rate' at the sides which causes flickering when not looking directly at the monitor. It would not be a problem with LCD screen of course, but then with those the analog input and output signals are not a very good choice.
And even with CRT monitors it would be better if the input would use a digital signal as converting the analog VGA signal back to digital, and then back to analog again is surely going to affect the image quality.
I also wonder if it is possible to disable the triple monitor thing from it and just pass through the vga signal to one monitor. This would allow using the desktop with a higher resolution on one monitor, and play games with three monitors without too much hassle...
edit: After re-reading those specs, it seems this is possible in "VESA-compatible single screen modes", I wonder if my 1456x1092@84Hz is VESA-compatible :P
kegetys that issue doesnt exist in lcd land. which is what they are mostly aiming at. pixels and images just get updated vs drawn on screen by a refreshing blasting cannon
but i agree, for crt land, more than 75hz would be welcomed.
btw, affecting quality could mean it improves or remains equal. which given matrox legendary signal treatment quality i wouldnt be surprised...
dvi version needs GIGANTIC bandwith, which would need dualdvi link out of card, which in effect would limit the target of users to much. not many have such a card. maybe in future a dvi version comes out, they said its possible but only for a limited number of users...
blame dvi design...
this is the perfect product considering its target imho. i just would love more hz support for crt land. and thats what i asked about in their forum. other than that, seems spot on.
yes it is. and its automatic. upto 1600x1200 on center screen from what i recall (aint sure)
edit: yep, my mem served me well:
Supported Display Modes
Resolution Refresh rate
1920 x 480 (triple 640) 60Hz
2400 x 600 (triple 800) 60Hz
3072 x 768 (triple 1024) 75Hz
3840 x 1024 (triple 1280) 60Hz Regular VESA-compatible single screen modes at up to 1600x1200 on center display
I really dont think this is possible. If you have ever used those switchboxes that allow you to switch between multiple VGA inputs for one monitor, you'll know that having anything in between the monitor and the video card can have a massive (negative) impact on the image quality. The VGA signal is very 'vulnerable', even a bit of extra solder, or one extra component somewhere along the path of the VGA signal can cause the quality to get noticeably worse. In fact I'd guess that this is the reasons why it is limited to such low refresh rates and resolutions, at higher ones the image quality would suffer too much.
Also for desktop use it would be nice if it would have an integrated 'switchbox', so it would have three inputs (DVI!) and three outputs. In normal desktop resolutions each monitor would display their own input signal, but when changing to a surround resolution on the middle monitor the side monitors would automatically switch to display the side views.
actually i have used a lot of databox switches. mostly linked to sgis and highend pcs. in fact i used several brands (yes they differ quality a lot and some eat signal like i eat cereals) and yes im familiar with signal losses from cables since the time i soldered my own (mostly for amiga geekness). u take my sentence as you wish, i know what i said. what goes on inside triplehead is not a simple matter of bridging between A and C or B and C, you are comparing apples to bananas. why the switch example here ? to illustrate what u want to say. not to illustrate what i said.
signal processing is not a simple matter, if it was nvdia and ati would have reached matrox quality output long ago on analog signal.
You seem to know your monitors so you might be able to answer this for me. Is VGA or DVI better for smooth gameplay, where smoothness at the expense of picture clarity may be preferable?
I thought VGA might be worse because an LCD monitor has to convert the analogue signal to digital, where as DVI is already digital, but from what you and Matrox have said regarding this triplehead it sounds like DVI might be a bigger bandwidth burden. Does that impact smoothness at higher resolutions vs VGA, even with single LCD monitors?
Thats my favourite hobby 
illepall 
well it could be... but from the research I've done it does look possible if you use good parts, and as they say nothing ventured nothing gained. (but you would have to be handy at DIY projects and I didn't say it was without risk) I only posted it for SpeedSoro's as he seems set on that path.
