Quote from CHR20000 :

aha...just a stoopid question in between: is it possible 2 set them (2)screens, so one is the "view of driver" and the other is "view of co driver"?...

Afaik no. You can use 2 monitors but scawen wrote something in another thread about it:

Quote from Scawen :

.. because the bar would be in the middle which makes it pointless. But i think someone has use a fixed turn angle before, so they got more view angle in one direction....

Hi,
I dont know if this might help you with the topic you discuss here as I went thru it quickly but I know that for example 7900 series support dual QXGA displays at 2048*1536 @ 85hz or two 2560*1600 display with Dual dual-link DVI.
I know also some x1900 support this as well.

Hi all,

For those who are still interested in 3 monitors surround gaming please check this 1st review of TripleHead2Go.There is however bad news now for ATI users.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/337/1

Quote from DEVIL 007 :

... check this 1st review of TripleHead2Go.There is however bad news now for ATI users.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/337/1

Thx for the info. This sounds really cool (only for nVidia users like me).
I think I have something new to buy

I've been away from LFS for quite a while, but saw this Matrox announcement about the TripleHeadToGo2 and thought of LFS .

I have a Parhelia that I used to use a lot for LFS racing with 3 17inch Hitachi 16ms LCD panels, and for LFS it was one of the best ways of improving the realism imho. Once you have tried 3 screens you won't want to go back!

However the Parhelia is showing its age now, (it never really was a contender in the power / fps stakes anyway). The problem I was having is that I would really miss the 3 screen setup, so this new offering from MAtrox finally gives me an upgrade path while keeping access to the 3 screens.

To echo others comments though, don't expect the prices to head south anytime soon. Matrox seem to have little understanding of pricing for the home / gaming user. I think the Parhelia's are still hideously expensive given how outdated they are now.

On the VGA / analogue output quality, I think this is one are where Matrox historically seem to do very well. Sure its not as good as DVI, but I suspect you won't be able to tell the difference on moving images. The current Parhelia uses a VGA cable splitter for left and right monitors from a single DVI socket and the quality is as good as the DVI only centre screen.

The other nice thing about this solution is you are free to choose from other manufacturers graphics cards. A huge bugbear for me has been the almost complete lack of driver development on the Parhelia. Updates took forever to come out and there was no Matrox developed driver support under Linux.

According to the Guru3D review the NVidia cards are the way to go at the mo as ATi cards don't seem to work well with the Matrox offering, and ATi don't seem interested in offering any help anytime soon to fix it by the sounds of things.

You need a beefy card to get good framerates though (7800 or better) seemingly.

For what its worth I think its a smart move by Matrox. This has a much wider market than their cards, and I suspect involves less development costs than trying to bring out a card to compete with the like of ATi / NVidia.

Interesting to hear what LFS-ers think of it.

Cheers,

Chris

yay 3 monitors to screw up my eyes instead of 1

Only speculating :
FOV would be RL if it would be as if you put e.g. 19" frame infront of you in the same distance as your screen on your desk is, look trough it and you have the same view as on your screen... Thus FOV obviously depends on the distance between you and screen.
Considering this, would't it we better to buy a projector instead of LCDs and that splitter a sit as close as possible? Picture quality would be much worse I suppose but you get big FOV (both for horizontal either vertical direction) without loosing the feel of speed, normal resolution which doesn't demand better VGA and pretty good home theatre And no seams..

with 3 screens you could angle them around you somewhat

Yeah that is a big part I think- so your peripheral vision is being used..

The closer you can get to sitting on the inside of a sphere, the more immersion you will have.

Quote from ChrisBsim :

I have a Parhelia that I used to use a lot for LFS racing with 3 17inch Hitachi 16ms LCD panels, and for LFS it was one of the best ways of improving the realism imho. Once you have tried 3 screens you won't want to go back!

I agree with you 100%. I also have a Parhelia that I used for triple-screen LFS. I recently changed to a single 21" monitor (bought a new video card in antiscipation of using a projector soon). The difference is amazing. Even though I was using three 17's before and a 21" now, the 21" view seems so constricted. Before I could see my whole dash, both mirrors, and only a small portion of the screen was taken up by the dash/wheel/gauges. Now, on a single 4x3 screen the field of view has to be much narrower (90* versus 120* with three 4x3 screens) or else you end up filling 50% of the screen with the inside of the car.

Hopefully a widescreen projector will be a good compromise. I'm just waiting for the day I can afford TWO widescreen projectors running in multi-mon mode.

oOo, or get three projectors, and use the th2go. That'd be so hot.

Quote from Cue-Ball :

Hopefully a widescreen projector will be a good compromise. I'm just waiting for the day I can afford TWO widescreen projectors running in multi-mon mode.

I've used a widescreen projector quite a bit and it's ok. I run LFS at 960x600 and 80 degrees FOV. Still cuts off a lot of mirrors. Have to go to 98 degrees on the BF1 to see the mirrors. Main problem is that even with anti-aliasing, 960x600 is pretty grainy once you get close enough to give you proper immersion, since the projector has distinct boundaries between its LCD pixels.

Waiting to see what the th3go will do. I love LFS at 1280x1024 on my LCD and getting that x3 would be amazing, even if that means loosing DVI.

Then there's this thing: http://www.elumens.com/products/visionstation.html Saw that last year at E3. Needs a special lens and then software that renders the 3D distorted to match the lens. But you get great immersion

Quote from sdether :

Then there's this thing: http://www.elumens.com/products/visionstation.html Saw that last year at E3. Needs a special lens and then software that renders the 3D distorted to match the lens. But you get great immersion

Yup- look at that- sitting inside a sphere.. that's where it's all going.




PLUS-




Would be sim racing heaven...

The Force Dynamics 301 is the greatest invention in the history of mankind.

That is all.

Quote from Cue-Ball :

The Force Dynamics 301 is the greatest invention in the history of mankind.

That is all.

LOL- I agree.. now all we need is mass production and bank loans.


edit- that reminds me-- there is a show on Spike called two-guys garage.. they went to some auto show thing and last week I saw that guy, Sam Amolo, or whatever- driving a 301!! On TV!.. He did not mention the name of it, but I recognized it.. he said it was a blast. They showed it for quite a few seconds.

Edit- it was Speed channel- not Spike..

Pre-ordered...
Quite expensive though, germans have to pay 350 € at shopmatrox.com

Quote from lowgoods :

Pre-ordered...
Quite expensive though, germans have to pay 350 € at shopmatrox.com

Cool... post some screenshots when you get it set up!

Quote from BWX232 :

Cool... post some screenshots when you get it set up!

I will do so! Hopefully I'll get it working with RBR also, which is not in the list of supported games though. I remember, however, I once saw a video of RBR running on a triple monitor setup...

That would be sweet- being able to see all the way through the turns, etc...

Interesting thread- maybe ATI are going to start supporting it w/o any extra gear.. Maybe not though...


http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?t=103061

One of the lads we race with here in Australia has just set this up...

He is getting other monitors soon, Samsung thin bezeled monitors..

It has convinced me to do the same... Altho i am going to try and remove the bezel entirely.

this is Funkys setup

http://flickr.com/photos/jorgens/sets/72057594116540644/

Ill get mine up when its done... probably take a few months

Nice! Year old bump!

yea well some of us have only just decided to set something like this up

I did the very oposite... I sold it all!!! I figured the one thing that would kick lfs's ass would be a real car, so i went for it, i have yet to get a car though... Maybe after a few cheques. Everyone is spending all of this moneys on their computer, but you can have the real thing!!! People have 3 22" lcd monitros set up with a th2go!!!! Thats probably 2000 dollars woth of monitor exuipment, not to mention the 500 dollar video card needed to run it all! Then the g25, and the cockpit, and all the other computer parts! Get a real car, the graphics are great, the ffb is amazing, and the sounds are even better! And for all the ricers, yes, you can get all the crappy neon, fake goodscoops, giant spoilers, and hideous paint/graphics you want!!!

Quote from stevewhite :

I did the very oposite... I sold it all!!! I figured the one thing that would kick lfs's ass would be a real car, so i went for it, i have yet to get a car though... Maybe after a few cheques. Everyone is spending all of this moneys on their computer, but you can have the real thing!!! People have 3 22" lcd monitros set up with a th2go!!!! Thats probably 2000 dollars woth of monitor exuipment, not to mention the 500 dollar video card needed to run it all! Then the g25, and the cockpit, and all the other computer parts! Get a real car, the graphics are great, the ffb is amazing, and the sounds are even better! And for all the ricers, yes, you can get all the crappy neon, fake goodscoops, giant spoilers, and hideous paint/graphics you want!!!

LOL your numbers are far off and whats wrong with having a Hobby like this. Alot of people spend alot of money on there Hobbies and can still afford a real car

i have my mini Gt and my two motorbikes...

I like having my LFS hobby and i like enjoying it with my gadgets...