Viewsonic V3D231 is a 23-inch Full HD screen
with TN panel and passive 3D screen.
You do not need bulky active glasses to
view 3D. It is accompanied by polarized glasses and band for those who love
wearing glasses. However, besides 3D ability, V3D231 is a standard 23-inch
screen, with many VGA, DVI or HDMI inputs, a fixed base and small speakers.
Watching film or playing game in 3D is
quite easy, but ViewSonic struggles to help you go through setting. The most
important thing is installing the TriDef software accompanied on CD, but the
help page at the time you first insert CD does not mention it, and it is also
not included in guide book.
TriDef allows you to view pictures and play
game in 3D mode providing you have AMD or Nvidia graphic cards. When running
it, TriDef shows you the test screen, so you can tilt the screen to have the
best 3D effect. What a pity, V3D231 has bad straight view angle; pictures lose
contrast and accuracy ratio when viewed from a too narrow angle. 3D effect also
depends much on viewing from a special angle, so rotating screen at a suitable
angle is the first thing you should do.
When you have a suitable angle, watching
Blu-ray 3D from the Blu-ray player is easy. You just have to select the 3D
version option when starting the film, and the screen will switch to 3D mode.
Watching 3D film on such screen size is not ideal since 3D will be more
impressive when filling up your view. We found some crosstalk when using the
screen, where one eye saw image of the other, if we did not set the screen at a
suitable angle.
Games require a little more effort to set
up. TriDef has PC scanning card to search for games, but when we used this
utility, it only found the Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s copy, and did not found
any other Steam games. However, you can add more manual games, and there are
built-in profiles for many kinds of games. Unfortunately, when we tried running
Deus Ex, the PC was hung. We were luckier with Eve Online and Call of Duty 4,
both of which are listed to be supported on TriDef’s website. 3D effect in
CoD4 is very convincing.
As a screen, V3D231 is not so impressive.
LED light is balanced, but contrast ratio is not big and there is some light
leaking out. Colors are natural but dilute, especially when compared to VA and
IPS screen that we have seen. If you like 3D but do not want to spend much
money, V3D231 provides wonderful balance among ease to use, price, and image
quality. However, if you are looking for a good 23-inch screen, LG IPS235V has
better image quality from the IPS screen and is around $150 cheaper.
Summary
Verdict. V3D231 provides 3D ability that is easy to set up at a reasonable
price, but image quality is not very great.
23-inch wide corner LCD. 1920 x 1080 natural resolution, 1000:1 contrast ratio
(20.000.000:1, dynamic), 250cd/m2 brightness, VGA, DVI, HDMI, 3-year onsite
warranty
Power consumption. 1W – standby mode, 38W – on mode
