matrox triplehead2go

[madrebel]

anyone heard about or used this before?

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/offhome/th2go/home.cfm

i figure with the SLI/crossfire power available at the high end of today's market that a resolution like this shouldnt be a big issue in most sims. just wondering if anyone has tried this solution yet and what their experience is before i go budgeting to purchase two more dell 20" LCDs and this matrox deelie bob.

[ruggbutt]

CH had an earlier version of that matrox card at their booth at E3. It was pretty slick.

[Revvin]

Yeah but people kept crashing Lancasters there <mumble mumble grumble grumble>

[madrebel]

after reading a bit further i can't use this. i'm running a dell 20" wide screen LCD w/ a native resolution of 1680x1050. this thing only does 1280x1024x3 :(.

boo, they need a version that supports wide aspect LCDs w/ all DVI cables.

[JKeefe]

mad rebel,

Take a look at the Widescreen Gaming Forum (http://widescreengamingforum.com/forum), in particular their Surround Gaming Area (http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/index.php?c=8&sid=2751f20f69496b91915ff1cceca9d3b5). In there you can read about how the TripleHead2Go supports triplehead widescreen resolutions, read about why a resolution such as 5040x1050 is not techincally possible at this time, and find links to that forum's review of the device as well as my review at SimHQ.

The TripleHead2Go is a fantastic device and you should definitely do some more research before you give up on it that quickly.

[Corsair8X]

How does this work with TrackIR. I have been toying with the idea of it but not enough to do any research on it with TrackIR.

[JKeefe]

Works great with TrackIR. No difference over a single monitor.

[Corsair8X]

So all 3 monitors would be showing the motion, or just the center one? I'm trying to imagine it.

And do you find that it works really well with peripheral vision when you can sort of see out the side on the side montitors.

[JKeefe]

The view on all three monitors moves. When you use a TripleHead2Go, as far as your computer is concerned you have a single ultra-wide monitor. It's the TripleHead2Go itself that divides this ultra-wide image onto three screens.

The TripleHead2Go does exactly what you describe - it puts your virtual peripheral vision where your real peripheral vision is. Rarely do you concisously look at or focus on one of the side screens, but they are there filling your view, giving you a greatly increased sense of speed, motion, movement, space, etc.

Do some reading:
http://www.simhq.com/_technology/technology_065a.html

[mike240se]

So you have one? I have seen some CH picks where they actually use a widescreen in the middle and a regular aspect lcd on the sides so i guess that is possible. I have been thinking about getting it, how does the break between monitors affect it though? I would love the remove the bezels from the monitor and put them right up next to each other with out the bezel and surround.

[JKeefe]

As I said, do some reading: http://www.simhq.com/_technology/technology_065a.html
I think most of your questions will be answered there. I spent an awful lot of time on that review, and it's a tad frustrating to have to answer the same questions again and again.

However, since I'm a TripleHead2Go advocate, perhaps the only one on these forums, I will do so.

Yes, I have one. In my review you will see that I used it with 2 21" CRTs and a 17" CRT. I now have 21" CRTs for good image alignment. It is possible to use monitors of different sizes and aspect ratios with the TripleHead2Go, but it's not a good idea. The reason is that the TripleHead2Go splits the ultrawide image into three equal portions of resolution. This means that if you run a 16:10 monitor in the center and 5:4 monitors on the sides, the center 5:4 image will be stretched to fill the 16:10 monitor. This would look the same as if you were gaming in single screen on a widescreen monitor and the resolution used was a 5:4 res.

As far as the gaps between monitors goes, I will borrow a quote from the Widescreen Gaming Forum (http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/, a good place to go for widescreen and triplehead discussions):
You should be too busy playing/concentrating on the centre screen to notice them ...
Do you notice the edges of the screen when you are playing on one screen ? ... no ... because you are busy concentrating on the game.
So ... just as when you are using one screen you don't notice the edges of the screens or the bars because you are too busy concentrating /playing the game on the centre screen ... the sidescreens as I have said just add to the emersion giving you some peripheral vision.
The emersion is stunning ... giving a view that is far far closer to the way your eyes work in reality ... way more than just one screen could ever do.

You will be unable to remove standard monitor bezels altogether. Standard LCDs have wiring and electronics on the screen edge, and pressure is required at this seam in order to make things work properly. You can come close, though:
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8518

[mike240se]

thanks for the info! Can you believe that guys mod?!?! Can you believe the a/c unit cooler too? That guy is clearly loaded, he buys thousands of dollars of stuff at canadian prices just to play with. I am more and more wanting a triple head to go although I was a little disappointed that it appears as a huge resolution to the video card, i thought it would be standard like 1650x1080 and the device does the enlarging through hardware but then again i guess that wouldnt give you as good of quality. The reason this is a problem for me is that my video card can barely run fsx at 1280x1024, its going to get hammered at some huge resolution, so i would have to buy 2 more monitors, the triplehead and a 8800 videocard. but still very tempting, 3 of my widescreen 21 inch benq monitors would look so amazing.

[ibeagle]

So you have one? I have seen some CH picks where they actually use a widescreen in the middle and a regular aspect lcd on the sides so i guess that is possible. I have been thinking about getting it, how does the break between monitors affect it though? I would love the remove the bezels from the monitor and put them right up next to each other with out the bezel and surround.

What you need is three F550 fresnel lens: http://www.3dlens.com/

I have one on a single 21" CRT. It's a revelation. Much perception of depth, just a tiny amount of distortion around the edges.

A video of three monitors/lens. No bezel! :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9POFJo6E1I

There is much less distortion when seated correctly than appears here. The tiny amount of distortion is well worth the depth perception. However, I think these work best with 4:3 CRT's. I think maybe a 22" might be getting a bit big. I am so impressed I have no plans to upgrade to a wide screen LCD. Used 22"CRT's in near new condition are cheap as cheese and widely available too making three monitors economically viable.

[Lionman]

An interesting tyhread with some great links. Thank you.

I promise I shall read your long article on the subject and apologise if you have already answered this question. I have a 22" main flat wide screen Monitor, plus two legacy CRT monitors - a 17" and a 19" - and a new quad-core Intel2 CPU, 4GB Ram uber-rig with 1TB HD and a (single) nVidia 8800 GTX (768 MB) Gfx card which will drive two screens but (annoyingly) not three, so I too have been considering the matrox splitter device, having seen it in action at numerous UK sim shows and been awed.

My question is simple - will it drive a mixture of CRT and LED screens?
If so, then I have nothing to buy but the device itself. (Although it's certainly not cheap.)

B)

[ggg63]

i am sure it would work, i seem to recall someone had different resolutions, might have been with the software version, sorry bit vague.
to get the most from it 3 identical or very similar thin bezel lcd's is the best way to get good results,adjusting the side screens picture toward the centre to align the images across the bezels
i love the th2go, it is amazing compared to single screen.
also comes now in a digital version for wide lcd.
cannot rave enough about it, i have the earlier version, but thats the perfect res for my 3 screens 3840x1024.
using the trackir across the 3 screens is awesome,
alternatively having your instruments across the th2go and the outside view on
the big screen is pretty sweet.

if the cost of th2go put you off then check this out.
there is a software solution call softTH see link:
http://www.kegetys.net/SoftTH/

so much great stuff is becoming available for our hobby, good times.

[JKeefe]

My question is simple - will it drive a mixture of CRT and LED screens?Presumably you mean LCD screens.

The Analogue TripleHead2Go will have no problem driving a combination of LCDs and CRTs, but all the connections are of course analogue. The Digital TripleHead2Go has the ability to drive digital or analogue displays (its connections are DVI-I). Matrox says that driving only one type of display at a time is supported. Like many things Matrox, chances are that it works just fine if you try it, even though it's not supported. You'd have to find some way to test it, though.

SimHQ's review of the Digital TripleHead2Go will be published tomorrow.

[lensman314]

Does anyone know anything about Matrox releasing a new TH2G Digital that will support wide screen monitors? The current (year old?) does not support 3 displays at 1680x1050 currently. I would ask in the widescreen gaming forum, but I would hate to signup for *another* forum account :(

I have the Ergotron LX Triple, and 3 Samsung 206BWs, and a older single core computer, that can run 3 displays w/ease(1 AGP card, 1 PCI vid card, yea OLD!), but games still only use the center screen. FSX doesnt run too well, X-Plane 7 works ok with medium graphics. EVE Online, World of Warcraft, and Star Wars: Galaxies run great. I am eventually planning on getting a Quadcore computer w/SLIed PCIx16 cards.

[lensman314]

Looks like all they needed to do was upgrade the firmware!
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/press/releases/2008/gxm/th2go_widescreen/
If only I had the cash to build a new computer.

[Corsair8X]

That is awesome! I probably won't do it right away, but that's where I'd like to go.