Multi-purpose controller for LCD shutter glasses
User Manual (DRAFT)

Executive summary

This LCD shutter glasses controller has been designed to support (almost) any currently available video format for computer stereo display and a broad range of wired and (infrared-) wireless glasses.
This is the draft version of the user manual. Items and functions that are still considered or may be not necessary for the final version of the device are marked by red italics

Table of contents

Introduction

Disclaimer :
Although this manual is quite extensive and elaborate, keep in mind that this device is a DIY product, which I have developed for my personal entertainment. There are no plans to make it a commercial product. Thus, everyone who builds this device is, of course, free to customize the device to his/her own needs (especially the different connection options), and should read the following instructions accordingly.
Plans, schematics and board layout will be published on  my homepage  as soon as the device is finished and tested. Since the device needs some special integrated circuits and SMD components, provided that there is sufficient demand, I could do a collective order of the critical parts at no extra costs except parts and shipping.

Features

• Support of the following PC stereo picture formats :
• hardware page-flip (left and right picture alternating each frame)
• software page-flip  (left and right picture alternating, controlled by software with separate control signal for glasses)
• interlaced (left and right picture on alternating scan lines with interlaced video mode)
• interlaced with line-blanking (for newer video cards without interlaced video modes)
• top-bottom with frame sync-doubling
• Anaglyph (left and right picture overlaid in red/blue) - converted into green page-flip format
• (cancelled) left-right ('cross-eyed') with line sync-doubling and blanking

• Support of glasses control from :
• VGA Vertical Sync (hardware page-flip, interlaced and sync-doubled for top-bottom formats)
• Left/Right control from VGA pin 12 (VESA DDC, ELSA Revelator compatible)
• Left/Right control from parallel or serial port or VESA DIN3 stereo output (LCDBIOS etc. compatible)
• TV composite video signal via plug-on sync signal seperator

• Adjustable pre-triggering for glasses (except when controlled directly by external L/R signal, of course)
• Support of control output for :
• simple wired glasses (3.5mm stereo headphone connector). Optional MAXIM MAX204 RS232 signal converter will increase voltage to approx. +-9V.
• VESA DIN3 wired and wireless glasses (incl. 5V power supply)
• Infrared emitter for wireless glasses, currently supporting CrystalEyes-compatibles and Kasan 3DMAX compatibles. Adjustable IR carrier frequency in 3DMAX-mode may support other glasses as well. Plug-in compatible to Kasan 3DMAX emitter with 2.5mm plug.

• Power supply from :
• External 7.5V-9V DC/300mA power supply
• PC's VGA port pin9 (not available on all VGA boards)
• VESA DIN3 input (optional)
• PC's USB port
• PC's keyboard port via pass-through cable (not recommended)

• Microcontroller-based implementation (ATMEL AVR90S2313).
• Firmware in flash memory; programming interface available on multi I/O connector for easy update in-circuit via simple parallel port cable.
• User-adjustable parameters stored in non-volatile memory to control :
• default operating mode after power-on
• infrared protocol for wireless glasses
• L/R synchronization of wireless, 3.5mm stereo and DIN3 wired glasses for parallel operation
• offset for generated vertical sync pulse in sync-doubling mode by a few lines; too much will make monitor go out of sync
• red/blue or red/green mode in anaglyph mode
• soft page-flip synchronization to vertical frame sync. Glasses pre-trigger only works in synchonuous mode.
• glasses pre-trigger offset (before actual VSync) to compensate glasses latency
• Automatic adaptation to frame and line sync polarity and video mode.
• Automatic detection of video mode change.
• Automatic reset on loss of iput signal (e.g. screen blanking)
• Automatic deactivation of glasses when mode change is detected (feature is implemented, but not activated)

Installation

• The controller basically consists of two parts (box labels shown below):

The VGA pass-through box (approx. 8x10x3cm)	The cable assembly, including the IR-emitter and control-buttons/connectors box

 

 
• First, connect the cable assembly's DB15 plug to the VGA pass-through box DB15 socket ('Multi-Control Interface').
• Connect the VGA pass-through box VGA in (using a short VGA patch cable, as for e.g. add-on 3d-accelerators) to your cmputer's graphics controller's VGA output.
• Connect the VGA plug of your monitor cable to the VGA pass-through box VGA out connector.

 
• Power supply :

If the computer's power is on, the ACTIVE LED on the VGA pass-through box should be lit (if present) and you should see the display on the monitor when the VGA cables are connected and everything is fine. If not, your graphics controller board apparently doesn't provide +5V on VGA pin 9, and you will have to look for an alternative power source :
• a spare USB port : plug the USB plug of the cable assembly into that USB port, and the ACTIVE LED should be lit. A later revision of the box may get an USB B socket, but an USB A-A patch cable cut into halves does it for now...
• a true VESA DIN3 shutter glasses port on your graphics controller board - very rare ! In case you have got one, just plug the mini DIN3 plug of the cable assmebly into that socket, and the POWER LED should be lit (and you have also connected the VESA L/R control signal). Using VESA power and L/R control from serial or parallel port at the same time will require some special adaptor - I'll check that out when necessary..
• a separate plug-in power supply, providing approx. 7.5V-9V DC/300mA connected to the coax power supply socket on the VGA pass-through box. These devices usually come with a bunch of adaptor plugs; one of the coax plugs should fit.
Note that the ACTIVE LED indicates not just power supplied, but detection of valid H/V-Sync input signals.
 
• Operator's box with control buttons, jacks for 3.5mm stereo wired glasses and IR emitter (2.5mm mono) and a dangling mini DIN3 socket for DIN3 glasses:

This small box is connected to the pass-through box by approx. 2m cable and should be placed in a convenient location where the buttons are easily accessible.
 
• The IR emitter should have an undisturbed line-of-view to your wireless shutter glasses (i.e. your head) - usually placed best on top (or on the side - velcro pads included) of your monitor. If you happen to have an IR emitter from KASAN wireless 3DMAX glasses (with 2.5mm stereo plug) around, this will work as well (and may look better than anything built by yourself).

 
• Wired shutter glasses connection (3.5mm stereo connector type)
• Insert the glasses' 3.5mm stereo plug into any of the 3.5mm socket of the Operator's box. (3 sockets available)
• In case you have to connect more sets of glasses, use standard 3.5mm stereo headphone splitting adaptors.
• In case you want to use different glasses with different glasses connections (left and right reversed, don't know if all these glasses are compatible), you will need an extra short adaptor cable that reverses channels for the incompatible glasses.
• Any mismatch in L/R polarity between 3.5mm and DIN3 wired resp. wireless glasses can be adjusted in the controller setup.
Note : Using the default 0/+5V output signal to control wired glasses works well with e.g. the Cyberboy glasses, although with maybe increased 'ghosting'. On some glasses, like the wired Kasan 3DMAX glasses,  the voltage may be too low and may result in some 'frosting' effect, which usually vanishes some time after the glasses are deactivated.  In this case, it is recommended to convert the signals to a higher voltage range, e.g. by a RS232 line driver (3 output lines required) with integrated voltage converter, like the MAX204. This will also reduce ghosting significantly and has been tested successfully with the Cyberboy glasses..
 
• Wired shutter glasses connection (VESA mini-DIN3 type)

Insert the glasses' mini DIN3 plug into the corresponding socket (dangling from the operator's box on a short cable stub). In case you have to connect more than one set of glasses, you will need a special splitter cable adaptor.
With an appropriate adaptor, it should also be possible to drive parallel port controllers like the NuVision 3Dspex from this signal.
 
• Wireless shutter glasses connection (infrared control signal)

Connect IR emitter to Operator's box (2.5mm mono plug; works also with 3DMAX IR emitter when available)
Currently, two IR protocols are implemeted :
• StereoGraphics: pulses, R="120" usec / L="60" usec (pulse width currently fixed in the firmware, may be changed when needed for other glasses)
          for StereoGraphics CrystalEyes 2 and compatibles (Nuvision 60GX)
• 3DMAX : 38 kHz carrier, L=ON / R=OFF (carrier frequency can be changed to 33/66/40kHz, which may work with other glasses)

for Kasan 3D-Max wireless and compatibles (i-Art 3DTV/Virtual Eyes/Eye3D, 3DTV Corp. IR Pro, maybe Neotek wireless, glasses and emitter look quite like 3DMAX..., although both Neotek and i-Art support stated their glasses incompatible to 3DMAX)
 The wireless ELSA glasses should work when connecting their emitter to the VESA miniDIN3 output of the controller.
 
• Connection to VESA miniDIN3 port for external L/R switching signal (and power supply, see above)

Insert the miniDIN3 plug from the cable assembly into the miniDIN3 socket of your graphics controller board

• Connection of TV composite video input :
• Insert CV adaptor plug into VGA in connector of VGA adaptor box (you will usually need an external power supply in this case).
• Change switch on VGA adaptor box from 'VGA' to 'CV' to enable power supply for CV adaptor.
• Connect (via RCA Y-splitter) video source to RCA input socket of CV adaptor plug.
Note : For automatic activation of the glasses, the controller must be set  to listen to a L/R control signal from the VGA input port (as for the Revelator driver mode), instead of the default COM:/LPT:/DIN3 input - see setup options below.
 
• Connection to serial or parallel port for external L/R switching signal

Insert the corresponding plug from the cable assembly into the desired port. When building the cable assembly, I'd prefer a combo of DB9f (serial) / DB25m (parallel) connectors in a DB9/DB25 adaptor case (previously used to adapt old DB25f serial plugs to new DB9m sockets); try to get one in a snap-together case and adapt for this purpose.
 
Note : Only one input of VESA DIN3, serial and parallel port can be used at a time, unless all are active HIGH and properly ORed by diodes. When the +5V power supply can be taken from the VGA input or USB, there is no need to also connect the +5V pin on the DIN3 plug.

Controls and displays

Controls :

Operation of the controller is controlled by three pushbuttons, located at the small jacks_and_buttons box.
Due to the limitation to three control buttons, these buttons have different functions, dependig on the current operating mode of the controller.
The buttons are :

Button \ State	Glasses OFF	Glasses ON	Setup
yellow	Mode	Glasses OFF	Set1 / (-)
red	set default mode	enter setup	exit setup and save
blue	Glasses ON	Toggle L/R	Set2 / (+)

Displays :

Operation of the controller is indicated by the ACTIVE indicator LED on the VGA pass-through box, which is lit as long as the box has power supplied and receives proper horizontal and vertical sync signals..
Mode changes are indicated by flashing the monitor display in different colors while the mode button is pressed:
soft-flip (blue) - hard-flip/interlace (green) - line-blank (cyan) - anaglyph (red) - frame sync-double (magenta) - line sync-double (yellow) - idle/preferred (black)
In case video output from the controller is not available, e.g. while using the composite video adaptor, or because line blanking is not required/not implemented, this purpose may also be served by optional LEDs in the buttons box.

Functions and modes

In all modes, glasses and mode specific display manipulations (like blanking or sync-doubling) are initially off.
Both are activated when the blue 'glasses ON' button is pressed resp. when (in idle/preferred mode only) a 'proper' L/R control signal is detected by the controller.
Both are deactivated when the yellow 'glasses OFF' button is pressed resp. when (in soft-flip mode when activated automatically from idle/preferred mode only) the detected L/R control signal is interrupted.
Whether detection of a video mode change by the controller should also deactivate the glasses or toggle glasses active/inactive is still to be discussed.

• Initial resp. preferred mode:

The controller enters this mode on power-up and after cycling through all other available modes and waits for :
• pressing of the blue button (read as 'glasses ON') to activate the preferred mode (see corresponding mode for details)
• pressing of the red button ('Set') to enter glasses setup (see below)
• detection of a 'proper' L/R control signal to activate soft-flip mode (see below)
• pressing of the yellow button (read as 'mode') to switch to the next mode

 
• Soft page-flip (forced) mode:

This mode is for toggling of left and right eye image that is controlled by software that also generates a L/R toggle signal on a parallel, serial or VESA DIN3 port. This allows toggling unsynchronized to resp. slower than the video frame rate.
    The toggle signal can be sampled either once per scan line for quick response to changes or once per frame (default) to synchronize the switching of the glasses to the frame rate.
    In case the L/R toggle signal is inverted w.r.t. VESA DIN3 standard (left picture = HI level), it can be easily fixed by pressing the blue 'toggle L/R' button when this mode is activated

Having entered this mode in inactive state, the controller waits for :

• detection of a 'proper' L/R control signal for automatic activation of the mode (turn on the glasses).
• pressing of the blue button (read as 'glasses ON') for forced activation of the mode. No toggle signal is required in this case, possibly switching one of the glasses permanently dark. Note that wireless glasses may be set to shutdown after (very) short time of inactivity.
pressing of the yellow button (read as 'mode') to switch to the next mode
With the mode activated,
• pressing of the red button ('Set') enters soft-flip setup mode (see below)
 
• Hard page-flip resp. interlaced mode:

This mode is for toggling of left and right eye image that is controlled by the display hardware (or frame-snychronized software) and synchronized
to the frame rate, i.e. each video frame changes from left to right picture or vice versa.
    This mode is also for stereo images in interlaced (alternate lines) format on display controllers that support interlaced video format (not very common these days), i.e. even scan line in one frame, odd scan lines in the next. (For interlaced format on non-interlacing controllers see line-blanking mode)
    When this mode is activated, the controller toggles the left and right glasses whenever it detects a vertical (frame-) sync pulse.
Since the controller is not designed to detect any vendor specific line-code in the video signal, indicating left and right picture frames, there is just a 50-50 chance that the orientation of glasses and pictures is right, which can be easily fixed by pressing the blue 'toggle L/R' button when this mode is activated.

Having entered this mode in inactive state, the controller waits for :

• pressing of the blue button (read as 'glasses ON') for activation of the mode.
• pressing of the yellow button (read as 'mode') to switch to the next mode
With the mode activated,
• pressing of the red button ('Set') enters glasses pre-trigger setup mode (see below)

 
• Line-blanking mode:

This mode is for stereo images in interlaced (alternate lines) format on display controllers that do not support (or shall not use) interlaced video format. For this purpose, the controller creates a kind of 'artificial interlace' video by switching even resp. odd numbered scan lines black in alternating frames, so the user will only see even lines in even and odd lines in odd frames.
   When this mode is activated, the controller toggles the left and right glasses and even/odd blanking whenever it detects a vertical (frame-) sync pulse.
    This mode will also work on the Windows desktop, with the interlaced picture in a window, starting on an arbitrary scanline. Since the controller is not designed to detect any vendor specific line-code in the video signal, indicating left and right picture frames, there is just a 50-50 chance that the orientation of glasses and pictures is right, which can be easily fixed by pressing the blue 'toggle L/R' button when this mode is activated.

Having entered this mode in inactive state, the controller waits for :

• pressing of the blue button (read as 'glasses ON') for activation of the mode (glasses and line-blanking)
• pressing of the yellow button (read as 'mode') to switch to the next mode.

 
• Anaglyph (red-green/blue) mode:

This mode is for stereo images in anaglyph (red/green resp. red/blue) format, which is usually viewed using accordingly coloured paper glasses, but since we already have got shutters...
    For this purpose, only the red and green (resp. blue) video signal are activated on alternating frames and all routed to the green monitor input; thus, instead of red and green/blue simultaneously on screen, we get them both in green and alternating frames.
   When this mode is activated, the controller toggles the left and right glasses and red resp green/blue routing whenever it detects a vertical (frame-) sync pulse.
   In case that the red picture is not left (as preset), this can be easily fixed by pressing the blue 'toggle L/R' button when this mode is activated.

Having entered this mode in inactive state, the controller waits for :

• pressing of the blue button (read as 'glasses ON') for activation of the mode (glasses and line-blanking)
• pressing of the yellow button (read as 'mode') to switch to the next mode.
With the mode activated,
• pressing of the red button ('set') toggles between red/green and red/blue (default) mode
 
• frame sync-doubling mode:

This mode is for stereo images and software in top bottom format, where left and right eye pictures are displayed in the top resp. bottom part of the screen (full-screen mode). For this purpose, this format is converted for the monitor by the controller into alternating frame (hard-flip) format by inserting an extra vertical (frame-) sync pulse in the middle of each frame to force the monitor to restart the display frame. This effectively halves the vertical resolution and doubles the frame rate, e.g. 600 lines @ 60 frames/sec will then be 300 lines @120 frames/sec.
    For best picture overlap, the inserted sync can be shifted by several scan lines above and below the middle of the frame.
   When this mode is activated, the controller toggles the left and right glasses whenever it detects a vertical (frame-) sync pulse and again when inserting the extra sync pulse.
   In case that the left eye picture is not on top (as preset), this can be easily fixed by pressing the blue 'toggle L/R' button when this mode is activated.
 
Having entered this mode in inactive state, the controller waits for :
• pressing of the blue button (read as 'glasses ON') for activation of the mode (glasses and frame sync-doubling)
• pressing of the yellow button (read as 'mode') to switch to the next mode.
With the mode activated,
• pressing of the red button ('set') enters frame sync-doubling setup mode (see below).
 
• scanline sync-doubling mode (cancelled):

This mode is for stereo images and software in left-right ('cross-eyed') format, where left and right eye pictures are displayed in the left resp. right part of the screen (full-screen mode). For this purpose, this format is converted for the monitor by the controller first into interlaced (alternating line)format by inserting an extra horizontal (scanline-) sync pulse in the middle of each scanline to force the monitor to restart with a new line. Then, via line-blanking (see above), the interlaced format is converted into alternating frame format.
This will effectively double the vertical screen resolution for the monitor (although every other line is blanked out), e.g. 600 lines @ 80 frames/sec will then be 1200 lines @ 80 frames/sec.
Note that the performance of this mode is limited by the limited resolution of the microcontroller's 10MHz system clock, corresponding to approx. 150-300 clock cycles per scan line. The resulting jitter would make this mode useless for any practical purpose. Therefore, this mode will not be implemented.
    For best picture overlap, the inserted sync can be shifted by several clock cycles left and right of the middle of a scan line.
  When this mode is activated, the controller toggles the left and right glasses whenever it detects a vertical (frame-) sync pulse.
  In case that the left eye picture is not on the left side (as preset), this can be easily fixed by pressing the blue 'toggle L/R' button when this mode is activated.
 
Having entered this mode in inactive state, the controller waits for :
• pressing of the blue button (read as 'glasses ON') for activation of the mode (glasses and sync-doubling)
• pressing of the yellow button (read as 'mode') to switch to the next mode.
With the mode activated,
• pressing of the red button ('set') enters scanline sync-doubling setup mode (see below).

Operations

Basic operation :

• After power on, the controller reads the preferred mode from its non-volatile memory and enters idle mode. In this mode,
• pressing the blue button (read as 'glasses ON') activates the glasses in the preferred mode (indicated by the glasses starting to flicker)
• receiving a 'reasonable' L/R control signal from the VESA DDC line or the serial/parallel/DIN3 input activates the glasses in software page-flip mode. When the controller detects an interruption in the L/R signal, the glasses are deactivated.

 
• When glasses are inactive,
• pressing the yellow button (read as 'mode') cycles through the available modes, indicated by flashing the screen in different colours (see above)
• pressing the blue button (read as 'glasses ON') activates the glasses in the preferred (when in initial mode) resp. the current mode (indicated by the glasses starting to flicker). Any mode-specific display manipulation, as sync-doubling or blanking, is also activated.
• pressing the red button ('Set') makes the current mode the preferred mode, that will be stored in non-volatile memory (except for idle/preferred mode, see below).

 
• When glasses are active,
• pressing the blue button (read as 'L-R' now) again will reverse the left and right images to sync the glasses with the display.
• pressing the yellow button (read as 'glasses OFF') deactivates the glasses and any display manipulations.
• pressing the red button ('Set') allows mode-specific parameter changes, that will be stored in non-volatile memory.

Controller Reset:

Pressing all three buttons together will reset the controller and restore the EEPROM parameters to their default vaules. While the buttons are pressed, the screen display will be distorted by diagonal lines.

Setup options :

• Glasses inactive :
• idle/preferred mode :

Press the red button ('Setup') to enter glasses configuration. The controller starts to toggle the glasses.
For wireless glasses, press the blue button (read as 'Set1') to cycle through all implemented IR protocols until your glasses respond (if you're lucky). Default setting is for Kasan 3DMAX wireless, next for CystalEyes and compatibles.
For simultaneous use of VESA and/or dumb wired and/or wireless glasses press the yellow button (read as 'Set2') until all glasses are in sync.
Press the red button ('Setup') again to exit and save the selected setup in non-volatile memory.
• other mode :

Pressing the red button ('Setup') makes the current mode the preferred mode, that will be stored in non-volatile memory and will be entered directly from Initial/Default mode when pressing the blue ('glasses ON') button.
• Glasses active :
• soft page-flip mode:

Press the red button ('Setup') to enter soft-flip configuration:
Press the blue button (read as 'Set1') to toggle between input from VGA DDC pin and external (COM:/LPT:/DIN3).
Press the yellow button (read as 'Set2') to toggle between frame synchronization ON/OFF.
Press the red button ('Setup') again to exit and save the selected setup in non-volatile memory.
• anaglyph mode:

Press the red button ('Setup') to toggle red/green and red/blue mode
• sync-double mode :

Press the red button ('Setup') to enter offset adjustment.
Press the blue button (read as '(+)') to increase, resp. the yellow button (read as '(-)') to decrease the offset of the inserted sync pulse, within a maximal range of +/- 7 lines.
Press both buttons to reset offset to 0.
Having found the optimum offset, press the red button ('Setup') again to exit and save the selected offset in non-volatile memory.
• hard page-flip/interlace :

Press the red button ('Setup') to enter glasses pre-trigger configuration. The controller will start to toggle the display between red and blue, in parallel to the glasses, so you should see a blue picture with one eye and a red picture with the other, most likely with a narrow band of the opposite color on top of the screen.
Press the yellow button (read as '(-)') to shift the toggling of the glasses backwards (narrowing the band, wraps around the bottom of the screen at some value) resp. the blue button (read as '(+)') to  shift forward again. The range is limited to 0..10 steps of approx. 0.2 msec, which should be sufficient.
Press the red button ('Setup') again to exit and save the selected setup in non-volatile memory.
• other modes :

Pressing the red button ('Setup') has no effect.

Firmware update :

1. disconnect all external connctions on the VGA pass-through box (VGA in, VGA out, external power and DB15 cable assembly plug)
2. connect the monitor directly to the computers VGA output (of course you wouldn't forget this, would you ??)
3. connect the VGA pass-through box to the computer's parallel port via the DB15-DB25 adaptor cable.
4. copy the programming software (FBPROG.EXE), the firmware image file ( CTRL_Vxx.HEX ) and the EEPROM image file ( CTRL_Vxx.EEP ) to a common directory.
5. start the programming software (DOS executable, works also in Windows ) to get the main menu.
6. press 'A' to enter the firmware image filename ( CTRL_Vxx.HEX ) and load the file into the programming buffer. Loaded code is displayed on screen; press any key to return to menu.
7. press 'B' to enter the EEPROM image filename ( CTRL_Vxx.EEP ) and load the file into the programming buffer. Loaded code is displayed on screen; press any key to return to menu.
8. press 'F' to read the device ID from the controller to verify correct operation of the programming interface; the result should read either '00 01 02 03' for a read-protected controller or '1e 91 01 20' for an unprotected controller; press any key to return to menu.
9. back to the main menu, press 'E' to perform the actual programming; when finished, press any key to return to menu.
10. when finished programming and back to the main menu, press 'X' to exit the programming software.
11. reconnect the VGA pass-through box into its operational configuration.
A new firmware version with incompatible EEPROM settings will automatically reset the previously stored EEPROM configuration. In this case (will be noted in the release notes), you will have to store your personal setting again.

Inputs and outputs

The VGA pass-through box has four connectors :

1. External power (7.5V-9V DC/300mA, when needed)
2. VGA in (HD15 VGA male connector or cable stub), for connection directly (cable version) or via 1:1 VGA patch cable (connector version) to the computer's VGA output.
3. VGA out (HD15 VGA female connector), for connection to the monitor cable
4. Multi I/O (DB15 female connector) for the cable assembly's DB15 plug

 
The minimum version of the cable assembly  consists of :
1. DB15 plug for connection to the VGA pass-through box of the following box and connectors :
2. IR-emitter/control box, with approx. 2m cable (2.5mm stereo plug), to attach on top or side of the monitor. When using compatible IR wireless glasses, the glasses' IR receiver must be visible to the IR emitters on the front of the box.
3. (optional) cable stub with 3.5mm stereo headphone socket for simple wired glasses, like Kasan 3DMAX wired, Wooboo Cyberboy,... also possible a splitter box with several sockets for connection of multiple sets of glasses.
4. (optional) cable stub with mini-DIN3 socket for VESA DIN3 glasses, like ELSA Revelator or CrystalEyes wired. Splitter box also possible here.
5. (optional) cable stub with USB plug A to get 5V power from a computer's USB port
6. (optional) cable stub with mini-DIN3 plug for 5V power and L/R signal from computer's VESA DIN3 stereo glasses port (rare)
7. (optional) cable stub with DB9 female and/or DB25 male connector to get L/R signal from computer's serial resp. parallel port.
8. (optional) cable stub with keyboard pass-through connector (DIN5 or mini-DIN6/PS-2) to get 5V power from computer's keyboard port (not recommended)

Options planned for sequenced release during the product lifetime

IR signal compatibility to ELSA Revelator/Wicked3D/H3D resp. VRex VRSurfer will be added as soon as I find someone who helps me to find out about those signals (or lends me some glasses).

See also marked text in previous sections.

Stripped-down versions of the controller (no anaglyph mode - saving special relay; no line-blanking - saving video switches) are planned.

Testing environment

• Yakumo Voodoo Rush and ASUS SP97XV Sis5597 on-board graphics controller, both with Yakumo 15"/65kHz monitor, up to 1024x768@75Hz with no degradation in video signal; no problem with line-blanking or sync-doubling to 150Hz.
• S3 Virge/DX graphics controller with Highscreen 15"/65kHz monitor : up to 1024x768@75Hz with no degradation in video signal; monitor didn't accept sync-doubled signal.
• 2 Compaq Deskpro NT stations with unknown (ATi rage?) graphics controller. One with 17" Compaq monitor at 1024x768@75, one with 21" Compaq monitor at 1024x768@85. Video signal slightly distorted by overshooting; both monitors rejected sync-doubled signal.
• NT station with Matrox G400 and 19" monitor at 1024x768@75 : same video distortion.

• Descent 2 (full LCDBIOS stereo DOS version) : perfect control when connected to serial port and with LCDBIOS /hrefresh /lockflip
• NuVision WinSpex drivers for glasses control via parallel port and Voodoo Rush VESA DIN3-port : perfect control with Voodoo Rush (hardware page-flip), jerky in parallel port mode on Sis5597 onboard graphics (Direct3D page-flip)
• 3DEM digital landscape visualization, produces interlaced and anaglyph stereo images : works perfectly in line-blanking mode; little ghosting in anaglyph mode
• M.Husak's Tattooine racing video (top-bottom) format : works perfectly in sync-doubling mode (as long as the monitor accepts sync-doubled signals, Compaq seems to be picky...)

Regulatory compliances

Warranty

Glossary of terms

Revision history of the owner's manual

List of other relevant documents

Product limitations and boundaries

• Computer video signals can easily reach some ten, or even 100 MHz bandwidth. Thus, the layout of the controller circuit is very delicate to avoid distortions in the video signal. The current layout is not optimal yet (and maybe will never be?), but provides (IMHO) sufficient video quality for graphical applications like games or stereoscopic pictures. Especially with modern high-bandwidth video controllers, the circuit may suffer from overshooting, resulting e.g. in occasional bright spots in high-contrast display, e.g. black text on white background. Thus, I strongly discourage from leaving the controller plugged in for applications with high black/white contrast and screen resolution, like e.g. text processing.
• The controller will not respond to any white- resp. colour line codes used by other commercial controllers to activate shutter glasses.