The unofficial Another I's page
Quick info:
The Another
World Another I's wireless shutterglasses system features a line-blanker
device with manual control. It supports any applications, games or images
in the popular alternate-line (interlace) stereo-format. Due to the line-blanker
the glasses will work on any graphics board under any operating system.
No additional flipping-driver-software required.
Another I's don't support the common
above-below split-screen format due to the lack of sync-doubler circuitry.
The early sample I received had no
passive autosync mode for standard interlace or page-flipping drivers,
like those of ELSA and ASUS. According to manufacturer Another World Inc.
this function will be present in the final retail version.
If this is the case the Another I's
will be similar in functionality to VR-Joy and
EyeFX,
some of my favorites.
The worst thing about the glasses is the plastic visor in front of the LCD-panels which distorts the vision. Another World promised to change this in the final retail version.
The Another I's come with a software bundle consisting of image-viewer, image-creator, video-player, demo-images, -animations, -videos and a Stereo-VRML97 browser plug-in with OpenGL support. The software is in it's early stages and showed some bugs. The VRML-viewer looks promising though.
Another I's don't come with a universal Direct3D, Glide or OpenGL stereo driver, such as the ELSA, Wicked3D or ASUS-drivers!
The final retail version is expected in early September 99. There will be a TV/Video version as well.
This review isn't intended for beginners. Please consult the Basics and FAQ pages if questions arise.
Update:
Sept. 24, 1999: Another I's Final Retail Version
Another World provided me with a sample of the final retail version.
Some problems of the pre-release version are solved in the final version:
Hardware:
- the LCD-panels are much brighter and therefore
better now
- the clear plastic-visor in front of the LCD-panels
still distorts the vision due to poor optical quality - this piece
of plastic is just a design gimmick and in my opinion
it should be removed by the user - I did - just be careful
when doing this!
- the buttons on the emitter work much better now,
although there's room for improvement
- the emitter now comes with adhesive band to fix
it on the top of the monitor
- the passive VGA-pass-through autosync function
now works
- all 3rd party interlace and page-flipping drivers,
like ELSA Revelator and ASUS now work
- eyeSCREAM driver doesn't since it would require
a sync-doubler
- the removable nose piece is now made of softer
material and even more comfortable
- my specimen of the new pair of glasses seems to
have a defect, it has some problems with the shutters,
there are irregularities in the shutter-frequency
producing additional flicker; feels like a loose contact or
something; I assume this is just coincidence, the
first pair of glasses works correct
Software:
- the VRML viewer VRScape now works better (maybe
the new graphics drivers I installed play a role here
too)
- VRScape slows down considerably in stereo mode
- Stereoshop still crashes on my system - maybe
due to my german version of the OS
- there should be a single setup.exe for all 4 programs,
it's uncomfortable to install them seperately and to type
in the serial number 4 times
