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Most gaming monitor talk focuses on resolution, refresh rates, and contrast ratios, but what about making it appear as though a game’s visuals are popping off the screen? At Gamescom 2024 on Wednesday, Samsung unveiled the Odyssey 3D, a new addition to its Odyssey line that reportedly turns 2D content into 3D without the need for specialized glasses. The monitor is expected to hit shelves later this year.
Available in 27-inch and 37-inch sizes, the Odyssey 3D looks at first like your average computer monitor, albeit with a bit of a thicker display. That smidge of extra width contains the lenticular lens behind the display’s 3D effect. Lenticular technology, used in both printing and hardware, directs different images to each eye in order to create a picture with movement and depth. In this case, the lens is a fluted panel that projects images from the screen in two different directions, causing a game, video, or picture to appear in 3D.
Samsung says the Odyssey 3D uses a built-in stereo camera to track the user’s eye movements and continually adjust the image on the screen. Combined with the monitor’s 4K resolution, a 165Hz refresh rate, and a 1-millisecond gray-to-gray (GTG) response time, these elements should make for a fairly smooth viewing experience without the need for wearable equipment.
Credit: Samsung
Samsung first showed off the Odyssey 3D at CES 2024. At the time, details about the monitor’s variations and availability were slim. Nonetheless, TechRadar editor-at-large Lance Ulanoff—who tested out the monitor at CES—wrote in January that the display “provides the best glasses-free 3D gaming [he had] ever seen.” As he played Lies of P on the Odyssey 3D, Ulanoff reportedly found the game’s environmental assets to be so three-dimensional that he “immediately tried to reach out and touch them.” Maintaining the 3D effect required consistent eye contact with the screen, however: Shifting his gaze caused the monitor to lose track of Ulanoff’s eyes, making the return image a bit jarring.
“Still, since people often game for hours at a time without ever looking away from the screen, I could see this becoming a compelling immersive gaming experience,” Ulanoff wrote. “Even more so, the fact that I didn’t have to wear a VR headset or special glasses makes it a far more accessible option for 3D gaming.”
Another writer who tested out the Odyssey 3D at CES left with a similarly positive impression. “I’m probably just as shocked as you are that it actually works,” wrote Jacob Roach, lead PC hardware reporter for Digital Trends. Though Roach noted the same effect-breaking gaze requirement Ulanoff did, he found overall that the display’s 3D trick “worked excellently.”
While Samsung still hasn’t shared the Odyssey 3D’s price tag, the brand says it will make its 3D gaming monitor available before the end of 2024.