3D on Macbook Air (Intel HD 4000)

[Zappatones]

Hi to all,

Sorry to ask, but I couldn't find an answer anywhere to my question.
The matter is that I am trying to play 3D movies through my MBA connected to a 3D DLP ready projector. Currently I have two laptops, a MBP late 2008 with a Nvidia GT 9600 card and a Macbook Air mid 2012 with an Intel HD4000. I am using a software to play 3D movies called Bino. Funnily the MBP, despite being much older, plays beautifully the 3D movies using OpenGL (quad buffered stereo) but when I try to do the same with the Air the OpenGl output option is greyed out.... I assume the problem is that the Intel graphics don't support quad buffered stereo, but not sure I am right on this.
Is there anything I can do to watch 3D on my Macbook Air. Maybe install windows with Bootcamp? I am planning of getting rid of my old MBP but would like to keep watching 3D movies from time to time.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ha1o2surfer]

Hi to all,

Sorry to ask, but I couldn't find an answer anywhere to my question.
The matter is that I am trying to play 3D movies through my MBA connected to a 3D DLP ready projector. Currently I have two laptops, a MBP late 2008 with a Nvidia GT 9600 card and a Macbook Air mid 2012 with an Intel HD4000. I am using a software to play 3D movies called Bino. Funnily the MBP, despite being much older, plays beautifully the 3D movies using OpenGL (quad buffered stereo) but when I try to do the same with the Air the OpenGl output option is greyed out.... I assume the problem is that the Intel graphics don't support quad buffered stereo, but not sure I am right on this.
Is there anything I can do to watch 3D on my Macbook Air. Maybe install windows with Bootcamp? I am planning of getting rid of my old MBP but would like to keep watching 3D movies from time to time.

Thanks in advance!

I'm not sure what kind of 3D format you are using but I don't think quad buffered stereo support is needed? I would just play a SBS or TB formatted 3D video and set your projector to manually use the format of your choice. There is no special hardware used at all and even an iPhone can do this. Maybe I am understanding it incorrectly but this is how I watch 3D movies. I also use nVidia 3d vision player but I only use this if I feel too lazy to manually switch the tv to 3D mode.

 

[Zappatones]

I'm not sure what kind of 3D format you are using but I don't think quad buffered stereo support is needed? I would just play a SBS or TB formatted 3D video and set your projector to manually use the format of your choice. There is no special hardware used at all and even an iPhone can do this. Maybe I am understanding it incorrectly but this is how I watch 3D movies. I also use nVidia 3d vision player but I only use this if I feel too lazy to manually switch the tv to 3D mode.

Thanks for your answer. But the 3D processing has to be done in the computer, the projector just displays the image in 3D mode but can't do any processing.
Any other ideas? Thanks

 

[ha1o2surfer]

Technically speaking no processing of "3d" in done on the computer itself. Can you explain what format 3D movies you are playing?

 

[Zappatones]

Technically speaking no processing of "3d" in done on the computer itself. Can you explain what format 3D movies you are playing?

With my old macbook pro I play all kind of movies (SBS, etc) through the projector without an issue. Just need to choose OpenGl as output. But as I explained in the MBA that option is greyed out...

 

[WallToWallMacs]

With my old macbook pro I play all kind of movies (SBS, etc) through the projector without an issue. Just need to choose OpenGl as output. But as I explained in the MBA that option is greyed out...

What do you hope to achieve by putting it out using OpenGL?

 

[ha1o2surfer]

What do you hope to achieve by putting it out using OpenGL?

right, that is my question as well. SBS doesn't need opengl or any special player. That is the beauty of it, all the tricks happen on the TV side so any device that can play a media file can play a 3D movie, ie even my iPhone can play a SBS,TB video.

 

[Zappatones]

right, that is my question as well. SBS doesn't need opengl or any special player. That is the beauty of it, all the tricks happen on the TV side so any device that can play a media file can play a 3D movie, ie even my iPhone can play a SBS,TB video.

Probably you are right regarding 3D Tv but not regarding 3D DLP ready projectors, at least not mine. Most of 3D ready projectors, according my research, only accept frame sequential, so I need the computer to do that.

According projectorcentral.com: "Today's inexpensive DLP projectors that are touted as "3D Ready" accept only frame sequential 3D. And at this writing, their 3D capability is limited to a maximum of 1280x720 resolution. Currently, the only way to send them such a signal is to use a computer, such as one equipped with NVIDIA's 3D Vision system. Consumer electronics like Blu-ray 3D players and set-top boxes do not output frame sequential 3D. In short, all those inexpensive DLP 3D Ready projectors you've been seeing do not work with Blu-ray 3D or broadcast 3D content--it's PC or bust."

 

[ha1o2surfer]

Probably you are right regarding 3D Tv but not regarding 3D DLP ready projectors, at least not mine. Most of 3D ready projectors, according my research, only accept frame sequential, so I need the computer to do that.

According projectorcentral.com: "Today's inexpensive DLP projectors that are touted as "3D Ready" accept only frame sequential 3D. And at this writing, their 3D capability is limited to a maximum of 1280x720 resolution. Currently, the only way to send them such a signal is to use a computer, such as one equipped with NVIDIA's 3D Vision system. Consumer electronics like Blu-ray 3D players and set-top boxes do not output frame sequential 3D. In short, all those inexpensive DLP 3D Ready projectors you've been seeing do not work with Blu-ray 3D or broadcast 3D content--it's PC or bust."

Frame Sequential is actually an HDMI spec. And the following formats are supported: 720p @60hz and 1080p at 24-30hz. (1.4a, 1.4b I beliece may up this to 1080p at 60hz but I don't think so..) So now I get what you are trying to do. You use this software to output essentially what 3D tv/vision is doing on the nvidia side. I will do some research since the HD 4000 in windows supports this format no problem. It may be a limitation of OSX (a newer version)/the software you are using. I'll break out my rMBP and see If I can get it to work using the HD 4000.

Even though I'm talking about software limitations here, it's still an HDMI spec and the HDMI chipset does all the "encoding" or "packing" so to speak. I was also under the impression a PS3/4 can do this? but that's not on topic lol

 

[Zappatones]

Frame Sequential is actually an HDMI spec. And the following formats are supported: 720p @60hz and 1080p at 24-30hz. (1.4a, 1.4b I beliece may up this to 1080p at 60hz but I don't think so..) So now I get what you are trying to do. You use this software to output essentially what 3D tv/vision is doing on the nvidia side. I will do some research since the HD 4000 in windows supports this format no problem. It may be a limitation of OSX (a newer version)/the software you are using. I'll break out my rMBP and see If I can get it to work using the HD 4000.

Even though I'm talking about software limitations here, it's still an HDMI spec and the HDMI chipset does all the "encoding" or "packing" so to speak. I was also under the impression a PS3/4 can do this? but that's not on topic lol

Thanks for that. I already tried bino and sview on mac and 3DTV stereoscopic player in windows with parallels. None of them worked so far...