Samsung’s new Odyssey monitor lets you play games in glasses-free 3D

Samsung has announced a new Odyssey gaming monitor lineup at gamescom that uses eye-tracking technology to convert 2D visuals into glasses-free 3D. The Odyssey 3D is set for a global release “within this year” according to Samsung, and will allow users to “seamlessly switch between 2D and 3D modes” based on preference — which may tempt folks who are curious about 3D gaming, but apprehensive to commit.

The Odyssey 3D is Samsung’s first 3D gaming monitor, having first teased a concept display at CES earlier this year. It’ll be available in 27- or 37-inch sizes and features a 4K QLED panel with a 165Hz refresh rate, alongside a 1-millisecond response time and support for AMD FreeSync. Both monitors also include a single DisplayPort 1.4 and two HDMI 2.1 ports for connectivity, and a tilting, height-adjustable stand to ensure you can best position it to experience 3D content.

The glasses-free 3D is achieved by combining a lenticular lens — specialized hardware that can direct different images to each eye — with a built-in eye tracking camera, and view mapping to continuously adjust for depth perception. Acer uses a similar system in its own SpatialLabs laptops and monitors. The resulting Stereoscopic 3D can only be viewed by one person at a time, but that’s hardly an issue for gamers, and my own experiences with the technology have left a good impression: it’s really fun to see things jumping out at you without having to wear special glasses.