LG D2342

The LG D2342 is a 60Hz, LED-backlit LCD monitor with passive 3D capability.

The first thing you should know about passive 3D monitors is that they halve the perceived vertical resolution when 3D-mode is enabled, so for gamers this could be a major turn-off. It also makes most text unreadable, so when switching from 3D games or media to desktop browsing you need to remove the glasses.

I tried a selection of my favourite games in 3D on the D2342 – namely Battlefield Bad Company 2, Trackmania, and Call of Duty 4 – sometimes they worked fine and the 3D effect was immersive and effective, however most games glitched a lot (basically where conflicting images are sent to each eye, which makes viewing difficult).

Games also take a frame-rate hit when you enable 3D: your system has to render two separate points of view. Also be aware that Crossfire and SLI (AMD and Nvidia’s respective multiple-graphics-card solutions) aren’t supported.

As for movies, side-by-side and top-and-bottom modes are supported for 3D content, and there’s a whole section of YouTube devoted to 3D content if you’re short on material to watch. Again though, high definition material loses half of its vertical resolution so you don’t get the full HD experience in 3D.

Overall I was disappointed by the 3D capability of this screen. You can only view 3D content from a very narrow angle, glitching in games is common, and the loss of resolution just adds insult to injury.

Aside from the 3D ability, the D2342 is a pretty average monitor. The response speed tests all resulted in ‘poor’ to ‘good’ ratings, meaning that almost any sort of motion on screen resulted in – at minimum – a small but noticeable amount of ghosting. It also lost a lot of detail in bright areas of the image, even after calibration.

If you’re really keen to get into 3D gaming or media, can’t afford an active 3D setup, and aren’t particularly concerned about most aspects of image quality, then the LG D2342 could be a worthwhile option for you, otherwise it's probably another screen worth leaving on the shelf.