The useful thing to know first is which of the four problems you actually have. They look similar from the sofa and have nothing in common underneath: a flat picture is a player problem, ghosting is an alignment problem, silence is an enumeration problem, and a device that will not connect is usually a cable or a setting.
| What you see | First thing to check | Work it out |
|---|---|---|
| No depth — one flat picture, or two halves squashed together | Whether the file carries two views, and whether the device is in side-by-side or mirror mode | Not 3D → |
| Doubled edges, ghosting, soft outline | Vertical offset or rotation between the two views — measurable in pixels | Ghosting → |
| No sound through the glasses | Whether the audio output even exists, then whether a tone plays through it | No sound → |
| A headset the computer cannot see | Whether an ADB interface is exposed at all | Not detected → |
Each verdict is tagged with what it blames — cable, settings, firmware, device, content or host — plus the one observation that would confirm it. That tag is what stops the usual loop: reinstalling drivers for a misaligned pair, or replacing a cable over a menu setting.
Most advice for these problems is a list of things to try, written by someone who cannot see your machine. That is why it reads like a checklist and why it rarely ends. This site takes the other route: read what the hardware reports, then act on the reading.
Three readings settle most cases, and none of them requires installing anything:
All four lines are worked through. Not 3D narrows to one of five causes; No sound separates a missing sound card from a muted one; Ghosting decides whether the pair, the mode or the link is at fault; Not detected separates the cable from a setting from the firmware.
DepthSnap — free browser-based 2D to 3D SBS converter. No upload, no signup, no watermark.