Faint white horizontal lines on Acer GN246HL

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IDespawn
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Faint white horizontal lines on Acer GN246HL

Post by IDespawn » 16 May 2017, 22:07

Just today, I started to notice these faint (moving?) horizontal lines when in games, looking at something dark/grey and moving. I have lightboost on @ 120Hz, and been using the monitor for about a month and a half now. Also noticed that certain shades of grey have this odd stone texture look to them. Any solutions?

Update: Turning off lightboost solved the problem, but I don't want to give up lightboost.

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Chief Blur Buster
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Re: Faint white horizontal lines on Acer GN246HL

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 17 May 2017, 04:01

These faint horizontal lines are unfortunately an artifact found with some LightBoost displays -- it does not happen to all of them, but it is caused when panels are pushed to their absolute limits. Sometimes it's more intense at a specific corner of the display. I presume they were always there, but you've only started noticing them just now?

If these are highly annoying, you might want to switch to a ULMB monitor (which is like LightBoost, but has better color quality & much easier to turn on/off) which are usually newer panels that avoid this artifact found in earlier LightBoost displays.

ULMB-capable monitors can be found in the List of Best Gaming Monitors. There is also the BenQ/Zowie option too (they require more calibration/adjustment than LightBoost/ULMB. However, we have a Strobe Utility that helps with this).
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IDespawn
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Re: Faint white horizontal lines on Acer GN246HL

Post by IDespawn » 17 May 2017, 11:45

They aren't that bad right now, but will it get worse? I believe that I would've noticed these lines earlier.

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lexlazootin
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Re: Faint white horizontal lines on Acer GN246HL

Post by lexlazootin » 17 May 2017, 12:53

It happens on mine, but only sometimes. Sometimes they can be so bad that they are obvious. I've seen it happen on a 60hz Benq before.

I got a feeling it might have to do with temperature. but no it doesn't really get worse.

IDespawn
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Re: Faint white horizontal lines on Acer GN246HL

Post by IDespawn » 25 May 2017, 20:58

The lines have disappeared for some reason. Might have something to do with the cable.

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Re: Faint white horizontal lines on Acer GN246HL

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 26 May 2017, 11:55

It probably isn't the cable if it's a digital cable.

Our feeling is that this type of lines-artifact is voltage imbalance.

Faint scanlines artifacts affecting certain colors such as white, or greys, and often affecting only a specific corner, etc -- Inversion is a similiar artifact -- see http://www.testufo.com/inversion and view the Lagom/Techmind links for an explanation

When patterns show up different than the inversion pattern it can be a voltage imbalance related thing that the inversion isn't able to compensate for -- such as changes to conductivity of the row/column conductors leading to the pixels, or along the ribbons at edge of panel, etc. It's hard to diagnose, often affects only certain panels, and boils down to "panel lottery" factor.

Panels pushed close to their limits also amplify panel-lottery sensitivities (e.g. some panels are immune, and others are not).

Subtle things such as temperature differences and monitor warmup (e.g. freshly turned on versus warmed up, or turned in in a cold worm, or turned on in a warm room). We all know that forgetting a smartphone in a cold car in the middle of a Vermont or Canadian winter, the phone screen responds much more slowly -- computer monitors also exhibit GtG speed changes during temperature changes -- and can cause the scanlines-effect to appear or disappear at different times of the year.

This is an artifact that is often also found on overclocked LCDs that are being pushed close to their limits. On some panels, LightBoost use a ~1/175th second LCD scanout (give or take) -- almost like the panel being internally overclocked from 144Hz to 175Hz. (The purpose of accelerated scanouts is to reduce strobe crosstalk)
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yellowsnow4free
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Re: Faint white horizontal lines on Acer GN246HL

Post by yellowsnow4free » 05 Jan 2022, 16:41

I know this is quite a necrobump, but I'm having almost the exact issue on my GN246HL, which was recently given to me by a friend.

First off, some info:

Version: GN246HL Bbid
Part Number: UM.FG6AA.B01
Mfg Date: Feb 2017

I'm running a RX 480 8GB with the latest optional drivers as of 1/5/2022.

My options in Windows are 60, 100, 120, and 144Hz with the provided DVI cable and PSU.

At 60, 120, and 144Hz, there are 3 faint horizontal lines that span the width of the monitor. They're lighter in color than the rest of the pixels and don't seem to move. They seem most noticeable at 144Hz. I've ran a few screen fix videos / utilities and they seem to have reduced the problem.

Connecting a different computer over HDMI (granted, only at 60Hz) the problem is still there, so it must be the monitor. I don't notice the lines during the 3D boot splash.

Interestingly, at 100Hz the lines are almost invisible. My friend didn't mention this issue when he gave the monitor to me so I'm guessing it wasn't there when he retired the monitor. The screen looks to be in mint shape.

Googling around has brought me to this site more than once. I'd like to run at 144Hz if possible, but I'll settle for whatever works without any issues.

It looks like LightBoost is locked in the OSD; I can't seem to set it to Min or Max. The only thing I can change in that part of the OSD is set "3D Notification" On or Off.

I know it has been a few years since this monitor was released; any thoughts on the problem? Are there any hacks I can try?

Thanks!

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