Current monitors giving me headaches, advice?

[smiba]

Hey,

I currently use 3x VG248QE, bought very soon after the release of these models and I've been starting to notice that after a long period of time I start to get bad eye stain or headaches. It doesn't always give me headaches, but I started to notice that even though I sometimes spend way more time behind a monitor at work these monitors give me headaches and those at work do not.

The monitors are set at 144Hz at about 14% brightness. My room isn't extremely bright so thats why my brightness is low.

I was wondering if this could be because of the PWM driver in this monitor, for example when I set my phone camera to 60fps there is noticeable flickering, wheres the same does not apply to the monitor of my macbook or phone.

What monitor can I purchase that does not suffer from these issues? Anything I can do with my current setup to lower the eye stain?

Thanks!

[Chief Blur Buster]

Hey,

I currently use 3x VG248QE, bought very soon after the release of these models and I've been starting to notice that after a long period of time I start to get bad eye stain or headaches. It doesn't always give me headaches, but I started to notice that even though I sometimes spend way more time behind a monitor at work these monitors give me headaches and those at work do not.

The monitors are set at 144Hz at about 14% brightness. My room isn't extremely bright so thats why my brightness is low.

I was wondering if this could be because of the PWM driver in this monitor, for example when I set my phone camera to 60fps there is noticeable flickering, wheres the same does not apply to the monitor of my macbook or phone.

What monitor can I purchase that does not suffer from these issues? Anything I can do with my current setup to lower the eye stain?

Thanks!

Yes, it's probably PWM.

Take a look at TestUFO at http://www.testufo.com/ghosting
You'll probably see this problem (quoted from LCD Motion Artifacts):

That can cause headaches (either from the flicker, or from the uncomfortable motion artifacts).

OPTION 1
One workaround is set all your VG248QE's to 100% brightness and then use either to dim the picture in a different way:
(A) Control Panel adjustments to dim your picture. This will reduce color depth and contrast (more banding, poor contrast) but you'll at least avoid PWM.
(B) Use a third party utility such as F.lux to dim the picture. But this can still have the same issues of the above, and may not dim your monitor much.
(C) A dark grey film on your screen. Use a neutral-density filter (dark grey cellophane-like material) in front of your monitor. You'll want a neutral density film that reduces by about 3 "F-stops" (1/8 brightness).

OPTION 2
Another workaround is to enable LightBoost on all your VG248QE monitors using http://www.blurbusters.com/lightboost/howto .... LightBoost will dim the picture, you can still adjust your LightBoost percentage to dim the picture more. Yes, LightBoost still flickers but it is often a more comfortable PWM for some people because of the lack of motion blur & lack of multi-images. Make sure your framerate is matching the refresh rate and strobe rate (100fps at 100Hz, or 120fps at 120Hz) to avoid the multi-image-effect problem of unsynchronized PWM. Your mileage may vary -- you may get less headaches or more headaches -- we get mixed reports. It's related to headaches from flicker sensitivity versus headaches from artifacts.

OPTION 3
Obtain a newer monitor. All "Better Than 60Hz" monitors manufactured in the last 3 years are currently PWM-free in their non-strobed modes. (Visit the monitor lists at the bottom of my post for more options)

If you want Macbook-quality colors (IPS), combined with Macbook-style PWM-free, combined with high Hz, then I highly recommend the overclockable 165Hz IPS monitors such as the following:
ASUS ROG PG279Q - 27" 2560x1440 IPS 165Hz G-SYNC
Acer Predator XB271HU - 27" 2560x1440 IPS 165Hz G-SYNC
AOC AG271QG - 27" 2560x1440 IPS 165Hz G-SYNC
Viewsonic XG2703-GS - 27" 2560x1440 IPS 165Hz G-SYNC

For eyes much more accustomed to the Macbook-look, they all greatly reduce eyestrain (compared to the older PWM-dimming VG248QE).

[Sparky]

My advice is to add more light to the room in general. This will let you increase the brightness on the monitors, making flicker less visible, and your pupils will be smaller, increasing your eyes' depth of field, so your eye doesn't have to spend quite as much effort focusing. The light should illuminate the wall behind the monitors, but shouldn't glare.

[smiba]

OPTION 2
Another workaround is to enable LightBoost on all your VG248QE monitors using http://www.blurbusters.com/lightboost/howto .... LightBoost will dim the picture, you can still adjust your LightBoost percentage to dim the picture more. Yes, LightBoost still flickers but it is often a more comfortable PWM for some people because of the lack of motion blur & lack of multi-images. Make sure your framerate is matching the refresh rate and strobe rate (100fps at 100Hz, or 120fps at 120Hz) to avoid the multi-image-effect problem of unsynchronized PWM. Your mileage may vary -- you may get less headaches or more headaches -- we get mixed reports. It's related to headaches from flicker sensitivity versus headaches from artifacts.

This makes a real difference in motion blur, I'm stunned. From slight blur to as much as none! I can actually focus on the individual pixels on the UFO test

So far I didn't get a headache today, the strobing looks a bit weird when I move my head around or shake my hands in front of my monitor but I guess thats just how it is. I think saving up for some nice new montors isn't too bad, but for now I can't afford to replace them all.

Other solution I'll try if this doesn't work is setting the brightness to full and using a film to lower the light a few stops. Any idea where I can get that so it looks good on my monitor?

My advice is to add more light to the room in general. This will let you increase the brightness on the monitors, making flicker less visible, and your pupils will be smaller, increasing your eyes' depth of field, so your eye doesn't have to spend quite as much effort focusing. The light should illuminate the wall behind the monitors, but shouldn't glare.

Definitely going to try this as well. I already have a RGB led strip that I can control from my computer behind my monitors to illuminate the walls, but I for some reason rarely used it. I might also look into the circuit I made for that as there is no filtering on its PWM either (which is >30kHz though), but its a fact its actually just flashing extreamly fast without any smoothing.

I hope to rearange my room soon so I can actually get all these elements implemented

Thanks everyone so far!

[Chief Blur Buster]

OPTION 2
Another workaround is to enable LightBoost on all your VG248QE monitors using http://www.blurbusters.com/lightboost/howto .... LightBoost will dim the picture, you can still adjust your LightBoost percentage to dim the picture more. Yes, LightBoost still flickers but it is often a more comfortable PWM for some people because of the lack of motion blur & lack of multi-images. Make sure your framerate is matching the refresh rate and strobe rate (100fps at 100Hz, or 120fps at 120Hz) to avoid the multi-image-effect problem of unsynchronized PWM. Your mileage may vary -- you may get less headaches or more headaches -- we get mixed reports. It's related to headaches from flicker sensitivity versus headaches from artifacts.

This makes a real difference in motion blur, I'm stunned. From slight blur to as much as none! I can actually focus on the individual pixels on the UFO test
[...]
Thanks everyone so far!

You are very welcome!

Blur Busters raison d'être was originally blur reduction backlights! Aka LightBoost.

We were the first site in the world to popularize display blur reduction for PC gaming.

Newer monitors have improved colors with blur reduction now, LightBoost was simply the first one that did a really good job. Be noted, frame rate rate consistency is more important important to reduce LightBoost-amplified microstuttering (Lack of blur means easier to see microstutter), so if lag is not super important, use VSYNC ON and 100Hz/100fps (less GPU) to bring the "TestUFO smoothness" into your games. (or 120fps/120Hz if GPU is good). Super smooth framerate lock often looks better with LightBoost, if you are very stutter sensitive.