Eye strain problem

[rasmas]

Very interesting thread. I always like to look at monitor-TVs from the side to see if it adds some colour, and thought is was just TNs because of their bad angles, but never knew it could be the anti glare coating (too?).

OLED TVs are the best when looking at its side and i wonder if it is only because of being OLED. Also some time ago i read this reddit thread, and i wonder if there is any monitor using it.

I don't like glossy coating on monitors but i don't like that extra colour layer xD (does glossy coating add a colour layer too?).

In part i'm waiting for the rtings review of the Viewsonic XG270 to see how it has these .

EDIT: I usually get eye strain with any monitor i've tried, and i was thinking that maybe i had to use it with less brightness, and now i don't know if these coatings can be the cause(?).

[xenphor]

Okay I just received the Viewsonic xg2402, and after using it for a little bit, it does not seem to have the weird sheen that the AOC 24G2 had which is good. The TN panel definitely looks a bit washed out and the gamma shifts from the top to the bottom, but I think I can get used to it.

Moving the mouse cursor on the desktop appears a bit different at 144hz on the Viewsonic compared to the AOC; it almost appears less smooth, but I think that might be due to the lower amount of motion blur. I can more easily pick out the after trails of the mouse cursor on the Viewsonic, whereas on the AOC they kind of blurred together.

edit: One thing I've noticed is this mesh pattern that appears when the framerate is low: https://pcmonitors.info/wp-content/uplo ... tterns.jpg. I first noticed it when playing Mega Man X in Dosbox because it runs at a very low frame rate and has large areas of uniform color.

[sempronius]

I currently experience eye strain using my LG 27GL850. I am surprised, most people do not report any such issues. I also had eye strain with the Dell S2719DGF and the AOC C24G1 and AOC 24G2U, whilst there is zero eye strain with a Viewsonic XG240R or an HP Omen X 25f. I cannot find out what the reason for these problems is.

How does the XG240R compare to the XG2402?

Sorry for the somewhat late reply.

Well, the XG2402 was just like the XG240R: no eye problems at all!

[xenphor]

Unfortunately, even though it doesn't have the same annoying sheen that the AOC 24G2 had, I'm returning the Viewsonic XG2402 because the colors were just really bad. I tried adjusting all the settings and nothing could help the really washed out look. It was quite a bit more washed out than any other monitor I've had, so maybe something was wrong with it. I had my cheap Acer chromebook with a TN panel right next to it and it looked so much better.

It's too bad that there aren't any cheap 75hz IPS Freesync displays (that are recommended at least), because I don't even really care that much about high frame rate, although it is nice. Freesync just works and it's nice not worrying about having enough GPU power to spare for tearingless vsync off with RTSS.

[Chief Blur Buster]

Moving the mouse cursor on the desktop appears a bit different at 144hz on the Viewsonic compared to the AOC; it almost appears less smooth, but I think that might be due to the lower amount of motion blur. I can more easily pick out the after trails of the mouse cursor on the Viewsonic, whereas on the AOC they kind of blurred together.

That's part of it.
However, make sure your mouse is already set to 1000 Hz.

edit: One thing I've noticed is this mesh pattern that appears when the framerate is low: https://pcmonitors.info/wp-content/uplo ... tterns.jpg. I first noticed it when playing Mega Man X in Dosbox because it runs at a very low frame rate and has large areas of uniform color.

That's an artifact of LCD inversion logic that is easiest to see at low refresh rates on TN panels. Normal LCD inversion is invisible but sometimes it produces chess-board texturing in solid colors. It is seen on many 144Hz TN panels, though many 240Hz TN panels have it more invisible.

It's too bad that there aren't any cheap 75hz IPS Freesync displays (that are recommended at least), because I don't even really care that much about high frame rate, although it is nice. Freesync just works and it's nice not worrying about having enough GPU power to spare for tearingless vsync off with RTSS.

460Hz FreeSync can also work if the monitor is slightly overclocked (e.g. 61Hz or 62Hz) so you can cap 1Hz or 2Hz below Hz using RTSS or a millisecond-accurate framer rate capper.

75Hz does give you more headroom for slightly less accurate 60fps frame rate capping. But as long as the emulator has sub-milisecond-perfect framepacing, I've seen some users overclock 4K 60Hz FreeSync monitors to 61Hz or 62Hz, cap to 60fps, and use it with emulators without lag. 4K 59fps at 60Hz VRR, since sometimes there's cheap 4K 60Hz FreeSync IPS on sale. At low Hz (60Hz) you can tighten your VRR "3fps below" margin to as little as "0.5fps below" if your specific emulator has impeccably perfect framepacing whereupon no frametime (interval time between frames) is faster than shortest refreshtimes.

The reverse technique is live with 60Hz, and intentionally slow down the emulator to 59fps (59Hz) with all the attendant audio slowdown, etc. So that you maintain a small cap differential VRR fps-below-Hz to aviod the dreaded VSYNC ON input lag with VRR technologies.

This is a configuring/tweaking headache -- but potentially easier than RTSS Scanline Sync -- these are additional options to keep an eye out for too.

[xenphor]

75Hz does give you more headroom for slightly less accurate 60fps frame rate capping. But as long as the emulator has sub-milisecond-perfect framepacing, I've seen some users overclock 4K 60Hz FreeSync monitors to 61Hz or 62Hz, cap to 60fps, and use it with emulators without lag. 4K 59fps at 60Hz VRR, since sometimes there's cheap 4K 60Hz FreeSync IPS on sale. At low Hz (60Hz) you can tighten your VRR "3fps below" margin to as little as "0.5fps below" if your specific emulator has impeccably perfect framepacing whereupon no frametime (interval time between frames) is faster than shortest refreshtimes.

The reverse technique is live with 60Hz, and intentionally slow down the emulator to 59fps (59Hz) with all the attendant audio slowdown, etc. So that you maintain a small cap differential VRR fps-below-Hz to aviod the dreaded VSYNC ON input lag with VRR technologies.

This is a configuring/tweaking headache -- but potentially easier than RTSS Scanline Sync -- these are additional options to keep an eye out for too.

I'm not really interested in a 4k 60hz Freesync monitor, but I would be interested in 60-70hz 1080p IPS Freesync display. The only reason I specified 75hz is that I thought it might be easier to source a decent IPS panel at that refresh rate, but I'm guessing since most people want 144hz+, it's not going to be any cheaper/better.

Scanline sync achieves what I want in native pc games for input lag/smoothness, the only problem is the GPU power needed and that it is not a hardware solution. At this point it looks like I would be better off upgrading my GPU, so I can have more horsepower to spare for scanline sync while the VRR market stabilizes.

Unfortunately I don't have a solution for emulation. If it's a 16bit system or below and supported in retroarch then it's doable, but anything else is a crapshoot.

[x0fff8]

Posting in this topic to report, I feel eye strain when using the vg279qm with ELMB on. Is it normal for ELMB (black frame insertion) to cause eye strain over prolonged use? If this is the case, will all other monitors with a similar implementation cause eye strain?

Thanks!

[Ai5]

have you tried to diagnose your specific kind of eyestrain with monitors? What monitors creates eyestrain, and what doesn't? It's a very easy to self-misdiagnose, from factors such as PWM diming, to blue light, to overall brightness, to viewing angles, to gamma settings, to strobing modes (more sensitive to flicker than blur), to motion blur eyestrain (more sensitive to blur than flicker), etc. We've done this in other threads and helped narrow down monitor recommendations.

Have you found any patterns with your eye strain on different screens?

This is the first time I've ever had a bad reaction looking at a monitor. I tried to adjust all the settings and nothing made a difference. I could have the brightness near zero, contrast greatly reduced, digital vibrancy reduced, low blue mode enabled, Windows 10 night light enabled, but nothing helped. I even tried adjusting the lighting in my room, going so far as to buy smart LED bulbs that I could adjust. It has some weird sort of sheen that causes colors to shift when viewing at different angles. Looking straight on, the corners are darker than the center, and if I look at the corners dead on, other parts of the monitor look darker.

There is a post on reddit with a picture that sort of shows i. Now the picture itself isn't that great, but I think it illustrates the darkening effect at the edges well enough. Whatever is causing that to happens is what I think is giving me not just eye strain, but a kind of nausea.

@Xenophor

Hi, I was googling about why the AOC 24g2 was hurting my eyes so much, especially more at night, and I finally found this thread. I have the exact same issue regarding dark corners and then when u make ur sight closer to the corners, the rest of the screen appears dark...And the monitor is also giving me eyestrain. No matter what I do it feels to bright..and I see those white spots in my eyes from looking at it...

So was it the anti glare coating??!

I can't tell what's wrong, and I can't tell which factor makes this monitor bad for me..but I tried everything as u did, rgb, color filters, brightness of monitor, lighting of room..Nothing...

And I can see from ur replies that u tried other monitors and still wasn't satisfied due to bad colors and such..Which monitor did u eventually settle for that was in the same price range hopefully?

@Chief Blur Buster

Can you please refer me to the threads that can help me correctly self diagnose the problem?? My old monitor was Samsung 943NW 19" Monitor, I had no problems with it whatsoever...It had ofc different display (TFT-Active matrix)..different resolution..different frequency...different size...so I don't know which factor is causing my eyes to hurt...


I just wanna clarify I am in no way a professional or know most of the technical terms u guys are using..All I wanted was bigger monitor from 21 to 24 inch that had good colors and 144 hz cause my vga supports till 144 hz..I am not even a gamer or anything , just thought I'd make the best use and get the best outputs from the bucks I'm paying...

Really hope u guys get back to me, thanks

[xenphor]

@Xenophor

Hi, I was googling about why the AOC 24g2 was hurting my eyes so much, especially more at night, and I finally found this thread. I have the exact same issue regarding dark corners and then when u make ur sight closer to the corners, the rest of the screen appears dark...And the monitor is also giving me eyestrain. No matter what I do it feels to bright..and I see those white spots in my eyes from looking at it...

So was it the anti glare coating??!

I can't tell what's wrong, and I can't tell which factor makes this monitor bad for me..but I tried everything as u did, rgb, color filters, brightness of monitor, lighting of room..Nothing...

And I can see from ur replies that u tried other monitors and still wasn't satisfied due to bad colors and such..Which monitor did u eventually settle for that was in the same price range hopefully?

@Chief Blur Buster

Can you please refer me to the threads that can help me correctly self diagnose the problem?? My old monitor was Samsung 943NW 19" Monitor, I had no problems with it whatsoever...It had ofc different display (TFT-Active matrix)..different resolution..different frequency...different size...so I don't know which factor is causing my eyes to hurt...


I just wanna clarify I am in no way a professional or know most of the technical terms u guys are using..All I wanted was bigger monitor from 21 to 24 inch that had good colors and 144 hz cause my vga supports till 144 hz..I am not even a gamer or anything , just thought I'd make the best use and get the best outputs from the bucks I'm paying...

Really hope u guys get back to me, thanks

I recently got a Gigabyte M27Q which is more expensive but seems to be pretty good for the price. The main issue with it is that it has a BGR subpixel layout instead of the more standard RGB layout. I've had to lower the contrast and adjust the black level because my eyes aren't that great but it's nowhere near as bad as the AOC monitor. I would have preferred another 24" 1080p monitor, but it seems like those are being phased out in favor of 27" 1440p, unless it's a super high refresh rate monitor.

I think the issue with the AOC monitor was probably particular to that display.

[Ai5]

^ ok, so u don't think it was the anti-glare coating after all? I'm desperate to find the culprit cause I can't afford to try different monitors...Currently I'm having difficulty returning the monitor as it technically has no manufacturing defect...However I did notice the thing about the colors being shady at the corners when u're looking at the display in the center (if u re-align ur sight focus to the dark areas they are seen normally, and then other areas seem dark..)..Is that even a manufacturing defect? I don't know