Heavy eyestrain from new LCD display .... normal? Alternatives?

brentl · 09-16-2006, 09:31 PM

I just picked up a 20" Viewsonic LCD yesterday, and since I set it up and started playing my eyes always feels like I'm really closeto a headache.

Is this pretty common? I went from a 17"CRT, and never had a problem, and am now pretty concerned I'm one of "those" people that can only handle CRT monitors.

Thanks
Brent

Alon Goldberg · 09-16-2006, 09:54 PM

mods please delete my post, i replied to the wrong post

Kimmo Jaskari · 09-17-2006, 07:33 AM

The first thing to do is make sure you've tuned the panel properly. It's also a question of quality; I've seen cheap screens that looked pretty awful even when tuned to within an inch of their lives. My 17 inch screen at work tends to do strange things to the image even if I tune it (probably going to have to whine about that and have it replaced).

First step is to try using the auto tuning feature, and if that doesn't do the trick one has to check into the options for setting phase etc manually via the control panel. If the screen isn't properly tuned for your graphics card you'll have troubles.

Also make sure you're running the panel at its rated resolution. On your averate 17-inch LCD, that's 1280x1024. LCD's have, as I'm sure you know, a set amount of pixels on them physically, and that is the amount of pixels your graphics card should be set to, even in games. 20 inches sounds like widescreen, and it may have 1680x1050 for instance. That is the resolution you should be using in every case that you possibly can if that is the resolution your monitor uses natively, but not all games support that - and at lower resolutions you'll see blurriness and artifacts as the screen converts the, say, 1024x768 signal to its own resolution of 1680x1050.

brentl · 09-17-2006, 12:47 PM

Thanks, everything seems to be set up right. Viewsonic vg2021m at 1400 * 1050(slightly lower resolution I know, but this is correct for this monitor) at 60Hz. I have it running through the DVI out of my 9800 pro.

Am I correct at assuming that when I use a digital connection the auto adjust features on these monitors don't work??

Brent

Kimmo Jaskari · 09-17-2006, 01:10 PM

Yeah, DVI is a digital connection. That disables most settings as needless.

I guess keeping that in mind there is little chance that a misconfiguration is your problem.

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Tekara · 09-17-2006, 07:51 PM

What's the ambient light like around your work area? Try dropping the brightness of the LCD panel some or brightening your surroundings a little, this is usually what folks are sensitive to on LCD screens.

Though, another common source of strain is that with the fixed pixels on an LCD, sometimes, text can be too "sharp" which is unatural and can cause strain. Much like being in a dead silent room hurts the ears, there's a certain level of imperfection that we are adjusted to. A possible solution here is to use a built in feature of Windows called "cleartype" that will soften the appearance of text and make it easier on the eyes.

Finally, looking through some reviews about your monitor it is said to some ghosting and blurring which would readily cause eyestrain. There's no real remedy for this aside from minimizing the amount of movement on your display and to take more periodic breaks to refocus your eyes on something across the room.

ThomasC · 09-17-2006, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tekara

Much like being in a dead silent room hurts the ears, there's a certain level of imperfection that we are adjusted to.

Really? How so?

Christ Reynolds · 09-17-2006, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThomasC

Really? How so?

it's sort of like the background noise that you never really hear. but when you are in a room that is truly silent, it seems to be a really loud "noise" that you hear. at least that's what happens to me.

CJ

brentl · 09-17-2006, 10:49 PM

Thanks for the help Tekara. As it sits,I'm playing in a dark room and have the LCD brightness at minimum. I'll try adding a light to see if that helps.

I'll also try that cleartype thing.

Brent