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"Buy a good screen" - so what defines a bad screen in the context of being good or bad for the eyes? LCD screens have neither the clarity problem nor the flicke

"Buy a good screen" - so what defines a bad screen in the context of being good or bad for the eyes? LCD screens have neither the clarity problem nor the flicker problem that CRTs have.

asutekku 6y ago
Low refresh rate. I’ve seen it referenced multiple times to be a reason for eye strain.
- daneel_w 6y ago
  You're probably confusing this with absurdly low PWM rate on the LED backlight (a minority of screens suffer this).
  - falcolas 6y ago
    Why not both? Especially if what you're looking at is moving in any way on the screen.
falcolas 6y ago
I'd also throw out that a 4k screen is also a good thing, since your eyes don't have to deal with "tricks" to have crisp, clear text to read.
user5994461 6y ago
Colors, brightness and angle of vision. Without going into specifics, the shortest way to get a good screen is probably to buy an IPS display (it's barely more expensive). Pretty sure all IPS display are at least okay. The cheapest displays are TN because it's cheaper to manufacture, sadly that technology has very bad angle of vision, move a feet to the left and another feet and you'll see the image looking different, it also has a more limited rendering of colors. Not great. Typically you realize how bad a screen is when you try to calibrate it (looking at a few pictures is enough, no need for expensive equipment). With a really shitty screen, you will notice that the display literally cannot render half the colors. For example looking at a picture with 16 shades from pure white to pure black, the 4 first levels of white look the same. Typically that's the part where you have to adjust brightness/contrast until it's showing a difference. If you have a really shitty screen, there's no settings where half the colors will render. The example above being extremely skewed toward bright white will slowly destroy your eyes, being too bright and removing details/contrasts.
- karmakaze 6y ago
  I don't know how true of a problem this still is. Are most LCDs now not typically TFT/CCFL? Quality still varies, but I haven't had trouble with even cheap displays if you can use the included controls or software to adjust the gamma or dark/light response. I used to use the Norman Koren test patterns[0] before using a Mac with included wizard. It's likely much more common for people not to know or try to see how much difference settings can make. [0] http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - bluedino 6y ago
    IPS, TN, now you have this pentile shit
- daneel_w 6y ago
  But neither color accuracy nor poor viewing angle are issues that cause strain on the eyes. Blinding brightness certainly can, but are there really screens these days which cannot be dimmed-down enough? I have a hard time believing it.
kart23 6y ago
Some monitors do have pwm backlights which flicker extremely fast, and can worsen eyestrain or cause headaches for some. I've seen it even on monitors that advertise being flicker free.
- daneel_w 6y ago
  The problem is if their PWM is too slow, to the point where we actually see the flicker directly, or just barely indirectly (e.g. by seeing a "slideshow effect" when you move a finger back and front against the lit-up display). Concensus among opticians and ophthalmologists is however still that the main cause for eye strain is focusing your eyes at a short distance for an extended period of time.

"Buy a good screen" - so what defines a bad screen in the context of being good or bad for the eyes? LCD screens have neither the clarity problem nor the flicker problem that CRTs have.

asutekku 6y ago

Low refresh rate. I’ve seen it referenced multiple times to be a reason for eye strain.

daneel_w 6y ago
You're probably confusing this with absurdly low PWM rate on the LED backlight (a minority of screens suffer this).
- falcolas 6y ago
  Why not both? Especially if what you're looking at is moving in any way on the screen.

falcolas 6y ago

I'd also throw out that a 4k screen is also a good thing, since your eyes don't have to deal with "tricks" to have crisp, clear text to read.

user5994461 6y ago

Colors, brightness and angle of vision. Without going into specifics, the shortest way to get a good screen is probably to buy an IPS display (it's barely more expensive). Pretty sure all IPS display are at least okay. The cheapest displays are TN because it's cheaper to manufacture, sadly that technology has very bad angle of vision, move a feet to the left and another feet and you'll see the image looking different, it also has a more limited rendering of colors. Not great. Typically you realize how bad a screen is when you try to calibrate it (looking at a few pictures is enough, no need for expensive equipment). With a really shitty screen, you will notice that the display literally cannot render half the colors. For example looking at a picture with 16 shades from pure white to pure black, the 4 first levels of white look the same. Typically that's the part where you have to adjust brightness/contrast until it's showing a difference. If you have a really shitty screen, there's no settings where half the colors will render. The example above being extremely skewed toward bright white will slowly destroy your eyes, being too bright and removing details/contrasts.

karmakaze 6y ago
I don't know how true of a problem this still is. Are most LCDs now not typically TFT/CCFL? Quality still varies, but I haven't had trouble with even cheap displays if you can use the included controls or software to adjust the gamma or dark/light response. I used to use the Norman Koren test patterns[0] before using a Mac with included wizard. It's likely much more common for people not to know or try to see how much difference settings can make. [0] http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- bluedino 6y ago
  IPS, TN, now you have this pentile shit
daneel_w 6y ago
But neither color accuracy nor poor viewing angle are issues that cause strain on the eyes. Blinding brightness certainly can, but are there really screens these days which cannot be dimmed-down enough? I have a hard time believing it.

kart23 6y ago

Some monitors do have pwm backlights which flicker extremely fast, and can worsen eyestrain or cause headaches for some. I've seen it even on monitors that advertise being flicker free.

daneel_w 6y ago
The problem is if their PWM is too slow, to the point where we actually see the flicker directly, or just barely indirectly (e.g. by seeing a "slideshow effect" when you move a finger back and front against the lit-up display). Concensus among opticians and ophthalmologists is however still that the main cause for eye strain is focusing your eyes at a short distance for an extended period of time.