I haven't done research on MLA before, but I just looked it up and it seems that it is a technology where they add microscopic lenses over top of a WOLED panel and still has the sub-pixel layout issue. I think the issue is caused by WOLED panels because there is an extra 4th pixel of pure white instead of the traditional 3 RGB colors.
The Asus PG27AQDM is an MLA panel and the Hardware Unboxed video talks about the sub-pixel layout causing text issues at 5:12 in this video.
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I'm not sure. I never looked into exactly what causes it, I just hear about it on every OLED review.
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I'm surprised you were on CRT for so long, but I feel your pain about LCD monitors. Most people are unaware of how bad LCD monitors really are. All of the issues you raised are valid. OLED panels are beautiful and much better than IPS/VA panels, but all of these modern flat panels are going to be inferior to CRT when it comes to motion clarity. It is very apparent when playing older/retro games. Sidescrollers and Shoot-em-ups are especially bad.
The monitor that you got should have pretty good motion handling for an LCD monitor (RTING's review is expected to drop next week), so if there aren't any settings you can adjust it might just be the limits of what LCD can manage. That being said, make sure you check all of your settings you are running with to optimize it the best you can. I don't know how much of a difference it makes, but you should dial up the Pixel Response Time more the higher the refresh rate you are set at (in OSD menu). Try "Super Fast" setting if you are running at 120hz and see if that helps at all. Or even better would be if you run your monitor at 144hz or 165hz and set Pixel Response Time to "Extreme."
Having a high refresh rate does help the motion clarity a lot, but even 165hz won't get you results like a CRT. What you really need is BFI (Black Frame Insertion). This feature still has a long way to go on PC monitors. I have an ASUS Monitor that is unique in that it is able to enable both BFI and VRR at the same time. It helps a little, but the implementation is still inferior to my LG OLED TV. I really hope that BFI can eventually have a software implementation, but as it stands it's not a good enough solution right now even for monitors that do have it. The next best thing to a CRT is something like an LG OLED TV's BFI. Otherwise, if you play retro games a lot or really want to prioritize motion clarity over resolution and color, etc, then you might want to stick with CRT. There's a reason why CRT's are still sought after for gaming.
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I have been waiting for the RTINGS review and saw recently that it moved into the testing phase. I also like Hardware Unboxed reviews (Monitors Unboxed), but I don't know if he will be testing it.
I read comments about it being a cheaper version of the S2721DGF which had really good reviews, but I think people are just saying that because it uses the same housing. I don't think it is the same panel because it is only 8-bit+FRC instead of true 10-bit.
I have gone through all the settings and tried to get everything setup as accurate as I can without a calibration tool. I use the super fast response time for anything 100hz or faster and "fast" for below 100hz. Extreme looks bad even at 165hz.
I just tried Doom at 165hz and it might be a tiny bit better, but it's hard to tell. It still makes the text blurry and unreadable when strafing though, so it's not much better. I will probably end up playing at 120hz for now since I am still running an old GTX 980 because that was the last generation to output an analog signal so I could use the CRT without having to deal with an active adapter. I would like to upgrade, but GPU prices are still crazy high. I have been checking Ebay every day for a used RTX 3080, but even the used cards are selling for more than I want to spend. I might just stick with the 980 for now and play less demanding games until the market comes back down to sane prices. I have been able to get Ghostrunner stable at 120 fps and Dirt Rally 2.0 mostly stable at 120, but dropped it down to 100 to prevent the occasional dips. I would rather keep the image quality settings higher and play at 100 fps than lowering the quality to get a higher frame rate.
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FYI ULMB 2 is a thing, haven't seen it in person yet though, only 2 monitors so far. :(
https://hothardware.com/news/nvidia-unveils-g-sync-ulmb-2
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Oh wow that's awesome! I didn't know about that. Hopefully that feature becomes more common. Once that feature is on an OLED and works with VRR, then we will have achieved perfection as far as I'm concerned :)
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pretty simple to not give up the old one.
I still have my childhood 27" CRT TV to use with my N64 and original XBOX. This might be why I am a bit harsh with older games on steam... because I can still play old games the intended way and have it look wayyy better.
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How in the world did your monitor last that long? From what I know CRT monitors didn't last anywhere near as long as CRT TVs. I think my parents never had a CRT monitor last much more than 5 years. Definitely nowhere even close to a decade.
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"Upgrades" are generally things to get excited about, so I'm sorry to hear about your disappointment. :(
I think I've been using LCDs for so long that I've forgotten about and/or grown accustomed to their shortcomings vs CRTs. They have a lot of advantages (wider format, size and weight, power consumption, etc.) but they're still not perfect, and each type of tech has its compromises.
I don't know how common glossy screens are, but they've always looked sharper and more "premium" to me, provided that background glare isn't an issue. It's been years since I've watched someone remove an anti-glare coating, but the before and after difference was striking. I don't know if I'd be willing to risk potentially damaging the screen to do it, though.
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I am not completely disappointed, just with some aspects. It still has some advantages that are good enough that I would prefer to use it over the CRT, but the blurry gaming is painful.
I also think 16x9 is too wide and wish 16x10 was still common. I feel like a taller monitor is better for productivity, especially since most websites don't even make use of the width. I also watch a lot of old shows and movies that are 4x3 and feel like 16x10 would be a good compromise for content in all aspect ratios.
Size and weight never really bothered me because I just put it down once and never move it. Unless you mean a larger screen, that is actually very nice.
I don't want to risk damaging the monitor either trying to remove the anti-glare coating which is why I am only going to try it if I manage to get another for free.
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I feel like a taller monitor is better for productivity, especially since most websites don't even make use of the width.
You can get a monitor model with rotation.
My co-worker has one, and they rotate it all day.
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The one I have can be rotated in either direction to be vertical, but I don't plan on rotating it because I would want to go back and forth so often. To reduce the amount if IPS glow, the monitor needs to be in just the right position exactly centered in front of your face so I try not to move it too much. To rotate it vertical, you have to raise the monitor all the way up first or it will hit the desk.
I don't know if it would cause any issues in the long run, but it would also bother me to put strain back and forth all the time on the display port because the cable would need to bend in a different direction every time it was rotated.
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You'll get used to it, believe me. My first impression about LCD monitors was quite similar to yours (though it was like 15 years ago). And I've given up the idea of affordable OLED monitors about 5 years ago.
Regarding blurriness - try to play with the monitor settings, all these fancy "overdrive/game" modes could help.
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Hopefully OLEDs will be reasonably priced in about 2 years. I think everyone is going to start switching over to it. Samsung stopped producing LCD panels a few months ago to focus on OLED.
I have already tried the monitor settings. It is blurry with motion even at 165hz with the response time setting on super fast or extreme.
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I'm honestly surprised you still had a working CRT monitor, the couple I had back in the 2000's both died on their own after a few years of use. On the other hand my oldest LCD monitor is a Samsung one that has been going for well over a decade with no issues whatsoever, it's not even 1080p, just 900p, yet I still use it to this day as a second screen.
I know that LCD monitors have a number of drawbacks when compared to CRTs but back in the day I was happy to jump ship the moment that LED backlit panels became cheap because CRTs gave me some mighty headaches after 3 or 4 hours of use while I can quite literally sit in front of an LCD for close to 10 hours straight without that happening, but that's probably just a me problem thanks to my astigmatism.
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I have never had a CRT monitor die (TVs have). The one I currently have has been powered on just about every day for the past 10 or 12 years for 16 hours a day, and before that a business used it, so they probably had it running every day as well. If I am going to leave the computer for less than a couple hours I will just display a full screen pure black image instead of turning the monitor off so it doesn't go through as many heat cycles.
A lot of people talk about eye strain from CRT monitors, but I never had an issue with that either. I run most things at 85hz and it might help that I have hotkeys to adjust brightness, contrast, and gamma. When browsing the web or doing other stuff that doesn't require full brightness, I will turn the brightness way down so the whites aren't blinding and also reduce the blacks a bit to add contrast. Then I will set it back to the correct levels with the click of a button if I am watching a video, gaming, or just want to view something how it is meant to be. I have a few different presets setup for full dark, full bright and a couple levels between. I still use this on the new LCD and it works great. I also have 2 presets directly on the LCD monitor. One is for being accurate and the other turns the back light all the way down.
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From what I remember I used CRT monitors at around half brightness, the max I could withstand was about 70%, full brightness was straight up blinding to me. But yeah, between the physical strain and technical failures my experience with them wasn't great throughout the 90's and 00's so I was happy to drop CRTs both for PC and TV. Despite that I do think it's sad that the technology is basically gone now, I do hold quite a bit of nostalgia for those old chunky screens and the last CRT TV still in my possession seems to be almost dead judging by the last time I tested it, a bit sad.
I should probably mention that I always liked the not-quite dark enough blacks of LCDs, I know it's supposedly a flaw but I actually like how it looks so I tend to consider it a feature, so every time OLEDs do their whole "darker blacks" thing my reaction is a resounding meh, and same goes for those who claim that's one of the best advantages of CRTs, the thing I miss about them is getting proper color bleed on dither patterns.
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I've never been bothered by IPS glow, but I get annoyed by backlight bleed. Fortunately for all of the PC monitors I've owned.. occasionally cleaning them gets rid of most of the bleed over time (probably cuz you're massaging the screen and making the bleed more uniform). It's always the worst when they're brand new though
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I'm not sure what you are talking about. I thought backlight bleed was when the edges of the LCD panel are not perfectly sealed to the bezel and some of the backlight works its way through the small gap which makes the edges or corners of the screen glow. I'm not sure how cleaning or messaging the screen could affect back light bleed.
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I didn't expect it to affect backlight bleed either, but it does. I've had decades of experience with IPS monitors and it tends to get better over time by massaging the screen (which is done anyway when cleaning). It doesn't help all panels but it will help some. I think since it's not sealed perfectly, it allows the bleed to be moved by touching the screen, but that's just my guess. With some screens you can achieve a similar effect by pressing around the bezel, close to where the screen is attached.
I bought a new laptop in November of last year and the backlight bleed was pretty bad in the bottom right corner.. until I cleaned the entire screen. Now it's much more tolerable. Sometimes it'll get better from use over time as well since heat may loosen the panel a bit
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and they can all have dead/stuck pixels
OLED TV/monitors do have dead pixels too, and more frequently than LCD panels from my personal experience. I have not been able to get a "pixel perfect" (no dead pixels) OLED TV even exchanging it several times. I finally kept one with a single dead pixel because I wanted to own a OLED. If it was a monitor I would not have kept it because I have OCD with dead pixels if I can see them.
In any case, the future is microLED, not OLED. OLED panels are not suitable for monitors because they can't run as many hours as LCDs (they burn-in).
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I understand that OLED can also have pixel issues, I was just explaining why I never wanted to spend the money to switch away from the CRT because of all the possible issues. I was worried about possibly getting something like dead/stuck pixels or backlight bleed and not having it covered under the warranty or having to pay for shipping to exchange it which would be expensive for a monitor sized box.
Pixel issues would bother me a lot as well and I would always be noticing it. I was relieved when I checked and didn't find any issues with the monitor I received.
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Micro LED would be great, but that feels even farther off than OLED. Who knows how many years it will be before we start to get them and then how many years after that before they become affordable.
Also, will they even be able to make the LEDs small enough to get the pixel density needed for a computer monitor around 27"? It will probably be cheaper to manufacture large TVs because the LEDs will be bigger and then it will take many more years before they are able to shrink the technology down to smaller size and that will make it very expensive as well. I am just guessing though, I haven't done any research on how it works or what they have developed so far.
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May I ask what's the model of that CRT? As others I'm amazed that you still own one but seems like It was top notch in It's time. Well, you're right on the quality of the stuff. I still have an Acer Monitor from a Pentium III and has some removable speakers, they sound pretty decent despite they're feed by 5V USB and this comment comes from my older brother who's really picky when It comes to speakers. The resolution of the monitor is crap tho, 640x480, but after years gathering dust still gave image.
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The monitor is a Gateway VX920 manufactured in 2000. I think it is a rebranded Mitsubishi Diamondtron, but I don't remember which model. It's a 19" that does up to 1600x1200@75hz, but I usually ran it at 1400x1050@85hz. Lower resolutions can run up to 140hz.
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I use a 32" VGA 1440p monitor for everything but games. For games, I use my Sony GDM-FW900 CRT. Best CRT ever made. 16:10 widescreen flat glass (as in the glass is flat, not curved) CRT. 2304x1440 at 80Hz. 1920x1200 at 85Hz (my preferred setting). I miss 16:10 also :(
People stopped using CRT just as CRT tech was becoming amazing so they don't realize what they're missing. There was some experimental work on a new type of CRT where instead of the typical 3 electron guns at the back, each phosphor would have it's own gun right behind it which allowed the screen to be about the same thickness as an LCD but maintain the advantages of CRT. It was too little, too late though.
I have a LCD TV which is my regular TV, but all my game consoles are hooked up to a 32" HD Toshiba CRT TV. 1080i, flat glass, widescreen, HDMI/Component/Composite/Svideo inputs. It's perfect for older consoles because it never needs to upscale because CRT has no native resolution.
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FW900, the holy grail of CRT monitors :)
I love that you can run almost any resolution and have it still look good. I played a game recently that needed a vertical resolution of 1080 to use integer scaling, so I made a custom resolution of 1440x1080. I though it was kind of funny because if you told someone you were running that resolution, they would think you didn't know what you were talking about because 1440 and 1080 are two common different resolutions.
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There was some experimental work on a new type of CRT where instead of the typical 3 electron guns at the back, each phosphor would have it's own gun right behind it which allowed the screen to be about the same thickness as an LCD but maintain the advantages of CRT. It was too little, too late though.
Is that how the laptop from Gravity Falls worked? That was the one thing about the show that weirded me out.
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I believe he talking about SED displays. I have heard them mentioned when looking up info about CRTs, but haven't read much about them.
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I don't think a horse drawn carriage has any benefits over a motor vehicle. I guess the earliest motor vehicles might have had engine issues and broken down often and people might have complained and said they wish they still had their carriage with the reliable horse :)
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You can do what I did...buy a performance (gaming) TV with superior LED technology (OLED/XLED/VLED). Because it's a "TV" and not a "monitor" (they're virtually the same thing now), it's a fraction of the price. Just ensure it's one with appropriate zoned backlighting and an HDMI 3 port (and HDR) and you're ready to go. I'm gaming on a 50" "monitor" now, and it's amazing. Oh, and that was $650 (a designated gaming monitor this size would be >=$2000). You can probably get a 34"-36" for like $300-$350.
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I want something I can use sitting at a desk, so I wouldn't want to go too big. I feel like 27" is a really good size and 30" would probably be the max I would consider. I also don't want 1080p or 4K because 1080 isn't enough pixel density for desktop use at that size and 4K is too hard to run games. My GPU is struggling now to run 4-8 year old games at 1440p and pretty much all GPUs that can do 1440p at a decent frame rate are out of my price range right now, even used.
I think I am just going to have to deal with the IPS monitor I have now for a couple years until OLED monitors become more common with more choices and cheaper prices. It's not a bad monitor, it's just unfortunate that modern technology has some drawbacks compared to 20 year old tech.
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Yea OLED is the way to go these days for TVs (I use a 65' LG C1), but monitors aren't quite there yet. I'm hopeful that we'll be seeing some new OLED monitor options early next year since my current IPS monitor is starting to go bad (haven't even had it 2 years...).
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That's another thing that bothers me. So many things seem like they are now built to only last just past the warranty so they can keep the money flowing.
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CRTs aren't amazing overall, it's mainly just input latency and motion clarity. I am used to being able to run around in a first person game and take in my surroundings without having to stop to look. When you are looking for something specific, you could just keep running and pan your view around to read signs for doors, hallways, or anything else, but now I feel like I have to stop moving every time I want to see something. It's not just text either, everything looses small details, so I feel like I am just taking in less information while moving and if I want to see the details of everything, I have to keep stopping which is tedious and makes everything take longer.
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There are monitors which have a motion blur reduction feature. It works by using backlight strobing.
https://blurbusters.com/faq/motion-blur-reduction/
https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=monlcd19wide&xf=11939_27~11940_27~13247_mit~14591_25601440&asuch=&bpmin=&bpmax=&v=e&hloc=at&hloc=de&hloc=pl&hloc=uk&hloc=eu&plz=&dist=&mail=&fcols=13247&sort=p&bl1_id=30&togglecountry=set
In the BlurBusters article they mention the "flicker-free" feature, which isn't related to motion blur. I found an explanation here:
https://www.displayninja.com/what-is-flicker-free-technology/
Seems some monitors regulate brightness in a bad way. This is an issue when using low brightness.
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I have heard about this and I did look before I chose the monitor, but unfortunately Dell doesn't use it in any of their monitors and the only reason I got this one is because I was able to get it for free. If I decide to purchase a different monitor, I will definitely consider it.
The only downside that I heard about is that it makes the image darker. I would really like an OLED if I was going to spend the money, but OLEDs already have a low max brightness, so adding this to an OLED will reduce the brightness even farther. Maybe I could enable it while gaming and then turn it off at other times. I feel like it would be a great technology to pair with micro LED in the future since those should be very bright.
Edit: The Dell monitor I have doesn't have backlight strobing, but it is advertised as flicker free. I have a couple custom profiles set to buttons on the side of the monitor and one turns the backlight all the way down. I often run it like that when using the desktop or browsing the web so the whites aren't blinding and have not noticed any flicker.
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There is not much point to this thread other than I feel like ranting about my monitor experience and how modern technology is worse in some ways than what we had 20 years ago.
This is going to sound crazy, but I have used a computer almost every day since the late 90s and I have only owned CRT monitors. For the past probably 15 years since OLED TVs were announced, I have been waiting for a flat 27" 1440p OLED monitor, but they never came. Now we are finally entering the age of OLED computer monitors, but I feel like it's going to be at least another 2 years before I can buy one because $1000 is over double what I would be willing to spend and I don't like the sub-pixel text issues since I sit in front of it most of the day and use it for more than just content consumption.
I was never willing to spend the money on an LCD because they have so many drawbacks and I was still happy with the image quality of my CRT, even with modern games and HD movies. I always hated that TN panels had bad colors and viewing angles, VA had slow response times, IPS has IPS glow, and they can all have dead/stuck pixels, backlite bleed, and poor dark image quality because the backlight needed for the brighter parts of the image bleeds into the darker parts.
I still wasn't willing to spend the money, especially with more OLED options hopefully coming soon, but over the past 3 or 4 months, Dell starting giving out a bunch of points and reward dollars on their alienwarearena site that you can spend on anything that Dell sells. I managed to save up enough points to convert to $300 and got a G2724D for free.
IPS glow and anti-glare coating
Overall the image quality looks good. I like the larger screen and sharper 1440p image, but there are a couple drawbacks. The first issue I immediately noticed is the IPS glow. I use the monitor a lot at night or with dark curtains closed, so there isn't a lot of light in the room. I also like to keep a solid black desktop background and use a very dark gray Windows theme. I sit about 3 feet from the monitor and can see IPS glow from the 4 corners of the screen. If I move my head in any direction and am not perfectly aligned in front of the monitor, the glow gets worse on the opposite side as the viewing angle increases. This is really annoying because I like to change my sitting position often and move around in the chair.
I don't know if they are going to continue giving out as many points as they were recently, but if they do, I am going to try and save up enough over the next few months to get another and do an experiment. I don't understand why so many monitors are sold with a matte anti-glare coating. I think a glossy finish is so much better for people that don't have issues with glare. The matte coating takes away some of the vibrancy and sharpness which makes everything a bit more dull looking. I also think it is the cause of a lot of the "IPS glow". I think the anti-glare coating scatters the light so you don't get reflections, but it also scatters the light coming out of the monitor as you look at it at a slight angle causing the glow. The monitor is large enough that even if you are sitting perfectly centered in front of it at a comfortable distance, the corners of the screen are viewed at enough of an angle to cause the glow.
I don't want to risk destroying the one I have, but if I can get another, I am going to try removing the anti-glare coating. I don't know if all coatings are applied the same, but on other monitors people have removed it by just soaking it with wet paper towels for a few hours and then gently peeling it off, making sure not to remove the polarizing layer. I think this will be a fun experiment and will most likely make the image quality much better.
Motion Clarity
The second issue I noticed leaves me the most disappointed. The motion clarity compared to my old CRT is just bad. Whether you are walking around in a game or scrolling down a page of text, the image gets blurry with movement. This really bothers me because I like the sharper image, but it makes games look so bad.
I just installed Doom (2016) and I am running the ultra preset with vsync on and motion blur and depth of field disabled. In the room where the game starts, there is some text above the door on an orange screen and there is also text on the back wall. I run my 19" CRT at 1400x1050 at 85hz and I can read all of the text while strafing. On the 27" 1440p LCD at 120hz, any movement causes the text to become blurry and unreadable. Everything else on the screen in going to be blurry as well, but it is most noticeable on text or objects that have small details like the computer in the room. Also, this is not a performance issue, vsync is on and my frame rate is not dropping.
This honestly makes games so much less enjoyable and I can't believe people have been gaming on blurry LCDs like this for so many years not knowing what good motion clarity looks like. I really hope OLED prices come down soon and something gets done about the sub-pixel layout. From what I have found online, motion clarity on an OLED is still not as good as a CRT, but it is much better than an LCD.
Update: Eye Fatigue
I have been using the monitor for almost 2 weeks now and unfortunately it has been causing eye strain. Everyone always talks about CRT monitors causing eye strain and I was confused by that because I have used CRTs my entire life and almost never experienced it. I just assumed I wasn't susceptible to it, but now I know that isn't true. I could stare at a CRT for literally 12 hours straight with no issues, but for some reason using an LCD is causing eye strain fairly quick, often within a couple hours.
I don't think it is due to brighter whites because when not gaming or watching video, I keep the backlight turned all the way down and reduce the brightness even farther through software (this monitor has no flicker). I wonder if it has something to do with how an LCD is sample and hold with a constant backlight. You are basically staring at a lightbulb all day unlike a CRT where there is no constant light, instead it is shooting electrons at a layer of phosphor behind the glass and the phosphor glows when it is hit by the electrons. The phosphor only glows for a short time and then is dark until the next frame is drawn, unlike an LCD which is always lit (unless your monitor uses backlight strobing).
Or maybe it could have something to do with it being a larger monitor. I probably sit about 8 to 10 inches farther away from it. Maybe it being farther away is causing me to squint more. I am not positive, but I think reading text is causing eye strain quicker than doing other things. I have tried wearing glasses, but it didn't help. Or maybe it's taking up more of my field of view and that is having some kind of affect. I don't know what is causing it, but I sure do miss being comfortable while using my computer. I really don't want to go back to the CRT though because a large, sharp LCD does have it's advantages and I do feel like it is a better overall experience even with the downsides that I have mentioned.
Update: It's been another couple weeks since I posted about the eye fatigue and I don't know exactly why, but it seems like my eyes are acclimating to the monitor. I have been experiencing less and less eye strain with each day and I have got to the point where some days I don't notice it at all. I don't know what was causing it, but I am happy that it is going away.
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