Dim lights behind your display

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dparm

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 26, 2007
Messages
181
I remember reading somewhere that putting a dim light behind your TV/monitor helps reduce eyestrain and actually improves perceived contrast ratio. For many years I have run a strip of IKEA Dioder LEDs behind my monitor that make the wall behind it light up a bit. I liked it for the aesthetics, mostly.

Is this true?
 
Yes, otherwise known as bias lighting.

I also find that having a low powered light under my desk helps with eyestrain in an otherwise dark room.
 
Awesome. Are there recommendations anywhere on how much lighting, how to arrange it, preferable color temp, what to avoid, etc?
 
dparm said:
Awesome. Are there recommendations anywhere on how much lighting, how to arrange it, preferable color temp, what to avoid, etc?
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I've searched up lots of info in the past including articles etc. They all mentioned putting it behind your monitor and something closer to a cooler 6500k color temp so it doesn't mess with the color temps of your monitor.

I threw a lot of that out the window and now keep the light tucked away underneath my desk (easier cable management) and my current light is a little softer/warmer at 4200k. It is too indirect to mess with the color temp of my panel but it's enough to keep my pupils dilated the proper amount. Warmer light also looks nicer in the home imho. I'm not sure how much my technique messes up the "perceived contrast" aspect but i'm sure it does.
 
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What to avoid? Not making the thing worse with some crappy flickering fluorescents or LEDs. I use two 25W soft white incandescent bulbs with a paper diffuser.
 
If this isn't an option, would it be better to have a light 10 feet behind you or 10 feet above you? I've got matte screens, btw.
 
Above/behind are not desirable at all (and ironically what most office cubicles employ). See what you can do, but bias lighting relies on the lighting occurring from behind your monitor.

I have an old lamp placed about 8" behind the back right corner of my monitor, shining at the wall behind my monitor. Still not perfect (as you want it balanced), but it's what works with my current setup and more importantly the light is creating contrast.
 
Found an LED strip from Halloween... purple/red color. I kind of like it.... phone photo not so great in low light sorry

img00441h.jpg
 
I have an LED night light plugged in directly behind my HDTV, but rotated to point light upward. I think it is great and optimizes night viewing/gaming.
 
Yes,i think the photo taken by phone looks great in low light,especially the purple color.
 
In my case, I keep a corner desk facing out from the corner. When a desk is up against a wall like a bookshelf, it acts as a catcher's mitt for light pollution whether glossy or AG, (though the effects are more obvious on glossy). For lights I prefer keeping lighting behind my monitors, and since my desk is a considerably long "stealth bomber"/chamfered boomerang shape, I can keep a lamp in line at each end of my monitor array like bookends without them showing up in my glossy display's surfaces. Btw, balanced lighting right/left also helps avoid eyestrain/headaches. One sided is bad.
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Any settings you store on your monitors will be altered perception wise at different room lighting levels, so unless you are going to keep several sets of settings hotkeyed for different lighting environments, you are better off trying to maintain similar lighting levels in the room all the time imo. I keep 3 sets of settings on my living room tv for this reason since the perceived settings are hugely different from daytime to lights out/blinds drawn, etc. In my computer room I just try to keep the room behind the monitors lit well with floor lamps at night to maintain the light level from a daytime window.
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My LED monitors are quite bright, so keeping the room at least moderately lit and a lamp on each end of the monitor array helps prevent the monitors from looking too harshly bright by contrast too.
 
I have my displayed mounted in a custom sized enclosed shelf built into my desk, and I have been considering putting some LED light strips (blue) behind them to offset it a bit. Would this be a bad idea? I picked blue because my Griffen Powermate, my amp and several other things have the same blue leds already.
 
My personal preference would be a warmer colors to reduce eye strain, but if you're ok with blue, then go with it.
 
ikea sells a LED kit that has 3 strips that connect and change color. I fixed them to the back of my screen. Looks great as I can change the color or have it auto cycle through the colors.
 
Allisons Dad said:
I have my displayed mounted in a custom sized enclosed shelf built into my desk, and I have been considering putting some LED light strips (blue) behind them to offset it a bit. Would this be a bad idea? I picked blue because my Griffen Powermate, my amp and several other things have the same blue leds already.
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Blue LED's are by far the worst type of light for your eyes, not to mention they would mess up your color perception of your monitor. The purpose of bias lights are to ease the strain on your eyes btw, not increase it :p

If you are going to veer away from proper 6500k lights (cool) then i would recommend something a little softer between 5000-3000k.
 
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