Anyone use an e-ink display?

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kindler

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Hi everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster.

I would like to get an e-ink display that I can hook up to my PC. So far I have seen the Pixel Qi 10" display that sells for $275, but I have also seen a guide on how to convert the Kindle DX into a standalone monitor!

http://www.techhive.com/article/259582/how_to_use_a_kindle_dx_as_a_pc_display.html

Would anyone have an e-ink display to recommend? Right now I could get a used Kindle DX White for $150, which seems like a hard to beat kind of deal. And presumably I would still have the normal Kindle functionality even after I can use it as a monitor? The only downside of these e-ink displays is the small size (around 10" for either one).

Thanks for your thoughts,

Dean
 
I do and have since a long time ago, albeit not as a computer interface. Sadly e-ink while marginally better than what it used to be, just isn't there yet. If you want to have a look at various eink models go to mobile read . com and to their wiki. Pixel qi, isn't eink btw, it's just reflective screen technology, nowhere near being ready for mainstream adoption, and it probably never will (vested interests, lack of funding and a mainstream giant behind them, etc, etc. see mary lou jepsen's talks on the industry). Mirasol was another promising tech that went nowhere, and just about when we thought reflective tech would hit mainstream with samsung buying up liquavista and being rumored to manufacture their tech, they are apparently now selling it, possibly to amazon. What else, oh avoid any triton/color eink products as all they do is superimpose a color filter on top of the eink panel which cuts the already not super great resolution to 1/4.

What's your motivation for this Dean, reducing eye strain possibly?
 
Yes, I am definitely looking to reduce eye strain. However, today I got that f.lux program, and so far my eyes feel a whole lot better. I usually bring the brightness, color, and contrast of my LCD monitor way down and put on sunglasses as well. But for some reason the eyes still burn sometimes when a white background comes up, and I have to apply eye drops very often.

I am reading the other thread about eye strain right now, so hopefully I might get more ideas from there as well. But barring that, I would do the e-ink solution.

Oh, I do have bias lighting that's pretty weak, so I hope to get a strong, warm CFL bulb to put behind the monitor. Has anyone done really bright bias lighting? Would that be a good idea?
 
you are trying to reduce eye strain but thinking on getting a CFL :p maybe LED or even a halogen.

I have one lamp that uses halogen at maybe 3w more then the flouro lamp I have, the halogen is by far less hard on my eyes but I got one that is a bit to bright(13w) otherwise it would be perfect.

To bright is hard on the eyes as much as to dark or improper lighting, least for me a light overhead to shine dine evenly over everything works so much better so one can easily see what they need to, so there is not shadows on things to make your eyestrain, or to bright to make your eyes "tired"
 
I was thinking of getting a warm daylight CFL, which might be OK for eyes? But I do agree that metal halides are very nice to look at, it's just that I don't like dealing with separate ballasts.
 
? why separate ballast, the halogen lamp I have I got from walmart just a little desk lamp has the bulb and the shield nothing fancy, looks great and is plenty bright for me at 13w.
 
kindler said:
Yes, I am definitely looking to reduce eye strain. However, today I got that f.lux program, and so far my eyes feel a whole lot better. I usually bring the brightness, color, and contrast of my LCD monitor way down and put on sunglasses as well. But for some reason the eyes still burn sometimes when a white background comes up, and I have to apply eye drops very often.

I am reading the other thread about eye strain right now, so hopefully I might get more ideas from there as well. But barring that, I would do the e-ink solution.

Oh, I do have bias lighting that's pretty weak, so I hope to get a strong, warm CFL bulb to put behind the monitor. Has anyone done really bright bias lighting? Would that be a good idea?
Click to expand...

If you are trying to reduce eye strain by using e-ink, then I perfectly agree that this technology will always be better then backlight technology. But I am afraid there will take some time before we can properly benefit from it.
However, if you have a pc monitor that you don't like, and you blame it on current technology, then you might want to consider that current technology do offer an acceptable solution for less eye strain. But trust me, trying to get a monitor that causes less eye strain and that can be good for gaming and for photo editing, is just close to impossible, or you will simply have to pay a lot or you will have to accept other defects.

However, you can try finding a monitor with the following properties:

- get a monitor with no PWM Flickering.
- get an IPS or PVA, or an 120 hz TN.
- get a monitor with very mild AG coating, or preferably glossy/semiglossy, or you will inevitably force your eyes focusing between pixels and the coating itself.
- get a monitor that can do 800+ contrast at the desired brightness usage(and that is usually 120 cd or a bit more depending on the ambient light)
- a pixel pitch size lower then 0.2767mm.

You may want to consider this statement. Everything that will help you see better, with less effort, will help you with eye strain. Everything that affects the characters, be it bad viewing angles, low contrast, ag coating coverage, will make it harder for you to read, and will add to your eye strain.

Have Fun
 
I was the same as you, even thinking of mocking up something with an e-ink display. Then I got a Dell U2713HM and I can use it all day. It even has a "built in f.lux", kinda... You can change the color temperature settings of the monitor to make everything warm and cozy, yet looking a whole lot better than when using the software filter.

Features of this monitor:
-flicker-free LED backlight
-native 8bit display (no temporal dithering)

The HP 2740W has also been praised by people suffering from eye strain.

So there are options out there, hopefully they work for you too. You just have to try them.

P.S. I've got incandescent bulbs installed in all my fixtures. I suggest you do the same.
Things to also try:
-artificial tears (NOT visine or visine-like eye whiteners), you could get tested for dry eyes as well if you suspect that might be the problem
-omega 3 capsules and lutein/zeaxanthin tablets
(none of those things hurt to try, they can't harm you)
 
I am overwhelmed by all the support and advice I'm getting here. Thanks, guys.

I have these Visine Tears (long-lasting lubricant eye drops). Would those qualify as artificial tears?

I will have to check out those luteine supplements. I already take a ton of supps, but I'm always up for optimizing body chemistry
 
kindler said:
Oh, I do have bias lighting that's pretty weak, so I hope to get a strong, warm CFL bulb to put behind the monitor. Has anyone done really bright bias lighting? Would that be a good idea?
Click to expand...
I use a Philips 10W dimmable "halogen-replacement" MR16 LED behind my monitor, on a home-automation remote control dimmer. Looks very warm and cozy. IMHO's, if you're staying away from incandescent, the better LED bulbs have much nicer warm color than CFL's nowadays and are dimmable. (Try not to get cheap non-dimmable LED bulbs though without looking at lighting reviews, some look cold with ugly light, some of them even use PWM! Philips does not use PWM for dimming their LED bulbs.)
 
Kindler, the guys here have given you impeccable advice. It's really pretty much all you need to know and in detail. As a fellow sufferer of eye strain it's taken me over a year of my own research on the web and elsewhere to come to pretty much the same conclusions as what has been suggested to you. Parts of this thread really would make a nice sticky for eye strain issues. There's no holly grail as I am sure you understood, and we are very slowly getting there, but there are quite a few parameters that if you manage to control you 'll feel much more comfortable. I 'd just like to add that apple's laminated, and in the case of the imac, alloy treated glass as well as their high ppi retina line of notebooks (although gen. 1 products with quite a few compromises that mean one should probably wait until gen 2) are also options. Also keep checking ray soneira's excellent website for tests on reflectance and double imaging that occur in tablets and lcd screens in general. And maybe install a timer program to have you take small breaks every set time frame and look away from the screen. I wouldn't bother at all with pixel qi or eink as a computer monitor, there very very far from being viable solutions.

Like I said I am in the same boat as you are, an I am currently still trying out a combo of all these to get to the point of comfortably using an lcd. I also have a kindle paperwhite and it's been great for allowing me to take time off the lcds. A great feature is the send to kindle (a la send to readability, instapaper etc. ) browser add on which means any lengthy article you might be reading can be send (via the cloud) to your kindle and you can take it up from there.

All the best and keep us posted on your progress since we are all really learning from each other on what works and what doesn't.
 
Thanks, I will keep updating this thread as I make progress with the eye strain issue. By the way, are there any projector users out there? Do projectors end up inducing similar issues?
 
I thought I'd just give you all an update on my quest for less eye strain. Here is what *really* helped a lot:

I got a Chrome extension called Change Colors. It lets you change the background and text / link colors on webpages globally, so now I can browse with minimal backlight shining into my eyes.

I also switched to the high contrast dark theme in Windows 7. This helps a lot too, because now folder background is black instead of white.

The next thing I will try to do is to change default icons of folder to something darker than the default one that comes with windows. This should get my computer to a spooky dark look, but even without that, these changes have helped my eyes to stop burning.

Cheers.
 
very good, glad to hear :)

A few that might interest you
http://windows7themes.net/30-best-dark-custom-windows-7-themes.html
http://www.mrgrim01.deviantart.com/

Course if you just adjust windows aero for windows 7 you shall be ok, I had to do this as it was far to bright for my liking, so I got a Skyrim background, reduced brightness on my secondary monitor, and adjusted aero for a darker overall color with mid saturation, though I love transparency I had to also do this in a kind of blackwash coloring to reduce my eye strain.
 
Mirasol makes color e-ink readers that are fast enough to do video. They are only available in asia though. Imagine the battery life you could get using a phone with one of these screens.
 
Hey all, The advice on here looks great, I'll look into following up on some of it. I found this forum/thread after doing a quick google search on using an e-ink display as a monitor as I've previously had issues with headaches after staring at my screen all day. I'm moving cross country later this summer and was considering selling my current monitor and replacing it once on the west coast rather than shipping it 3000 miles. So I figured I'd look into friendlier screen technologies.

That being said, About 8 weeks ago, I looked into computer glasses and grabbed a mid-range pair off of amazon which have made a huge difference. My results may or may not be normal, but the $38 plus shipping I spent have completely solved my headache issues. That being said, I still play with my monitor brightness and how open my blinds are and such throughout the day. I also sometimes wish that I wasn't wearing glasses, I'm not used to having the frames in my line of site, and something to smudge :).

Here's a link to the review I left the seller on Amazon. I hope this is not a violation of etiquette. If so, please don't click :)

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Glas...rtBy=bySubmissionDateDescending#RDC4OD7UXQ0VK

Good Luck kindler!
-Dan
 
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