Best Panel for Reducing Eyestrain?

[Circumnavigate]

Hey does anyone know what the best panel for reducing eyestrain would be? Here are the two I am mainly looking at.

Would it be a BenQ xl2720t (TN panel) with the motion blur hack or the MonoPrice Crystalpro 30" (IPS panel) ?

Thanks.

 

[dsfmksldjhfsbdfsd]

The biggest thing you can do to reduce eyestrain is to decrease the brightness of your monitor. I keep the brightness between 10-25%, depending on the monitor. It really doesn't matter what kind of monitor you have, this is the most important factor.

 

[Mark Rejhon]

Hey does anyone know what the best panel for reducing eyestrain would be? Here are the two I am mainly looking at.

Would it be a BenQ xl2720t (TN panel) with the motion blur hack or the MonoPrice Crystalpro 30" (IPS panel) ?

Depends. Are you flicker sensitive or brightness sensitive, or both?

The motion blur hack entails adding flicker (More of a CRT-like flicker than a PWM-style flicker).
Usually it's a combination of factors. Reducing brightness to 10% on a regular LED monitor adds PWM artifacts, which can then also bother people, which is then solvable by using one-strobe-per-refresh. If you are bothered by both PWM and CRT, then this is not the solution. Some people get more eyestrain with LightBoost, while some people get less eyestrain. So it's not a catchall solution. Unless you are someone who never got eyestrain with high-refresh rate CRT's, but is getting eyestrain with current LED montors, then LigthBoost (at lowered % settings) is one possible solution, but there are tradeoffs like color...

If you don't care about motion blur but prioritize eyestrain, possibly best monitor for "catch-all" eyestrain is probably a PWM-free monitor that can dim dramatically (preferably all the way to 0%), and with adequate lighting in the room (e.g. light behind monitor); and covering no more than a few degrees of your vision (e.g. limiting yourself to 24"), using bigger text sizes and putting the monitor slightly further back, can reduce eyestrain.

 

[Circumnavigate]

Thank you for the responses.

Depends. Are you flicker sensitive or brightness sensitive, or both?

The motion blur hack entails adding flicker (More of a CRT-like flicker than a PWM-style flicker).
Usually it's a combination of factors. Reducing brightness to 10% on a regular LED monitor adds PWM artifacts, which can then also bother people, which is then solvable by using one-strobe-per-refresh. If you are bothered by both PWM and CRT, then this is not the solution. Some people get more eyestrain with LightBoost, while some people get less eyestrain. So it's not a catchall solution. Unless you are someone who never got eyestrain with high-refresh rate CRT's, but is getting eyestrain with current LED montors, then LigthBoost (at lowered % settings) is one possible solution, but there are tradeoffs like color...

If you don't care about motion blur but prioritize eyestrain, possibly best monitor for "catch-all" eyestrain is probably a PWM-free monitor that can dim dramatically (preferably all the way to 0%), and with adequate lighting in the room (e.g. light behind monitor); and covering no more than a few degrees of your vision (e.g. limiting yourself to 24"), using bigger text sizes and putting the monitor slightly further back, can reduce eyestrain.

How would I know if I am flicker sensitive or brightness sensitive? Is there a way I could check?

Right now I use my monitor at 0% brightness 50% contrast during day and 0% brightness 30% contrast as night, in combination with the program flux. I think its a PWM monitor but I can't remember. It's getting old and I need a new panel that's why I am trying to find a good new monitor. I would love to have a motion blur hack monitor but my rig is i7 2600k and GTX 670, I don't like to upgrade my components so I have doubts I'll be able to hit a steady 120 fps in games. I am assuming it wouldn't make a difference playing videos since I haven't seen any going above 60 fps?

Do you know if there are any 30" motion blur hack monitors on the horizon? I noticed there are some 27" IPS people are overclocking to 110 - 120hz, how come none of these have lightboost 2? Do you think they will eventually or anytime soon?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Torr Samaho]

Thank you for the responses.

Do you know if there are any 30" motion blur hack monitors on the horizon? I noticed there are some 27" IPS people are overclocking to 110 - 120hz, how come none of these have lightboost 2? Do you think they will eventually or anytime soon?

Thanks for the help guys.

see the lightboost thread. lightboost monitors are all TN, with response time as low as 1.4 ms, while those overlockable IPS were measured at 10 ms fastest. unfortunately, IPS panels are too slow to be used for lightboost monitors. 120 hz IPS come only in 27", no 30".

 

[Mark Rejhon]

Right now I use my monitor at 0% brightness 50% contrast during day and 0% brightness 30% contrast as night, in combination with the program flux. I think its a PWM monitor but I can't remember. It's getting old and I need a new panel that's why I am trying to find a good new monitor. I would love to have a motion blur hack monitor but my rig is i7 2600k and GTX 670, I don't like to upgrade my components so I have doubts I'll be able to hit a steady 120 fps in games. I am assuming it wouldn't make a difference playing videos since I haven't seen any going above 60 fps?

Do you know if there are any 30" motion blur hack monitors on the horizon? I noticed there are some 27" IPS people are overclocking to 110 - 120hz, how come none of these have lightboost 2? Do you think they will eventually or anytime soon?

Thanks for the help guys.

Brightness=0% suggests you might be more brightness sensitive than anything. The problem is that many LED monitors are extremely bright, and at Brightness=0% will probably be brighter than your monitor.

You *could* be flicker sensitive, but if your panel is old, it is CCFL. Going to LED will probably entail adding potential strain because of the flicker. Then again, it's worth noting LightBoost 0% is often dimmer than Brightness 0%, so that might be an attraction.

Have you enjoyed CRT's and you are already familiar with the lack of motion blur they provide, compared to LCD, and miss that? And you didn't get eyestrain with CRT? You probably could hit 120fps in some older games like Source Engine games (with AA turned off), like the Half Life series, Team Fortress 2, Counter Strike (especially original)...

You might find lower risk with the PWM-free monitor -- a monitor that can dim dramatically (preferably all the way to 0%) without PWM, and with adequate lighting in the room (e.g. light behind monitor); and covering no more than a few degrees of your vision (e.g. limiting yourself to 24"), using bigger text sizes and putting the monitor slightly further back, can reduce eyestrain). If you use the computer for far more other things than play games, these monitors will probably have better colors and a more pleasing picture if eyestrain is your priority.

Then again you could get both and try one and the other, see what your eyes like the best. I am motion-blur sensitive (spoiled by high-refresh rate CRT's) so I notice that before I notice the color quality, etc.