Help save my eye(s)

M

mtbvfr

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 19, 2010
Messages
99
Hi Everyone,

If you suffered from the same problem as me, or know someone who has, then I would love to know how it was solved.

I was born (1960) with a lazy left eye that also has an astigmatism. Hence, my right eye has always been dominant but is now very strained and tired and now pretty myopic. This is because I have been using a computer almost constantly since 1988 in my profession as an Analyst Programmer/Application Developer etc.

This last Monday (23/1/2011) I received another pair of glasses, after about a month's wait, after a visit to another optometrist whose prescription was significantly different to others but still I have no joy and I am suffering severe eye strain with my right eye. I will be revisiting the optometrist this coming Wednesday.

I have been suspecting for some time now that part of the problem is my current monitor which I bought in 2004 In Australia. It's a Mitsubishi Diamon Digital DV175 but I've only ever had it connected via a VGA cable because my graphics card (cerca 2003) only has VGA out.

I recently used the Calibration pages at http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/ and found the Gamma needed adjustment and the Phase needed correcting also but I can't seem to get the Phase perfect. It seemed to help for a short while. I am using the native resolution of 1280 x 1024 at 60Hz but it can also be operated at 70, 72 or 75 Hertz.

My monitor has 4 options for Colour Temperature which are 6500, 7500, 9300 and User. When should 7500 and 9300 be used?

Any tips would be welcome on how to best position the lighting in my office room for night time use.

White screens look dirty due to the Anti-Glare/Anti-Reflective coating I think. I can see the grid pattern of the coating and I an thinking this could be the main culprit. My eye(s) want(s) to look at the image or text being displayed but the grid pattern is getting in the way which I think may be causing the eye to continually change focus.

When I go and look at other screens, of which the choices are pretty limited (appear to be all TN) here in Cusco (Peru), especially laptops that appear to have a glossy screen, things seem to be much calmer for my eyes. However, I am unable to test these screens in a work like situation.

Yesterday, I was able to spend some time (about 30 minutes) with the monitor of my accountant. She bought it in 2007 and although it also has a TN panel, it appears less "dirty" than my monitor. It also has a tinted sheet of plastic taped to the bezel (frame) of the monitor that makes it look like a monitor with a glossy panel. This seemed to be calmer for my eyes also.

If anyone has an optometrist in their family who is familiar with problems such as mine, please, please ask them for an opinion as to what is best to do.

Therefore, I would be very wary of getting a new monitor with a strong Anti-glare coating, like the DELL montiors.

For monitors with a Glossy panel, the current options appear to be either the Mitsubishi RDT232WX-S or Hyundai W241DG. I would prefer the 16:10 aspect ratio of the Hyundai.

For monitors with the least aggressive coating, the options appear to be those with a VA panel such as the Eizo Flexscan EV2333W or Foris FS2331 or the upcoming BENQ EW2430 and EW2430V. Are there any 16:10 24" VA monitors available with equally high static contrast ratio?

I don't do any gaming, programming is enough of a game on its own. :) However, I do like to watch movies and videos (MotoGP, World Superbikes) I download from the Internet.

I think I read somewhere that the higher the Static Contrast Ratio the better it is for reading text and also that the higher the dot/pixel pitch the better. Is this correct?

Could the perceived higher contrast of a glossy screen compensate for the lower contrast of the IPS panels used in the Mitsubishi and Hyundai?

Has anyone used the Foris FS2331 in Paper Mode? Can anyone say how it compares to the Text mode of the EV2333W?

I find the Eizo FlexStand to be an attractive option to have, given that my desk is a bit high, as it would allow me to position the monitor lower than what I can now.

Can anyone explain EIZO's 5 year Warranty which is noted as "The usage time is limited to 30,000 hours or less, and the warranty period of the LCD panel is limited to three years from the date of purchase."?

Does anyone know what the length of warranty is for the Hyundai monitors?

2 advantages of the Mitsubishi and Hyundai monitors is they have 2 x 3W speakers and are cheaper than the EIZOs.

Does anyone know if Mitsubishi manufacture their own IPS panels?

Thanks for your time.
 
It looks like you've taken the time to do a good amount of research, but i would like to add something first: Stop using VGA. I am about 90 percent certain that going to DVI will be a significant relief.

IPS panels may be unneccesary, as you haven't complained of color accuracy or viewing angles, and many people here have complained of grainy antiglare common with currently available panels. Can you narrow down factors that contribute to strain or fatigue? High brightness, low brightness, too small of text causing you to focus, or too large of text causing your eyes to dart around? My father enjoys using a 32 inch TV for his monitor, as he can read it without his glasses. What size of display are you considering? What is your budget?

Don't feel so bad about your retail choices in Peru, in most of the US all we have is BestBuy who seems to consistently present their selection of (only?) TN panels with terrible signal and generally at the wrong resolution.

Regarding color temperature, I have found trying to match what the ambient lighting produces to be the most comfortable. And for lighting, try having a light source shine on the wall behind the monitor for night time work, many find it helpful.


I hope others are able to provide additional advice, i wish you the best of luck on your search.
 
As ave0000 noted, you should always have an ambient light on during nighttime computer use where you are working and reading or even playing a game that requires you to read and focus intently on the screen. This is best done by having overhead lights or desk lights, or a light pointed at the wall behind your monitor. It will prevent your eyes from constantly adjusting to the bright screen then the dark room as you look at your keyboard or pick up a glass of soda, etc. (If you are watching a movie on your computer and sitting back... then you can turn the lights off)

Resolution, pixel size and dot pitch make a difference in the definition and quality of your screen content. Switching to LCD (and making sure you set the LCD to its largest native resolution) will give you noticeable differences. Older CRT monitors tend to warp and shift and you get non uniform quality on the sides and corners over time. You might consider getting a monitor that has a larger work area. The more "desktop" space you have on screen, the more productive you will be and perhaps you can spread documents out so that you don't have to view everything within a 15" window. Yes, some screens with anti-glare coating can have a pebbled or dirty appearance and some people have complained that it interferes with reading.

Yes, DVI provides higher definition than VGA. I have DVI and VGA ports on my monitors and I can notice the difference if I use one or the other - same computer, same monitor, and VGA is blurrier.

Refresh rate plays a big role in eye fatigue. Anything less than 60Hz will be noticeable by your eye as a flicker on the screen. A lot of people prefer 75 or 80, 90+, even 120. Check your monitor settings, this single factor makes a big difference. NOTE that each monitor will have a native range and you should not set the monitor to something it cannot handle.

In Windows, you can also adjust ClearType or turn it off altogether. ClearType is an operating system method for anti-aliasing text to make it appear smoother (depending on the screen). With my LCD monitors I found that cleartype makes text a little blurry, so I have it turned off.

A lot of monitors have different viewing modes, like you mentioned... TEXT, MOVIE, GAMING, etc. Each mode will change the contrast, color, and sometimes the refresh rate. Your eyes will read things better when there is a higher contrast.

Distance from your eyes to your monitor can matter too. You should be able to read your monitor at arms length distance. Simple stick your arm out and touch the bezel of your monitor. Keep yourself at that distance - any closer and you'll burn your eyes out like your mom used to tell ye.

Take breaks. Go to the bathroom, go to the kitchen or water cooler or just stretch and walk around. Too much time focused on the screen can cause fatigue in your eyes and the rest of your body.

Speaking of which... some people say its best to have the center of your monitor at eye level. If your monitor is too low, throw a ream of paper or some books under it. Get it up to eye level and it will help your posture and prevent your shoulders, neck and back from hurting.

Lastly... try changing your OS theme and wallpaper. Try white or colored text on darker backgrounds. You may not have the ability to change your skins, but you can change your document sizes. Try resizing your windows so that you don't have them, maximized. Don't have any science on that, but I know some people prefer different contrasting themes.

Many of these ideas may not yield immediate results, but you might have to wait an hour or more before you notice a difference. Good luck!!
 
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Speaking of panels, In my experience IPS panels are the most comfortable to use because of their good image stability. C-PVA is of course acceptable.

In the EV2333W the "Text" mode adjusts the CCT produce a very warm, soft image without touching contrast. The EV2334W and FS2331 have a paper mode which I think adjusts both the luminance and the black point to emulate newspaper. The EV2333W also has excellent backlight control and can produce very low luminance, while the ambient light sensor allows the monitor to appear the same given any ambient light level. Of course the trade-offs are slightly reduced glare reduction compared to IPS AG as well as being 16:9. If you are after the Flexstand you may have to specifically request one as they do ship with the Tristand.

The 16:9 IPS monitors are very good in terms of eye comfort because of their comparable backlight control, unlike some 16:10 models that have a quite high minimum backlight.

Also, I will add that you may want to get an OK from an admin about your signature... my first reaction was that you were a spam account. Edit - In fact by "you may want to" I mean your signature is pretty much against the rules.
 
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Thanks for the feedback so far!

It appears my monitor has a DVI-D Dual Link female socket the same as per the following image.

800px-DVI_D.jpg


Can anyone recommend a Graphics card that will be suitable for Windows 2000 Server and a Motherboard with AGP 8X and will support resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 (16:10) for when I can obtain a newer monitor?

Thank you!
 
rosss said:
Refresh rate plays a big role in eye fatigue. Anything less than 60Hz will be noticeable by your eye as a flicker on the screen. A lot of people prefer 75 or 80, 90+, even 120. Check your monitor settings, this single factor makes a big difference. NOTE that each monitor will have a native range and you should not set the monitor to something it cannot handle.
Click to expand...

rosss, good post, but the above statement is INCORRECT for LCD monitors when viewing static screens. It only applies to CRT monitors.
An LCD monitor's pixels are ALWAYS ON and only change when refreshed, unlike PHOSPHORS on a CRT display that slowly dim between refreshes. So for a static display (like a page of text) refresh rate DOESN'T MATTER on an LCD display when it comes to flicker or fatigue.
Refresh rate can matter if one is scrolling a lot since higher refresh rates will result in smoother looking scrolling. But hopefully to reduce eyestrain, one should not try to read scrolling text if it's not necessary since the relatively slow switching times for some older LCD monitors (or PVA, MVA screens) can cause blurry text as well.
 
Hi Everyone,

Who has tried pinhole glasses to good effect to relive or stop eye strain with computer monitors?

Thanks,
 
ave0000 said:
It looks like you've taken the time to do a good amount of research, but i would like to add something first: Stop using VGA. I am about 90 percent certain that going to DVI will be a significant relief.

IPS panels may be unneccesary, as you haven't complained of color accuracy or viewing angles, and many people here have complained of grainy antiglare common with currently available panels. Can you narrow down factors that contribute to strain or fatigue? High brightness, low brightness, too small of text causing you to focus, or too large of text causing your eyes to dart around? My father enjoys using a 32 inch TV for his monitor, as he can read it without his glasses. What size of display are you considering? What is your budget?

Don't feel so bad about your retail choices in Peru, in most of the US all we have is BestBuy who seems to consistently present their selection of (only?) TN panels with terrible signal and generally at the wrong resolution.

Regarding color temperature, I have found trying to match what the ambient lighting produces to be the most comfortable. And for lighting, try having a light source shine on the wall behind the monitor for night time work, many find it helpful.


I hope others are able to provide additional advice, i wish you the best of luck on your search.
Click to expand...

Hi Ave,

I have a new video card, with a DVI socket, and cable in transit but it is yet to arrive in Seattle before being forwarded to me. Meanwhile my right eye feels at time like somone is trying to push a Squah ball into it and other times the feeling between the eye and my right ear is like an elastic band about to break.

I have come to an Internet Cafe with that uses CRT monitors after reading the information at the following pages. The monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 753s which I am using at 1024*768 @ 85Hz.

http://vasyafromukraine.webs.com

http://www.cloanto.com/users/mcb/19960719lcd.html

I would like to know why you are 90% sure that using a DVI connection will solve my problems. I truly hope you are correct but I would like to know your reasons and/or experience for this.

I have borrowed an LCD monitor from an Internet Cafe and connected it to my PC and although the Phase test page, of lagom.nl/lcd-test, appears stable compared to my monitor which has a "shimmer" to it, looking at it for a few minutes or more really aggravates my right eye even though I have tried various settings for colour temperature, brightness and contrast.

I shall try this CRT again tomorrow to see how I go.

Thanks,
 
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