light to go above or behind my 37"?? picture..look...

[tripmachine]

So i've noticed a lot of people use a lamp to hover over their LCD monitor.... does that make it easier on the eyes at night or something? i have this 37" i love but browsing at night is rough.....and i don't want to fill up my room with FULL lighting.... any ideas or links to a good light that will work? Also any certain kind I need? do i put it above the display infront? or behind? what purpose does it serve? easy on eyes i hope? Thanks guys!

 

[joemama]

Some people use lights behind their displays (same principal as Philips "ambilite" plasma screens) to artificially enhance the contrast and black level. I can't see any reason to hang a light above your monitor unless you just like light distracting you from the picture. I prefer a cave like environment myself..

 

[tripmachine]

for movies i don't want a light there..... it's just for web surfing the 37" is soooo brite that it hurts my eyes after a while.... that's the only reason i'd want the light there..... would that light help out?

 

[Painman]

Maybe a wall sconce with an opaque enclosure like this (well, not necessarily that exact one, looks a bit too medieval) but you get the general idea... an indirect source that won't shine on the screen but will take the edge off.

 

[Dunan]

for movies i don't want a light there..... it's just for web surfing the 37" is soooo brite that it hurts my eyes after a while.... that's the only reason i'd want the light there..... would that light help out?

are you surfing in a dark room, completely black except for the monitor?

thats VERY bad for your eyes if you are.
i have a 15 watt bulb running behind my monitor at night.

 

[JungleMan]

Go to your local Home Depot or Lowe's and grab a $20 torchiere (floor lamp). Most of them will take E26-size bulbs (a regular ol' incandescent or compact fluorescent bulb). Unless you install super-bright bulbs like I did, it'll light up the area around your computer but not the entire room with blinding light; not to mention many have built-in dimmers.

Here's my setup. My particular lamp actually houses two bulbs, and I installed "150w equivalent" daylight-color CFLs. They aren't really "150w-equivalent", but they're pretty damn bright, and the white "daylight" color is proven to improve concentration in studies (and I personally love it so much I redid the bedroom and bathroom in all daylight CFLs). Now all I need is one of those 37" Westy screens mounted on the wall where the bulletin board is. Who wants to buy me one?

 

[Acaid]

Bias Lighting

 

[Scyles]

Put the light behind your monitor. Anywhere, just as long as the light isn't actually hitting the front of the panel - that would affect your contrast in a very negative fashion.