Resolution and low vision

  • Thread starter Deleted member 345605
  • Start date
D

Deleted member 345605

Guest
Due to a macular disease (central area of the retina) i have severe vision loss.
This causes me to get very close to the screen and use zoom / magnifiers.
I plan to buy a new display (27 inch at least) but I don't know wich resolution would be the most appropriate, if FHD with moderate Windows scaling settings (150 - 175 %) or higher PPI ones as QHD or UHD despite using upper scaling settings (over 300%).
I have many doubts on this subject so I would appreciate any advice.
 
Don't worry much about the scaling. It works fine be it at lower or higher values, so you just turn it up to what you need to see things clearly. The reason some people would prefer higher PPI and higher scaling is to make things look smoother but if you have serious vision issues you probably won't be bothered much either way. As XoR recommended, I'd get a nice large monitor, maybe not 48" but something big like a 32". Then just turn up the scaling to the level you need to see things comfortably.

Also if you haven't already, talk to your optometrist about computer glasses to further magnify the image.
 
I have very poor vision as well. As mentioned above, the scaling works quite well. So, don't worry about that. I currently have a 27" monitor; that works well for me. I am looking to go to a 32" curved display here soon. I would recommend against a flat 48" display. If you have to get close to see, you likely won't be able to see what is on the edges and in the corners. Regardless, I would also recommend you put your monitor on an arm so that you can position it for comfort and ease of reading.

Hope this helps!
 
My thinking was that maybe bigger screen like 48 would not require sitting so close which might be beneficial. That is however something more important for issues with eye shape and/or eye muscles not being able to change it and how far screen should be from eyes completely depends on eyes.

One advantage of having big screen is that it is much easier to get closer to it when something is hard to see.
At work I see people usually sit very close to screen. Some are so close that if they got any closer they would literally bump their heads on screen surface. That is for standard PPI monitors (<100). Sitting like that is not comfortable. I can see such monitor from as far as I want and I find that leaning back is much more comfortable. If I could not see eg. 23" 1080p screen properly from the distance I like to sit at I could perhaps see it on something like 32" 4K monitor at 200% scale. Even more so 48" but yeah, 48" might be actually too large for normal desk 😅
 
Thanks for these helpful advice.
48" may be too large but it could be a good idea to get a bigger display such as 32" to try to avoid being so close to the screen.
Then I better buy a FHD one, my vision is very low, it hardly reaches 20/200 or 0.1 so I wouldn't take advantage of a higher PPI.
I never thought of getting a curved display but after being mentioned I have some doubts. What benefits do you think it could have compared to a flat one?
 
octopus said:
Thanks for these helpful advice.
48" may be too large but it could be a good idea to get a bigger display such as 32" to try to avoid being so close to the screen.
Then I better buy a FHD one, my vision is very low, it hardly reaches 20/200 or 0.1 so I wouldn't take advantage of a higher PPI.
I never thought of getting a curved display but after being mentioned I have some doubts. What benefits do you think it could have compared to a flat one?
Click to expand...
Higher PPI would actually be helpful as you could use scaling to get as large text as you feel is comfortable and it would be sharp. So look at 27-32" 4K screens instead.

Curved is mainly helpful in ultrawides and super ultrawides as it brings the edges closer.
 
My vision is pretty crappy these days, and on my low budget an older 32" 1366x768 Samsung TV has worked quite well for me. The low 1366x768 resolution on such a large screen means text is very easy to read even if I have to scroll a bit more, and it means I can enjoyably game on a very low end video card due to the low resolution - games still look just fine to me. I set Windows to use 125% scaling. My Samsung is a model UN32EH4003FXZA.
 
auntjemima said:
apple2gs

Ideas?
Click to expand...

So, speaking as a person who has no usable vision at this point in time, at one point I was pretty Lowe vision. screen size does matter, and it is best to go to a store and physically view the screen, to big and you end up panning your head to see the darned thing and to small you lose realist ate. The latest versions of windows 10 and 11 have some pretty decent screen magnifiers built into the system, and can be accessed by the shortcut keys (win + U(. Many people with low vision who use commerical screen magnification software have switched over to MS just because the intagration is so good. In addition, their are some nice features such as mouse tracking and color inversion.
 
octopus said:
Thanks for these helpful advice.
48" may be too large but it could be a good idea to get a bigger display such as 32" to try to avoid being so close to the screen.
Then I better buy a FHD one, my vision is very low, it hardly reaches 20/200 or 0.1 so I wouldn't take advantage of a higher PPI.
I never thought of getting a curved display but after being mentioned I have some doubts. What benefits do you think it could have compared to a flat one?
Click to expand...
As mentioned here, the curved monitor will bring the edges in a bit more. I currently have a 27" 16x9 monitor. I struggle to see what is in the corners now. So, simply going bigger would not be helpful to me. However, as also mentioned here, i would definitely recommend going out to the stores and looking at monitors in person to see what feels right to you. I am fortunate; that we have a micro Center not too far away. I will be heading up there to check things out; when I get ready to build my next machine. For some perspective, my vision is 20x200 & 20x400.

Hope this helps
 
70 Polara said:
My vision is pretty crappy these days, and on my low budget an older 32" 1366x768 Samsung TV has worked quite well for me. The low 1366x768 resolution on such a large screen means text is very easy to read even if I have to scroll a bit more, and it means I can enjoyably game on a very low end video card due to the low resolution - games still look just fine to me. I set Windows to use 125% scaling. My Samsung is a model UN32EH4003FXZA.
Click to expand...
Good idea
Though the issue with using old TVs is that most of them, especially HD Ready ones do not support 4:4:4 chroma sampling leading to strongly colored elements to blur. Also a lot of them had really bad scalers which had these "image enhancement" options which could not be really disabled. Like very often there was sharpness setting which in its middle position was already sharpening image but at the same time blurring it so no matter which direction you went with it image would get less detailed, just in different way, either too blurry or too sharpened.

At least these issues usually happened via HDMI. In the past a lot TVs had VGA inputs and could be used with full chroma sampling and without any obnoxious image enhancements with this input. Also very often input lag was much better with VGA input than HDMI. The only slight issue is very slight blurring caused by whole digital->analog->digital conversions going on and would need to adjust clock/phase (just like in old LCD monitors, there was auto button on them, same should be in the TV or settings for clock/phase). When clock/phase is set correctly the blur is almost invisible. Especially compared to TV forcing 4:2:2 chroma sampling and/or forced sharpening/blur so. Another thing is that some times VGA was the only way to even get 1366x768 because some TVs do not work with anything except TV resolutions. Some times it was possible to add custom resolution, though with limitations mentioned above. VGA is of course missing in modern GPUs but for this mode even the cheapest HDMI/DP to VGA converter should be fine.

warhol76 said:
As mentioned here, the curved monitor will bring the edges in a bit more. I currently have a 27" 16x9 monitor. I struggle to see what is in the corners now. So, simply going bigger would not be helpful to me. However, as also mentioned here, i would definitely recommend going out to the stores and looking at monitors in person to see what feels right to you. I am fortunate; that we have a micro Center not too far away. I will be heading up there to check things out; when I get ready to build my next machine. For some perspective, my vision is 20x200 & 20x400.
Click to expand...
From what distance are you using your monitor?
 
XoR_ said:
Good idea
Though the issue with using old TVs is that most of them, especially HD Ready ones do not support 4:4:4 chroma sampling leading to strongly colored elements to blur. Also a lot of them had really bad scalers which had these "image enhancement" options which could not be really disabled. Like very often there was sharpness setting which in its middle position was already sharpening image but at the same time blurring it so no matter which direction you went with it image would get less detailed, just in different way, either too blurry or too sharpened.
Click to expand...
Good info, and I actually took that into consideration when I researched various 720p 32" TVs (first one was a Dynex that was terrible because of various "enhancements" that couldn't be disabled). Most older Samsung TVs, it seems if you use HDMI port 1 to a computer, disable all that stuff (for example mine shows up as "HDMI1 / DVI" when selecting sources) and in the color menu many color enhancements and tweaks are greyed out and can't be turned on. Yet HDMI2 allows all the enhancements to work which makes for a far worse image. So I make sure my PC is connected to HDMI1 and all is well.
P1010010.JPG

My 23 year old digital camera doesn't do the greatest job capturing LCD displays, but here is what I see. Yes I do have to scroll a lot, but I can easily read all text without eyestrain or headaches, which is what was happening when I was using a 1080p 27" Dell monitor no matter how I tweaked font scaling. This may not work for everyone, but it works for me and I'm quite thrilled with the 32" TV "upgrade".
 
  • Like
Reactions: XoR_
like this
warhol76 said:
Generally around 6"
Click to expand...
My eyes cannot even focus correctly on surfaces this close 😵‍
Recommended distance for computer monitors is ~20 inches (~50 cm) and minimum distance for most people to be able to focus is 9-10 inches. From what I remember when I was in my teens or even before that I could focus on closer objects but it was tiring even then and now I do not even want to try forcing it when it doesn't work automatically 😅

This is exactly the kind of case I recommended 48" monitor for. To have the same size of the stuff before your eyes but be able to sit at further away from the surface at more optimal distance.

And generally yes, if you are too close to monitor then edges will be very far away making them harder to see. Curvature should help but even curved monitors are not designed to sit so close to them
 

I currently use a 24" display and despite not beeing too large, I use it so close (15cm / 6" like warhol76) that I usually need to move my head in order to see the edges.​

So a 48" one would be an excellent solution for some specific uses, especially when you can place the content in the center of the screen, but for other uses that require the whole screen it can become very unsuitable.
 
I have eye problems as well and I've come to the conclusion that largest isn't the best for me. It's not the scaling or anything but rather the head-craning. My largest monitor is a 49" ultrawide and in games and general use (windows menus and min / max / close corner icons) go way to the corners.

Earlier this year, I moved my old Dell 3011 30" to the office and it has been a welcome improvement over both my 49" and 34" ultra / wide screen monitors. But given that it's only 60hz not so great for games.

FWIW.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top