Samsung U32E850R (4K/UHD) - Eye Strain

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localh85

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I have been scouring through this forum a lot because it gets into a lot of detailed discussions on this topic for various people.

I recently acquired a new Samsung U32E850R (31.5" PLS UHD) and I am experiencing eye strain/fatigue rather quickly. It is reportedly "flicker free" technology. It is connected via Display Port 1.2 @ 60 Hz. I am using F.Lux as well.

I came from a Dell U2913WM (29" wide screen IPS) where I had zero issues sitting in front of it for hours.

The screen is about a arms length away and I am currently using 125% scaling. Brightness is 35, Contrast is 75, and Sharpness is 60. I am using Windows 10 and used the windows color calibration tool.

I have noticed, oddly and very rarely at times, that the screen will flash instantly / briefly. I am not sure if this is connected in any way.

I am curious from anyone who has experienced this. I am not sure why my eyes are reacting this badly when I normally have no issues.
 
Were you previously using Flux? I found flux on low CCT sometimes could make my eyes hurt more. Also if you don't have the long transitions enabled, it can sometimes appear to change quickly, not flash but it can seem to be quite sudden at certain steps. Not sure if this is monitor or software or eyes or what.. try disabling it for a night.

Your eye focuses green light better than any other colour due to lens geometry. So in some cases, an overly reddish or blueish picture can be detrimental to eye strain.

Also consider room lighting may need to be bumped up a bit, with a larger screen reducing the amount of light from the room to your eye slightly. In the same vein, is there more reflection due to AR/AG coating?
 
Your brightness is likely too high in respect to your room lighting - turn it down. The brightness setting you're using could likely range anywhere from 100 cd/m2 to 170 cd/m2. I can't say what it would be exactly, because there's no review on this monitor yet.

In regard to your flashing issue: that's a pretty common issue on 4k monitors; many people have reported fixing it by using the Accell VESA certified DP 1.2 cable.
 
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Can you test if this monitor is actually PWM free ?. "flicker free technology" means squat.

Open windows paint. Make a full black screen. Draw a single white vertical line. In a darkened room take your smartphone and move it rapidly horizontally across your monitor. You want to take a picture of the white line as it is passing in front of objective (about 1-2feet away from monitor is fine). If you see a solid slanted white line its PWM free. If you see dark/white bands its PWM.
 
Thanks for all the great replies with things to think about.

Were you previously using Flux?
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No.

In the same vein, is there more reflection due to AR/AG coating?
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I feel like I am seeing more glare/reflection on the screen.

In regard to your flashing issue: that's a pretty common issue on 4k monitors; many people have reported fixing it by using the Accell VESA certified DP 1.2 cable.
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Very interesting. I have a cable that was given from Samsung that I have not tried. Any reason to suspect that the cable could cause this?


If you see a solid slanted white line its PWM free. If you see dark/white bands its PWM.
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I am not sure what result I found, most pictures looked similar to this (I took several). http://i.imgur.com/aolBdfr.jpg
 
localh85 said:
Very interesting. I have a cable that was given from Samsung that I have not tried. Any reason to suspect that the cable could cause this?




I am not sure what result I found, most pictures looked similar to this (I took several). http://i.imgur.com/aolBdfr.jpg
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I'm not really sure what causes the flashing, all I know is that most cables are not VESA certified, and that it appears to have some correlation with the flashing.

Your display is very likely PWM free if it's branded flicker-free. However, a much easier way to test for PWM is via TestUFO; the instructions are at the top. To summarize: if you see one blurred line, then the display is PWM-free; if you see multiple lines traveling in close proximity to each other, then it uses PWM. The test is meant entirely for eye-tracking - you don't need a camera, and as a matter of fact, the camera would be useless for this particular method unless it's a pursuit camera.

But really, I recommend that you just turn down the brightness - it's likely very high. At least, there's a very small chance that this monitor gets dimmer than other 4k monitors of the same size, and as such, 35 would indicate something very high. I'd guess around 150-170 cd/m2 is likely for the display. For reference, the calibration standard is 120 cd/m2, which is also very bright; I use 80 cd/m2 on my BL3201PH.
 
Thanks a lot for the detailed input. I have been struck as to why I have problems. Extensive Google searches returns mostly that 4k should be even easier on you which has me worried.

My brightness is pretty low at 35, but it is a good start to just take it way down to see how it goes.

I'm curious what my last monitor brightness was now...
 
localh85 said:
Thanks a lot for the detailed input. I have been struck as to why I have problems. Extensive Google searches returns mostly that 4k should be even easier on you which has me worried.

My brightness is pretty low at 35, but it is a good start to just take it way down to see how it goes.

I'm curious what my last monitor brightness was now...
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Do you have a colorimeter or something to measure the brightness? Using it at 35 sounds pretty low, but it's really dependent on how dim the particular monitor gets. My BL3201PH goes as low as 60 cd/m2, and as bright as 350 cd/m2; for a brightness of 80 cd/m2, I have it set to only 5.

There's also a possibility that the DPI is adversely affecting you. Say, if you're using it unscaled - you could have issues focusing on the small text, and causing eyestrain as a result. I use 150% scaling, myself. It brings my DPI equal to 32" 1440p but with the PPI of a 4k monitor.

Here's a good resource for calculating your scaled resolution/PPI equivalent: https://qasimk.github.io/Screen-PPD/screen-ppd/
 
localh85 said:
Thanks a lot for the detailed input. I have been struck as to why I have problems. Extensive Google searches returns mostly that 4k should be even easier on you which has me worried.

My brightness is pretty low at 35, but it is a good start to just take it way down to see how it goes.

I'm curious what my last monitor brightness was now...
Click to expand...

Different monitors will have differing brightness levels. It is quite common to have two different monitors at 50% brightness and have two very different levels between them. Nikyo's advice in the last post is sound, I'd double check your DPI and your brightness levels.
 
Thanks for the input. I have lowered brightness some and I am using 150% scaling (I have been playing with 100% / 125% at times). I need more time to test it as I will unfortunately be away for a day.

I do have a considerable amount of glare that I can see. I can see a rough outline of myself in the monitor as I write this post. I can see my hands move as they type for instance. Is this something I should be concerned about with some anti glare material / consider a different place to put my PC?
 
I have the same monitor, my brightness is set at 20 and even that appears pretty bright in a dark room. I also found the eye saver mode quite good when not playing - it obviously screws up colours but when web browsing, I couldn't care less.
 
Interesting. Did you notice any eye fatigue issues? What kind of monitor did you come from?

What sort of ambient light do you have? Do you have similar glare?
 
I did notice some fatigue but I'm not sure if it's because of the screen or because I spent more time in front of it than I'd usually do. Previously used a 32' Samsung TV (1080p) which wasn't very bright at all.

As for ambient light, either light from the windows or indirect lighting from a ceiling-mounted light. In both cases, no light source is shining directly on the screen and I didn't notice any glare.
 
What is the size of fonts you use? Too small fonts are main reason for eye strain.
 
I use small monitors for that exact reason I use a 21.5 for everything and a 24" for gaming I really had to calibrate the BENQ for months before I found settings I liked for gaming even then the gamma has to be calibrated depending on what game I play.

Go with a Smaller monitor maybe use the big one at a distance I have a 27" 1080P and it's really too damn big for anything except console gaming at a distance.

Check out some Antec 6 bias light kits while you are at it.

The monitors are getting bigger but it doesn't mean it's better for you.

LED LCD monitors are inferior technology cause they don't emulate natural light or white paper like effect on a Amazon kindle.
 
You might want to get a bigger desk too and try it might be out of your budget but I think you should be farther away from a monitor that size.

My problem with bigger monitors my eyes get tight from all the extra movement required to take on a bigger screen plus the extra light doesn't help.
 
Anyone own the U32E850R that can chime in? My experience with the UD970 has very strong glittery matte surface that gave me a headache when reading from a blue, grey, or white background, however the S32D850t's matte was quite a bit lighter and I would find it acceptable for daily use.

I recently got some AMD cards so I would like to pick up a 4K Freesync display. This appears to be the only 4K Freesync display in the 30" range currently, wondering if the anti glare coating is closer to the S32D850t or more like the UD970? (Based on the OP's eyestrain comment I have a hunch the anti glare coating might be on the strong side though...)Thanks!
 
dragonageinquisition said:
Anyone own the U32E850R that can chime in? My experience with the UD970 has very strong glittery matte surface that gave me a headache when reading from a blue, grey, or white background, however the S32D850t's matte was quite a bit lighter and I would find it acceptable for daily use.

I recently got some AMD cards so I would like to pick up a 4K Freesync display. This appears to be the only 4K Freesync display in the 30" range currently, wondering if the anti glare coating is closer to the S32D850t or more like the UD970? (Based on the OP's eyestrain comment I have a hunch the anti glare coating might be on the strong side though...)Thanks!
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I forgot this thread existed.

Appears the Samsung U32E850R actually uses PWM but only below 100 cd/m2. So, my advice on lower the brightness was likely making things worse. It's a shame Samsung is so horrible that they include PWM on monitors they brand flicker-free.
 
Got one of these to test. It has a light matte coating, similar to the Acer B326HK, and I assume, the Benq BL3201PH. I have it connected to a GTX 960 and can confirm HDMI 2.0 4K60/4:4:4 works out of the box, but only via the HDMI 2 port. HDMI 1 port is only HDMI 1.4. It does cost about $200 more than either of the prior so you'll have to ask if $200 is worth it for Freesync and HDMI 2.0.

I would have kept it but it has the same issue I found with the 6 UD970s I went through. Dead pixels! Like a dozen, and all over the screen including smack dab in the middle. It's really quite disappointing for such a pricey display. It's been over a year since Samsung started selling 4K PLS monitors and their yields must be still bad or something, because I can go to Best Buy, look at every one of their cheap $200 1080p displays and be hard pressed to find one with a dead pixel. But 4k displays seem to be rife with defective panels.
 
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