Got an LCD...and my eyes hurt!!!

[Vertigo-1]

So after reading all the stories of how much less eyesore one gets with LCDs over CRTs, I went out today and picked up a Viewsonic VP171s from the local CompUSA. So far all it's been is the total opposite for me. I can't stare at it for 5 minutes without my eyes feeling strained. It's set to its native resolution, and I'm using the DVI from my Radeon 9800 Pro. I've for the most part had to turn down its brightness and contrast to pratically zero to be able to look at it at all.

Is it just me, or is there still something I didn't adjust? The sensation I get in my eyes is the exact same feeling I get when going from a high refresh rate to a lower refresh rate...and yet I thought LCDs didn't have anything to do with refresh rates? Also if it matters, I've never been able to get comfortable with laptop screens for the exact same reasons. So was buying an LCD a huge mistake to begin with? I thought the two technologies were a bit different?

The worst part is how it's not returnable now that it's been opened...

 

[Nebor]

Er, no, laptop screens ARE lcds. You are obviously some kind of mutant. You should take your LCD back since it bothers you... Although that makes NO sense whatsoever. Seriously, looking at an LCD is equivalent to looking at a photograph, or a chair, or a piece of cloth. It is a set image, that doesn't refresh or change at all, until you make it do so....

Oh, make sure not to reproduce, we can't have LCD hating mutants in the future. And for God's sake, don't breed with VIAN...

 

[Lager]

See if Cleartype helps.

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/default.htm

 

[Vertigo-1]

Originally posted by: Nebor
Er, no, laptop screens ARE lcds. You are obviously some kind of mutant. You should take your LCD back since it bothers you... Although that makes NO sense whatsoever. Seriously, looking at an LCD is equivalent to looking at a photograph, or a chair, or a piece of cloth. It is a set image, that doesn't refresh or change at all, until you make it do so....

Oh, make sure not to reproduce, we can't have LCD hating mutants in the future. And for God's sake, don't breed with VIAN...

Gee, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning...

 

[Nebor]

All the negativity was sarcasm dude.

 

[MDE]

Well, the LCD on my laptop was kinda weird at first, but after a week of adjustment, I like it just as much, if not better than my desktop's 17" Sony Trinitron monitor.

 

[sac19143]

Adjust the LCD's screen setting to see if it gets better. Otherwise, return it and get a CRT.

 

[VIAN]

Er, no, laptop screens ARE lcds. You are obviously some kind of mutant. You should take your LCD back since it bothers you... Although that makes NO sense whatsoever. Seriously, looking at an LCD is equivalent to looking at a photograph, or a chair, or a piece of cloth. It is a set image, that doesn't refresh or change at all, until you make it do so....

Oh, make sure not to reproduce, we can't have LCD hating mutants in the future. And for God's sake, don't breed with VIAN...

Hail!

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: VIAN

Er, no, laptop screens ARE lcds. You are obviously some kind of mutant. You should take your LCD back since it bothers you... Although that makes NO sense whatsoever. Seriously, looking at an LCD is equivalent to looking at a photograph, or a chair, or a piece of cloth. It is a set image, that doesn't refresh or change at all, until you make it do so....

Oh, make sure not to reproduce, we can't have LCD hating mutants in the future. And for God's sake, don't breed with VIAN...

Hail!

*picks up chair and whip*

YA! Back to the Video forum with ya, fowl beast! YA! *cracks whip*

 

[nrgonline]

It's you man.. I've met someone where LCD bother them.. Some people are different hehe.

Ill trade you that LCD for my CRT

 

[Texun]

I got one for my office and hated every minute of it. They're great to look at in the store but once I had to use one the eye strain was insane. I couldn't wait to swap it out with a 3 year old shadow mask CRT. If I were a man of patience I might have kept it long enough to try clear type.

Much of it has to do with corrective lenses, or the need. I have always had a problem with high contrast levels due to astigmatism, according to my optometrist. I tried the contrast and brightness settings. Turning it down on a CRT defeats the purpose IMO which is why I gave it to someone else in my office. :frown:

astigmatism occurs when the cornea is shaped more like an oblong football than a spherical baseball, which is the normal shape. The oblong shape causes light rays to focus on two points in the back of your eye, rather than on just one. Many people are born with this oblong cornea, and the resulting vision problem may get worse over time.

If you have only a small amount of astigmatism, you may not notice it or have just slightly blurred vision. Sometimes uncorrected astigmatism can give you headaches or eyestrain, and distort or blur your vision.

 

[RussianSensation]

I got an LCD myself and its native resolution is 1280x1024. At this resolution, it's very sharp and thats the problem, the blacks and the whites are contrasted by each other too much and no matter what I do by changing the brightness or contrast, it's not comfortable to read. Cleartype didn't help much either. So the only solution for me was to lower the resolution to 1152x864, at some sacrifice of image quality. At least now I can read it no problem. I think LCDs are way overrated, it's gonna take another 2-3 years before an LCD matcher a good CRT in terms of image quality. Considering most ppl argue how it saves space...well it's not like you are gonna put the LCD all the way to the edge of the desk. All that space it saves, results in an empty space behind the monitor, which is otherwise occupied by a CRT tube. But you don't use that space anyways. The inability to adjust resolutions without having to suffer image degradation is inescapable, and so is the ghosting in games, or trailing, regardless what anyone says. If you put CRTs to LCDs together, yes one lcd might have less ghosting and trailing than a CRT but when it comes down to you, its just more enjoyable to watch movie and play videogames on the old style tube. On top of the fact a decent 17inch lcd costs twice as much as one of the best 19 inch CRTs (yes i know they are similar in size). In that respect you could get a 19inch better quality crt and a Radeon 9800 Pro videocard with it ! Now think about that. Of course that's my personal opinion, but I am not buying another LCD for about 3 years before they achieve the level everyone talks about they have, but in reality that's the level they'll reach in the future.

 

[jose]

Can you use Cleartype on Win2000sp3 ??
All the info at MS seems to reference XP.

If not which font would be best on a 19" 1280 x 1024 ? Right now I'm running w/ a font size of 200%


Regards,
Jose

 

[vailr]

Originally posted by: jose
Can you use Cleartype on Win2000sp3 ??
All the info at MS seems to reference XP.

Quote: "Does Microsoft plan to provide an update to enable ClearType on Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows ME or Windows 9x?

No."
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ClearTypeFAQ.mspx

 

[xgsound]

I thought it was just me . After 5 or 10 minutes the background of text seems to wash over the text.
I also tried to adjust , but after 4 weeks returned to CRT . The rest of the family liked it , but I couldn't check the forums
( Lost circuits, tech report, ars technica, Anandtech ) so it had to go.
I know it's no help, but you (and I) aren't alone. Perhaps we better get a few extra monitors while they are still available.

Jim

 

[GnomeCop]

obviously a symptom of over CRT usage, your eyes are TOO used to the CRT... my condolences.

yet I am also scared to ask how long any of you spend in front of a CRT every day

 

[VIAN]

Quote

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Originally posted by: VIAN

Quote

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Er, no, laptop screens ARE lcds. You are obviously some kind of mutant. You should take your LCD back since it bothers you... Although that makes NO sense whatsoever. Seriously, looking at an LCD is equivalent to looking at a photograph, or a chair, or a piece of cloth. It is a set image, that doesn't refresh or change at all, until you make it do so....

Oh, make sure not to reproduce, we can't have LCD hating mutants in the future. And for God's sake, don't breed with VIAN...
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Hail!
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*picks up chair and whip*

YA! Back to the Video forum with ya, fowl beast! YA! *cracks whip*

LOL, OMG, that is the funniest sh|t.

 

[Abhi]

Try it for 4-5 days ..

hopefully you ll get used to it and start loving it!

 

[thomsbrain]

did you try cleartype?

personally i prefer my LCD's without cleartype, as all it does is blur things. my screen is very easy on the eyes, better than my DiamondTron-tubed CRT.

 

[skriefal]

Originally posted by: Texun
Much of it has to do with corrective lenses, or the need. I have always had a problem with high contrast levels due to astigmatism, according to my optometrist. I tried the contrast and brightness settings. Turning it down on a CRT defeats the purpose IMO which is why I gave it to someone else in my office. :frown:

If you have only a small amount of astigmatism, you may not notice it or have just slightly blurred vision. Sometimes uncorrected astigmatism can give you headaches or eyestrain, and distort or blur your vision. [/i]

So that's why I always have to turn down the contrast and brightness on every monitor I use, and why I absolutely cannot tolerate bright white backgrounds. All of my PCs -- including the work PC -- are configured to use medium-gray window backgrounds, and a dark wallpaper. I do have astigmatism.

I've tried Cleartype, and hated it. All it does is make the text blurry, and thus more difficult to focus on. That just makes my eyes tired much more quickly. Perhaps if I had a monitor with a super-high resolution -- i.e. 2048x1600 or so -- instead of my current LCD's 1280x1024, then Cleartype might not bother me so much. As it is, I much prefer non-smoothed fonts. The jaggies don't bother me -- but the 'blurries' definitely do!

I do have a 19" Dell 1901FP LCD, connected via DVI-D. The strain on my eyes with the LCD seems to be about the same that I experienced with my former 19" Trinitron-based CRT and the 19" CRT on my desk at work. So, no improvement over the CRT.

 

[Tab]

Yes! Get back to video VIAN!

 

[VTEC01EX]

I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago when I got a Viewsonic 17.5" panel. I just couldn't stand to look at it after 5 minutes, so I returned it, pocketed $800, and have used nothing but good Trinitron CRTs ever since.

 

[BillyBatson]

It might just be you or what you are use to. I have always had a CRT till i bought my laptop 2 years ago which took some getting use to, I found the light from an LCD was just too different maybe too even so my eyes would water but after about 2 weeks I was fine. I was running a crt for the last 9 months until i got an LCD for xmas which is what i am using now. Might want to give it a try for a week or 2 and see if you get use to it.
Also why can't you return it??

 

[ed21x]

for some reason, my LCD monitor flickers less when you decrease the refresh rate from 75 to 72 =\ so you may want to try that if you're not running it at native resolution.

 

[Vertigo-1]

Already had Cleartype turned on, doesn't help. I definitely can't even make an attempt to get used to the LCD though as my TV tuner looks totally screwy on it thanks to the non-native resolution. I play way too many console games on my PS2 going through my TV tuner to live with that, so LCD is totally out either way I guess.

I went back to my Sony E400 19" CRT, and my eyes instantly sighed in relief. I guess my eyes just prefer that softened, relaxed picture versus the super sharp, bright picture.

CompUSA doesn't accept returns on opened box computers, monitors, etc etc. They only exchange for the exact same item, and only if it's defective. I have no choice but to try and sell it online...already put it up for sale in the FS forum for a huge loss.