Sorry for the dramatic title, please allow me to explain.

I currently have a Panasonic VT60 Plasma TV that I can watch with no issues. The bedroom TV (old 1080p Sony LCD) was being replaced and I decided to try OLED since it's supposed to be plasma's successor. Within 5 minutes of watching content, I couldn't focus on the screen. Both viewing content and gaming gave me the feeling of light to moderate motion sickness/vertigo. I tried tuning the motion settings and also completely turning them off. No help. I tried kicking up the brightness to stop PWM (pulse-width modulation). No luck. I have no idea what made that TV unwatchable for me. Color temperature was also addressed.

I returned it and gave LED backlit panels a try with the Samsung QLED Q80. While the effects were not quite as bad, it was definitely enough for me to feel uncomfortable watching content or gaming. I had some of the same effects from the OLED, but just not quite as pronounced. Again, I tried various brightness, color, and motion settings.

This all leads to my anxiety/depression. I took it for granted that whenever my Plasma dies (Thankfully not yet), I could buy a new tv with no issue. Now it seems I will not be able to purchase a new TV because the 2 examples I've tried so far don't work. This meant I wouldn't be able to game like I do, enjoy tv with the family, etc... To add to that, I don't know what the common ground is that makes these panels so rough on me. I thought it was OLED, it's not. I thought it was LED backlighting, but it's not. (my relatively cheaper LED computer monitors are not hurting me).

My only guesses are PWM (pulse-width modulation), BFI (black frame insertion), or the 120hz refresh rate. I just don't know.

IF ANYONE can chime in on this, I would greatly appreciate it. The last depressive slump I had took me years to get out of, and I'd love to find a logical explanation for what is going on.

I'd empty my bank account if a company would make Plasma again. I wish an electronics company would start a crowd funding event for it...

  • AGI replied to this.

    Clokwork I am sorry to hear about that. Do you have any issues with smartphones, PC's displays and laptops?

        All I can say is you're not the only one - there are plenty of others here with a very similar story.

        My best suggestion - go try and buy another Plasma the same as what you have on the secondhand market and put it away for the day your current one dies.

          AGI oddly no. I did return an Asus gaming monitor years back due to eye strain. The iPad, MacBook, and iPhone are fine. I do think they use rgb OLED as opposed to woled from LG. That’s a possible lead.

          • AGI replied to this.
          • AGI likes this.

              AgentX20 I am moving closer and closer to this option. Knowing me and my anxiety, the what ifs will still haunt me as in (well what happens when that one dies). I hate that the newer panel tech is so skewed. (Led only).

              the only 2 technologies on the horizon are mini led which is just more backlighting zones and micro led which has (in my opinion) a very small chance of helping. That paired with super high refresh rates maybe, but I’m just speculating.

                Clokwork Uh, you can use pretty much any recent model of hardware and software, but you struggle with the TV. I am more and more lost.
                Is there any chance that your issue manifests itself only on large screens? Is there any difference between your "good" TV and the "bad" one in terms of screen size?
                I also wonder whether it is just a somehow defective screen. I read people complain about one monitor / laptop giving eyestrain and another of the exact same type being perfectly fine. However, this seems to happen only to "us" very sensitive guys, so it is not a tech problem alone.

                Have you talked to a doctor, possibly either an eye-doctor or a neurologist?

                    AGI I read people complain about one monitor / laptop giving eyestrain and another of the exact same type being perfectly fine.

                    This is likely because manufacturers often use more than one panel manufacturer esp. re laptops.

                    • AGI replied to this.

                        AgentX20 I see. However, no one I know in person ever happened to find a "bad" display, except perhaps some burnt pixels. All the people I know buy and enjoy their devices on their first attempt, no need to return whatsoever. Typically, the more expensive the higher the quality, but for me it is sadly becoming the opposite. I have more chances to find something smooth on my eyes among museum items than in electronics stores :-(.

                          OLEDs have quite harsh flicker, even those which supposedly don't. They are an emissive display, so every frame the following happens: Pixel shows colour -> pixel forgets current colour and goes black -> pixel is updated with colour for next frame and shows colour again. So your 120hz OLED tv will have 120hz flicker.

                          LCDs have a subtle flicker, even those with supposedly don't. LCDs use something called inversion. liquid crystals will degrade if kept in the same state, so every frame the electrical current in them is reversed. it creates a much more subtle flicker than OLEDs, but it can still cause problems.

                          Moving forward, I don't think you'll find an OLED tv that is ok for you. 60hz might be different, but I would expect any 120hz OLED tv to be an issue. Trial and error might find you a useable LCD tv though, as LCD inversion will differ between panel types and implementations.

                          I have the LG B8 and it's amazing. Zero issues with normal tv, PS4, Switch and Chromcast.
                          I've never had any problems with OLED pannel so it seems that flickering or at least low-frequency flickers are not a problem for me.

                          If you are sensitive to the flicker you should buy a flicker free tv.
                          Go to https://www.rtings.com/ and here you can find if a pannel is flicker free or not!

                          7 days later

                          If your plasma stops turning on it could be cause of the age of the capacitors in the power supply or circuit board. They can bulge and stop working when they get old. Pretty easy to change for a repair person.

                          10 days later

                          Had the same tv’s in the past. Ended with the Sony Bravia X950G. My eyes were grateful to me. I can enjoy my TV for hours, just like my old plasma. Model 2020 =X950H.

                          8 months later

                          I don't now how I missed all of these replies. I went the UST route. No regrets. No more eye strain regarding a TV "replacement."

                          I'm not out of the woods though. I have the same issue I did with the OLED TV with newer apple devices. I tried the iPad Pro 11 (2021) and had to return it. My old iPhone X and iPad Pro 10.5 from 2017 are all fine. What's odd is the iPhone X is OLED.

                          I'm talking from a standpoint of now knowing, but my dive into reading about temporal dithering may shed some light on some of these newer devices.

                            AgentX20

                            That is correct. I got the Epson LS500. I wanted to avoid color wheels in the case they affect me as well.

                                Clokwork

                                That looks pretty fancy. What does looking at a screen look like with something like this compared to a regular backlight display?

                                    Sunspark

                                    I don't have any good technical terms to use to describe it, but I will say that it's very pleasant and natural looking. I was a bit nervous initially, but I knew it wasn't in my mind within moments of watching content on it. The bonus for this projector is the latency is low and it is good for gaming. It's been a win/win. I'm very happy with it. I have to give credit for a person on a forum that suggested projection. It was a sanity saver.

                                    So my TV situation has a remedy. I just hope I find a solution for phones and tablets.

                                        5 months later

                                        Clokwork

                                        Hey Clokwork, I know I'm late to the party here, but I have exactly the same issue as you. I had to return my IPhone 12 after a week and a TV I bought in 2020. Very frustrating and I'm constantly looking for answers. I have thought about buying a projector for a while now and I'm glad to see it's worked for you!

                                        Went to give it another shot this week with the 13 to see if there were any differences or if this is really all in my head but I still feel the weird effects. It starts in the eyes, and then my head starts to feel sluggish and I don't feel like myself after using it for not even 5-10 mins. I'm generally a very driven person with passion for what I need to do, but after having this phone for 3 days I'm going to return it because I feel so off. The effects stay with me through the day because I need to use my phone, but it's almost like it zaps any energy I have and puts me in this unwell mental health state. I'm an actor so I need my focus and have a few important events coming up that I need to be on point for.

                                        Anyway here's to finding alternative solutions!

                                            I haven't yet. I have held off since this was the only TV that had caused any issues… until Apple entered the chat.

                                            dev