Sunspark This wallpaper can't be used for me on my external monitor as the monitor itself that uses FRC smooths out the banding because the whole image is the same colour.

To be honest, I'm unsure of the logic behind the banding on this background! I'm guessing that theAll I know is that it's a good test on my machine.

Sunspark That's interesting, glad you've found a solution that works for you. When you mention 'YCbCr w/ IT Content off' - are these settings you find in one of the Intel settings applications that come with your driver? There's something similar in the Nvidia control panel when you have an HDMI cable plugged in.

Also, if you're able to share some of your test gradients here that could be helpful to someone. 😃

      8 days later

      Hi guys,

      I've had headache and migraine problems for a few years when using my work PC. I suspected the monitor at first and bought 4 different of them. I tried LED, LCD, Anti flickering and even a 500$ Monitor 240hz and all that stuff.

      I noted that my plasma TV gave me no trouble for over 7 years. I also use an imac 2014 mostly plugged via HDMI on my TV and i have no problem at all. On day, I decided to plug my PC on the TV and the headaches were back in minutes. So i figured it was something in the PC.

      Then I found this page here. I installed Ditherig.exe but all the options are greyed Out. Does it only works with Intel GPU ? I read above that a lot of people have GTX and they found a way to make it work. I am very novice with PC so I dont understand 90% of the replies. What is the problem here ? Can you explain what I should do like I am your grand ma please ? I will send 1 Bitcoins to whoever fix my headaches. I am desperate!! Just kidding, but please help me!!

      RTX2060
      Threadripper 1950x
      32g RAM

        steevenb15 Does it only works with Intel GPU

        Yes

        steevenb15 I read above that a lot of people have GTX and they found a way to make it work.

        I believe those are people with laptops, where the NVIDIA GPU "renders" the image and sends it to the Intel GPU to be displayed. Different from desktop setups.

            steevenb15 Your story is very familiar to a lot of people here I'm sure - including myself. You're not alone! It sounds like you also suffer from something like temporal dithering sensitivity. In basic terms, temporal dithering is where your graphics card is using a flickering technique to display more colours, and it causes a lot of people headaches and migraines.

            Because you're using an Nvidia graphics card, ditherig will not work (it's only for Intel graphics cards so is ideal for a lot of laptops). For your system, you can you can have a play around with the colour output settings in Nvidia Control Panel. It'll look a bit like this:

            Select NVIDIA colour settings, and then try different combinations until (hopefully) something feels comfortable. There is no magic answer to your problem as not only every monitor and graphics card is different, but also every person. It's an extremely hard thing to diagnose.

            But I'd try switching to 'Limited' output range first. It can take a few days for your brain to 'reset' and get used to the new settings so don't change lots of things constantly or you'll never work it out. 😀

            You can also try switching to a very old Nvidia card to test (I use t a GTX770 successfully), and also the version of Windows you are running is important - do Windows Key + R and type winver to determine which version you are on. Version 1511 and version 2004 seem to work well for some (including me).

            Hope that helps a little and good luck - report back if you find a solution please.

                What could be the solution for the mac users?

                  si_edgey Thank for the help. It was already set at limited. So I'll try Full range for a week but i don't think it will help. Will let you know if it does.

                  I already use ver 2004

                  Maybe I will try an old GTX770 but I do 3D rendering so I need a powerful GPU 🙁

                      Tom220 There is none currently. We did get our hands on a kernel injection KEXT which is supposed to disable temporal dithering on a Mac but it's going to require some serious programming to make it work for everyone. Best thing to do right now is avoid modern Apple computers altogether sadly.

                      steevenb15 Try Full Range and see what happens - you should noticed improved colour depth anyway so it's worth a try. There are also other colour formats to try - have a look at the post from @Seagull where he investigates different settings, very interesting but not conclusive for every card I'm afraid.

                      Trial and error, and patience, is what's required in this game.

                          I have a problem lately... I know im prone to some sort of temporal dithering. I was testing some TVs which were bad for me. Last time my TV which I Have from 2017 got an update and after it at around 40mins of movie watching I have felt pan in the back of my head and later at night pain between eyes. I have tried it one more time but it ws same I knew it's unusable for me because of the update I have read they changed someting in the backlight so I have decided to not use the TV at all.
                          After 2 day rest from screens I was at my PC and after like 1,5 hour I have felt pain at the back/top of my head the eyes were fine I mean they were white I didn;t feel they are tired or anything but that back head pain is there... I had that similar head pain sometimes with couple of TVs+my blu ray for example but that PC never has made me any problems well maybe once or two I had little headache at back for very short time.
                          I try now to limit the time on PC as much I can (but I have some remote work) but I feel the back.top of my head some days it's gone best if Im outside some days it's stronger.

                          I have read that it's in most cases tension headache and eye strain can lead to that but it's strange cause this machine never gave me problems. Maybe my neck/head/shoulders muscles tightnen somewhere much from those tryouts? or nerve receptors in the brain strained? Massages/heat works but I also excercise from couple years some neck/shoulders excercises too I do daily.

                          Did you had similar situations that from trying out bad screens you had symphoms on good ones too and a LONG break maybe is needed?

                          Nothing has changed in thePC I think , W7 without updates, same drivers, cables etc. One thing that I have tried (but AFTER the pain has occured) is reinstall my Nvidia GPU drivers to also remove all other monitors/TVs I have tried but it's my old same driver from CD - 382.05 and in the past I have reinstalled it but it had no impact.
                          Only thing what has changed is because my son wanted I have installed Fortnite on it and maybe it installs some new DIrectX or other stuff like microsoft libraries I don;t know could this cause any changes you think?
                          Other than that hm... I have changed monitor height/angle couple of times but besides it there's really nothing changed I think.

                          Lauda89 I haven't read the paper but two things jump out at me.

                          a) This paper is from 2009?! Guess everyone else was just sleeping...
                          b) The two authors are affiliated with a university in South Korea

                            8 days later

                            FNP7 Did you ever solve the "failed to configure the registers" error? It's so strange as 1.11 works fine and now all of a sudden it won't. 1.13 works but that one doesn't have the same benefit/impact on reducing strain.

                              7 days later

                              Your story is quite similar to mine! I'm posting my experience here hoping it would help anyone looking for a solution.

                              So, around the year 2012, I was then using a Compaq laptop with a CFL (non-LED) screen. Oh, it was beautiful! I could look at it for a whole day and never had even the slightest trouble with my eyes. But then it sadly broke, and by that time they had stopped manufacturing laptops with thick CFL screens. What's more, I wasn't at all aware that there would be any significant viewing difference between CFL and LED screens.

                              So, I bought a new HP laptop, and a very cheap one to my utter regret. The very first day of using it, I had a mild headache and my eyes felt strained. I thought I was sick or maybe stressed or something, but just a few more days with the new screen and I was 100% sure it was causing my headaches and eye strain. I kept my old laptop and the new one side by side, and I could clearly tell the difference. I just couldn't believe anything like that could be possible. I searched online, but couldn't find anyone else with the same issues, or even a solution to the problem.

                              I was scouring the internet for hours everyday, posted on every forum out there, but nobody could help. Then some people suggested that it could be PWM which is causing me eye strain and headaches. They said I should turn up the screen brightness to full 100%, and it should remove the PWM flicker, but no, that didn't help. Another person asked to install a PWM software to turn it off, that too didn't help. I thought if screen was the culprit, I could just connect my old monitor which never gave me eye strains to the laptop. But within minutes of doing so my the monitor also became painful to look at. With that I was sure it wasn't the laptop screen, it was the laptop's internals where the problem was.

                              More than a month had passed by then, and I had to visit an ophthalmologist and had to start wearing glasses for the first time in my life! Also by then I started seeing similar reports of eye strain from a few people coming up online. Discussions started and it turned out that Intel HD graphics was the potential culprit. I tested the hypothesis by uninstalling the Intel HD driver, and voila(!), eye strain was completely gone for the first time! However, disabling it made my laptop sluggish, I couldn't even start Photoshop, let alone using it.

                              My laptop had an Nvidia card too, but it was connected to the Intel HD graphics, not to the screen directly, and so disabling Intel HD also disabled the Nvidia card. And, that's where the solution to my problems was. I needed a laptop with the screen connected to Nvidia card directly, not via Intel HD.

                              So, I put up with the nasty laptop for a few more months, saved some money, and bought a laptop which supported Nvidia G-Sync. Intel HD Graphics doesn't support G-Sync, so in order for it to work, manufactures are forced to connect the screen directly to the Nvidia card while Intel HD graphics remains disabled permanently!

                              I bought an Acer Predator laptop with Nvidia 1070, G-Sync support, and a PWM free matt screen. It also has Acer's proprietary Bluelight Shield which works way way way better than any of the dozens of blue light reduction techniques I have tried. I have been using the Acer laptop for years for full days and haven't once experienced any sort of eye strain or headache. Simply amazing.

                              So, anyone that has similar problems, look for a laptop that has the screen connected directly to the Nvidia or AMD graphics card. And to ensure it's built like that, it has to support G-Sync (for Nvidia) or FreeSync (AMD). If the laptop also has a PWM free display then that would be a cherry on the cake. Head over to notebookcheck and read the reviews, they test PWM for every laptop and smartphone.

                              Hope this helps someone!

                                highradio This is what I love about this forum. Firstly, it's so comforting to read that someone else has gone through exactly what I have over the last 8 years. And secondly, you have illuminated something which I didn't realise existed - that's why this forum is essential, one person's 8 year journey can reveal something that someone else can try in a matter of minutes.

                                I am immediately on the hunt for a G-Sync laptop to try. Could you elaborate slightly - have you tried multiple G-Sync laptops with success or did you try one and it worked, so you stuck with it? Many people on the forum seem to have problems with Nvidia graphics cards too (in consoles and PCs for example) - I can use my GTX770 all day and there's a GTX 1050 in my laptop (that works as long as very old Intel drivers are used) so I suspect I might be OK with a G-Sync system.

                                Could you also please post the exact model of your laptop, along with the Nvidia drivers you're using, Windows version (type winver at the run command) and anything else relevant setup-wise? Maybe Nvidia Control Panel colour settings? Do you still wear the glasses you didn't need previously?

                                Thanks so much for this, great to have a new avenue to explore. 🚀

                                    mydevicedefineme Inconclusive at my end so far, I haven't been able to set aside any 'migraine time' to really test it out. From having used it here and there I do always have that feeling that I always want to turn the brightness right down, which is not a good sign for me.

                                        thanks, incredible information! - looking for an Acer laptop with G-Sync now. Are you familiar with any other top tier brands of laptops that will support this setup?

                                          si_edgey Thanks. Finally, after so many years my intel laptop has become bit usable. Presently, i am using Ditherig 1.11 with windows 7. God bless the soul who made the Ditherig v1.11.

                                            Is there a way to turn off dethering in AMD Ryzen with Vega graphics laptop?

                                            dev