@MagnuM Wow, we must be two alter-egos. I happen to have a Dell U2410 as well (it's a great monitor!), and I have almost the exact same setup as you do with f.lux and the brightness and contrast levels. I've used this monitor for many years now and have not experienced any problems.

I have a Sony LCD-LED TV ( KDL-55W950B ) and while it's great for movie-watching, the "eyegraines" are a big problem when gaming. Just like you, these "max headaches" can last for days and can seriously hamper my productivity at work. I recently purchased a PS4 and this is very noticeable, while PC gaming has never been much of a problem on my old U2410, although I do still get fatigued faster than most people.

I've since connected my PS4 directly to the U2410 and I'm playing the games there, which is much more comfortable. I think my gaming experience (with the fast movements) can be comparable to what you would experience when watching a hockey game.

After doing some research, I thought the problem had everything to do with the PWM of my LCD-LED TV. So it's disappointing to hear that such "LED symptoms" happen with PWM-free OLED TVs as well, as I had been intending to purchase one of the new LG OLEDs by the end of 2017. If PWM isn't the problem, then what is?

I also used a retina MBP at work for about a year. Despite it having a LED screen, I thought it was an amazing display and had absolutely no problems, so I don't know what's happening there. I can also have my face buried in my OnePlus One phone for an entire day and have very little problems. Perhaps it is because these displays have a high-frequency PWM unlike my Sony TV which probably has a low-frequency PWM — so perhaps my particular problem is related to PWM while your problem is related to some other characteristic of LED screens.

Have you experienced the LED symptoms with smartphone LCD-LED screens as well, or with LED-backlit laptop screen like the rMBP?

    Monie Actually the all LG OLED TV's use heavy PWM. I wouldn't give up on OLED until we see some PWM-free sets.

        degen Where did you read that? I just looked up rting.com's review of the LG B6, and they didn't find PWM. Well, there is some kind of flicker, but it looks more like the smaller 60 Hz flicker from the OnePlus 3, or Samsung Galaxy Edge with the custom PWM-disabling kernel.
        http://i.rtings.com/images/reviews/b6/b6-backlight-large.jpg
        Sadly they didn't measure the flicker index. The spikes look a little greater than I'd expect.

            I can confirm that an LG OLED PWM caused eye strain to me. I had to return it.

              Maxx

              degen

              Oh, that's sad!

              Do we know if any of the new LG and Sony OLED TVs showcased at CES are without PWM?

                  can't remember anymore, the first cheaper full hd curved one. but I checked the new 4k models with a DSLR and they have the exact same pwm.

                    Maxx Thanks for the reply.

                    One question: Are you sure that the new 4K models that you saw were OLED models, or were they LED?

                    I'm asking because the difference could be critical. The Rtings reviews indicate that the OLED TVs don't come with PWM. However, the LED models probably do, which might have been what you saw.

                    • Maxx replied to this.

                        Monie Absolutely sure. If you have seen one, you cannot make the mistake of believing that a normal LED would be an OLED or vice versa.

                        The Rtings guys don't know what they are talking about - even in their pictures they show the 60 Hz PWM exactly as with One Plus 3, but they claim there is no PWM. I think they are just making the assumption that when it does not flicker very agressively, it does not cause problems. Well, I had the LG OLED at HOME for 2 weeks, and I simply could not use it. I of course had disable all the TrueMotion related things that cause flickering too.

                          Monie another dell u24xx-happy led-sensitive twin here. i do have a theory that we're all related - we should have a meetup... #2 problem after PWM is "Temporal Dithering" - the way 6-bit screens flicker/alternate colors to emulate all the ones available natively on 8 bit screens

                              i have the same thing with oled screens- they seem like the beautiful answer for the first half hour and then the effect hits you like a brick...

                              Sorry to hear you are getting symptoms. I had hopes for OLED myself.

                              I have tried FL-41 tints, in my case it actually made my symptoms much worse. I was also tested extensively by an Irlen practitioner, the first pair of lenses we came up with actually 100% cured me for 3 months, then gradually lost effectiveness. I tried 3 other re-tests and re-tints and was never able to get any relief from any of them, so I abandoned it. Theraspecs, Gunnar glasses, and Blublockers all failed to offer any relief. Migralenses help a little bit, they are what I use now.

                              5 days later

                              KM The same devices were connected to my old Sony Bravia, and I had no issues watching that. The OLED gives a very specific eyeball pinch after a while.

                              As an update though, I seem to be having less problems with the TV. I'm not sure if my watching time just happens to be less as of late, or that I'm just getting used to the TV. Another notable change though is that I turned off that fake-looking TrueMotion setting. My brain always hated that (gave me nausea on my Series 6 40" Samsung LCD I bought in 2008. Never had problems since)

                              • KM likes this.

                                Monie Maybe we are twins, but who's the evil one? >=)

                                I only knew of the Dell U2410 because my workplace had rolled it out to the whole floor. I would imagine that a company puts a lot of research into the most comfortable monitors to stare at for 40 hours a week, every week, as to not have their employees whining and complaining constantly about viewing comfort. I liked my work monitor so much that I later bought one for home!

                                Your guess is as good as mine as to what the problem is. A PWM-free LED is worse than my PWM-positive Dell U2410. My guess is either an "allergy" to the spectrum of light produced by an LED, temporal dithering, or some other elusive mystery!

                                I don't think the Retina MBP has any PWM. Your OnePlus phone may not have it either. I also can't detect any in my iPhone 6S+ I will eventually get problems with my 6S+, and it does feel like the "LED-pain" I talked about. I also thought it might be due to the smaller screen and smaller text. However, I remember the most comfortable iPhone as being the iPhone 3G. I lost it in a Canadian snowbank once when it fell out of my phone case =(

                                I agree with your assessment that you seem more susceptible to PWM, while my problem seems to be something else. After losing my iPhone 3G (which I think is CCFL), my next phone was the iPhone 5, and I had to keep that phone at its minimum brightness, or I would eventually get my "LED pain" symptoms. It's the same deal with the iPhone 6S+, but if I only use it for the few minutes a day I need to, then I'm relatively OK.

                                  5 days later

                                  my symptom is headaches, no eye strain.

                                  I now bought an LG 55EG910V OLED TV. I can see what you talked about. It's harsh on my eyes - it doesn't feel too different from any standard LED-backlit monitor. I tried many kinds of settings and am still searching for a solution, but this is going to be tough. It's in no way comparable to my OnePlus 3.

                                  I learned LG, in their TVs, use white OLEDs only + color filters.
                                  I also found this short article where they claim their OLED TVs emit 3x times less blue light than backlit devices: http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/english/news/ict/6908-blue-light-hazard-lcd-tvs-may-emit-3x-harmful-light-oled-tvs
                                  As there are no further links or sources, I don't know if it's true.

                                  Eyes are red, burning, and if I watch for too long I get small headaches.
                                  I plugged in my PC with a supposedly still "good" setup (Windows 7 + old NVIDIA card), but this didn't help at all. It seems the eye strain is related either to the OLED light or to LG's "WebOS", which is probably creating the final video output.

                                  I'd say it's the PWM flickering that is the problem with the LG OLED's. It's clealry detectable with a DSLR.

                                  I´m from Sweden and i also get eye strain from my OLED-TV (55eg920v). But the strange thing is that i do not get any eye strain when i use it to surf the Web or look at pictures etc.

                                  But when i look at regular tv or a movie the strain begins in my left eye after about five minutes.
                                  It's like something is wrong with the way it handles motion and if i turn on the "True Motion setting" the strain gets even worse.
                                  I have over the years had trouble with devices with led-backlight/pwm and i hoped oled was the saviour for us with "crazy eyes" 🙁
                                  But i think i have found the perfect tv for my eyes, a Sony kd49xd7004. A friend of mine have one and i can look at it for hours without any discomfort 🙂

                                  Maxx: I have suspected that the LG Oled have some high frequency PWM. For many years ago i got a low tinnitus sound in my right ear that come and go. If i look at a led-tv or monitor with pwm the tinnitus-sound gets much worse and i get exactly the same pwm-symptoms after a while with the oled 🙁

                                  But i have looked at oled-screens that dosen´t bother my eyes (or ear) at all and that is the screens in the Sony Vr-headset.
                                  I only got a little motionsick from the VR Experience but my eyes was totaly fine. So i have hope for the future oled tv:s 🙂

                                    5 days later

                                    I looked at the TV's digital cable video output with a camera on high shutter speed. There is some kind of rapid flicker that is not there when looking at a connected HDMI device (Raspberry Pi). No additional stripes, but rather a whole screen flicker.

                                    Anyway, I'll return the TV (LG 55EG910V). It's a little more tolerable at 0 brightness and 0 contrast, but the eye strain is still there and it's too heavy. And the picture looks really bad when it's that dark. You can see stripes and other inconsistencies everywhere.

                                    Jimbo66 But the strange thing is that i do not get any eye strain when i use it to surf the Web or look at pictures etc.

                                    Do you mean the TV's smart functions like inbuilt web browser and apps, or an attached PC?

                                        dev