voidv2 I heard of someone feeling dizzy because of the frequency coming out of the speakers of the tv and had to disable the speakers, he had to route the sound to an external receiver, If you already disabled all the extra processing of the tv and still feel dizzy maybe you can try this, if you are sensitive to led pwm flicker some sound frequencies can make you dizzy too.

    Updates:

    In a fit of desperation, I tried the "patching" method to view the T.V. Although this worked, it still did not resolve the issues entirely (still had mild-moderate eye cramp feelings but zero dizziness) and it's not exactly a sustainable or optimal way to watch T.V.

    Just as I was getting ready to send the T.V. back, I made a bit of a breakthrough in terms of eye comfort for viewing this T.V. I found out that "filmmaker mode", much like "game mode" turns off ALL picture and motion software. Filmmaker Mode is apparently a collaborative effort by filmmakers, Hollywood studios, consumer electronics companies, and something called the "UHD alliance" to create a setting that most closely represents the filmmakers intent in terms of picture. Also, through a calibration guide I followed on youtube, I enabled the "Warm2" color setting, as the youtuber claimed it has the truest color accuracy. What I discovered was that, for whatever reason, filmmaker mode combined with the "warm 2" color setting virtually eliminated the dizziness, headache and eye cramping I was having with other settings. I would say it was about 80%-90% gone, but not 100%. I felt some slight eye strain in my dominant eye, but after 2 hours of viewing the TV I did not have a massive headache or constant mild dizziness as before.

    I followed the same youtubers settings for game mode as well, and it seems to help, though motion in games still has a much more straining effect on my eyes, but I still did not get headaches or more impactful eye strain as before. It's hard to tell if the dizziness was there, I think it was with gaming, but again much more mild.

    Unfortunately, my wife had some issues (frozen on HULU) with the TV this morning and said she "restarted it". I found myself having eye strain when looking at the TV, but discovered that the TV switched HDR mode back on automatically for some reason. So, this is a problem and I am not entirely sure how to resolve it at this point. I still need to do more testing with these new settings, but it's a promising direction at the very least.

    On another note, these experiences have galvanized me towards getting re-evaluated by a BVD specialist. I am lucky enough to live close enough to U.C. Berkeley that I can be seen by their binocular vision therapy and rehabilitation team, which are apparently world class. I understand they have a very intensive eye therapy process and understand that nuances of BVD and it's many permutations. They guy on the phone understood my problem almost immediately, so that was a new and welcome experience.

    Will update on any more progress.

    Links to resources:

    Film Maker Mode: https://filmmakermode.com/

    Youtube Calibrations: https://youtu.be/BkHF1ThGB-E

    9 days later

    Hi! Just wanted to check-in how you are getting on with the S95B after your last update? I bought the LG C2 three weeks ago and while it was much better than the CX I tried two years ago, it still wasn't good enough to keep it eye-strain wise. Swapping it for a S95B tomorrow, as I have no issues using the Samsung OLED screen in my Nintendo Switch OLED for example. Knowing it's not the same type, I'm a little bit hopeful after your post here that the S95B may be better for my eyes. Fingers crossed and thanks for sharing!

      MvDoorn

      Hey! So, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but long story short I think I am going to keep the T.V. you can refer to my previous posts re: how I managed to get the T.V. to work for my eyes. In a nutshell: I turned off all post-processing and HDR modes for all inputs.

      I turned on "Filmmaker" mode, and turned the color to "Warm2", settings recommended by youtuber as stated in my last post.

      I turned the contrast down by about half, and all of the "auto contrast" and "peak brightness" settings to "off."

      There are still times when I get some eye strain, but that's probably 95% gone and I go through long periods where I notice no symptoms at all. I can't claim this will work for everyone, as it seems we don't all suffer from the same underlying condition, but it works for me. I would say I'm moderate to moderate high in sensitivity depending on the device. The LG B8 annihilated my eyes, for instance, causing extreme vertigo, eye strain, and headaches. When I first turned on the S95B I had zero symptoms (I later understood that this was party due to the TV starting in SDR mode before connecting HDR ready devices). Hope that helps!

        voidv2. My case with the sony a9s i am going to return the tv. Your settings are very similar to mine. My eyes are good but the tv gives me headaches and some weird tinitus sound in my head.

        I am glad you overcome this situation. Qd oled could be an alternative. I am waiting for sizes of 49 - 50” … 55 is to big for me.

        a month later

        hayder1983 Brightness itself is not a problem. Just Leds and Oleds screens Brightness. I can go out to the a super bright Sun and my eyes be totally happy.

          tfouto I think that's because we are not looking directly to the sun as we do to the tv screens, the light we are getting from the sun to our eyes is reflected from surfaces and there is some decay and absortion of this light depending of the surface type, so we are not getting all that poweful sun light directly to our retinas as we do from the screens, for example if you try to look directly to the sun as we do to the screens you're going to get blind very fast.

            Abeabe but the quality of Sunlight is very healing to my eyes. It just feels good.

              tfouto Yes, I can also be outside in sunny places without too much problems, but I can't stand the very bright direct light from the tvs.

              21 days later

              voidv2

              Just want to share my experience with the Samsung S95B, which I got after the LG C2 OLED gave me too much eyestrain to feel comfortable in keeping it. I had previously tried the LG CX, which gave me more eyestrain than the C2 (so some progress at least).

              The reason I wanted to try the Samsung S95B is that I, surprisingly, have no issues using the Nintendo Switch OLED model. The display is from Samsung and while it's a different type of screen, it's still OLED which I seem to suffer with otherwise. Right off the bat, the S95B produces the most beautiful picture I have ever seen. I thought the CX/C2 were nice but they don't come close to the S95B. Comparison videos on Youtube do not do it justice.

              Initially, I didn't feel much discomfort using it but after a day or so, the same symptomps I had with the LG OLED's starting surfacing. Tried all the settings mentioned in this thread and after 3 weeks, I gave up with only a few days left in my return window. It came to a point where the S95B felt 80% acceptable, but I couldn't get myself to accept the discomfort I was still feeling.

              I tried swapping the S95B for an LG mini-led (QNED86) to see if it's OLED-related after all. Mini-LED eye strain was on par with the LG C2, somewhat more intense than the S95B. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 meaning no eye strain and 10 unbearable eye strain);

              • LG CX - 8
              • LG C2 - 5
              • Samsung S95B - 3
              • Nintendo Switch OLED (Samsung OLED) - 1
              • ASUS VA Monitor - 6 (using with computer glasses is ok)
              • iPhone 14* - 2

              *Knowing it's a bit off topic but over the weeks I was testing various tvs, I also happened to buy an iPhone 14 when I was in the US for work. When I started using it, it gave me severe eye strain at pretty much any brightness level. Fiddling with settings, white balance etc. made virtually no difference. Since I had no way of returning it, I stuck with it and now after about 3 months, I can use it relatively pain-free most of the time. I didn't change any settings after all, allowed auto brightness and over time, my eyes did seem to adjust. This is leaving me even more confused as I now have two OLED-devices that I can tolerate, one that was fine out of the box and one that took a few months of adjusting.

              TV-wise, I'm back to my LG 55UF850V. Hoping (QD)OLED technology continues to evolve and the manufacturers take eye-strain ceriously, beyond some flicker certificates. While I'm a bit deflated from having to return 3 TVs in a row, I feel a sparkle of hope due to my Switch and iPhone. If only there were retailers in the Netherlands that had extended return periods, up to 2/3 months …

              Let's see what 2023 and beyond brings for TVs.

                MvDoorn

                This is a huge disappointment about the S95B. RTINGS saying that the S95B is flicker free above certain brightness thresholds got me very excited. I love the look of OLEDS but the eyestrain and dizzyness/nausea have always been a dealbreaker for me. I assume you tried filmmaker mode as well as the brightness settings RTINGS suggested?

                I just pulled the trigger on an LG QNED90 and its on the way. Everything Ive read suggests its the very best TV for us sensitive folks - much better than the QNED 85/86, which apparently still have some PWM use. Fingers crossed.

                  Deornoth I returned a 65QNED90 because I felt dizzy after some time with it and the mini led backlight is like a big search light torch pointed directly at you, It is the brightest tv I have ever own, even on "0" it is super mega bright and activating local dimming introduces flicker, so more eye strain and dizzines for me, but hope it works for you.

                  Agreed - local dimming can be tough on the eyes with PWM. This is different since apparently no PWM, so Im curious to see how it is for my eyes. I’ll also use game / pc mode to turn off any processing and dithering crap. Dithering for me is actually worse than PWM. I can handle high frequency pwm (1000hz+) if dithering is off. Also this is apparently a native 10 bit panel so there shouldn’t be any FRC dithering to increase colour capabilities.

                  Anyway I have 30 days to return it if I don't like it so fingers crossed!

                  Deornoth

                  Yep, tried all those settings for extended periods of time with no luck. And trust me, when you see the image quality, you really want to power through.

                  Keep us posted on the QNED90, I couldn’t find much on difference in eye comfort online and only the 86 was in stock, so hence my choice.

                  All my TVs were 55” btw in a spacious living room, so not sat too close.

                  9 days later

                  So I spent a week with the LG 65QNED90 and am sending it back. It’s close to perfect but has a few fatal flaws.

                  The good

                  • Very good picture quality, local dimming is effective and little blooming with the latest firmware. It gets very very close to oled quality when tweaked well.
                  • Lots of settings and adjustments so you can fine tune it a great deal
                  • No PWM flicker at all at any setting. I measured for pwm all the time as i tweaked and never detected any. This is a first for a local dimming tv as far as I know. And it does make a difference - the familiar “pinch” I get between my eyes on pwm sets doesnt happen on this tv.
                  • I didnt get any dizzyness once ALL image enhancements (like motion clarity, etc) were turned off.

                  The bad:

                  1. The tv doesnt handle dim rooms well at all. Highlights (ie light sources on screen like car lights, flashlights, etc) are blinding. You can’t get the brightness low enough to be able to handle the highlights without crushing dark scenes. And I spent a lot of time playing with the various settings including white balance luminance settings. The backlight is far brighter than it needs to be at lowest settings.
                  2. Reflection handling is terrible. Any light source is reflected so much that you can’t see whats on the screen, unless brightness is cranked up. Which again doesn't work in a dim (or even medium bright) room.
                  3. Bright scenes actually bleed into surrounding colours. Example: A person standing in front of the bright window will have light bleed into them. Its probably a dimming software bug.
                  4. Panel uniformity is quite bad. I had 6 wide vertical bars run through the set. Causes dirty screen effect, Noticeable in all but the darkest scenes. Very distracting. I may have just lost the panel lottery…not sure but based on reviews it sounds like many of these are bad.

                  Honestly, the picture quality was so good (particularly in hdr mode) that if I was in a bright room I would keep it. Unfortunately, I’m in a fairly dim room and it makes my eyes bleed from brightness. The combination of factors means this isnt good enough to keep.

                  4 months later

                  I´ve checked the S95B at a local store sadly without success 🤕
                  After 20 minutes the symtoms where very bad that i have to leave the store. 20 hours later i still feel some pressure on the eyes and my brain hurts.

                  Rtings said that with specific brightness levels you could avoid flickering. Is there a possibility to check this claim?

                  IMO to be sure you need to have a TV in your own room, without other TVs and store lighting around and flickering from all sides. Then you can use your own equipment to verify if there's a flicker-free brightness level and check if Rtings is right.
                  You could try to build a portable device to test the flicker in the store, but you can never be sure that the symptoms are really caused by the TV in front of you and not from sources in peripheral sight.

                  I got S95B week ago. First impression was like oh its great and totally fine. But after some time I started to notice small symptoms like noticing some weird feelings, then I turned on my PS5 with HDR enabled and 10bit. Well I can tell instantly that something is very different than basic SDR. So HDR giving me slight nausea after a while of playing like 1-2 hours. And after 2-3 hours I feel like my orientation is slightly different. Next day I started to feel the same bad even with just an SDR. Tried tons of diff settings and etc. Nothing helped unfort 🙁 Returned it back.

                  After that I tried to find some other OLEDs with different flicker refresh rate and could find only 1 in 20. LG A2 according to rtings review have different flicker refresh rate, so I ordered one to give it a try. Will post results here.

                  Has anyone tried the Samsung S95C (2023 QD-OLED) yet? Per my previous post in this topic, the S95B came closest to being acceptable but at about 80% comfort level, I returned it anyway. Perhaps this year's model is even better for those suffering from eye-strain.

                  dev