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I can use an IPS monitor with an Innolux panel. Specifically the M280DCA-E3B found in the Samsung U28R550 is quite good. It is found in some other 28” 4K 60 Hz IPS monitors. What I would really like to try are Innolux 27” 1440p high refresh rate offerings, including the older K7B and especially the newer and faster K7E which supposedly improves on Innolux hardware-level low blue light tech already present on K7B.

All of these monitors use FRC so this is not a blanket recommendation.

The MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD (AUO panel) gave me immediate and obvious pain.

    degen I've heard many different opinions, but overall from what I heard is that AUO are actually easier on eyes. But digging deeper, I've come to conclusion that it is not only the panel itself, but backlight could be the culprit too (hovewer I own a BOE-panel based LG monitor, its backlight better than BENQ's one i also own, but I still cannot use it, for a different reason). Samsung often puts their own backlights into the panels they install in their monitors. OTOH, I've never heard anything bad about Innolux (esp IPS) panels aside from having difficult to remove red tint. The last Samsung VA monitor with AUO panel I've tried was good actually.

      EyeDiscomfortCertificate There seems to be quite a few complaints of eyestrain with the Gigabyte M28U, which uses an Innolux 4K high refresh rate panel, so I steered clear of that one. Samsung makes a version with that panel as well, the Samsung G70A, which I really want to try, but it’s too expensive.

      I applied a set of LED strips https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S5ZLP3B that had the remote which is probably not going to be needed after I get the correct white temperature. The LED strips turn on and off with the monitor or computer USB port it's plugged into and remembers the last color. I also installed the light bar https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098SWWGJB that sits at the top of the monitor. It has brightness, temperature and power controls.

      With both the strips and light bar installed eye strain is improved. I first tried the strips on their own and they helped somewhat, then adding the light bar helped further. The thing I like about the light bar is it mainly lights the keyboard area so it's sort of like having a desk lamp on but with the space saving benefits.

        TrantaLocked Some weird advice - also invest in good speakers and sound card if you like background music while working. Search the ones which do not make you tired; it has little relation to the perceived quality of the sound - I've discovered that the integrated speakers on BENQ monitor, have horrible quality, but do not make me tired compered to seemingly better laptop audio. Good audio would help to abstract away from the eye strain.

          EyeDiscomfortCertificate Sound doesn't really do much but my equipment is high quality and tuned with the EQs I like.

          There is one thing I'm still trying to identify as a suspect which is the idea of the eye muscles being used to focusing on certain distances. I've still yet to confirm this but I went to see Avatar 2 last week after not seeing a movie in a long time and my eyes hurt for the first hour and a half, but then the last hour it felt like my eyes had fully adjusted or something and there was no more pain.

          So I wonder if part of this new developed strain is more from me putting more usage on my TV as opposed to my monitor, since I just got my LG C1 a few months ago and I want to use it. Maybe my eyes now are more used to longer distance and very short distance (laptop) but not not mid distance?

          But today when I was testing lighting it seemed like the adjustments I made really are important. For one, it somehow seemed that turning up the monitor backlight helped, though in tandem with the top bar light and back LED strips also being turned on. I have the top bar light, which I linked earlier, on the warm preset at max brigthness. It does actually seem to help more if it's brighter. And the back LED strips I have set to an orangish color, the one that lights when you press the bottom right color on the remote. And I had been able to go for hours today without developing serious strain. There was SOME strain here and there but not agonizing like it had been previously. But what is also weird is I think turning off all of my other room lights helped. So lighting does seem to be important but the exact configuration is hard to pinpoint.

          And again for the eyes getting used to certain distances after being conditioned to others, I'm not sure if this is true or not yet. It's hard to test because for Avatar 2, I had no choice but to sit through the pain until it subsided. If it starts getting painful at my desk I can just go do something else. So perhaps I wasn't letting my eyes adjust to a certain focus amount? I don't know yet. This may take a long time to fully confirm.

          The new setup with bias lighting I described has lasted. I can now go for a long time without very noticeable eye strain. The setup again: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098SWWGJB top bezel mounted bar light set to warm and max brightness, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S5ZLP3B LED strips on back of monitor, set to orange/red button in bottom right at max brightness. The colors don't actually match with the buttons for most of them but there are lots of color options. There is a lamp with a warm 2700K bulb and warm shade a few feet behind me to my left. The Acer Nitro KG241Y Sbiip is 2-3 feet away from my eyes depending on if I'm leaning forward or back. I have tan/off-white curtains. The Samsung 2494HM is mounted to the right of the Acer, both 1080p 24". I have the Acer set to 22 brightness with the Samsung at minimum brightness. The Acer seems no worse between minimum and mid-range brightness. I'm still using my normal close-range glasses.

          Just Yesterday i was using some old Eizo ev2456 and had no symptoms at all. Nothing. At the office with office lighting. I think it is the professionell lighting. Perhaps i should buy some professionell lighting for my home.

          • AGI replied to this.
            9 days later

            hayder1983 Are you sensitive to PWM? I just bought the 2494HM and unfortunately even at the highest brightness setting, the one I have still uses a small amount of PWM.

            Unless anyone knows any tricks in the settings???

              GregAtkinson I am unsure. I think low frequency PWM is ok for me. High frequency PWM not. But as soon as i started using the 2494hm and i use it at brighntess 10/100 my eyes started to normalize. Eyedrops only once per day. No pain, only a bit of a dry eye. I can use my laptop screen too. No nausea.

              AGI Trilux lamps from my work. Very high quality but used office lamps. Didnt try it yet.

              TrantaLocked I think you are making wrong assumptions about solving eye strain for monitor. Refresh rate might have for some users positive affect, but that is nothing to do with LED strain or PWM. I would advice to stay way from cheap gaming high refresh monitors. These usually have very poor color accuracy and might have LED flicker / temporal dithering. Simple Rules are:

              27 Inch only QHD (4k option should be prohibited, 1080p too since its too low).

              32 inch sweet spot for 4k

              24 inch probably could do with 1080p, but it will not be sharp.

              Refresh rates:

              Any of these monitors with high refresh rate without having premium price will either (or both) - very poor color quality and temporal dithering, or flickering screen. Want gaming refresh rate - pay real price for it!

              Now, since this is LED strain forum, if you want protect your eyes, industry already has solution and that is certification TUV Eye Strain / Flicker-free. Any product that has these labels must go through testing to acquire the certification.

              And if you do not care about the details, well then pay super premium, those should be good in most cases. Also, why would someone bother with Asus, Dell, Alienware and other mickey mouse brands. There are only two panel manufacturers - LG and Samsung. Thats it, why bother with other branded products that are trying to sell you on ports, menus, stands, design and other non-sense.

              Hope that helps,

              D

                Donux I am not going to address all of your points, but it would be helpful if you injected some humility into your writing. It is more conducive to good conversation. We are all experimenting and trying to find what works best.

                Donux You are so grossly misinformed:

                1. No there is no "sweet spot resolution", I've used 27 4k scrren which cause no strain and also had experience with 27" 1080p which caused imeediate strain.
                2. No there is no "only two panel manufacturers" and Samsung does not produce any panels since 2018(?), however the do design their panels and outsource their manufacture to CSOT and AUO. Now there 4 major IPS panel manufacturers (BOE - by far the market leader these days, LG, Innolux, AUO) and 3 major IPS panel manufacturers (Innolux, AUO, CSOT). Neither LG nor Samsung put their panels in their monitors- LG uses exclusively BOE and Samsung does not make panels at all.
                3. TUV are mostly useless certificates, outside the low blue light certfication. There is a plenty TUV certified products which strain eyes. I own one, a quite expensive device.

                You should probably tone down your attitude, especially with such a poor knowledge of the topic.

                • JTL replied to this.

                  EyeDiscomfortCertificate No there is no "only two panel manufacturers" and Samsung does not produce any panels since 2018(?), however the do design their panels and outsource their manufacture to CSOT and AUO. Now there 4 major IPS panel manufacturers (BOE - by far the market leader these days, LG, Innolux, AUO) and 3 major IPS panel manufacturers (Innolux, AUO, CSOT). Neither LG nor Samsung put their panels in their monitors- LG uses exclusively BOE and Samsung does not make panels at all.

                  In addition. I wouldn't be surprised if certain brands insisted on higher quality quality of panels versus others because i.e AliExpress has sellers claiming to sell same panels known to be used in certain high end monitors but sometimes at a discount and the cynic in me wouldn't be surprised if they ended up being "B grade" or thereabouts from same factories.

                  On a related note NEC and Panasonic largely divested themselves of the high end monitor market a few years ago, so that's another potential curveball towards quality.

                  I have a BenQ GW2780 and can use it with minimal issues. I was set on upgrading to an Eizo 2760, but I am reading negative things about newer Eizo monitors which worries me. My current monitor and the Eizo Flexscan models both bost some sort of "flicker free" brightness control, but only Eizo explicitly states they use a hybrid approach which I translate as them using high frequency PWM on mid to lower brightness levels. I haven't seen any information from BenQ stating how they implement their "flicker free" method.

                  I have grown to despise HDR. Many panels offered today want a piece of the P3 color space or something equivalent. That's impossible on an 8 bit monitor without FRC.

                  Since I don't bother with HDR, I thought Eizo Flexscan montiors would fit my requirements for a "high end" 8 bit monitor that doesn't attempt to exceed the sRGB color space. I suppose finding that quality in a monitor that uses zero PWM doesn't seem obtainable right now.

                  Small update: the new AMD 7900X + 1660 super PC keeps giving me problems with my Alienware aw2518hf monitor, so I tried to buy a new 27" 2K 144hz 8 bit VA monitor without FRC but the situation doesn't change, massive dizziness.

                  Today I tried connecting the PC to my LG B8 OLED TV and with that the situation improved drastically. I need to do more tests because I still have some dizziness/headache from yesterday, but it seems perfect with the OLED TV.

                  I was already planning to buy LG's new 27" OLED 240HZ (27GR95QE) however it's an 8bit + FRC.. so I'm considering whether it's better to buy the Alienware AW3423DW which is a 10bit?!

                    Lauda89
                    Funny I have the gsync version and there is no setting that makes this a nice screen to look at. I am hoping to find something decent for gaming that's still 24in… hoping someone has some advice.

                    5 days later

                    Lauda89 buy a other TV, and use it as a monitor. You just have to be farther away than usual.

                    • JTL replied to this.
                      dev