Aquila

If that continues to hold- a huge congratulations! Please do keep us appraised- I'll be very interested to hear if that is still your assessment in a few days!

Meanwhile, would you mind sharing just a bit about your (previous) symptoms? In my case I do not feel my eye strain is caused by actually functionally using my eyes (to read for instance) but rather something about the backlight of modern monitors itself just hurts so bad. I don't know if it's color spectrum, some imperceptible flickering, or whatever. Anyway if you also have had sensitivity to the backlight and feel this monitor works for you in a few days I will definitely try it! 🙂 Thank you so much!

    9 days later

    Aquila Hey, any updates so far? I find whites/bright shades discomforting on many monitors. Would be helpful if you shared your current settings; color profile(Gamevisual setting) and what brightness you use or if you tweaked anything else.

    Would also be nice to know the panel model if it doesn't bother you to mess with service menu. Or maybe see some ghosting pictures https://www.testufo.com/ghosting. If not it's fine if you just compare to the image below that shows some VA smearing and just share your own experience when gaming, if you noticed any dark smearing or blurriness.

    Since you reported no discomfort would be cool to also have this monitor if it's a more modern VA panel. Thanks for sharing.

      On Aquila's comments I ordered the Asus Tuf VG27AQA1A! For me, it DOES still cause my eye strain- but in a different way than the other monitors I've used, and to a lesser extent. I am going to continue to play with it to see if there is any way it might be tolerable for me- so even while I suspect it will probably not be a long term option for me, that is still saying more than any other monitor I've tried so far. I'm not sure what's different about it (maybe the true 8-bit color on a VA panel has something to do with it?), and while it's definitely not 100% great for me like 10+ year old monitors, I'm still encouraged at the difference. I still feel it is the backlight itself that causes me my issues- whether it be the phosphor coatings/ wavelength, flickering, or whatever, I'm not sure- but the fact that this monitor feels different makes me re-consider color-related dithering as a possibility.

        Gemsand Thanks for sharing, that's unlucky, do you know how to check panel model through service menu? That could maybe give some insight if there are any specific coatings and filters for the backlight that alter wavelenghts since it has Low Blue Light certificate. Try setting Gamemode preset to "Racing" using "Warm" color temperature and set Blue Light to level 1 or 2, that should set temperature to 6600k or 6300k based on a review I saw, maybe that could help.

        I've been to a store locally with different monitors on display, gaming and non gaming, don't know if it was just the brightness and settings they used but they all looked aggressive to eye except for one, a cheap 24" 75hz Samsung IPS "LF24T350FHRXEN", haven´t personally tried it yet since I'm looking for something better suitable for gaming but that one definitely stood out from the many monitors on display. I also personally tried the BenQ EX240 and it was also tolerable when I set the monitor to a preset that has wider color gamut so in theory it balanced better the wavelenghts of blue/red/green light, it's 6bit+FRC according to displayspecs but true 8bit according to a reddit reply from Benq support that I saw (https://www.reddit.com/r/BenQ/comments/10g3ngn/benq_mobiuz_ex240_panel_model_and_bit_depth/) so I'm not sure. Either way I decided to look for something with no IPS glow and better contrast but it's hard to find anything really.

            boomhedshot

            Thanks for the comments sir, and for the recommendation on the 75 Hz Samsung LF24T350FHRXEN. I've tried ALL settings and color profiles, in 30+ monitors now, and have tried narrowing down LED types or coatings by panel #, all largely to no avail. For me it seems to be something about the LED backlight itself causing my issue.

            Update: Unfortunately the Asus Tuf VG27AQA1A is not going to work for me. It does still cause the eye pain and strain symptoms- though not as quickly as some other monitors. The hunt continues.

                Gemsand Sorry, I can imagine your frustration, I guess I won't be considering the VG27AQA1A then, wanna avoid any possible issues too.

                Saw this post https://www.reddit.com/r/monitor/comments/we8t0s/to_everyone_with_eye_strain_solutionwtf/ so I went and dug out some old polarized lenses I had, turns out my old LCD is polarized at 45º (diagonal) and when I went to the store again, all LCDs were vertically polarized, LF24T350FHRXEN included, only some TVs were horizontal just like what the polarized sunglasses are used for (horizontal sunlight glare), not sure to what extent polarizers have impact but it's useful to know now, either way just looking at the Samsung still felt like the image was more pleasant and natural to me but would have to test this in more prolonged period and not just staring it at the store.

                You could be right about backlight, from what I've been gathering, they have been using different phosphors and diode combinations over time to achieve better colors on LCD (nano IPS, Quantum Dot, other phosphors and alternatives), which affects at which intensity blue, green, red are emited in the spectrum (https://pcmonitors.info/articles/the-evolution-of-led-backlights/#Improving_the_phosphors) so who knows, maybe our eyes prefer the older wled backlights.

                    Gemsand Hi Bro, I'm so sad for your bad experience.

                    For me the Vg27aqa1a is eccellent but I think for my issues swapping from Ips to Va solved any symptoms.

                    Have nice day

                      boomhedshot

                      Your comments on polarization direction are fascinating sir. So far the following is just a very small amount of anecdotal data but: I just took an old polarizing filter off my camera lens and determined my acceptable monitor is polarized differently than a monitor I have here that bothers me!- and both are polarized different than my acceptable TV. I will be doing some more extensive testing with this and will revert here. Thank you so much for the idea, you may be onto something! (And if so I will also be reaching out to MariusDA on the Reddit post to thank him profusely as well!) Stay tuned…

                        EyeDiscomfortCertificate

                        Or dithering?

                        What are the differences on magnifier test, between pixel inversion and dithering?

                        Thx a lot

                        I tested on my camera and at low brightness I see vertical Lines.

                          5 days later

                          So, I ran around with a circular polarizer filter and examined a bunch of screens from both categories (both those that I can use for hours a day without a problem, and those that cause me painful eye strain and other symptoms with minimal use). Unfortunately, I found examples of each in all three categories, so I do NOT think polarization is my issue. Below are some examples. The items I list as "GOOD" below are screens I can use all day without an issue, the items I list as "BAD" cause my terrible eye strain with minimal use:

                          Horizontal polarization: Dell P2014HT 19.5" monitor (GOOD); Motorola One 5G Ace cell phone (GOOD); Samsung LED backlit TV Model UN55TU8000FXZA (GOOD); Sony X85K 43" TV (BAD)

                          45° polarization: Asus VS247H-P 24" monitor (GOOD); Asus VG248QG 24" gaming monitor (BAD)

                          Vertical polarization: 2022 Chromebook (GOOD); MSi Optix G273QPF 2022 27" gaming monitor (BAD); a couple other modern gaming monitors I tested (BAD)

                            14 days later

                            Just an update: I purchased the BenQ TK700STi gaming projector (a DLP 4K projector), which uses a lamp bulb as the light source. Since this has no LEDs involved, I figured it wouldn't be a problem- but I was definitely mistaken- this projector definitely caused my eye strain symptoms as well! Since this projector uses pixel shifting to accomplish 4K resolution (like almost all 4K projectors), and since it's DLP (flashing red/ blue/ green can be seen with eye movement), I am now back to strongly suspecting my main issue, like many of us here, is dithering or flickering. (I know PWM doesn't personally bother me as my main tolerable 10 year old monitor uses PWM, but some type of pixel dithering or perhaps even light source flicker itself must be my main problem!)

                            So, despite my disappointment the BenQ TK700STi projector didn't work out, at least this is helping me narrow down the problem. Despite being so widely thwarted (I've tried something like 32 monitors now!), the hunt optimistically continues!

                            For me the best monitor for my eyes is the HP X27i.

                            Qhd, 27", 165hz, 4ms, flicker free!

                            32? Dude, take a break from shopping for awhile. There is such a thing as looking too hard for problems.

                              For a long time I dismissed temporal dithering or other pixel dithering as my issue. I dismissed it because:

                              • The Asus VS247H-P monitor from 2013 that I can use all day without an issue is 6 bit + FRC = uses temporal dithering. It also uses PWM. (I’ve tested and confirmed the PWM but technically haven’t test-confirmed the TD.)

                              • I have experienced discomfort with an offending monitor when it is on with black screen/ no signal to monitor, but backlight on.

                              • I have experienced the same symptoms from an LED desk lamp!

                              This led me to believe the LEDs themselves were somehow causing my eye strain.

                              However, I am now reconsidering temporal dithering or other flicker as being the primary cause due to the following:

                              • I tried the BenQ TK700STi DLP projector that uses a lamp (not LED!), and it definitely triggered the symptoms. It uses pixel shifting/ flickering (at 240 Hz) to achieve 4K resolution. Also as a DLP projector, I could also easily see the flashing red/ green/ blue “ghosts” of white objects as I moved my eyes quickly.

                              • In offending monitors I’ve always noticed two subjective observations about the color:

                                • I’ve noticed that the colors just look “not solid” to me. No matter how I tweak the color settings, I can’t get them to feel “solid.” (Meanwhile my 2013 Asus VS247H-P 6 bit + FRC monitor does NOT feel like this to me; the colors feel solid.)

                                • No matter how I tweak the color settings in the offending monitors, the discomfort persists: however, the “quality” of the feeling/ discomfort does change with color settings change. This implies to me that the monitor may be implementing different dithering with the color settings changes.

                              Has temporal dithering changed over time? Is there some other kind of flicker present in almost all modern monitors and TVs, that is not present in most phones and handheld devices?

                              Just thinking out loud in case anyone has any input. I very much appreciate all ideas!

                              It is not only the monitor that causes eye strain, it is the GPU as well. If I hookup my monitor directly on my GPU, I get bloodshot eyes, if I hook it up to the motherboard at the expense of some GPU power loss, I don't get bloodshot eyes. Go figure…

                                brjdenis For my experience nausea is not related to GPU but to monitor.

                                I had a Win 10 syatem, Ryzen 3600 + 2070s and Benq ex2780q. After 30.minutes in gaming I had Nausea.

                                Now i changed monitor, and no more nausea. Windows version and drivers are the same.

                                  5 days later

                                  Have you tried setting Dynamic Range to Limited? Nvidia Control Panel>Change Resolution>Use NVIDIA color settings> Output dynamic range > Limited

                                  (Need to change this setting also on the monitor OSD if it's avaliable so they both match)

                                  It may sacrifice some color quality but you are also limiting the intensity of brightest & darkest shades.

                                  "Full Range" greyscale, the darkest color is 0 (0,0,0 R,G,B) and brightest is 255 (255,255,255 R,G,B):

                                  Limited Range would narrow this to 16 (16,16,16 R.G,B) and 235 (235,235,235 R,G,B) limiting how bright the colors can be displayed through the pixels independently of backlight brightness.

                                  This improved for me the effect of perceiving the colors in a more solid state rather than feeling like the image is glowing.

                                    dev