AGI Do you have perfect vision?

No, I have astigmatism with -4 and -5 spherical value.

AGI Have you ever had any thought it might be your eyes to cause digital eyestrain, and got checked?

Yes, I got it checked and it did not get better with new glasses. When I am away from my screen I do not have issues. So it is certainly the computer.

AGI How about LED and fluorescent lamps?

Had to remove all LED bulbs in our flat. That already calmed down my neural system a lot! Have halogen bulbs now. They last way longer than incandescent ones. No problems with fluorescent lamps as I know.

AGI Uh, I bought an open box iPhone 6s a week ago on eBay

Sorry, my bad. I have an iPhone 6 Plus, not 6s. My wife has a 6s. However that got worse after she upgraded from iOS10 to iOS12. So if the phone still runs iOS10 and you can bear it I would refrain from upgrading it...

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    deepflame So if the phone still runs iOS10 and you can bear it I would refrain from upgrading it...

    Thanks on the tip! I will see when it arrives. It is an "open box" item. I hope they do not update the OS before shipping!

    deepflame No problems with fluorescent lamps as I know.

    Since I changed job, I have developed eyelid and face muscle twitching. After quite some time, I figured out it is mostly caused by the ceiling fluorescent lamps. I do have fluorescent lamps in the apartment I rent, and I have no problem. I tried to look at the emission spectra and wavelength-wise I cannot find a clear difference although the "bad" lamps look of a warmer color. Funnily, I can see by the naked eye the bulb in my kitchen flicker and it does not bother me. I am clueless.

      deepflame Interesting to know you're using the latest Nvidia driver. Have you tried Windows 8/8,1? I only ask as they will most likely be supported for longer than W7 and in my experience don't suffer the same strain issues as W10.

      Are you affected by temporal dithering? I am interested to know what your Nvidia driver settings are (colour output/resolution). Also may be worth a screengrab with GPU-Z for VBIOS info.

      I also match your issues with iOS - I was fine up to iOS10, anything after is not comfortable to use.

      I can see these Quadro K420 cards are very affordable on the used market - I'm tempted to pick one up but I have been burnt so many times by 'working' solutions. I'm not saying your setup isn't working however this will be device #12/13 in the last 5 years I have had to test/return. It really is becoming a joke.

        diop Have you tried Windows 8/8,1?

        No, but this is a good point. I always disliked the new start screen but just found out that it is possible to bring back the "old" start menu from Windows 7. Good to know to have this option.

        diop Are you affected by temporal dithering?

        Well, I am not sure what kind of dithering it is (seems there is also spatial dithering) but I am highly affected by pixel flickering. Also DLP projectors give me strain after a while.

        diop Nvidia driver settings


        Please let me know if you need anything else.
        I need to add that I have disabled "ClearType". Not sure if this is off by default. Turning it on makes the screen unusable again.

        diop I can see these Quadro K420 cards are very affordable on the used market

        Yes, I started with the Quadro NVS 295 for 4 EUR on Ebay and gave this another shot and have to say it is really worth it. Of course I cannot guarantee that yours will be the same because of revision differences. However I have hopes as @JTL had a similar experience with his Quadro K4000 ( https://ledstrain.org/d/337-nvidia-quadro-k4000 ). So it seems to me that the Kepler Quadro cards may generally be good (?).

        diop It really is becoming a joke.

        Yeah, I know what you mean. My wife is also already fed up with all this "buying new screens and returning them". There are still 7 or so standing around there that I need to sell or dispose. Based on the positive response from some people it is definitely worth it and to never lose hope!

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          AGI I figured out it is mostly caused by the ceiling fluorescent lamps.

          Hmm, are you sure these are fluorescent lamps? I have seen mostly LED tubes recently here in Germany. Not sure if they sell normal fluorescent tubes anymore.

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            deepflame are you sure these are fluorescent lamps?

            Quite sure, but if you do not mind taking a look at the spectra, I had posted them here.

              AGI Hmm, and I assume the "bad fluorescent" line matches the ones of the good one? If so, this is really strange indeed. Maybe some flickering then? (guess we should rather change the thread as this gets off topic).

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                deepflame Sorry, my bad. I have an iPhone 6 Plus, not 6s. My wife has a 6s. However that got worse after she upgraded from iOS10 to iOS12.

                The vendor website says with regard to OS of my "future" phone: iOS 9, upgradable to iOS 10.2.
                You sure an iPhone 6s can go up to iOS12?

                  deepflame Danke sehr!
                  Item has been dispatched minutes before I asked not to update the OS. I will see what comes.
                  I have been without phone since February. Can't stand anymore people asking what I am saving my money for :-)

                  deepflame Thanks for the info - much appreciated. Will have to consider testing this for personal use.

                  4 days later

                  deepflame Thank you for your input, your input is very interesting. You said S-PVA is better than IPS panel. Did you experience Eizo IPS panel monitor? Is there any chance that just Eizo monitor is good for eye strain?

                    7 days later

                    Just wanted to bump this to ask if anybody has tried any recent (last 6 months) laptops/graphics cards?

                    I'm eyeballing the new Dell 'eyecare' laptops - great spec and discreet Nvidia graphics but I just know that either a) it will have PWM or b) Nvidia driver dithering or c) W10 rendering issues. 🙁

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                    Hi everyone,

                    this is my list of devices that works for me:

                    • Gaming monitor: Allienware AW2518HF FULL HD 25" TN 240hz
                    • Work notebook: Dell Latitude E5550
                    • TV: LG B8 OLED
                    • Phones: Iphone X and Iphone 6S (i had also iphone 3g, galasy s2, nexus 4, galaxy nexus and nexus 5. All witout problems).
                    • Tablet: Ipad Air 2

                    And this is my list of devices that din't works:

                    Monitor: LG 27UD68 4K 27" IPS LED, AOC I2481FXH FULL HD 24" IPS LED and all dells from P23XX series.
                    Notebook: Macbook air 13" 2017 and i think also all the new macbook pro but i din't try it. I would try but i am scared so i want to wait the OLED MBP.
                    Tablet: Ipad pro 10.5 2017. also in this case i want to change my ipad air 2 but i'll wait the OLED ipad.

                    I am sure that in my case it's not a flickering problems but somethig about the led tecnology.

                      cdprice Did you experience Eizo IPS panel monitor?

                      No, not yet.

                      cdprice Is there any chance that just Eizo monitor is good for eye strain?

                      I am not sure what could make only Eizo monitors be ok. The manufacturers are also bound to the available display technology out there. So Eizo e.g. does not produce their own panels but gets them from Samsung, LG, ... , then adds their own bezel, software etc. .

                      Unfortunately I have not gotten a second VA panel yet to prove my claim. But I will update as soon as I get one 😀

                      Lauda89 This is a big list of devices you can still use that I cannot. Happy for you!

                      I also had an iPhone X but had to return it after around 2 months because of the OLED PWM flickering (and maybe also dithering, not sure).
                      Which iOS version do you run on your 6S? In my experience it got worse with iOS 11 (10 was really good)

                      • AGI replied to this.

                        deepflame Which iOS version do you run on your 6S? In my experience it got worse with iOS 11 (10 was really good)

                        Sorry for jumping it. I just got my 6s with iOS 10 and had three bad days following 20 minute usage. Sticky eyes and a very annoying neck tension causing enormous difficulties to work with laptop and PCs which are normally fine. It could be that my eyes are not in the best shape to tell what is causing what, but it is quite obvious that the 6s is not for me. I also asked the office who lent me the iPhone last year. They could not tell me its OS version but it was a 6 and not a 6s. So it is not the 6s worked earlier and does not now, as I initially speculated.

                          I am pretty sure that flickering is not an issue for me. I tryed a lot of monitor flicker free that killed my eyes.
                          My problem it's really strange because i have never had any problems with TV and phones. But i had a lot of problem with monitor pc, notebook and now with the last ipads.
                          I think that my problem is related to the light emitted by the LED and/or the coverage of the monitors. With the ipad pro 10.5 i feel like i can see the glass reflection. But it's strange because i feel like the screen it's not fused well with the glass.

                          My iphone 6S is used by my mother now, but i've never had any problems with IOS update or software update in general.

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                            Lauda89 I tryed a lot of monitor flicker free that killed my eyes.

                            What are your symptoms? How long do they take to develop? In particular, do you get immediate neck tension? How long does it take to recover?
                            I remember the iPhone X gave problems to many, and on forums fingers were pointed at the 240 Hz PWM. If you can stand that, it looks like PWM is not your problem?
                            However, I do not recall all members' stories and issues. I guess you know that a flicker-free monitor can give troubles if connected to "bad" hardware, do not you? That is something I was not aware of until I found this forum an year ago, so I am not the expert for sure.

                            I can use most computers but I can't find a smartphone that does not make huge damages. I owned only one so far, which worked beautifully until an year ago. I had no chance but to re-sell the other three phones I recently bought. Impossible to use them.
                            I too do not think PWM is my problem. In the recent past I used devices at very, very low brightness, and could watch as long as I wanted. I am clueless. And demoralized. I can only say, the newer the technology, the worse.

                            AGI Sorry to hear this. Strange. I can recall a forum post where a person bought multiple iPhone 4s and said that only 1 of 3 (do not remember the exact number) iPhones worked for him. Maybe Apple uses different screens for their phones like for their laptops?

                              dev