I'm fairly certain that Mac uses more compression with artifacts when processing the screen while color table adjustments are in use. Metal overlays doesn't seem to have the same issue. Also there are some color schemes that get the same effect as quantization. No idea why. Probably some bandwidth limitation.

photon78s Yeah I'm still using the same low 250 nits Innolux panel. Originally I kept it despite the strain because my monochrome red color filter glasses made it usable enough for hours of coding because they seemingly filter out 90% of whatever color technique is causing the problem by making the screen physically a single color to my eyes — and I really lucked out with amazing keyboard build quality/supplier lottery so I wanted to get the benefits of the keyboard ergonomics since all my other laptops have really bad keyboards, with the potential I could improve it with a panel swap later.

But now it's finally usable without the glasses (only within the Linux VM, but that's enough for me because I can run my entire coding environment within there!)

Although I still want to do a panel swap, because overall it's still not the best panel, I wish it could go up to 300 nits since 250 is TOO dim for me and there's something slightly off with the viewing angle where either the left or right half kinda fade to a "slightly blacker tint" if you're not looking at it totally centered (something that is usually fine on other IPS panels. No, this isn't the privacy screen variant, it's just a bad IPS lol.) — plus, I still have a feeling a different panel can improve the Windows side.

But, for now, the panel is at least able to achieve much lower strain inside the VM and not give me reading issues, although it's still a very low quality IPS IMO and has other issues like the brightness and a kind of metallic feeling likely due to the annoying viewing angle situation, outside of strain.

The PWM-like brightness dips don't change in a recording so I'm pretty sure the strain is coming from something to do with both Windows compositor interacting with a feature of this gen of Intel graphics hardware with the end result of a "color sharpening" enhancement being applied. I still seem to feel a similar issue on a native Linux install and even the BIOS screen (where the iGPU is likely already active, because the Lenovo logo prior to it shows at full resolution) but not as bad as Windows. BUT the issue is noticeably reduced by a HUGE amount specifically while the Linux VM is running fullscreen within Windows.

I've recorded the same PWM dips on other completely usable devices like my old Xiaomi Redmi 3 phone so that's not the direct strain source IMO (although the flicker depth is stronger than usual on the T480), the main difference between the PWM "dip" screens and a true PWM-free screen (like the 2016 MacBook Pro I mentioned in another thread) is that my vision in the real world feels slightly less washed out, easier to focus, and colors/contrast look better after using a PWM-free screen, but it mostly doesn't affect my time during using the device itself.

Note that this only applies to the devices with "slight brightness dip every frame"-style PWM, I have worse symptoms directly connected to PWM when it's the more infamous "strobe-like" PWM type.

I still have some optimism that a panel swap could improve the rest of the Windows install though, because different panels may provide different data along the lines of EDID, calibration, or timing info that may cause Windows or the Intel drivers to render to them differently. Or, the way that pixels are arranged or high contrast colors are displayed on different panels may be less likely to create the illusion and strain effect the "sharpening" method is causing. (high contrast colors, not contrast ratio, as this panel has a low contrast ratio but still has the issue)

(I also think either the Intel gen or the panel is connected because I have a Surface Pro 4 with 6th gen Intel HD 520 and a Samsung PLS panel that's running Windows 10 22H2 with very minimal issues and is totally usable for most tasks with the exception of the super bright glossy hiDPI panel not being the best fit for text-heavy stuff like code, compared to newer laptops where 22H2 is totally unusable for me.

Plus, a T480s with an LG 2K panel didn't cause the eye "pain" with the same graphics chip and 1809 version but it did cause some nausea feeling instead plus I did notice similar, but less, abnormal color fringing so possibly that panel interacted with the colors in a different way — had to return that one though I require the panel to work at 1x for a bunch of non-HiDPI compatible apps I use and NoMachine, and 1440p@1x at 14 inches is WAY too small. The LG panel was also one of those panels that shows up as "intense red" instead of a "more relaxing deep orange red" through my color filter glasses, very likely due to use of KSF phosphors, meaning it didn't really "support" my color filter workaround if you get what I mean.)

There is also weird panel lottery cases to still be careful about even when the issue could have more connection to software — I saw two T460 (Skylake CPU) laptops side by side at a used computer store with IDENTICAL AUO panel IDs in Device Manager, both had only the Basic Display Driver running without Intel drivers at all and had the same Windows version, and one was very comfortable to me but the other immediately felt wrong, had a hazy/blurry feeling and a slightly different color tint. That does make me want to find that AUO panel and swap it in though, but when I do that I'll make sure to buy more than one of the same panel because of that experience. Unfortunately that was also only a 250 nits panel though.

BTW, here's an image someone shared surprisingly all the way back in 2013 where an Intel driver updated added forced sharpening artifacts to their ThinkPad screen (an x220 in their case) VERY similar to what I've noticed is present with e.g. the black lines I mentioned within the usual Windows desktop outside of the VM on my T480. https://imgur.com/a/hdvlU

I don't think this type of color processing reached wide-scale use across laptops until several years after 2013, but it's really interesting to see a really early example of something closely resembling the same issue I've noticed. (Note that the cause may be different between laptops, a visually same processing method could be generated for a different reason and by a different source depending on the device. But I just wanted to give an example of what the artifacts roughly look like.)

      DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs

      I most likely had the same model LG 2k panel in my T480s which I no longer have and the reds where intense as well. Amazing discovery and solution. "Sharpening" or some better term to describe this should be added to the screen stressors hall of infamy. Reminds of this comment on a Viewsonic "10 bit" monitor:

      Most of the color modes are great, but the "Photographer" setting has a ridiculous amount of sharpening added and in my opinion is not useable.

        I had a workable mac (M1 air hooked up to 27inch Cinema display, laptop shut) Worked well with Stillcolor until I installed a web development app that somehow changed something and I then got eye strain.

        I've since discovered that the app had flipped it to 10bit color mode. On the original setup I must've choose 8bit when I was mucking around with Better display and not realised how important it was in my circumstances.

        So yeah my workable settings are StillColor running and Better display color mode set to 8bit, oh and I have font smoothing turned off via terminal command too. If I get strain again I will now know to click 8bit again.

          Did anyone find a way to change ioreg properties in dictionaries? This one seems interesting.

          thorpee I previously followed your post in another thread where you had an iMac that was normally comfortable but you found you had to reinstall the OS after certain apps triggered eye strain. In retrospect, do you think it may have been a similar issue to this?

              waydabber Better Display is great! Thank you (and everyone on this forum who is helping make progress in this space). I used to create a virtual display, which eased my symptoms but still gave me some strain after a bit. The option to disable dithering I think helps, but the image adjustment makes the biggest difference. I mean the one with the bar chart icon that flattens the colours slightly (sorry, I can't see what it's called). Setting that to 35 means I can use the display for hours without issues and without creating a virtual display. Probably a stupid question, but there's no way of replicating any of this on iOS, is there? Thanks again for Better Display. It's brilliant!

                  FNP7 could you share which devices you are using with better display ?

                  • FNP7 replied to this.

                      FNP7 Which setting from the top of the Image Adjustments menu. Thanks.

                          Rikl Quantization. Color table modificatioins needs to be enabled for it to work.

                          • Rikl replied to this.

                              async Which slider - icon - position? The latest BD has only icons on the sliders not labels. Thanks.

                              Nevermind - got it.

                                  Rikl In case helpful to anyone else, here are the settings I'm using

                                      FNP7 What is that bar chart icon measure ? And can it be done over the terminal, as I just do not want to pay for yet another app claiming miracles?

                                          Rikl You can turn on labels in the settings somewhere. It helps a lot.

                                          • Rikl replied to this.

                                              Did anyone ever see a working solution for overlay shaders on Mac? I know there are a ton that work inside games, and ofc lots of them on windows. BetterTouchTool can do color shifts with Metal overlay, but I have no idea how well Metal would be for more advanced use cases.

                                              If someone knows a rough direction that probably will work for overlaying a texture on everything that is white or similar do tell. I can ofc do some sort of screen capture in Electron and just use overlay effects, but it will probably kill whatever CPU you have.

                                              Experimenting a bit with adjustments that makes horrible migraine inducing patterns like this one stop blinking. I think I've found some things that work.

                                                dev