I have an Eizo CG223W which has an S-PVA panel. Works also better for me than IPS and TN.
Will get a Dell 2407wfp on Monday. This is CCFL backlit. Will update on how it goes.
Eyestrain solved after 6 years and multiple panels - LG 32gk850g
reaganry ok, thanks for the pointer. Have the opportunity to get one for 15 EUR. Guess I cannot do so much wrong here... 
a year later
- Edited
Please see this:
Do you find it difficult or easy to focus on text on VA panels? Did you just get used to it? Did you get headaches and did they eventually pass?
On the TN panel (BenQ XL2720Z) I find text is easy to read. It's crisp. It's perfect. I can focus on it without issue. I don't even notice it because it's just easy. The background colour is flat.
On the VA panel (LG 32GK850G-B) it's just... not. It's like the edges of the letters are soft. I understand that the pixel structure is different but it's so difficult to put my finger on it. I honestly feel like my eyes strain more to read, and after a few months I'm feeling like my eyes are worse in general. Which has got to be bollocks.
It could just be because things are slightly differently sized, but then I increase the text size and there's still this thing that's hard to quantify. Like it's just slightly out of focus. And anything a few inches from what you're directly in front of, the background color seems to shift. It's a shimmer like on those old kids toy pictures that would look like one thing and then another if you changed your viewing angle.
I know TN panels are supposed to shift a lot but when you're sitting in front of them, they don't – at least not in the same way. Maybe it's the screen coating?
When gaming, it doesn't really matter; there's not a lot of text to be looked at. But when working on notepad, especially on a dark background... it's.... really distracting.
Has anyone else experienced this? Do you just get used to it in the end? Are there any solutions? I've tried using Windows upscaling for text but it blurs things something awful.
Edit: It could just be the anti-glare coating. I don't know. The BenQ doesn't have it.
Examples of what I'm referring to:
Link to the thread: https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2766887
On the matter of refresh rate, I can't find my last post where I asked about 75Hz being of benefit for desktop usage. One says:
Refresh rates do make a difference. I can't do 30hz 4k. Kills my eyes so I had to get a new card to do 60hz on all three 4k monitors. I haven't tried the 120hz monitors yet.
I'm guessing above 60Hz on the desktop is mainly of help for videos and conferencing. It shouldn't help eye strain for most content, unless I'm missing something.
15 days later
Interesting comment:
Both IPS and TN panels hurt my eyes, but only newer ones.
I've heard here that older IPS are worse than newer ones because of thicker anti-glare finishes, and old TN panels are really bad compared to newer ones, yet he says they're more comfortable for him.
7 days later
Does anyone know a VA monitor with a low backlight brightness?
- Edited
anyone Unfortunately I can't tell you that. However one of the the nice things about VA is being able to use a dark or black theme, which VA does very well, and another thing is that VA has good contrast even when you take the contrast control down after taking down the brightness.
Also, I've read good things about this TN unit: https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-24MK400H-B-led-monitor
I was going to get one to see how it is because it's a cheap unit with excellent reviews and no one complaining about any eye strain. However, my Amazon site sold out of them after stocking them at a very attractive price level.
I believe the VA249 may be a bit better, but since I didn't get the LG to test, I don't really know. LG says the viewing angles are only
Viewing Angle 90º (R/L), 65º (U/D)
And the Asus is supposed to have 178º viewing angles, but I haven't read anyone complaining about the LG's viewing angles. Maybe that could be because people are easily pleased when they don't pay much? I don't know. TN used to have bad viewing angles, but people don't seem to complain about the current generation units.
In general, I recommend buying from a place like Amazon where you can try out the unit for 30 days before returning it if need be for a full refund. There's no substitute for using the monitor in your own home environment.
- Edited
anyone I found this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Monitors/comments/b9aulq/the_list_of_monitors_sorted_by_minimum_possible/
It shows: Minimum brightness: 64.97 cd/m2 LG 32GK850G-B 2017-12-14
That's for the model featured in this thread.
- Edited
anyone Have you considered trying the blue light settings in an Asus Eye Care VA like the VA249 or else using a "night light" tool in your OS to make the screen warmer? This may allow you to use a brighter screen, particularly if you have a nearby incadescent lamp to provide some room lighting. When I turn on my "Night Light" in Ubuntu, it takes the sharpness out of the display even though my brightness and contrast levels are at daytime levels, and I am sitting in a dark room without any ambient lighting. This tool allows me to make the screen less warm or more warm depending on where I put the slider.
a month later
f3likx Hi how are your eyes now? I made a post here related to my issues https://ledstrain.org/d/963-1500-down-the-toilet-lg-38gl950g its odd given my ipad 10.1 IPS 120hz gives me no eye strain whatsoever yet this thing is burning me after 2 minutes!!
Not sure if you have used this site before https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/a51ef5e - nice breakdown
https://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/lg_32gk850g.htm a review on the monitor
Maybe something in there might help?
https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/1a1f16d6
Mine is https://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/lg_38gl950g.htm
You can use the site to also do a comparison like between mine and yours:
https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/comparison/917eb301a
Instantly I notice that there is no FRC on yours. Someone mentioned cables earlier, not sure if thats a thing but this is the first time im outputting a mini dp to DP 1.4, I used to be on Dual DVI, sadly I sold my old monitor and now I'm in a bit of a pickle!!
Your contrast is 3000:1 to my 1000:1
Yours is AMVA to my IPS
Yours is 93 PPI to my 111
both backlights are W-led
I have dynamic contrast also (? Sounds like changing perhaps!)
I have HDR which is disabled
Similar refresh rates
My ports are HDMI 2 & DP 1.4 vs your HDMI 1.4 and DP 1.2
Ironically in this blog for best eye care monitors the no1 recommendation is the ASUS PB278Q which is the one that was destroying your eyes! So if we compare this to your current one we get this:
https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/comparison/07e0139da3
It is a PLS panel (no idea what that is!)
higher pixels than yours
but heres something interesting, its 1000:1 contrast same as mine and it also has dynamic contrast too.
It doesn't have FRC
Mine doesn't have horizontal frequency (IPS) yours has horizontal and vertical
It also has the same ports as yours
My old monitor I could work all day on, with a little bit of grief here and there but often I could game until 3am if I chose too and recover after having breakfest enough to be able to continue working again.
That one was https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/comparison/a98f139db1 and it had 1000:1 contrast also like my current one
What about Chroma, could turning off RGB help at all?
Other than this I've also found a guide on viewing distance
Im trying still with my current monitor but after 3 hrs today my eyes are ready to jump out of their sockets again!!
7 months later
K-Moss I got that LG monitor, and it has a few issues. Its not a 8 bit panel, and it using horrible static dithering thats very visible with some shades. Images also look lower resolution thanks to this. It also has strong inversion flickering. Its not the worst on the eye, but its not a good monitor overall, not worth buying.