Honestly, I find 19042.867 perfectly comfortable on my setup. Noticeably enough so that I actually stopped using 7. I still have the partition waiting there as a fallback, but I don't boot into it anymore.
Part of the reason I am not willing to use the Standard VGA/Basic Display is because I need hardware acceleration for video playback. I don't have a TV so everything is done on my monitor. Without acceleration, there would be too much tearing, etc.
The experience on the Standard VGA / Basic Display adapter is really bad, especially since I need a multi-monitor setup. I mean it’s ridiculous to be using a computer this way in 2021.
As you can tell though, I’m really just grasping at straws here with my experiments until I find a real solution. I really do give every build of Windows a shot including the newer builds of 10 including all the updates, and 11. I try all the outputs on both Intel and Nvidia adapters including trying converter cables. I also fiddle with different driver versions (including different colour spaces) and settings. No luck yet.
I do have a G-sync laptop on the way to try.
I would like nothing more than to find 19042 comfortable. Just no luck so far.
Edit: I’ve also just got an eye patch now since it was recommended to me here recently. Maybe it will help.
I gave 8.1 another shot and actually it seems I can install my display adapter drivers in 8.1, but not in 7 or 2015 LTSB (differences in WDDM between all three versions). So maybe there is something to 8.1 after all. I am testing it now and especially on my Intel adapter I am very impressed. Also it's probably good you are using Intel driver from 2016 and not 2017 (Intel iGPU Driver Patch Notes - Dithering - LEDStrain Forum).
I am excited. Which Start Menu replacement are you using?
Yes, that's the last intel driver jitter free that I tested. The same one on win10 2004 isn't.
The start menu I used is OpenShellMenu.
I would like to mention that I am also very sensitive to screens, and that most of the guilines of this forum apply to me. That's why I think it's vice versa, too.
Also, there's something fishy with ditherig version greater than 1.7,at least on my setup. Very small detail, but it is. Don't know why
The few times I tried 8.1, it looked just awful on my hardware. But, I never tried it with the driver I use on W10.. I'm out of HD space, but maybe I can clear out some stuff from the W7 partition to free up about 40 gigs or so, so I can see if 8.1 can work at all for me. W10 is heavier on my dual-core CPU, and I haven't been happy with the bugs MS keeps introducing into W10.
Maybe W10 LTSC 2021, when it is released in Nov alongside 21H2, will be perfect for you. Comes pre debloated courtesy of Microsoft, and will get updates for 5 years. I don't recommend 8.1 unless absolutely necessary since software is dropping support for it just like 7 (even though 8.1 technically has MS support until 2023, this hasn't been respected by developers).
You guys ever heard of Windows 10 AME? It may be an answer to some of your problems
https://ameliorated.info/
Windows 8.1 is so good to my eyes. Paper like.
Sunspark I was looking at which files were changed in the latest 1507 LTSB KB (Nov 2021). Interestingly, the last time edits occurred to some display stuff like dwmapi.dll was 8 Jan 2021, the January cumulative update, as you mentioned.
Unfortunately MS has removed this update the December update from the Catalog.
