PC monitors of all kinds.
By nhenhos
#17037
Hi Everyone,

If you suffered from the same problem as me, or know someone who has, then I would love to know how it was solved.

I was born (1960) with a lazy left eye that also has an astigmatism. Hence, my right eye has always been dominant but is now very strained and tired and now pretty myopic. This is because I have been using a computer almost constantly since 1988 in my profession as an Analyst Programmer/Application Developer etc.

This last Monday (23/1/2011) I received another pair of glasses, after about a month's wait, after a visit to another optometrist whose prescription was significantly different to others but still I have no joy and I am suffering severe eye strain with my right eye. I will be revisiting the optometrist this coming Wednesday.

I have been suspecting for some time now that part of the problem is my current monitor which I bought in 2004 In Australia. It's a Mitsubishi Diamon Digital DV175 but I've only ever had it connected via a VGA cable because my graphics card (cerca 2003) only has VGA out.

I recently used the Calibration pages at http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/ and found the Gamma needed adjustment and the Phase needed correcting also but I can't seem to get the Phase perfect. It seemed to help for a short while. I am using the native resolution of 1280 x 1024 at 60Hz but it can also be operated at 70, 72 or 75 Hertz.

My monitor has 4 options for Colour Temperature which are 6500, 7500, 9300 and User. When should 7500 and 9300 be used?

Any tips would be welcome on how to best position the lighting in my office room for night time use.

White screens look dirty due to the Anti-Glare/Anti-Reflective coating I think. I can see the grid pattern of the coating and I an thinking this could be the main culprit. My eye(s) want(s) to look at the image or text being displayed but the grid pattern is getting in the way which I think may be causing the eye to continually change focus.

When I go and look at other screens, of which the choices are pretty limited (appear to be all TN) here in Cusco (Peru), especially laptops that appear to have a glossy screen, things seem to be much calmer for my eyes. However, I am unable to test these screens in a work like situation.

Yesterday, I was able to spend some time (about 30 minutes) with the monitor of my accountant. She bought it in 2007 and although it also has a TN panel, it appears less "dirty" than my monitor. It also has a tinted sheet of plastic taped to the bezel (frame) of the monitor that makes it look like a monitor with a glossy panel. This seemed to be calmer for my eyes also.

If anyone has an optometrist in their family who is familiar with problems such as mine, please, please ask them for an opinion as to what is best to do.

Therefore, I would be very wary of getting a new monitor with a strong Anti-glare coating, like the DELL montiors.

For monitors with a Glossy panel, the current options appear to be either the Mitsubishi RDT232WX-S or Hyundai W241DG. I would prefer the 16:10 aspect ratio of the Hyundai.

For monitors with the least aggressive coating, the options appear to be those with a VA panel such as the Eizo Flexscan EV2333W or Foris FS2331 or the upcoming BENQ EW2430 and EW2430V. Are there any 16:10 24" VA monitors available with equally high static contrast ratio?

I don't do any gaming, programming is enough of a game on its own. :) However, I do like to watch movies and videos (MotoGP, World Superbikes) I download from the Internet.

I think I read somewhere that the higher the Static Contrast Ratio the better it is for reading text and also that the higher the dot/pixel pitch the better. Is this correct?

Could the perceived higher contrast of a glossy screen compensate for the lower contrast of the IPS panels used in the Mitsubishi and Hyundai?

Has anyone used the Foris FS2331 in Paper Mode? Can anyone say how it compares to the Text mode of the EV2333W?

I find the Eizo FlexStand to be an attractive redtube option to have, given that my desk is a bit high, as it would allow me to position the monitor lower than what I can now.

Can anyone explain EIZO's 5 year Warranty which is noted as "The usage time is limited to 30,000 hours or less, and the warranty period of the LCD panel is limited to three years from the date of purchase."?

Does anyone know what the length of warranty is for the Hyundai monitors?

2 advantages of the Mitsubishi and Hyundai monitors is they have 2 x 3W speakers and are cheaper than the EIZOs.

Does anyone know if Mitsubishi manufacture their own IPS panels?

Thanks for your time.