thinking of switching back to TN (UPDATE)

[dramabeats]

I recently switched from console gaming to pc gaming and I'm having a few issues.

 

I have a 23" IPS Acer H236hl bid, whenever i'm gaming my eyes feel weird and I get a tad nauseous. This didn't happen when I played on my 15 inch laptop or my 32" tv at the same distance with my xbox.

 

Anyone have any ideas? already turned down the brightness and this is my second IPS monitor.

 

Also I use my xbox controller on the PC

 

 

[pcman2000]

Could it be the LED backlight PWM? Try 100% brightness.

[Alex(PlayMedium)]

If you want the best gaming optimized monitor get the Asus 24" 144hz model, it has a 1ms g2g response time and 144hz refresh rate, so if those were the issues you are having with your IPS panel monitor and this Asus one can't fix them, neither the panel nor the refreshrate are the issue

[GoodBytes]

Cheap monitors uses PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to control the white LED (beside the fact that cheap white LEDs are used, which are very blue white, instead of a more close to white). This means that the current isn't stable. It turns on and off, so it makes the LED flicker. They do this, because it's a cheap way to control the brightness of the screen. Lower the brightness, the less faster the on/off switching happens, so the screen will appears dimmer, but also more flickery. Higher the brightness, the faster the on/off process, and less you see it.

 

For me, I can't stand Christmas LED lights.. as they all use PWM.

 

Some monitor manufacture uses a PWM but at a rate of absurdly high value of 2500Hz, or something like this at 50% brightness, which reduces the flickering visible for most people. But others monitor simply goes at 120 or 240Hz, which is flickering madness, and you feel what you are feeling now.

 

It is important to check in depth review monitors to know this kind of information (and also real world response time, as the number they put on the box is meaningless. 6ms response times IPS monitor end up being faster than 2ms TN 120Hz monitor, because there is no standard way of measuring this... manufacture test procedure, equipment and color choices varies).

 

So what's the fix:

 -> Invest in a proper LED backlight monitor that does NOT use PWM (more expensive)

 -> Get a monitor with a high-grade CFL back light. CFL has a phosphor in them, which retain light. So you have no flickering. You want high-grade ones, as low grade, uses cheapo phosphor, which doesn't retain much light. This reminds me of CRT monitor (the big tube, bulky monitors), back in the old days. If you were ready to invest in a high-consumer grade monitor you had no flicker visible... even at a refresh rate as little at 75Hz (and these monitors could go way above 100Hz), as high quality phosphor was used. But if you got the standard store monitors, you had flickering madness at 75Hz.

 

So yes, if you go buy a TN monitor right now, you'll most likely end up with the same issue as now. Then you'll see the optimist, and have no idea what you are talking about, as they don't know about how a monitor works, and you are wasting your time. :)

[pullroot]

Are you using the same resolution as what your xbox ran off?

[GoodBytes]

Are you using the same resolution as what your xbox ran off?

I think you miss read his post.

[Jay123]

I have had the same monitor for about a month now and I've never had any problems, even after 4 hours straight of gaming

[dramabeats]

Cheap monitors uses PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to control the white LED (beside the fact that cheap white LEDs are used, which are very blue white, instead of a more close to white). This means that the current isn't stable. It turns on and off, so it makes the LED flicker. They do this, because it's a cheap way to control the brightness of the screen. Lower the brightness, the less faster the on/off switching happens, so the screen will appears dimmer, but also more flickery. Higher the brightness, the faster the on/off process, and less you see it.

 

For me, I can't stand Christmas LED lights.. as they all use PWM.

 

Some monitor manufacture uses a PWM but at a rate of absurdly high value of 2500Hz, or something like this at 50% brightness, which reduces the flickering visible for most people. But others monitor simply goes at 120 or 240Hz, which is flickering madness, and you feel what you are feeling now.

 

It is important to check in depth review monitors to know this kind of information (and also real world response time, as the number they put on the box is meaningless. 6ms response times IPS monitor end up being faster than 2ms TN 120Hz monitor, because there is no standard way of measuring this... manufacture test procedure, equipment and color choices varies).

 

So what's the fix:

 -> Invest in a proper LED backlight monitor that does NOT use PWM (more expensive)

 -> Get a monitor with a high-grade CFL back light. CFL has a phosphor in them, which retain light. So you have no flickering. You want high-grade ones, as low grade, uses cheapo phosphor, which doesn't retain much light. This reminds me of CRT monitor (the big tube, bulky monitors), back in the old days. If you were ready to invest in a high-consumer grade monitor you had no flicker visible... even at a refresh rate as little at 75Hz (and these monitors could go way above 100Hz), as high quality phosphor was used. But if you got the standard store monitors, you had flickering madness at 75Hz.

 

So yes, if you go buy a TN monitor right now, you'll most likely end up with the same issue as now. Then you'll see the optimist, and have no idea what you are talking about, as they don't know about how a monitor works, and you are wasting your time. :)

 

any monitors you'd recommend >$200, 23" preferable 

[Art Vandelay]

Could it be the LED backlight PWM? Try 100% brightness.

Yeah, it's probably the PWM signal. Rapid flashing can cause some problems for some people.

[dramabeats]

I'll try the 100% brightness trick tommorow during the day so I can get used to it before night time when I usually game

[dramabeats]

so I turned my brightness up and I felt a little better but today I upgraded to the geforce 320.14 driver and my eyes burned again like I had just went swimming during the same game, I accidently clicked reset nvidia control settings,

 

any ideas?

[GoodBytes]

What if you downgrade the drivers?

Is your monitor really at 60Hz? Or 40Hz? or something lower?

[dramabeats]

windows says 60hz, just downgraded

[FluffyNuggets]

I'd suggest a 120Hz monitor if you're feeling nauseous. I cant play games on my TV anymore because I get motion sick due to the 60Hz refresh rate. 

[Askew]

I get eye strain using most LED backlit monitors even with 100% brightness, I have yet to find out why, although I am suspicious it's because of how blue the light is.
I am sensitive to PWM in some CCFL backlit monitors, but can use almost any without issue at max brightness.

I also find AMOLED displays to be ok.

 

It could be possible that your old displays had CCFL backlights and now you have switched to an LED backlit panel, it has revealed an issue.
I hate LED backlit panels, because 9/10 times I sit down in front of one, my eyes will give me hell for it, I only use CCFL lit panels at home.

 

There have been some great posts above about the PWM issue, this is the first forum I've been on that it has appeared to be common knowledge in a thread, I'm really happy about this as it's something that has caused me a lot of headaches before learning about it. I hope you get this sorted, I really don't think it's the panel type causing this, I would put my money on the backlight being the cause.