Best for the eyes, CRT or LCD?

[maxpleasure]

Does anyone have any opinion on this issue?

I am talking about more than 12 hours/day staring at monitor which can affect eyes, moreover in Air Conditioning room.

Thanks

 

[picture_perfect]

i hear people swear up and down favoring one or the other. depends on the individual i guess. try a FAIR experiment, under normal room lighting and with common source material...LCDs being better in bright light, CRTs better in darker. settings..

CRT - 75 hz. vsync on.
LCD - digital connection (dvi/hdmi). set source material to native resolution. turn down the brightness (most are made too bright in order to hide poor contrast ratios) - then view the "useable contrast ratio" - the one you will be seeing when brightness is accepable. vsync on. see if ghosting bothers you while scrolling text (try them side by side. i say that because its a fact people see things not otherwise noticed that way - like ghosting on lcds).

proper calibration, latest drivers... what else ok hope it helps.

 

[arisgr0]

Hello.
I have an old CRT monitor and i wonder if a filter would do any good?
Any opinions please?

 

[RaidSoft]

LCD is just generally better because it doesn't have radiation like CRT's do, also they don't flicker because the entire screen isn't constantly updated like they are on CRT's..

LCD is WAY better to sit in front of then CRT's.. without question

 

[arisgr0]

Anyone about screen filters?
Do they make monitors better for our eyes?

 

[realzeus]

LCD is just generally better because it doesn't have radiation like CRT's do, also they don't flicker because the entire screen isn't constantly updated like they are on CRT's..

LCD is WAY better to sit in front of then CRT's.. without question

Not entirelly accurate. It is true that LCDs have near zero elecrtromagnetic emission but that does not make them less strenuous to the eye as per se. A good CRT working at 85 or 100 Hz is completely flicker free. Moreover its vastly superior clarity requires of the eye less effort in order to focus on fine details, say, text. That is exasperated by the tendency of manufacturers to turn up the brightness in TFTs in order to cover up for their poorer contrast. CRTs on the other hand with their more vivid coulours can be more tiresome in games but then again their image quality and colour depth is head and shoulders above that of TFTs.

 

[RichPLS]

IMO CRT displays for CAD and graphic design workstations demanded larger and higher resolution displays that looked great but for a higher end 21" display was retailing at over $2,000... Then started running dual 21" CRT's... that and a high heat output workstation really tested the cooling in your room at times...
There was a time when CRT's were proven and matured, plus people were willing to pay extra for quality and size which engineering wise manufacturing larger ntm widescreen 24"+CRT's was not practical...
Thankfully that transition period has passed allowing LCD technology to mature and improve response times and colour accuracy to arguably similar quality... ntm displays similar to Dell's 2407 LCD going for $600 is an incredible value on what I perceive as a near flawless monitor...

But you usually get what you pay for, and their are a more crappier CRT's in the market than great ones due to pricing mainly, not lack of the technology... likewise... there are also more crappy LCD's out there then great ones too... mainly due to pricing and not lack of current technology...

 

[jaguarskx]

I would have to say that my eyes experiences less strain when I'm looking at an LCD monitor for a prolonged period of time as opposed to CRTs.

 

[pcnate]

I have found that LCDs are much more tiresome on my eyes than any CRT that I have ever seen, except those that have a refresh below 75 or 85 Hz

I do not understand why this is.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[realzeus]

Yeah I have an idea as a matter of fact; TFTs are usually too bright at their default settings.

 

[jaguarskx]

You may be staring at a 6-bit TN panel which is using Hi-FRC; High Frame Rate Control; which is a method for dithering to reproduce 16.7m colors from a palette of only 262k colors.

Hi-FRC flashes quickly between two colors to reproduce a color a TN panel simply cannot reproduce otherwise. For example, suppose a TN panel cannot reproduce purple. Using Hi-FRC the pixels flashes between blue and red so quickly that your brain registers solid purple.

There are a few people who are photosensitive and two of the more mild effects are headaches and eye fatigue. The most extreme reaction would be an epileptic seizure.

 

[caltus]

HI,
Ever since I had lazor surgery on my eyes I am now extra sensitive to monitors.
with my experience here are all the things that will help. I need to look at screens for over 8 hours a day, 2 screens at work and im a gamer at home.

1) drop the crt if your using one. i cant even look at one now for over 1/2 hour now
2) keep your screen al least at arms length away.

remember even with lcd, selection of the bigger screen the harder on the eyes.
pick the largest size of a comfortable range with the smallest native resolition.
some lde pixels are way too small , a good size is 22" wide 1600x1050.

monitor brightness -- thats where it's at.. You need something that can tone down its bright whites without compromising overall color. Contrast just dont cut it.
turn off any color enhancement features as they hurt too. All these features are signs of an extra bright monitor. The worse monitor i ever owned i called it the eyebleeder.. HP 24" widescreen. cd400 brightness is a big no no for eye eyestrain. cd300 is ok. 250 is prefered if you can find them.
Bleeding of light is another indicator of a screen that is too bright. If you place up a black screen and see loads of light around the edges then it could cause problems. THe best i have seen for no bleeding is Dell. I can stare at 2 of them all day ar work with no issues. there is 0 light bleeding on my work screens. I just turn the brightness down some and it's cuts out the extra bright white intensity.

Another note.. If you find any monitor that you can turn the brightness down to 0 and it's still bright! well that should speak for itself! skip that complete model line for your choice.

Now for monitor settings. ATI has some nice features for this . you can set desktop and 3d enviroment seperatly.
In the color settings, you can select a feature call saturation.. its kinda like the same color enhancment feature monitor provides. if your color seems a bit too cartoon like. Open up a personal outdoor photo and adjust so it looks "real" not extra nice and bright.
Gamma can also be toned up afterwards if you find some of the blacks are now too dark. this is found under color settings also. contrast adjust normally.

The last thing i can think of is font and remember ever bit counts. You need to use true type font on an lcd , this is great for reducing eyestrain. Do whatever you can to keep your font clear. ALWAYS run your LCD in native resolution, any less will cause pixel blending over the additional pixels ( blurred text ). this is very important.

For me Dell and Samsung are the best. Dell is by far most superior in ever way for reducing strain. ( i never tried the new 23 + screens but plann to ) possible they may be a bit bright also. Dell is the only monitor that clearly had no light bleeding out around the edges up to there 22" That will be my next test is i ever decide to go 23" + i have to weigh in the fact tho that the 23" has extra small pixels tho well. wither way. I wrote this hoping to help everyone with this. There was and still times i strain my eyes so bad i cant even looks at tail lights at the car in front of me when following another car to work.. yeah.. its that bad. Today I manage my eyes to be able to play games for a few extra hours a day.. anyway.. Good luck to you all.

 

[Bliggs1984]

Something I have stumbled across that no one seems to mention.

LCD monitor have flourescent light tubes behind them, which emit UV light (they're desgned to do that becasue the Phospor inside the tubes reacts with UV light to produce white light)
UV light is no good for the eyes as we are lolt by pretty much everyone.

CRT's however use electron beams to give u picture....

Just a thought...

6 of one, half a dozen of the other at the end of the day. Monitors in general are bad for your eyes. But just maybe CRT's are better in the long run...I've been using an LCD monitor for 2 years, and have noticed a serious deterioration in my eyes since I have started using them. Where as before that I used a CRT for probabaly 10 years or more.

 

[jalle007]

Hello,

I have doubts these days on which monitor to choose. Had laser surgery also, 1 month ago, and now need to find good LCD (It has to be LCD because CRT are not practical anymore) Heard something about "Eye protectin" models but did nto hear whhich are they Acer, Dell Samsung or some else.
Could you please tell me for some good LCD 19"+ 4:3 with, especialy designed with eye

Cheersprotection

 

[lkz9799]

LCD and LEDs are way better, but making the display too bright can damage your eyes. Make the brightness not too bright, then it will be okay, CRTs are quite scary, something like you, working 12hrs/day- CRTs can give you radiation and causing poxes etc.
Staring at anything can cause poor eye-sight, as you are not blinking while staring.
After about 15 minutes, take a very short break, blink a few times, then it is almost certainly safe from bad eye-sight.
Get LED

 

[wassja]

There are seemingly conflicting statements on the Internet regarding LCD and CRT monitors. One side says that CRTs are better, while the second side prefers LCDs.

Here is the explanation regarding CRTs and LCDs:

LCDs.

While the Liquid Crystals of an LCD have no serious flicker, the backlight of such a monitor uses pulse width modulation very often at about 200 Hz. We can not see such a high frequency, but it affects people like me who have nervous system problems and often causes eye pain and headaches through the nervous system. This high frequency does nothing to strain the eyes of people with strong nervous systems.


CRTs.

CRTs are half as bad for the nervous system, because of the lower frequency of their flicker (often 85 Hz). I have realized that the higher the frequency of flickering light, the worse for my nervous system. But if the Hz settings are too low (like 60 Hz), the eyes may react to the flicker and get tired.

 

[ssddx]

dont let the conflicting remarks fool you, any and all monitors will hurt your eyes. the trouble is not just the flickering but also the eye strain caused by focusing on a monitor for such a long period of time.

when using a computer monitor you should take small breaks once in awhile to give your eyes something else to focus on. quite a few of us who work around monitors do this to relieve eye strain.

---

I have had the best luck working with any lcd monitor at normal brightness settings. too bright and too dark can cause additional eye strain depending on the user. also suggested is to work in an area with natural light tones (not flourescent).

 

[wassja]

When you can't look at an LCD for 5 seconds without having terrible eye pain for the rest of the day like I had, then you know there's something else than regular eye strain from looking at it too long without blinking or taking breaks. All that it took for me to be able to use the same LCD all day long was to change the flickering CCFL backlight to non-flickering incandescent light in an LCD I took apart.

 

[ssddx]

i'm behind an lcd for anywhere from 12-15 hours per day during the week. however, i do take breaks once in awhile or refocus my eyes on something sitting in a different plane once in awhile. another factor in calculating eye strain is if you are well rested or not. if you are drugged up on caffeine after not sleeping all night then obviously you are going to be straining your eyes more so than if you had slept the night before.

wassja,

since you have a weak nervous system are you also at risk of epilepsy? the flashing causing pain would make sense if this was the case. correct me if i'm wrong but the majority of people are not affected by CCFL in the ways that you describe, the flicker as you put it is way too fast. however, flicker even on a 120hz crt is noticible by the average person.

 

[wassja]

You can read about similar cases, where people can't use LCDs or fluorescent lamps on many sites on the Internet. To get to know this problem I would recommend reading this first: www.cloanto.com/users/mcb/19960719lcd.html

To find accounts of how fluorescent lights can affect a small part of the population go here: http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2007/02/yahoo_sees_the.html

 

[ssddx]

wassja,

if that were the case then the flicker of a crt would be just as bothersome as ccfl flicker. the problem is most likely something more obvious like glare, size, brightness, ambient light.

great that you wrote in, we appreciate it. i'm not mocking the condition just stating that it doesnt seem to fit and that checking the obvious is the best first step.

 

[wassja]

The flicker of a CRT is less bothersome because it has a much lower frequency. Also, LCDs can have flicker with much longer off states compared to the on states, making it very strong.

 

[wassja]

LCDs are also much brighter than CRTs

 

[brianrwin]

What about plasma? I think unfortunately the smallest you can get is a 42" TV, but using that as a monitor might help. I know whenever I am at a place like Best Buy looking at TV's, the plasma sets are easiest o my eyes and seem to not strain them.

 

[mayakron]

I'm very grateful to wassja for his posting. Although I don't suffer from any physical sensitivity to flicker, I am convinced that even flicker that isn't consciously perceptible has an effect on our ability to focus. Even if you aren't having any physical discomfort (as I don't) after using a computer, when your brain is working that hard on reconstituting an image every millisecond, that is going to distract your brain processing. It is a very real "frazzling" effect. I really hope there are some more studies done on this. In my own case, I can certainly tell that my amount of screen-time, in the short and long term, tends to affect my ability to get absorbed in reading a (physical) book, for example.