LCDs vs CRTs and Eyestrain??

Quote from RL8093:

Have you tried changing the colors in your charts? There's another recent thread around with several suggestions - I think they said 'eggshell' was the best for the eyes. Because I can't handle the white (or black) backgrounds, most of my charts are either green or a blue/gray.

In addition, all LCDs are not created equal. I recently replaced one of my older units with a Viewsonic, although the description called it something other than a TN, it definitely is one - complete with the poor angle-viewing (especially vertically). In addition, even turned to the lowest setting, the brightness hurts my eyes on anything with a white background.

R
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Good post! I've noticed that a slate blue has helped me. I'll admit, I love the way numerous monitors look in black background with all the vibrant colors seeming to jump out more, plus the tickers flashing, etc., Looks all "high tech." LOL!

But for trading, and looking at the crazy things for long periods of time, black, and white don't work for me.

Btw, what monitors do you guys recommend? I need to upgrade soon, and want the 8 monitor set up www.tradingcomputers.com sells. I believe the 22" monitors are "Acer" brand with 2500:1 contrast ratio, 300CD/M2 brightness, 1680x 1050 resolution, 5ms Response time, DVI+VGA ports. I'm clueless on what that technical stuff means, so your opinions are appreciated.

It seems tradingcomputers is a little expensive, but I beleive you get what you pay for. Just hope that's the case with tradingcomputers.com before I shell out the $$$$.
 
Quote from Trader KGB:
Nor should they. It doesn't matter what you set the refresh rate to in the software, the LCD's hardware converts it to 60Hz for display.
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That's what they say ... but to me it makes a huge difference, like night and day. If I sit down at an LCD at 60hz I can tell right away, and I change to 70hz.
 
i hated lcds at first too. now 5 yrs later, only thing i will use. you will get used to them soon.

couple tips.

dont sit in the dark with bright screens.

if too bright, turn down the gamma.
 
Had some difficulty at first adjusting too but got used to it eventually and will not use a CRT now if I can avoid it because of the radiaton issues. As noted by others try fiddling with the settings and dialling down everything.
 
I have very bad eyes (can't see no more than half a meter w/o lenses or glasses). LCD's make a big difference for me, now I can't look at CRT's anymore.
Important is, that as already stated before, you have some background light in the surrounding (the wall behind your screen should be lightened), e.g. don't sit in front of your bright LCD in a dark room.
Also use some eye relax exercices like blinking ostentatively from time to time or looking out of the window (altering the distance you look). There are many good websites concerning this topic.
 
Quote from Sterling:

The suggested resolution on these monitors is 1440 x 900. I prefer the 800 x 600 of the crts. Ive tried turning down the brightness, contrast and color all the way down and its still painful. It feels just like staring at a flashlight. I use a Matrox Parhelia video card.
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When LCDs are not set to their native resolution they look terrible and blurry. This may be the cause of your concern.

Try setting the screen to maximum res just for while to see if it helps.

- If it does help you can try using the accessibility features in Windows to make everything bigger, but still at maximum res.
 
The natural thing for your eyes to do is to focus at a distance. They were only meant to focus close up for short periods of time. If you think of it, that makes sense. Evolution set us up to constantly look in the distance for predators and prey.

My eyes are myopic requiring a -3.0 prescription. I found if I wear weak glasses at -1.5 it simulates focusing at a distance when I look at my computer screen. Just take whatever prescription you have, add about 1.5 and that should be comfortable at the computer. If you have 20/20 vision, +1.5 glasses would work.

Most optometrists will prescribe "computer glasses" for this purpose. Zenni optical on the net has a lot of inexpensive glasses and they'll deliver in a week or two.
 
Quote from RL8093:

Have you tried changing the colors in your charts? There's another recent thread around with several suggestions - I think they said 'eggshell' was the best for the eyes. Because I can't handle the white (or black) backgrounds, most of my charts are either green or a blue/gray.

In addition, all LCDs are not created equal. I recently replaced one of my older units with a Viewsonic, although the description called it something other than a TN, it definitely is one - complete with the poor angle-viewing (especially vertically). In addition, even turned to the lowest setting, the brightness hurts my eyes on anything with a white background.

R
More...

About three years ago I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the best colors for charts, etc. I was getting sever eye fatigue. Anyway, I experimented around with it and finally came up with a soft, off-white for the backgrounds-- that sounds like "eggshell". That's the only thing I changed and I don't have the eye problem any more. Although, I still get a little fatigued if I spend an excessive amount of time in looking at the computer.

I hope that helps.
 
Quote from BigFunky:

When LCDs are not set to their native resolution they look terrible and blurry. This may be the cause of your concern.

Try setting the screen to maximum res just for while to see if it helps.
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I second this suggestion. Use the resolution recommended by the manufacturer. It might take some getting used to the smaller icons but the images and colors on the screen are sharper and deeper and easier for the eyes to focus on. I think this was the main thing I changed that allowed me to adjust to the monitor.
 
In Windows you can adjust font sizes and spacing to make icons and text much larger. Works on almost everything except toolbars...
 
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