Top Tip: LCD contrast hurts my eyes!
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Question from phlicker
“I just bought a new LCD monitor and it says it has a 700:1 contrast ratio. Is that good? How does it compare to the old CRT monitors. I tried to find out what my old monitor’s ratio was but it didn’t say. I looked at other CRT’s and couldn’t find it. Is this new to LCD monitors? Also, I put this in another post…..
I just bought a new 19 wide screen Acer LCD monitor and it’s killing my eyes, like low refresh rate on a CRT monitor. I hear an LCD does not have a refresh rate, or not like the CRTs any way. I was wondering why my eyes would bother me so bad. I have my monitor hooked up via the VGA hook-up (thought my video card had a DVI hook-up but it’s a daul monitor instead). Is there a major difference in the way it’s hooked up? If so I will get a different video card and keep the new monitor. If not I will go back to my old monitor and take the new one back. I really like the wide screen on the new one, especially when I’m using a 3D grahpics program.”
Answer from DeadeyeFlint
“Whether 700:1 is good enough for your monitor depends on your monitor’s size. Assuming it’s 19 or 20”, it should be good enough for all practical purposes. No, this is not new to LCDs. Contrast ratio is the differences between bright and dark on an image.
Are you seeing your LCD flashing like a CRT on low refresh rate? If so, I’d RMA the LCD. It shouldn’t do that even with a VGA (Sub-D, analog, whatever) connection. My old LCD uses VGA connection and it doesn’t do that. It has to do with the way LCD pixels are designed. They are designed such that they don’t darken if they are not refreshed periodically, as long as they are turned on. CRT pixels, on the other hand, do (as such, if the refresh rate is not high enough, you’ll see it flashing and eventually giving you big headaches). If your LCD is flashing, there is definitely something wrong with the unit.”
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