Maybe I don't get around much anymore, but I've never used an LED backlit monitor. At the same time, the CCFL backlit monitors have become (to me) increasingly oppressive on the eyes.

Doing Web searches I've not been able to get any information as to whether or not the LED backlights are more gentle. Has anyone had experience with both kinds and so can compare them just on the comfort level when using them?

TIA

If the power supply is good and delivers clean (enough) DC, then an LED backlit screens should be virtually no flicker. There is no substitute for seeing them in person.

Some time ago I bumped into this bulgarian site, the guy
tests PWM flickering on some monitors:

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxvsYF6EvAk

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWDsUTlgN6E

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIu6iVVhQhU

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmRypg9UR0s

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l3wanizBxE

Hope this can help.

So, from what I read, an LED backlit monitor would be more apt to have a problem stemming from PWM:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/pulse_width_modulation.htm

but I can't honestly say that I'm certain that issue is what the problem is.


By the way, the program f.lux has been a considerable help in making the monitor less harsh.

http://stereopsis.com/flux/

Adjusting brightness is of course a must. I do it manually.
Something else you can do is use non-white background for text.

I've not noticed any important difference between LED and CCFL in practice. Then again I'm not sure I've ever seen a good LED-backlit monitor. But my issues had nothing to do with the backlighting.
The biggest factor in how a monitor looks are the panel and the settings. Bad panels have terrible contrast in some parts of the spectrum. Typically they've got terrible low-brightness contrast, forcing you to crank it up. The coating also matters.
I do not find "professional" monitors with good, high-contrast panels such as recent *PVAs tiring. For reading/writing, I like to set them up dull and use lots of black/dark.
But if you want to do graphics work, I guess you can disregard much of what I just said.

Also keep in mind there's more than one type of LED backlighting.
Be careful not not confuse the shortcomings of the cheapest mass-market applications with a shortcoming of the technology.

I looked into this at one point, since my monitor is not the best design. LEDs would in theory allow for a more even illumination of the display, and could be turned off individually to allow for deep blacks, but I don't believe I came across any major differences regarding colour temperature or light wavelengths. This I believe is the reason why some people are more sensitive to "hard/white" light sources like those found in factory environments and some offices. I know a couple people who are sensitive to light, but in their case it extends to sunlight, not just artificial sources.

If F.lux helps (use it myself), it's probably related to brightness and the "temperature" setting - AFAIK F.lux adjusts the latter, and light sensitivity has mostly to do with the former.

Oh, and the use of LEDs is no guarantee, to borrow from what HFat said. The cheap ones just use a cluster to simulate a lamp (like a CCFL light), whereas the ideal LED solution would use an LED grid for even illumination and inidividual light source control.

Monitors, like TVs, are way too bright right out of the box . They are set up to seem correct on a Best Buy floor, flooded by other lights.

If your monitor has been reviewed by TFT Central or that German web site they should have some recommendations for initial settings.

My latest NEC IPS LED monitor was way too bright initially. I turned it down per reviews. Then I went to some photograph websites that have black to white and reversed scans, I found the suggested contrast setting was slightly low for me, so I set it a notch higher.

30 years ago I bought a Mistubishi TV, and it was burning my eyes. With no other education I gradually turned the brightness down to manageable levels. Later a calibration DVD allowed me to turn it down further. Super brightness is impressive initially, but it wears on you in the long run. I suspect people will have the same issues with tablets as well.

I was almost going to say I would be surprised if anyone on SPCR uses their monitor without calibrating it, but then again best not to assume too much.

The German site is Prad.de. Good site; fewer reviews than one would like, but all solid stuff.

Prad.de is the best, but yeah their total number of reviews are low. And they review many professional items that are way out of normal budget range.

Most disappointing thing about LED over CCFL is that brightness consistency and light bleeding have not improved with the change over.

Second disappointment is Samsung no longer makes IPS panels. They simply quit. All IPS panels from now on come from one manufacturer - LG.


All my CRT monitors look dim, because often I run them in the dark. TV or PC.

Same for me about the LED backlights. Ideally great, in reality just used to simulate lamps and claim energy savings. No effort made to change basic structure to rectify bleeding, not even to make it uniform, which I have seen Lenovo so with some earlier monitors. Big names don't benefit from rocking the boat, and they don't seem particularly interested in improving the quality of mainstream products or the environment of the mainstream user ("consumer") - ergonomy, in other words, to relate this to the topic. Same old story.


I'm not surprised, since they're moving into their own "PLS" panels. At least they're still competing, just with a different technology. I've got mixed feelings about Samsung as a panel maker due to their Panel Lottery with the S, A and C PVA/MVA panels.