Difficulty reading text

Tachyon · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:25

I got myself a Dell 2007wfp today after moving from a 17" CRT. I'm having a hard time reading the text, to the point where if I browsed for a while I'd struggle to look at the screen.

Are there any settings I need to have adjusted, the best way I could describe it is it's like having a low refresh rate or something. I've got the screen running in native resolution of 1680 x 1050, refresh rate is 60hz, graphics card is nVidia 7800GT.

For the first in years I don't enjoy sitting in from of my PC, my wife thinks it's great

If anyone has any ideas, I'd be grateful, would I need to update drivers or anything like that or is it a setting etc..?

Mr_White · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:35

Have you got smooth fonts or sharp text enabled?

Can't remember what it's called, not used windows for ages, but it's a must if you've not got it enabled.

Tachyon · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:40

I have tried the text with & without "cleartype" on, I'll have another look for smooth fonts/sharp text or something similar.

Thanks

Mr_White · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:42

I think it's under the effects tab on your display window

Tachyon · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:53

Looked in Effects & it must be Cleartype, says it smooths fonts, have already tried it, dosen't really help. I'll keep trying.

Mud · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:56

I realise cleartype is being drummed to death here, but try the cleartype optimiser (here), on my 3007WFP I found the default cleartype settings worse than cleartype off. The optimiser improved matters no end for me.

You may still be in the adjustment phase, lots of people seem to suffer initially.

fish99 · 4 Jan 2007 at 00:01

Got the brightness too high maybe? (I use mine on 45 through DVI) Don't have any problems reading text on my 2007WFP in 1680*1050 @ 60 Hz. I don't use ClearType for what it's worth. Maybe you're a bit too far away, the dot pitch is pretty small on 20" widescreens. I'm roughly arms length from mine.

Dunno what to suggest really, but I've owned a few TFTs now and the 2007WFP seems clear and easy on the eyes to me. Maybe you'll just get used to it - going from CRT to TFT is a big switch.

There are no drivers for the screen btw.

Actually, since you mention flickering, make sure the screen is in 'desktop' mode and not 'gaming' or 'multimedia' modes. Go into the OSD and into 'image modes'. The gaming/multimedia modes do sort of flicker since the screen changes brightness dynamically every half second or so based on what's on the screen, and it's pretty unpleasant. No point ever using gaming/multimedia modes, plus they also introduce the banding you'll have heard about. Just leave it in desktop mode the whole time.

Pitspawn · 4 Jan 2007 at 08:43

Moving to an LCD after many years using a CRT isn't something you'll adjust to instantly. Just make sure your brightness is at a level you feel comfortable at and as the previous poster talked about, ensure you don't have movie/gaming display mode enabled. If all else fails, you might be able to fall back to a low resolution with the refresh rate at 75Hz, although I doubt that will do much.

Tachyon · 4 Jan 2007 at 09:05

Thanks for help, I think it may be making the transition from one to the other. I switched back to my crt for a bit, the only thing I changed was the resolution. Text on the crt looks incredibly smooth whereas I'd describe it on my new screen as "harsh" although colours on the new screen are much more vibrant.

Hopefully I'll get used to it within a day or two, I have the brightness turned down considerably although that in itself is causing problems when I start to play a game, it's far too dark.

I was using DVI so I'll try the VGA lead as I see there's a contrast option, see if that helps as well.