qd-oled Text Rendering

SpellowHouse

SpellowHouse

SpellowHouse

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I thought I would start a topic for this, to bring together what we know...

All monitors have a sub-pixel layout that can be visible as colour fringing around text. Sub-pixel layouts are compensated for by text renderers that are in Windows and other applications. They adjust the color or brightness of the individual pixels to minimise the colour fringing.

Monitors have the same sub-pixel layout with the exception of qd-oleds, so colour fringing is not corrected by windows. This is particularly noticeable with white text on a dark background.

The text rendered in Windows is ClearType. But to complicate matters, it is not the only one that is used by applications. Also, in Windows, the text renderer does not distinguish between monitors, if you plan on using more than one, or you plan on switching monitors frequently.

The current best solution for Windows is to disable ClearType and use MacType instead. This is achieved by searching for ClearType and clicking on Adjust ClearType and unticking the enable box. Search and download MacType. Then -

Go to the folder: Mactype-rc2-20220720.2/ini and edit any profile.
Set AntiAliasMode=2 for RGB sub pixel rendering
Under [General], add the line PixelLayout=-18,-11,2,22,16,-11

This improves the text for the qd-led monitor, however, it will of course cause issues with other monitors you may happen to use.

There are additional tweaks for Mactype here - https://github.com/snowie2000/mactype/wiki

Ultimately we are all waiting for Microsoft to hand us a better solution. It may take some time because each monitor needs to be handled differently.

Did I get anything wrong in that? Comments please.
 
Greebo said:
does that info work for oled monitors as well or just qd-oled please? I am using mactype which is an improvement over cleartype but not perfect
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No, the settings are for qd-oled only. I don't know how to adjust Mactype but I am sure it would be possible to sort out some that would suit any oled.
 
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Somnambulist said:
When people say they can’t see the fringing, to me it’s like someone saying they can’t tell the difference between SD and HD. Everything else is *chefs kiss* but then it’s ruined by that - for my usage anyway. Not got much faith in a software fix and even then I doubt I could download it on my work laptop since any updates are done in admin-land and I can’t make requests. Consequently I sit indecisively thinking whether I should suck it up and get a 4K Ultrawide for £££ and enjoy peasant 60hz scrolling on dated panel tech, or sit in hope someone comes out with a regular OLED panel display in the not-too-distant future.
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A software fix will do it, the problem is that we have no control over that and have no idea who will and who won't implement changes. Mactype is a good solution BUT not every app uses the windows text renderer and as I said before, we need a selection that is monitor based so windows uses the right renderer for the right monitor.
 
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OK, experiment one! I was playing with Cleartype and unfortunately if you switch it off for the qd-oled you switch it off permenantly and any other monitor that is plugged in gets no ClearType either. So when you enable MacType it must perform the job of text rendering on all your monitors, TV's etc.

Nope, MacType can't do it either.
 
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IT Troll said:
Unfortunately this issue does limit the suitability of many OLED displays for desktop use and productivity apps. It is possible make OLED monitors with a more standard sub-pixel layout, but so far these have been rather expensive; e.g. LG UltraFine OLED Pro.
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Yep, this is why I kept my other monitor. Having said that, many people don't care about the fringing on the qd-oleds.
 
DeathStorm said:
I think having a brighter picture with little to no likelyhood of burn in is probably a good trade off for a text issue I can't even notice.

It would be nice if Microsoft could get off their butts and tackle this, I would assume it's not even an especially difficult problem for them to resolve with Cleartype and would remove the one small downside of these screens.
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Absolutely. Mactype cures most of the problems for me. It resolves most things in Firefox too. The only downside at the moment is that I have two monitors and none of the text renderers allow you to choose different settings for your monitors. But this really would be very simple for Microsoft to do. They just need a mactype slection for different oleds and the ability to use different settings for each monitor you have.
 
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