Need Help to build a Reflective LCD pc monitor (if possible) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Christo9999
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 10, 2018, 10:34:47 pm
content: Hi Im suffering from an extreme eye problem which make me unable to look at screen with a backlight.I wonder if building a reflective LCD pc monitor is do-able and if someone could help me with that. I am ready to pay $$$$The lightsource would be external exactly like the old gameboy color and advance.please help me.thank you

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2018, 10:45:52 pm
content: You can get reflective displays although I'm not aware of any large ones. I don't think you'll have any luck converting a backlit LCD to reflective as the polarizers are much too dark. Perhaps an unconventional backlight would work? What is the issue with the backlight? Color temperature? Flicker? Many LCD displays with PWM dimming on LED backlights give me a splitting headache but there are other ways of doing it. If you take part an LCD monitor you can usually remove whatever backlight assembly it has and build it into your own custom backlight.

author: Christo9999
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 10, 2018, 10:50:10 pm
content: Im suffering of corneal neuralgia which is permanent and i am extremely sensible to light. the problem is looking directly at a light for alot of time like a screen really hurt my eyes.The only screen I can look at are the one who dont have a backlight like an e-ink screen or reflective like the old gameboys color and advance. im wondering if it would be do-able to remove the backlight and add a layer of reflective film or something like that

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2018, 10:55:42 pm
content: You could try, but I think it will be much too dark, it may be usable in direct sunlight but not in normal room lighting. I'm having trouble understanding the difference between looking at a light source and looking at a source of reflected light, it's still going to be light passing through the display and entering your eyes. Perhaps a warmer colored and dimmer flicker-free backlight would work? Perhaps washing the wall behind the display with soft indirect light would help? I find that reduces eyestrain for me.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 10, 2018, 11:15:24 pm
content: I don't think you can get such display which could replace a monitor. Probably non PWMed LED backlit LCD at minimum brightness would do the job. I personally have Dell U3014 which does not have PWM, goes pretty dark at min brightness, is semi gloss, therefore does not have crystal effect many IPS display suffer from. Overall, quiet eye friendly. Some other displays hurt my eyes almost instantly, but I can look into this for a whole day. IMHO you should try various displays, especially semi gloss IPS and VA/PLS types. You could also try playing with settings, such as reducing contrast, setting narrower color space on wide gamut displays to make colors less punchy.Also try night light:https://www.howtogeek.com/302186/how-to-enable-night-light-on-windows-10/

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2018, 01:17:32 am
content: If you don't have Win10, there is a free program called Light Bulb that works well to dim the display and make it more reddish at night. I find it helps significantly to have that if I want to use the computer in the late evening.

author: Gregg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2018, 02:28:11 am
content: You might want to look into a LED mini projector similar to this:https://www.amazon.com/DBPOWER-Projector-Multimedia-Theater-Smartphone/dp/B06XJRQVX3I have never used an LED projector but in the past have used projectors for presentations. You may want to shop for higher resolution than 1080P, but the cost will go up. Also make sure your computer has a video output compatible with whichever projector you find.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2018, 03:23:27 am
content: how about using oled tv as monitor, since these don't have backlight?yeah, you may cause burn-in if not careful but it's commercially available solution

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2018, 03:26:02 am
content: Or a good old fashioned CRT?I fail to see how an emissive display is any different than a backlit display from the context of eye strain though, in all cases you're looking at a light source, but the same is true looking at a reflected light source. That's what makes me think that flicker, color temperature or color spectrum are the real culprit rather than the fact that it's a backlight.

author: texaspyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2018, 04:13:44 am
content: With macOS there is an option (CTRL-OPTION-APPLE-*) that reverses the colors on the screen. (you have to enable the option on newer versions of macOS). I MUCH prefer reading white chars on a black background. This modern fetish for grey chars on a white background sucks. Anyway, a screen setup like with white on black may be usable for you. The only time I switch back to a normal screen is when I need to look at an image, etc.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 11, 2018, 04:21:48 am
content: Quote from: james_s on March 11, 2018, 03:26:02 amTo destroy his eyes completely?

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2018, 06:05:19 am
content: Quote from: wraper on March 11, 2018, 04:21:48 amHow so? I always found CRTs rather pleasing on the eyes, the OLED someone else suggested is by far the most CRT-like display currently on the market.

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2018, 06:19:47 am
content: I think an E-Ink monitor is the best bet. It will be sluggish, but the readibility will be way better then any non-backlit LCD.http://www.einkmonitor.comhttps://www.amazon.com/Dasung-Ink-Paperlike-13-3-Monitor/dp/B075FL8DKV/ref=sr_1_3https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/paperlike-world-s-first-e-ink-monitor-13-3Not cheap, and not as big as you would like, but there is not a lot of choice.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2018, 06:21:11 am
content: Those are nifty, I like the e-ink display on my Kindle, I had no idea monitors existed.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2018, 06:27:21 am
content: Cheaper...https://www.amazon.com/BOOX-Ereader-Android-Interface-Dual-Touch/dp/B077GVLMJN/ref=pd_sbs_147_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B077GVLMJN&pd_rd_r=H7HDN63NF6W4KSV240EB&pd_rd_w=XrRHE&pd_rd_wg=KBuUZ&psc=1&refRID=H7HDN63NF6W4KSV240EB

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2018, 06:36:31 am
content: Quote from: BrianHG on March 11, 2018, 06:27:21 amI couldn't work out whether it could be used as a monitor or not. It is an Android tablet with an HDMI Interface - that usually means it is an HDMI output.Looks like you can get it even cheaper by buying directly from China:https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/New-Flexible-13-3-Eink-Display_60488163373.htmlUpdate: It looks like it can work as a monitor.

author: PChi
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2018, 09:33:32 am
content: The memory in pixel technology is refelective and has impressive contrast on a monochrome small display that I have seen.Sharp and Japan Display Inc offer the technology but they are limited to small low resolution displays and I don't know what the colours look like

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2018, 01:57:00 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on March 11, 2018, 03:27:04 amHe can set up an negative contrast theme in windows (or "night mode") , and use black for anything that's normally white, and use some gray or some other non-white for text and whatever.This way, there's no backlight to throw light at him, the black background will be basically turned off oled cells, so again no light, just the text will emanate light and the pictures on the screen. He can adjust that with the brightness and contrast settings of the TV / monitor.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2018, 03:07:43 am
content: Quote from: amspire on March 11, 2018, 06:36:31 amYes, the HDMI is an input:QuoteQuoteWrong, no HDIM input. Scroll down the Amazon page I sent you. They have the cheaper one which does not have the HDMI input. And to get the bottom listed price from Alibaba, you need to buy hundreds of units, not one. But, you can use remote desktiop viewing software, which adds a delay to the display.