Severe eye strain unlike other devices

[Sondre]

I've been struggling to use my deck for more than a few minutes at a time due to severe and rapidly developing eye strain. This is unlike anything I experience with other devices; be it phone, desktop monitor or TV. Playing at different distances doesn't seem to help, nor do my recently acquired reading glasses aid me. Typical symptoms include red pressured eyes, lingering blurriness post-use and headache. I followed suggestions online to play at maximum brightness + night mode in a well-lit room. This approach seems to alleviate the problem only slightly, as the discomfort quickly creeps back, even when wearing sunglasses to limit perceived brightness.

Discussions online proposed backlight pulse-width modulation (PWM) as the culprit.

I love the deck but cannot use it as a handheld in any meaningful way at the moment. If anyone has tips on ways to ease the problem, please share!

Kind regards,
Sondre

[Mahjik]

Are your reading glasses, blue light glasses?

[Canadian Gamer]

I would think having the brightness maxed out would strain your eyes more.

[Sondre]

Originally posted by Canadian Gamer:

I would think having the brightness maxed out would strain your eyes more.

The idea of maximum brightness is to reduce the near-imperceptible flickering caused by PWM dimming. Supposedly, the flickering causes the eyes of those sensitive to constantly adjust to the variation in brightness.

[Sondre]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Are your reading glasses, blue light glasses?

No, they are regular glasses.

[Mahjik]

My recommendation would be to get reading glasses with blue light protection. I have a pair as I work in IT so I look at monitors for hours every day. Really helps my eyes.

[EvripidisNik]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

My recommendation would be to get reading glasses with blue light protection. I have a pair as I work in IT so I look at monitors for hours every day. Really helps my eyes.

I do have glasses with blue light and my eyes really get red. So blue light glasses don’t help me

[Haruspex]

An unlucky few seem to be sensitive to PWM flickering. Most don't even notice.

One recommendation I've seen is to leave the refresh turned up to 60 (Or 90 if you have an OLED) and disable the Deck's adaptive brightness feature.

[Odela]

I've had the same problem for years. Went to my eye specialist and they updated my lenses for long term computer use.

[Sondre]

A little update:

A few months ago the problem seemed to subside. It still lingers from time to time, but I can actually play now. I cannot tell why it changed, so all I can suggest is to take your vitamins and eat, drink and sleep well :P

[EvripidisNik]

Originally posted by Sondre:

A little update:

A few months ago the problem seemed to subside. It still lingers from time to time, but I can actually play now. I cannot tell why it changed, so all I can suggest is to take your vitamins and eat, drink and sleep well :P

For me it went the other way. I was fine and now I can’t use it

[JellyPuff]

Originally posted by evripidisgaminggroup:

Originally posted by Sondre:

A little update:

A few months ago the problem seemed to subside. It still lingers from time to time, but I can actually play now. I cannot tell why it changed, so all I can suggest is to take your vitamins and eat, drink and sleep well :P

For me it went the other way. I was fine and now I can’t use it

Shot in the dark: Have you recently started playing more games at 40FPS/40Hz or perhaps even went lower via third-party tools? Different people are more or less sensitive to refreshrates. At 60Hz, it should be imperceptible at such a small screen (for most people), but if you go low enough, you may start to notice a very subtle strobing effect. Maybe it's just subtle enough to not be actively bothersome, but still eye-straining.

In a dimly lit room and/or high brightness, i can notice a flickering/strobing at 40Hz from my peripheral vision (which is more motion sensitive). It's clearly visible, if i go all the way down to 35-36Hz via Refreshrate Unlocker at which point it becomes very straining on my eyes. I can see, why Valve has limited it to 40Hz but i can also see how other people might be more sensitive.

[Moot]

Record the screen using the slow motion function of a cell phone. If the slow motion playback shows the screen to be flickering, that is probably the issue. Even though you cannot see that type of flicker with the naked eye, some people are still very sensitive to it.

[deaddoof]

Originally posted by Sondre:

online to play at maximum brightness + night mode in a well-lit room. This approach seems to alleviate the problem only slightly, as the discomfort quickly creeps back, even when wearing sunglasses to limit perceived brightness.

Discussions online proposed backlight pulse-width modulation (PWM) as the culprit.

Interesting. I do the exact opposite. Make the deck have the same amount of light as the background and turn off the room lights.

Lots of LCD screens have terrible contrast in low brightness modes. I prefer to not stare at a light bulb everyday.

[EvripidisNik]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

Originally posted by evripidisgaminggroup:

For me it went the other way. I was fine and now I can’t use it

Shot in the dark: Have you recently started playing more games at 40FPS/40Hz or perhaps even went lower via third-party tools? Different people are more or less sensitive to refreshrates. At 60Hz, it should be imperceptible at such a small screen (for most people), but if you go low enough, you may start to notice a very subtle strobing effect. Maybe it's just subtle enough to not be actively bothersome, but still eye-straining.

In a dimly lit room and/or high brightness, i can notice a flickering/strobing at 40Hz from my peripheral vision (which is more motion sensitive). It's clearly visible, if i go all the way down to 35-36Hz via Refreshrate Unlocker at which point it becomes very straining on my eyes. I can see, why Valve has limited it to 40Hz but i can also see how other people might be more sensitive.

Nope