MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - The Death of E-Readers Is All Your Fault

fjtorres · 01-09-2013, 09:02 AM

I'm reminded of the days of desktop CRT monitors.
The very first color monitors ran at 30Hz and people who were serious about text preferred the 50Hz monochrome monitors for the higher-res and the rock-solid flicker-free display they got from the long-persistence phosphors. Everybody *knew* that color monitors were only good for games and graphics or the flicker would drive you blind.

Then came EGA with 50Hz color and killed monochrome. Some people still saw flicker and went for newer generation, higher-res monochrome monitors. Then, since 50Hz was good, IBM moved VGA up to 60Hz and even less people saw flicker because of the monitor refresh, but a whole new set of people started to get headaches because their office fluorescent lights *also* ran at 60Hz and they were sensitive to the strobe effect. Most weren't, but some were.

Then came NEC's Multisync monitors that worked at different resolutions and frequencies and SuperVGA graphics cards that ran at different resolutions and frequencies and people discovered that flicker and strobe effects went away at 70Hz. But 72Hz was even better. Then 75Hz. We probably would be running 100Hz CRTs by now (and some people still suffereing from refresh flicker) if LCD hadn't taken over to bring ghosting and eye-strain as the new complaints.

I expect that when we move to holograms there will be new issues that pop up to replace the "solved" ones.

Because we humans are a very variable lot. Everything we are learning about genetics makes it clear that we are each built to a unique non-repeatable blueprint, even "identical" twins and clones. No two genomes are identical, ever. Likewise, no two visual systems, from eyeball to cortex will ever be the same.
And no display tech will ever be free of "defects".
Not even the Sony Playstation 23 with graaphics pumped straight to the virtual cortex.

All we can do is look for something we can comfortably watch; whether it be eink, low-res LCD, or super-duper 4K resolution. If you can't read on an LCD without eyestrain it doesn't mean LCD causes eyestrain; just that you haven't found an LCD panel that works ror you. Just don't expect your exact experience to replicate elsewhere.

Because your "milleage *will* vary".

01-09-2013, 09:02 AM	#135
fjtorres Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000	I'm reminded of the days of desktop CRT monitors. The very first color monitors ran at 30Hz and people who were serious about text preferred the 50Hz monochrome monitors for the higher-res and the rock-solid flicker-free display they got from the long-persistence phosphors. Everybody knew that color monitors were only good for games and graphics or the flicker would drive you blind. Then came EGA with 50Hz color and killed monochrome. Some people still saw flicker and went for newer generation, higher-res monochrome monitors. Then, since 50Hz was good, IBM moved VGA up to 60Hz and even less people saw flicker because of the monitor refresh, but a whole new set of people started to get headaches because their office fluorescent lights also ran at 60Hz and they were sensitive to the strobe effect. Most weren't, but some were. Then came NEC's Multisync monitors that worked at different resolutions and frequencies and SuperVGA graphics cards that ran at different resolutions and frequencies and people discovered that flicker and strobe effects went away at 70Hz. But 72Hz was even better. Then 75Hz. We probably would be running 100Hz CRTs by now (and some people still suffereing from refresh flicker) if LCD hadn't taken over to bring ghosting and eye-strain as the new complaints. I expect that when we move to holograms there will be new issues that pop up to replace the "solved" ones. Because we humans are a very variable lot. Everything we are learning about genetics makes it clear that we are each built to a unique non-repeatable blueprint, even "identical" twins and clones. No two genomes are identical, ever. Likewise, no two visual systems, from eyeball to cortex will ever be the same. And no display tech will ever be free of "defects". Not even the Sony Playstation 23 with graaphics pumped straight to the virtual cortex. All we can do is look for something we can comfortably watch; whether it be eink, low-res LCD, or super-duper 4K resolution. If you can't read on an LCD without eyestrain it doesn't mean LCD causes eyestrain; just that you haven't found an LCD panel that works ror you. Just don't expect your exact experience to replicate elsewhere. Because your "milleage will vary".