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alex_d · 05-12-2007, 01:39 AM

ok, screwdrivers found.

hm.. i have trouble figuring out if this does anything that rasterfarian doesn't already do. Blacks don't really seem much darker (perhaps a little), just thicker (identical to a dilate). One issue seems to be that the white background turns darker too. The overall effect is more ghosting, thicker text, and about the same real contrast (but maybe a bit better).

My initial theory was that the black-white transition makes things very black and they don't go white again. Hence, tweaking the display driver (with more refreshes) may help. BUT, I then tried using the menu system. In the menu system, you can move the chevron causing a screen refresh without a black-white transition. If you dial up the resistor and move the chevron, the chevron appears a little darker than it was before (and than the border). But then if you keep it moving the chevron, the whole screen turns very gray even though it never went black! Restoring the resistor then moving the chevron does not make the screen white again until you do do a black-white transition.

After some more testing, it seems that a 1/8-turn counterclockwise (resistor is at 10 o-clock) improves the display a little bit without noticeable side-effects. In fact, the amount of ghosting does not seem to change at all, white doesn't turn gray, and black does become somewhat blacker. I enjoy the effect, but it's not worth it for someone who isn't the type to have already tried unscrewing the Reader (and it's only useful for PDFs).

In conclusion, I can't figure out what exactly this resistor is doing to the display or how the eInk actually functions. It seems that the resistor changes the balance between black and white. If black is negative electric field and white is positive, this perhaps change the bias or the proportions of voltages used. In short, its main function does not seem to be to change the contrast per-se.

Whatever its main function, an adventurous user who does not read PDFs can turn the resistor all the way clockwise (2 o-clock) to make the ghosting almost invisible (but if you're doing it out of OCD note that it doesn't go away 101%) and a user who does read PDFs may turn it a little counter-clockwise for a bit better legibility

05-12-2007, 01:39 AM	#10
alex_d Addict Posts: 303 Karma: 187 Join Date: Dec 2006 Device: Sony Reader	ok, screwdrivers found. hm.. i have trouble figuring out if this does anything that rasterfarian doesn't already do. Blacks don't really seem much darker (perhaps a little), just thicker (identical to a dilate). One issue seems to be that the white background turns darker too. The overall effect is more ghosting, thicker text, and about the same real contrast (but maybe a bit better). My initial theory was that the black-white transition makes things very black and they don't go white again. Hence, tweaking the display driver (with more refreshes) may help. BUT, I then tried using the menu system. In the menu system, you can move the chevron causing a screen refresh without a black-white transition. If you dial up the resistor and move the chevron, the chevron appears a little darker than it was before (and than the border). But then if you keep it moving the chevron, the whole screen turns very gray even though it never went black! Restoring the resistor then moving the chevron does not make the screen white again until you do do a black-white transition. After some more testing, it seems that a 1/8-turn counterclockwise (resistor is at 10 o-clock) improves the display a little bit without noticeable side-effects. In fact, the amount of ghosting does not seem to change at all, white doesn't turn gray, and black does become somewhat blacker. I enjoy the effect, but it's not worth it for someone who isn't the type to have already tried unscrewing the Reader (and it's only useful for PDFs). In conclusion, I can't figure out what exactly this resistor is doing to the display or how the eInk actually functions. It seems that the resistor changes the balance between black and white. If black is negative electric field and white is positive, this perhaps change the bias or the proportions of voltages used. In short, its main function does not seem to be to change the contrast per-se. Whatever its main function, an adventurous user who does not read PDFs can turn the resistor all the way clockwise (2 o-clock) to make the ghosting almost invisible (but if you're doing it out of OCD note that it doesn't go away 101%) and a user who does read PDFs may turn it a little counter-clockwise for a bit better legibility Last edited by alex_d; 05-12-2007 at 01:47 AM.