Anyone else have Problems with HDTV

usta

Member
Hello,

Anybody else have trouble with HDTV making them sick?

I have never been able to watch HDTV but could always watch Standard Definition channels.

I was using Xfinity Comcast and could watch their Standard Def channels but not their HD channels. I had to move and Xfinity is not offered here. I got AT&T Uverse which has what they call Standard Definition channels but they make me sick.

I am confined to the house most of the time. Like many of you I struggle every day. And this illness has taken so many things from us. One of the things I used to cope was watching TV at night.

The sick feeling I get is hard to describe. It is not the Nausea and motion sickness that I have seen others describe. Mine starts with a warm feeling between my eyes that moves down my chest, then my heart skips beats, and I just start to feel weak and generally bad.

I use an older Samsung 32 inch TV 720p max with refresh rate of 60 from the early 2000’s. I have watched this TV for years with no problem. But, only in Standard Def at what I think was 480p. Therefore, I do not believe the TV is the problem. Never could watch any newer flat screen tvs with 1080 and 120 refresh rate.

I can watch DVD’s (not Blu Ray) with an older DVD player on my older TV. So again it is not the TV.

I tried a HD to SD converter, but all it did was make the picture more blurry, it still made me sick. I read that RCA composite cables, (Red, Yellow, White) could only carry Standard Def signal, so I connected the TV and cable box with these, but it still makes me sick.

From my research, Satellite TV is all HD, Streaming is all HD, and open air antennas are all HD.

I did try streaming and it instantly made me sick.

Anyone else have this problem and are there any solutions?

Thanks
 

GrammaLinda

Active Member
Hello,

Anybody else have trouble with HDTV making them sick?

I have never been able to watch HDTV but could always watch Standard Definition channels.

I was using Xfinity Comcast and could watch their Standard Def channels but not their HD channels. I had to move and Xfinity is not offered here. I got AT&T Uverse which has what they call Standard Definition channels but they make me sick.

I am confined to the house most of the time. Like many of you I struggle every day. And this illness has taken so many things from us. One of the things I used to cope was watching TV at night.

The sick feeling I get is hard to describe. It is not the Nausea and motion sickness that I have seen others describe. Mine starts with a warm feeling between my eyes that moves down my chest, then my heart skips beats, and I just start to feel weak and generally bad.

I use an older Samsung 32 inch TV 720p max with refresh rate of 60 from the early 2000’s. I have watched this TV for years with no problem. But, only in Standard Def at what I think was 480p. Therefore, I do not believe the TV is the problem. Never could watch any newer flat screen tvs with 1080 and 120 refresh rate.

I can watch DVD’s (not Blu Ray) with an older DVD player on my older TV. So again it is not the TV.

I tried a HD to SD converter, but all it did was make the picture more blurry, it still made me sick. I read that RCA composite cables, (Red, Yellow, White) could only carry Standard Def signal, so I connected the TV and cable box with these, but it still makes me sick.

From my research, Satellite TV is all HD, Streaming is all HD, and open air antennas are all HD.

I did try streaming and it instantly made me sick.

Anyone else have this problem and are there any solutions?

Thanks
It sounds like you are having some neurological vision problems. Some days my eyes are fine but others any head movement or normal eye movement REALLY makes me ill. I actually get migraines of the optic nerve. I use moisturizing eye drops which helps some. Try to see a neurological ophthalmologist. I actually have episodes of superior oblique mykomia. Look it up. It took many years of specialists before I found one who could diagnose this. When it really acts up I can hear the muscles twitching and that drives me nuts.
Hope this helps
 

dejurgen

Well-Known Member
I use an older Samsung 32 inch TV 720p max with refresh rate of 60 from the early 2000’s. I have watched this TV for years with no problem. But, only in Standard Def at what I think was 480p. Therefore, I do not believe the TV is the problem. Never could watch any newer flat screen tvs with 1080 and 120 refresh rate.

Anyone else have this problem and are there any solutions?

Do you have a new decoder box or so? Some decoders do not synchronize properly. I'll try and explain but it is a bit technical:

When a new frame is shown, one would expect to see exactly one frame at a time. With 60 frames per second, you would have sort of 60 "complete pictures" displayed each for 1/60th of a second.

When the synchronisation is imperfect, the TV could show you the top half of the previous picture and the bottom half of the next picture. If you would have a super super fast camera, then you would see all individual pictures being "torn" somewhere along the screen. That tricks the brain more then a bit. Standard definition plus a good decoder allows easier to show you things properly. Higher definition is thougher on the decoder and it may run out off time to pause between each frame in order to show you complete individual pictures each time. Most people wont notice, but sensitive people can get their eyes strained or get headache from it.

The problem is known in computer games. To give you a better idea, look at the two pictures with windmills in https://www.displayninja.com/what-is-freesync/. The left one with "taring" in the picture has poor synchronisation, the right one good synchronisation. When each individual picture has taring, it can anoy the eyes and brain.
 

usta

Member
I have 2 cable boxes and 2 identical TV's. Both are the same, and both make me sick feeling. I tried Charter Spectrum (which I had watched for years before) and tried 6 different boxes. With Charter you have to go to menu settings and turn HD off and then you are supposed to get SD channels. This worked in the past, but when I moved back to this area this time the first box was newer and it made me sick. Tech support suggested I try older boxes that I had used in 2016 and that led to the 6 different boxes. But now something has changed with the signal Charter sends out, or the boxes, because even though I had HD turned off the TV screen would flash 1080 when changing channels, so HD was not being blocked as it was before, Tech support had no answer. That is why I changed and tried AT&T Uverse. I am not convinced that the channels with AT&T Uverse are true 480 SD.

Thanks
 

usta

Member
Sorry, I don't think I explained it good. I have never been able to watch HD but I am not worried about that. The ;problem is that I have always been able to watch SDTV but now since I moved and got AT&T Uverse I cannot watch SD either. I just want to be able to watch SD like I have in the past.

Thanks
 

dejurgen

Well-Known Member
I looked up things a bit and saw you can view things on your device of choice with AT&T Uverse . Often, you can set and reduce resolution there. Did you try and watch it this way on a computer or laptop yet?
 

usta

Member
I looked up things a bit and saw you can view things on your device of choice with AT&T Uverse . Often, you can set and reduce resolution there. Did you try and watch it this way on a computer or laptop yet?
[/
I have the same problem with computers and smart phones. I use a Dell Laptop from 2008 with Windows Vista (I know it is no longer supported) I can use this computer for hours at a time with no problems. Have the same identical computer with Windows 7 and it makes me sick like HDTV. Cannot use wife's apple macbook pro, parent's windows 10, etc... Cannot use Smart Phones either. As soon as I look at the smart phone I get the same sick feeling I do with HDTV.

To stream ATT Uverse you have to have the ATT Uverse App and a Tablet or Smart Phone. I cannot use any of these.
 

usta

Member
I have the same problem with computers and smart phones. I use a Dell Laptop from 2008 with Windows Vista (I know it is no longer supported) I can use this computer for hours at a time with no problems. Have the same identical computer with Windows 7 and it makes me sick like HDTV. Cannot use wife's apple macbook pro, parent's windows 10, etc... Cannot use Smart Phones either. As soon as I look at the smart phone I get the same sick feeling I do with HDTV.

To stream ATT Uverse you have to have the ATT Uverse App and a Tablet or Smart Phone. I cannot use any of these.
 

dejurgen

Well-Known Member
I have the same problem with computers and smart phones. I use a Dell Laptop from 2008 with Windows Vista (I know it is no longer supported) I can use this computer for hours at a time with no problems. Have the same identical computer with Windows 7 and it makes me sick like HDTV.

Does that mean that regular computer use, like reading a static websites without any motion, doesn't make you sick on your old 2008 laptop but does make you sick on your newer one? If so, it might have something to do with (likely too sharp) contrast settings. Both higher definition screens and higher definition TV can have higher contrast settings. Sharper images seem to be a bit harder on my brain then a bit less sharp images. Quickly moving images of coarse are the worst. You should have the option to change the contrast setting on your TV.
 

usta

Member
Does that mean that regular computer use, like reading a static websites without any motion, doesn't make you sick on your old 2008 laptop but does make you sick on your newer one?

No, both computers are the same. Both are Identical, same model and same year.
The only difference is one has Windows Vista and the other Windows 7 which makes me sick.

In fact. at one time I took the computer with Windows Vista and removed Vista and installed Windows 7 and it made me sick. So I had to uninstall Windows 7 and put Windows Vista back on the computer and was fine. So it is not the computer, it has something to do with Windows 7. I had to get the second computer with Windows 7 because many websites would not work with Windows Vista. Also, I can watch youtube videos on the computer with Windows Vista with no problems.
 

dejurgen

Well-Known Member
No, both computers are the same. Both are Identical, same model and same year.
The only difference is one has Windows Vista and the other Windows 7 which makes me sick.

In fact. at one time I took the computer with Windows Vista and removed Vista and installed Windows 7 and it made me sick. So I had to uninstall Windows 7 and put Windows Vista back on the computer and was fine. So it is not the computer, it has something to do with Windows 7.

From what I remember and from what I looked up, Vista had a more smooth, rounded and (if switch on) more transparent interface. That is lower in contrast. So problems with too sharp contrast are still in the run.

Did you ever tried to install a "Vista theme pack" on Windows 7? If you have transparancy on Vista, it would be optimal to try and get that on Windows 7 too.
 

usta

Member
Did you ever tried to install a "Vista theme pack" on Windows 7? If you have transparancy on Vista, it would be optimal to try and get that on Windows 7 too.

No I did not know about Vista theme packs. I looked up "transparency" for computers, but do not fully understand it. I don't know if I have transparency on Vista. But, a Vista Theme Pack sounds interesting.

Thanks
 

dejurgen

Well-Known Member
For transparancy you need the "Aero interface" if I get it right. It was standard on in Vista. It is still in Windows 7 but either less used or standard off I think. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Aero

If either a "plain" Vista theme pack or the Aero Vista theme works for you (or not...) please let us know. Your sensitivity might help many of us be able to use computer screens with less head aches and energy draining.
 

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