The Screen Is “Bent”

Curved screens. What makes it different from the flat screen, aside from the obvious, and should it matter to you?

Now for some science stuff for some context. Our eyes were made to see the world in three dimensions; to detect height, length, and width. This is how our brain measures depth more accurately. However, the downside to being used to such environments puts us in conflict with the two dimensional space. Things will appear flat and less interesting.

With that, let’s explore the curved screens’ pros and cons!


Pros

  1. Immersion

The one thing that has been popular for the world recently has been the talk about “immersion”. It’s an experience where you feel like you are there; IN that movie you’re watching or the game you’re playing. The curved screen has been engineered to meet this growing need.

They expand on peripheral vision (our eyes’ ability to see things outside our direct line of vision), cheating a sort of “3D effect” on the brain and thus, offering better immersion.

Image from Pixabay: fantasy-cave-mystical-rock-stone (http://bit.ly/2KDz4Xj)

 

2. Minimizing Distortions

Blurry pictures are a real turnoff. Curved screens fire the entire image towards the viewer while the flat monitor only projects images in a straight line.

A picture example of sides having distortions:

Image from forum.unity.com: perspective-rendering-distortion (http://bit.ly/2XdlYBJ)

The curved screen is seen to eliminate distortions because the screen is adjusted to suit our sight. In actuality, how this works is that it simply directs everything displayed to the viewer’s eyes.

This in turn also make the screen feel larger due to the amount of information the brain receives from the imagery.

 

3. Comfort

As was with the previous point, because the screen directs everything to the viewer’s eyes, this provides comfort as it eliminates strain.

Strain on the eyes only occurs because something is beyond a person’s natural field of view. By enabling you to see everything, the curved screen creates a sort of “natural” scene for the eyes to take in so they remain comfortable for viewing.

Image from Pixabay: eye-face-human-green-blue (http://bit.ly/2IkZF9P)

Cons

  1. Wall Mounting

Mostly an aesthetics issue. Ironically, the curved screens become quite the eyesore when being mounted onto the wall. With their sides jutting out, they don’t look as good as the flat monitor on the wall. Not only that, they also require specific mounts and positioning to be properly mounted.

Image from 4k.com: Curved TV vs. Flat Screen TV (http://bit.ly/2V31iyM)

 

2. Glare

If there’s anything more annoying than blurry images, it’s that annoying reflection of light from somewhere that ruins your viewing. The curved screen is notoriously susceptible to glare. Due to its projection of images directly to the eyes, you basically see the glare as well.

Image from controlissblinds.co.uk/wordpress: screen-glare (http://bit.ly/2GeVYiu)

While this only happens at certain angles of view, it can be frustrating having to adjust constantly until you find the right place or height to sit at for a proper viewing pleasure. This becomes worse with more light sources in the area.

 

3. Price

Image from www.thestar.com.my: Ringgit improves to pre-GE 14 level (http://bit.ly/2XmQAkr)

Yes. When a product comes with special features, there is no escape from expense. The curved screen is most definitely more expensive than the regular flat screens. This is due to the additional comfort it provides as well as the implementation of newer technology.


Yay or Nay?

For content consumption and gaming purposes, most people will be satisfied with the  added immersion that a curved screen provides. However, this very much depends on the size of the screen as well as your viewing distance.

For productivity though, depending on the aspect ratio, size and the type of work that you do, a curved screen may or may not be suitable for you. An interesting observation that can be made is that more and more manufacturers are making curved monitors. Is this a reaction to a growing market from consumers? What do you guys think? We’re really curious to find out do leave us a comment to let us know.

Also, check out these new monitors from Samsung, LG, Acer and MSI:

Widest Curved Monitor:

Samsung 49”144Hz monitor – RM3,799

Cheapest UltraWide:

LG 29”UltraWide FHD IPS LED monitor – RM745

The One with FreeSync:

Acer 31.5”WQHD VA Gaming Monitor with AMD Radeon FreeSync – RM1,499

Size too Big?:

MSI Optix 27”144Hz with sRGB & NTSC – RM1,389


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