# I'm having trouble finding a 24" anti-radiation filter for my 24" LCD monitor.



## andrewanimation

Hello,

I'm having trouble finding a 24" anti-radiation filter for my 24" LCD monitor. Can anyone point me to a store or site where I can purchase one? I'm trying to reduce eyestrain from the monitor. I don't necessarily need it to be anti-glare or be a privacy filter, just to reduce the VLF/ELF electric-field radiation.

Thank you


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## andrewanimation

Anyone? I've found up to 19" for this kind of radiation filter, but never a 24" one. If anyone knows of a store or site, please let me know.

Thank you


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## spanky

Seems 21'' is the largest anyone makes. Get a smaller monitor?


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## OvenMaster

You do not need an antiradiation screen or filter for an LCD monitor. An LCD is low-voltage compared to a CRT, because there are no 20,000 volt electron beams that emit x-radiation in an LCD. Also, there is no high-voltage section in an LCD monitor.

If you need to reduce eye strain, I strongly suggest that you turn your brightness down to reasonable levels. Your eyes will thank you, and your CC tubes just might last that much longer. Also, make sure there's no light directly shining on the LCD screen that can reflect into your eyes.

Tom


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## andrewanimation

theresthatguy, could you point me to the store or site that sells the 21" one? it would be especially helpful if it doesn't have a border, like many of these do, so that it doesn't basically turn my 24" monitor into a 21" one

ovenmaster, i have the brightness down as far as i was willing to decrease it, which is a lot, but it may not be enough, because i'm probably looking at the monitor 14-15 hours a day because of my work, which is why i'm quite desperate about doing all i possibly can to make the next 1-3 years of my life as easy on my eyes as possible. a doctor recommended getting this monitor filter, even after i told him i use an LCD, plus there's the fact that they even make these for LCDs that makes me assume they're supposed to help. there's no light shining onto the LCD screen

thanks for your help

oh the other thing is that i eat at my computer too, so the filter would be helpful in catching the occasional tiny dots of edible substances that land on the LCD screen. i feel like i could hurt the expensive monitor with the rubbing alcohol and rubbing i do 1-2 times a week to get rid of these tiny annoyances, so cleaning a filter instead of the monitor itself would put my mind at ease about that


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## OvenMaster

Okay, what you need is an anti-glare filter, not anti-radiation, if you're looking to reduce screen brightness. I searched for quite some time today, and I can find nothing bigger than one for 21 inches.


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## andrewanimation

could you let me know which store or site you found the 21 inches at?

as for the radiation, i specifically asked my doctor if the filter would protect my eyes from electronic waves, and he said yes. if it were just anti-glare, i wouldn't need it, because it's an LCD, and there aren't any lights shining directly onto the screen. so i think what i'm trying to do is block electric waves. brightness itself can already be adjusted by the computer


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## OvenMaster

Andrew. Please read my post #4 above again. *LCD monitors do not need anti-radiation filters or shields because they do not have sufficiently high voltage to emit VLF/RF/ELF radiation.* There are no electric waves to block from an LCD screen, only a CRT display, and even those have had built-in screen shielding since the late 1990's. 

If you still want an antiradiation filter for a CRT display, Staples has them:
http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/s...ts&fromUrl=searchresultssummary&cmArea=SEARCH
Prices go from $125 to $568 for your size. 
Compusa has them up to $185: http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...Nty=1&D=antiradiation filter&Dx=mode matchall


Tom


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## andrewanimation

i'm just relaying what my doctor told me. and why would they make anti-radiation filters for LCDs if they wouldn't do anything?


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## OvenMaster

With all due respect to your doctor, he needs a wee bit of education about newer PC hardware, no offense! It's true that CRTs needed some sort of screen ELF shielding in the past, yes. The filters still exist because they are combination units for antiglare and antiradiation, and most combo filters sold are used on CRTs. They *can* be used on LCDs if you wish for antiglare purposes, but for radiation reduction, it's a waste of money because there's no radiation to reduce or eliminate.

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cach...c+LCD+ELF+radiation&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=19&gl=us

_"Shielding: It would be nice if we could purchase a radiation shield for our monitors, similar to the antiglare shield on the market. Unfortunately none exist which will block both electric and magnetic fields simultaneously. A good combination would be an electrically grounded glare screen for the front of the monitor and a magnetic shielding enclosure for the back and sides. Of course, the alternative is to keep the monitor 18-24 inches away from yourself. 

Table 1- MONITOR RADIATION INTENSITY (mG)





Another possibility is to use an alternative type computer monitor. 
*Liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma display monitors do not emit ELF fields.*
 However, their drawbacks are higher cost and lower resolution."_



This article is from Popular Electronics, March 1993(!). If anything, radiation standards have only tightened in the years since. 
Kudos to your doctor for at least remembering that CRT monitors used to emit excessive ELF radiation! But advances in monitor technology and safety standards have pretty much reduced this issue to negligable levels, and to 
*zero*
 with LCDs.


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## INTELCRAZY

OvenMaster said:


> Your doctor needs a bit of education about newer PC hardware, no offense! It's true that CRTs needed some sort of screen ELF shielding in the past, yes. The filters still exist because they are combination units for antiglare and antiradiation, and most combo filters sold are used on CRTs. They *can* be used on LCDs if you wish for antiglare purposes, but for radiation reduction, it's a waste of money because there's no radiation to reduce or eliminate.
> 
> http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cach...c+LCD+ELF+radiation&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=19&gl=us
> 
> _"Shielding: It would be nice if we could purchase a radiation shield for our monitors, similar to the antiglare shield on the market. Unfortunately none exist which will block both electric and magnetic fields simultaneously. A good combination would be an electrically grounded glare screen for the front of the monitor and a magnetic shielding enclosure for the back and sides. Of course, the alternative is to keep the monitor 18-24 inches away from yourself.
> 
> Table 1- MONITOR RADIATION INTENSITY (mG)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Another possibility is to use an alternative type computer monitor.
> *Liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma display monitors do not emit ELF fields.*
> However, their drawbacks are higher cost and lower resolution."_






I thought the same thing when I read this thread.... I have seen them used on LCD's but only for visual purposes.


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## andrewanimation

i guess mine is a 'visual purpose' too, but i believe what you said about no radiation on LCDs, of course

well, then i suppose i currently already am doing all i can to reduce eye strain

is 18-24 inches the ideal amount the monitor should be away from your eyes? i don't want to have it too close or too far

thanks for all that info OM

edit: i found i have mine 27 inches away. so is that literally too far away, so that it's tougher on my eyes? again, it's a 24" screen, and the resolution is 1920x1200. i guess i had it a bit far because of how big it is, but should i draw it closer regardless?


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## OvenMaster

Not a problem You should ideally have your monitor about 24 inches from your eyes. A few inches closer or farther won't make all that much difference. Don't just keep staring at the monitor for hours on end; give your eyes a rest and look around the room and out the window every few minutes. If the text is too small, then you gotta make it big enough to see easily. And I sit 28" away from a 17" LCD at 1280x1024.
Tom


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