Long gaming sessions or other extended periods of computer use can be made less fatiguing with an inexpensive LED back-lighting kit retrofitted onto computer monitors, says accessory maker Antec in announcing their Soundscience Halo 6 LED bias lighting kit. The company claims backlighting — now also popular on some models of HDTV — helps reduce eye strain, lessen “image contamination” due to glare, and increases image clarity by creating a “halo” of white backlight behind computer monitors.
Different applications — just as with scene changes in movies — produce different levels of overall brightness. Anyone who’s worked late at night in a darkened office staring at the unblinking white of a word processor page has noticed the effect on their eyes.
The Soundscience 6 LED concept uses a USB-powered LED strip almost 15 inches in length that attaches to the back of the monitor and shines onto the wall or flat surface the monitor is presumably up against. The strip works effectively to backlight any monitor up to 24 inches, and the color and brightness are calibrated to help increase a monitor’s perceived contrast ratio, thus enhancing the perception of black levels, colors and picture detail by enabling “dark adapted” viewing, the company says.
The kit is priced at $13 and is available now from the company’s website and major retailers. The kit comes with a two-year warranty on parts and labor.
