How to Reduce Screen Glare and Reflections

When you're looking for crystal clear images, you needn't look further than glossy screens. With a better contrast and vividly bright colors, they make your visuals edgier. Gamers will vouch for its exceptional picture quality, and will settle for nothing less. Glossy screens are all over the place - they're on your TV, laptops, cell phones even, and that's supposed to be nice, right?

Wrong! What good is a screen that makes you want to mask up like Darth Vader and slice through that shiny shield with a lightsaber? While no one can doubt the visual pleasures of the glossies, has anyone actually managed to enjoy them without getting misty-eyed? By misty-eyed, I mean eyes that shed tears of misery, courtesy the shiny-faced gadget which provides razor-sharp images that literally cut right through our eyes.

Who can imagine a wispy little screen to cause an agony of gigantic proportions to the unsuspecting viewer? The problem here is definitely not the glossy screen, as it gives us quality imaging worth a million bucks. The glare on a glossy screen is like the ugly stepsister who tries very hard to diminish the beauty of our viewing experience. Before you begin reminiscing about the good old matte screens, run your (battered) eye over these points that guide you on getting rid of screen glare.

Tweak the Source: Watching TV or using the computer in darkness is not recommended as it damages your eyes. Moving the lights in the room will make a remarkable difference. All you need to do is to shift your lamps behind the screen. With the source of the glare behind the screen, you can now get back to your full HD experience.

Let There be Light: Alternatively, you could try bias lighting. At the risk of sounding like an advert for bias lighting, it does give you a better image contrast, enhanced picture quality and doesn't shrivel up your eyeballs.

Make Smart Moves: Moving or adjusting your screen position to avoid the lights might sound really elementary, but it is the only alternative you get when everything else is beyond your control. Using your laptop outdoors can be irksome, but there's nothing more effective than going back and forth with the screen till it is in a perfect position.

Outwit the Sun: The sun often plays truant with our TV time, more so if you live in a house with large windows. Thick curtains or blackout drapes do the trick without burning a hole in your pocket. Another alternative is to buy motorized sunshades that block the sunlight.

Go Automatic: You can choose to go all out and install automatic lighting in your room. Lights can be dimmed according to your preference, simply at the touch of a remote. Remember, though, that installing automatic lighting is on the expensive side.

Dust the Glare Away: Cleaning the screen and keeping it dust free reduces the glare to a certain degree. But make sure that you clean the screen with a dust tissue and solutions made specifically for that. Using other materials could damage your screen.

Combat the iNightmare: iProtest against the iTyranny that makes all my iGadgets so iGlossy! Apple fans have been glared at by their MacBook Pros and their iPhones for a long time now, and while there's no complaining about their beauty, these glossy screens have been a source of irritation.

Well, you have anti-glare films to fix this in case of your laptops, Apple or otherwise. With cell phones, buying a cool pair of aviators might do the trick, and perhaps make you look Top Gun-ish, who knows?

Duck the Glare: Plasma televisions come with a button that helps you reduce the brightness, but as you know, problems with gadgets are never solved at the press of a button. If you reduce the brightness, it reduces the contrast ratio. Instead, installing your TV on an adjustable mount will help you turn it away from the source of the glare.

Get Four-eyed: With polarized glasses, you will be able to limit the damage that glossy screens cause. Also, while you're at work or outdoors, adjusting the lighting around you is almost always out of your control. Polarized eye glasses reduce eye strain to a great degree, making long hours spent staring at a glossy screen seem like minutes.

Finally, you've managed to survive the glare and reach the end of this story. Dealing with screen glare is that one thing, which never crosses our minds when we decide to buy a computer or an HDTV. With the obvious charms of the glossy screens, it's no wonder that people rate them above the matte versions.

Having purchased a glossy-screened gadget, nothing should come in the way of you enjoying it. Follow these tips and see your eyes well up with tears of bliss with the enhanced imagery.