The term “ghost effect” (also known as ghosting, in monitors, refers to the distortion that can be seen when watching videos with fast action. It tends to happen, for example, when you play action-packed titles, such as the best shooters first person shooters.
TN liquid crystal technology offers shorter response times, IPS an intermediate speed and VA is the least responsive of all.
When the ghosting effect appears on your screen, what you may observe is, as the concept suggests, a kind of ghostly trail behind the moving images. This is a visual effect that is a consequence of a slower response time in the liquid crystals of your monitor relative to the monitor’s refresh rate response time.
In other words, if for example the liquid crystals of your display have a response time equivalent to 20 milliseconds and a refresh rate of 60 Hz, whose response time is 16.6 milliseconds, the difference in response speed between one element and the other is what will produce the ghosting effect.
It should be stressed that this can happen even on the best 4K gaming monitors, but before you get rid of your device, you should know that this type of malfunction has a solution.
How to fix the ghosting effect
– Verify that the cable is not damaged: the cable you use to connect the monitor to the processing unit is responsible for transmitting all the video data. Therefore, if it is in poor condition or is not of good quality, it is likely to be the source of the image distortion.
– Calibrate the refresh rate: As stated at the beginning, the response speed of the display crystals must be in harmony with that of their sampling rate. Therefore, calibrating the refresh rate to a lower value may be the solution.
– Update the drivers: if your computer’s GPU is experiencing problems due to an outdated driver, this is likely to create a ghosting effect. To fix this, simply check that all drivers are up to date.
– Take care of the number of wireless devices: because they use radio waves to communicate with each other, wireless devices that you connect near your monitor could be causing distortion. Simply check that there are not too many of these devices near your display.
– Change your monitor’s video settings: to minimize ghosting you can also use your panel’s video settings. From there you can achieve a better display quality by adjusting values such as shadow correction, gamma levels, contrast ratio, among others.
