Remote controls aren’t an absolute necessity. Depending on your gaming and daily routine, they can make it easier. (Image source: Pexels/RDNE)
The one thing that really bothers me about gaming monitors is that they usually don't come with a remote. Why does this bother me? My reasons are probably pretty specific.
According to a rough survey of the tech team, there are very few people like me, mainly due to my personal circumstances.
Too Light, Too Dark and Other Dramas
I'm sitting in my home office with the windows behind me.You can probably already imagine what the problem is. I have to fiddle with the settings several times a day. When I work, I usually walk around in reading mode. In the morning, the picture is still dark and has little contrast.
It gets light around noon.. It's so bright, as bright as 1,000 suns, it's shining from the sky – right onto my desk on the screen. So I turn up the brightness and contrast.
You might think the way I position myself is so stupid that blackout curtains can eliminate these trivial things.
But my workplace looks the same.I didn't decide arbitrarily. I have windows in my back for a reason: I'm very sensitive to glare and get headaches if I actively, indirectly or passively look at daylight all day. And of course I don't want to work in the dark either.
Monitor remotes have far fewer buttons than TV remotes. (Image credit: Carolina Cabomex/Pixels)
I find artificial light during the day in the summer rather frustrating.After all, the next winter with its rare daylight will come soon enough. Until then, I don't want to block out the sun.
Sensitivity to glare But this doesn’t just apply to sunlight, it applies to screens too. This means that as soon as it gets a little dark in the office again, I’m blinded by my lunch settings again. So I turn it down again.
On the gaming screen in the living room It's the same thing, except I don't work on it, I watch games or TV shows. Here too, I have windows in my back for the reasons mentioned above and other windows on my left when I'm lying on the couch.
Put it on the table once, please.
On most gaming monitors The controls are located on the back of the screen, usually in the lower right. Here it becomes clear again that left-handed users are at a disadvantage and must either twist themselves to reach the settings menu with their leading hand or work against their heads and use their right hand.
Buttons and knobs are becoming more scarce. But it is also mounted below the screen in the middle. This is also not a good solution in my opinion. To achieve this, I have to turn my entire arm so that the fingers point up.
Depending on the model, a surprising amount of energy is required. The stroke affects the elbow and shoulder. Not necessarily gentle.
So I lie down at my desk several times a day.twist the extended arm with the elbow on the table top to adjust the screen to ever-changing lighting conditions. Not great.
It may not seem so bad at first.But in everyday life it becomes really annoying in the long run. If you also use your monitor as a replacement for TV, you will be far away from the device and may have to get up.
It can be very easy.
I've experienced with a few gaming monitors how great the remote is. I can't understand why manufacturers wouldn't want to include this cheap tool, at least on the higher priced models.
Of about 80 test devices, only five had a remote control. Unfortunately, simply adjusting the screens doesn't work either.
The single test screen previously contained some sort of disc. (Albeit wired) which also works as a remote control. I was able to assign different functions to the keys. Some manufacturers also offer something like this as an option or add-on. But this is also rarely the case.
There is also software.which you install on your computer and through which you can also influence the functions of the screen. The mouse with the program becomes a remote control. But of course this is also less convenient than a dedicated remote control.
A remote control that could be used to save three presets would be ideal: morning, noon, evening, or something similar.
Many monitors also have automatic light detection, but this is always too dark or too bright for me.
My point is: It could be too easy. But maybe the demand for remote controls for gaming monitors or PC monitors in general isn’t high enough. As you can see, fellow TV expert Max has written a few articles on how to use your TV as a monitor replacement.
How do you see it? Do you like Maxe and use the TV as a monitor? Or does changing lighting conditions not bother you? Do you ever change the settings on your monitor or do you set them once and then never adjust them again? What about settings like inputs, outputs, volume, and different modes? Do you use those? Let me know, this is a topic that really interests me.
“Unapologetic analyst. Infuriatingly humble coffee evangelist. Gamer. Unable to type with boxing gloves on. Student. Entrepreneur.”
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