> Also, the difference between watching TV at 60Hz and a comptuer monitor, is that a TV is usually at least 6 feet away from your eyeballs. A computer monitor is a foot or two. You go ahead and watch your tv at 2 feet away and tell me you don't get a headache!
The distance would not make a difference for flicker rate. Most likely TV tubes have a longer persistance phospher than recent computer monitors. Monitor manufactures could possibly have reduced the persistance of the phosphors to avoid interference with the next frame when you go to a higher refresh rate. Having the picture still persist when the next one is being rendered would only blur and confuse the picture. The net result would be that if you go to a higher refresh rate monitor, the flicker would be more pronounced.
I can see how flickering lights could cause additional difficulties for the visual system. The lights could be lighting up while the screen is dark, and besides fading out the picture, cause a beating effect of the average brightness at a low frequency, making it difficult for your eyes to adjust. People who operate under flickering lights also have to deal with flicker even when no computer monitor is present.
I arrange the lighting so that it does not illuminate the face of the monitor directlly. I don't see how people can stand it if they do otherwise.
I usually view TV on a 30 year old 7 inch black and white portable. I view it from about 18". Otherwise I can't make anything out. I don't get headaches from TV. Why would I? Probably no one in the US does. (While I don't get headaches from TV, I do get sick to my stomach. It happens when Peter Jennings or Dan Rather show up. )
BTW, I do see flicker on my monitor under the following circumstances: The monitor is very bright, with a lot of white background, and I do not focus on the monitor, as when if I look away from it, or I stare past it, unfocused, as if looking into the distance. It is intermitant, but I would guestimate the rate at about 3Hz. It is still present when I bump up the refresh rate from the normal 60Hz I set it at. It disappears when I focus on something on the screen. It is not annoying or distracting, and causes no discomfort or fatigue whatever. I am so used to it I barely know it exists. That is they way it is for almost 100% of the population. They say if you go to Europe and watch their 50Hz TV, it seems to flicker until you get used to it.
The actual function of the frame rate is to fuse separate pictures into the percption of continuous motion, and that happens at 15Hz. But at 15Hz people still experience flicker. It didn't bother anyone when the movies were 16fps, but it did get movies the nickname of "flickers". So the movies boosted the frame rate to 24, at the same time they went to talkies, at which rate there is no perception of flicker. Just because there is no flicker, does not mean people cannot see the effect of higher frame rates. They can, and easily. The difference between 30 and 24 causes a definate increase in the "realness" of the appearance, and this increases well beyond 30 fps. However people dislike that effect. They do not like paying for movies and have it look like TV.