Monitor Ghosting Test
Follow a moving block across three backgrounds and see whether your monitor leaves a trail behind it.
Getting ready…
How It Works
A pixel takes a few milliseconds to change color. If it is still changing when the next frame arrives, anything moving leaves a trail behind it: ghosting. The test moves a block at up to 960 pixels per second, one step every refresh, so slow pixels show.
There are three backgrounds, one at a time: dark, gray and light, because a panel is slower on some color changes than others. Follow the block with your eyes rather than staring at one spot, and pick what you see behind it. Your answer starts the next background.
Soft edges on both sides are normal: every LCD and OLED blurs motion a little. A trail or smear behind the block is ghosting. A bright or colored outline is overshoot. Nothing is installed and nothing leaves your device.
Interpreting Your Result
A trail on the gray or light background means the pixels are too slow for the frame rate. Open the monitor’s own menu and raise the setting called Overdrive, Response Time or Trace Free one step at a time, testing after each. Most monitors look sharpest on a middle setting.
A bright or colored outline is the opposite: overdrive pushes pixels past the color they are heading for. Lower it one step. If one background shows a trail and another an outline, no setting suits both, so pick the one you notice least.
A smear on the dark background only is normal for VA panels, which change slowly out of near black. It shows most in dark game scenes. A stronger overdrive setting helps a little; IPS and OLED panels do not smear this way.
Motion blurs more at a lower refresh rate, and overdrive is tuned for the full one. Check your monitor really runs at its rate with the refresh rate test. Checking a new monitor? Look for faulty pixels with the dead pixel test too.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is monitor ghosting?
Ghosting is a trail that follows moving things on screen. It happens when pixels change color more slowly than the screen refreshes, so part of each frame still shows the one before. It comes from the panel and its settings, not from a broken screen.
How do I fix ghosting on my monitor?
Raise the overdrive setting in the monitor’s own menu (it may be called Response Time, Trace Free or OD), run the monitor at its full refresh rate, and use DisplayPort or an HDMI cable that carries that rate. If the trail stays on every setting, the panel is simply slow.
What is inverse ghosting or overshoot?
A bright or colored outline around moving things. Overdrive speeds pixels up by pushing them past their target for a moment, and when it is set too strong the push shows. Lower the overdrive setting one step and test again.
Is this the same as the UFO test?
It works like Blur Busters’ TestUFO: an object crosses the screen at a set speed, 960 pixels per second here, and you judge the trail by eye. This test adds three backgrounds and tells you what each answer means.
Does motion blur mean my monitor is broken?
No. Every LCD and OLED holds each frame until the next one, so a moving object your eyes follow looks soft on both edges. A higher refresh rate reduces it. Only a trail behind the object, or an outline around it, points to the panel’s response time.
Why does my VA monitor smear in dark scenes?
VA panels change slowly out of very dark shades, so dark moving things leave a smear behind them. It is how the panel type works, not a fault. A stronger overdrive setting softens it a little.