What is inverse ghosting?

A bright or dark halo ahead of a moving object. The pixels were driven so hard they overshot their target and had to come back. It means overdrive is too high.

Should overdrive be on or off?

On, at the setting that shows no bright edge in the ghosting test at the refresh rate you use. That is usually the middle setting; off leaves the trail, the top setting adds halos.

Does ghosting mean my monitor is faulty?

No. Every LCD ghosts to some degree; it is a matter of how much and whether the overdrive setting hides it. An OLED does not ghost in this sense.

Can a camera photo show ghosting accurately?

Not reliably. A phone camera's exposure and shutter timing add their own blur. Your eye on a moving test pattern is a better judge for choosing a setting; reviewers who measure response time use dedicated sensors and pursuit cameras.

Problems · How to check

My monitor ghosts. Which overdrive setting should I use?

Ghosting is a faint trail behind moving objects, from pixels that take longer to change than one frame lasts. The overdrive setting drives them harder. Too little and the trail stays; too much and the pixels overshoot, leaving a bright or dark halo ahead of the object, which is worse.

The ghosting test moves a mark across a dark screen at the speed reviewers use and asks what you see at its edges. A trail means raise overdrive one step; a bright edge ahead means lower it one; both means the middle setting. Most panels are cleanest one step below the top.

First, notice when it happens

From the first minute

A trail or a halo is there from the first frame and does not change with time; it is a property of the panel and the setting.

Only after minutes of use

Motion that gets worse after minutes is the machine, not the panel: frames arriving late, which the frame pacing test measures. A cold panel in a cold room can also ghost more for its first few minutes.

The causes, ranked

1. Overdrive too low

most common

How to confirm it

A dark trail behind the moving mark in the ghosting test, only at the trailing edge.

The fix

Raise the setting one step. It is called Overdrive, Response Time, OD, AMA, Trace Free or similar in the monitor's menu. Stop at the step before a bright edge appears.

2. Overdrive too high

common

How to confirm it

A bright or pale edge ahead of the mark: inverse ghosting, also called coronas or overshoot.

The fix

Lower the setting one step. The top setting overshoots on most panels and is there for the specification sheet, not for use.

3. Persistence blur mistaken for ghosting

common

How to confirm it

An even smear on both edges of the mark that no overdrive setting changes. At 60 Hz it is about 16 pixels at the test's speed.

The fix

Nothing in the menu removes it; only a higher refresh rate or a strobing mode does. The motion clarity test shows the number for your rate.

4. Variable refresh rate at low frame rates

occasional

How to confirm it

Clean at high frame rates, halos at low ones. Overdrive is tuned for the top rate and overshoots when a VRR panel runs slower.

The fix

Test at the frame rate you play at; some panels offer a variable overdrive mode, and some are best with overdrive lowered when VRR is on.

A method for choosing the setting

Set the monitor to the refresh rate you actually play at, because overdrive behaves differently at each rate. Open the ghosting test, pick a moving object with clear edges, and look at the area just behind it and just ahead of it. Step through the overdrive levels from lowest to highest. Keep the highest level that shrinks the trail behind the object without adding a bright or dark outline in front of it.

If you use variable refresh rate, repeat the check at a lower frame rate too. Some monitors tune overdrive for their maximum rate, so a level that looks clean there can overshoot when the game falls to a lower rate. If no single level works across your range, choose the one that looks right at the frame rate you spend most time at.

Measure it instead of guessing

The ghosting test moves the site's mark at 960 pixels a second on a dark ground with a sync track under it, so a phone camera panned with the mark can photograph what you see, and it turns your answer into the overdrive step to take.

Run the free test

What software cannot tell you here

A page cannot measure pixel response; reviewers put a photodiode on the panel for that. It can show what your eyes see and tell you what to change.
It cannot change the monitor's menu.

Asked, in people’s own words

What is inverse ghosting?: A bright or dark halo ahead of a moving object. The pixels were driven so hard they overshot their target and had to come back. It means overdrive is too high.
Should overdrive be on or off?: On, at the setting that shows no bright edge in the ghosting test at the refresh rate you use. That is usually the middle setting; off leaves the trail, the top setting adds halos.
Does ghosting mean my monitor is faulty?: No. Every LCD ghosts to some degree; it is a matter of how much and whether the overdrive setting hides it. An OLED does not ghost in this sense.
Can a camera photo show ghosting accurately?: Not reliably. A phone camera's exposure and shutter timing add their own blur. Your eye on a moving test pattern is a better judge for choosing a setting; reviewers who measure response time use dedicated sensors and pursuit cameras.

Name the cause. Three and a half minutes, in the tab you have open.

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