Blurry text

In addition to the @gerikp advice, you can also change the paused resolution in the same manner (I believe by default its set to 'full'), but you can also make the paused version of the frame blurry by lowering that setting.

Also, in the 'view' pull down, there is 'high quality playback check box that further improves the quality of your playback and pause, normally most people don't need it on, but if you have thin lines they will flicker on playback and sometimes look like they vanish when paused.  Setting 'high quality playback" enables you to see these thin lines much better.

This is usual behavior when your Playback Resolution is set lower. What is your Playback Resolution set to?