The OLED Burn-In Test: Three Month Update

[BabaYaga]

This is a 250 nit monitor; running it at 30% brightness (assuming linear scaling) equates to a maximum brightness of 75 nits. The entire point of OLED is the contrast between light and dark, and you're already giving up more than 2/3 of that benefit. I note that the minimum required brightness for HDR content is 500 nits.

On a side note, the last time I tried an OLED monitor, I returned it not because of burn-in worries, but because the text crispness on small fonts was so poor. This was over 4 years ago, though, so I don't know how well this issue has been addressed.

HDR 400 True Black is not the same as HDR 400.

You're also looking at 100% window. It can reach 1000nits.

Here is a good article. Text clarity has been mostly fixed with the 3rd gen QD panels.

https://tftcentral.co.uk/articles/t...eak-1000-mode-brightness-on-new-oled-monitors

VESA DisplayHDR Certification
DisplayHDR TRUE BLACK 400
Real Scene
420 cd/m²
Peak 2% Window
976 cd/m²
Peak 10% Window
448 cd/m²
Peak 25% Window
355 cd/m²
Peak 50% Window
300 cd/m²
Peak 100% Window
249 cd/m²
Sustained 2% Window
971 cd/m²
Sustained 10% Window
446 cd/m²
Sustained 25% Window
352 cd/m²
Sustained 50% Window
297 cd/m²
Sustained 100% Window
247 cd/m²

 

[godrilla]

Since most of them have UI.

Yeah games definitely have static ui but pixel shifting seems to help.

Here is my CX oled using static gaming images multiplied by more than 1000 hours FYI and here is the today's burn in test with no image retention.

 

[gamerk2]

Yeah games definitely have static ui but pixel shifting seems to help.

To be fair, the shifting is minor and probably doesn't help *that* much in the grand scheme of things, especially for *fat* GUI elements.

That being said, an ungodly amounts of Stellaris (and its static UI bar at the top of the screen) and no hint of burn in.

 

[gamerk2]

This is a 250 nit monitor; running it at 30% brightness (assuming linear scaling) equates to a maximum brightness of 75 nits. The entire point of OLED is the contrast between light and dark, and you're already giving up more than 2/3 of that benefit. I note that the minimum required brightness for HDR content is 500 nits.

On a side note, the last time I tried an OLED monitor, I returned it not because of burn-in worries, but because the text crispness on small fonts was so poor. This was over 4 years ago, though, so I don't know how well this issue has been addressed.

The C2 can hit about 1000 nits. And I note in dark room reviewing you *really* don't need to be blasting that thing as bright as it can get.

As for text, it's never going to be *great* given LG uses a WOLD structure. It *is* important to set the input you are using to connect to a PC to "PC"; it does cut down the post-processing and helps a lot with text. Cleartype also does wonders cleaning the text up. It's certainly not *as good* as standard RGB, but it's also not a problem if you take a few minutes to clean it up properly.

EDIT

I'll also note my C2 is much better then my B6P used to be, although to be fair there were limitations on the B6P (mainly due to HDMI 2.0 bandwidth limitations forcing 4:2:2 HDR, which did *not* help text rendering at all)

 

[gamerk2]

I think mini-led is more likely to be the next evolutionary step, at least for the vast majority of consumers.

Mini-LED is just LCD with more backlight zones. Same drawbacks LCDs have had since day 1.

MicroLED would be the next obvious step, if production costs ever make them economical below 85" or so.

 

[godrilla]

Mini-LED is just LCD with more backlight zones. Same drawbacks LCDs have had since day 1.

MicroLED would be the next obvious step, if production costs ever make them economical below 85" or so.

If Micro led is indeed the best thing in the pipeline I wonder where nano oled would be placed and if they can scale nano oled outside of small vr screens.

To be fair, the shifting is minor and probably doesn't help *that* much in the grand scheme of things, especially for *fat* GUI elements.

That being said, an ungodly amounts of Stellaris (and its static UI bar at the top of the screen) and no hint of burn in.

I've seen an Rting article claiming qd oled tend to burn in faster as well. I have another working theory that temperature can contribute to Burn in like higher ambient temperature or higher surface temperature. Eg. Steam deck oled higher tdp than Switch oled and the higher reported cases reported on the Steam deck oled. Also the case where the rgb led ambient baked in image from ram kit on the graphics card strengthens that theory.
Not sure if the test conditions here were done under air conditioning or a higher warmer ambient temperature in Australia that is naturally higher.

 

[bviktor]

Never ever buy an oled monitor or TV if you are using it as your pc monitor.
You can't avoid burn in. It's impossible.
Oleds also struggle with brightness and decent hdr.
The brighter and better hdr and more expensive the oled the quicker you will get burn in
Burn in guarantees are also worthless as I guarantee they will use a "reasonable usage" clause.
So if you've got your task bar burnt in your guarantee is worthless

That's why you should set your task bar to auto-hide, yes.

I'm not saying OLED is ideal for PC usage, but there are certainly measures to minimize the risk.

 

[gamerk2]

That's why you should set your task bar to auto-hide, yes.

I'm not saying OLED is ideal for PC usage, but there are certainly measures to minimize the risk.

Yeah, people like me were sort of the test dummies for figuring it out. You could *absolutely* burn in early OLED models, as I did. But with even minimal levels of care, new ones are quite resilient. And as far as picture quality goes, nothing comes close.

 

[BabaYaga]

I have another working theory that temperature can contribute to Burn in like higher ambient temperature or higher surface temperature. Eg. Steam deck oled higher tdp than Switch oled and the higher reported cases reported on the Steam deck oled. Also the case where the rgb led ambient baked in image from ram kit on the graphics card strengthens that theory.
Not sure if the test conditions here were done under air conditioning or a higher warmer ambient temperature in Australia that is naturally higher.

https://courses.washington.edu/overney/privateChemE530/Handouts/Project1-OLED-heat-transfer.pdf

"To suppress the thermal degradation of organic molecules, the use of a heat sink is inevitable."

 

[ddferrari]

The vast majority who buy oled don't even calibrate them. They watch streams which are substandard compared to 4k bluray and bluray.
They don't care about quality or even know what nits are.
Most haven't a clue what they are buying.
Quality doesn't matter to them.
Just about All games have static images.
I've got an 8k panel far superior to any oled. No burn in.
If you're content with what you've got then good for you.
There's nowhere left to go with this
If you want to believe that burn in doesn't exist then that's your right.
I've just seen a pink elephant flying past.
Humans can convince themselves of anything they want.
Enjoy your panel

WOW. Your ability to know what complete strangers are thinking and doing en masse is amazing! Are you available to do my niece's birthday party?

What's the model number of your 8k panel, by the way? Is it the one with as many dimming zones as it has pixels? Oh wait... that's OLED. I'd imagine that all that native 8K content flooding the market looks amazing though.

 

[zx8086]

I have over 6000 hours of use on my LG C1 TV. There is no burn in. I never play games on it, only watch TV shows and movies. When I stream from my laptop, it's always in dark mode. If one is careful, OLED displays are fantastic, as long as it isn't used for productivity with static bright images.

Do you realize that this article (and also the comment you were replying to) is about a monitors, which are being used for gaming and productivity?

 

[seeprime]

Do you realize that this article (and also the comment you were replying to) is about a monitors, which are being used for gaming and productivity?

Yes. My point was the how the tech is used impacts durability. I appreciate the monitor test, by the way.

 

[noXLar]

I have over 6000 hours of use on my LG C1 TV. There is no burn in. I never play games on it, only watch TV shows and movies. When I stream from my laptop, it's always in dark mode. If one is careful, OLED displays are fantastic, as long as it isn't used for productivity with static bright images.

I also have LG C1 77" 120hz, using it as monitor.. I have zero tv-channels or using the builtin smart part of TV.. I work as seaman, home 4 weeks off 4 weeks.. so, its completely off when im at work those 4 weeks, but, when I am home the only time I turn TV off is when I need to go to the mall to get new supplies and that's at most 3-4 times. and im gone maybe 6hrs.. I live far into the woods.. so, rest of the time the LG OLED is on 100% on 28 days..

I have minimal with oled protection.. just those that dosent annoy me with stuff.. all I have is black screen saver that starts after 5min.. I also are a cave man so to say.. I like to have it very dark.. brightness is the enemy

I had it for almost a year.. and its perfect in every way.. its my first oled, so I have this oled tv as a learning curve to learn later what to do and don't.. I know I maybe do it stupid.. but, I use it the way I want to use it, and will admit it when after 5 years I did was wrong if I have burn ins.. but until then.. im in heaven using OLED.. will never ever use lcd again

 

[amutt00001]

I feel like for the avg user 7 minutes every 4 hours is not only obtainable but also healthy. No one should stare at a screen non stop for 4 hours. That's being said I get the use cases for wall displays, marketing shows, welcome boards, NOC SOC monitoring that need it to run all day without a 7 minute black out. Its too bad they can just have a popup that says "preventing burn in" and runs for just 10 seconds once an hour or something like that. Obviously I'm not an expert in the tech and I'm sure they tried those scenarios but I feel like the 7minutes every 4 hours doesn't leave instruction for some grey zones. Thank you for letting us know your results as this is very helpful.