It's been 3 months since we started our OLED burn-in test using an MSI 32" 4K QD-OLED as a productivity monitor. In today's update we're going to talk burn in, firmware updates, and general usage.
The OLED Burn-In Test: Three Month Update
- Thread starter Scorpus
- Start date
Uncle Al
Posts: 10,391 +9,921
Good test & good article .... well done!
Eldrach
Posts: 63 +76
Wont pull the trigger on Oled - just see no point owning a product that has a risk of burn-in. From what you’re experiencing after 3 months - a regular gamer can expect to experience this after 15-16 months. I usually keep my monitors for 4-5 years - would suck to have to live with Burn-in for the last 2,5 years of usage
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
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
seeprime
Posts: 745 +976
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.
Irrelevant.
You shouldn't have to play Russian roulette with an expensive panel.
But that's what it is.
Yes Oleds are good. But it's impossible to ignore the risk of burn in.
It's different if money is no object.
If you watch things like sky sports in the UK you're more than likely to get the image burnt in. It can't be turned off.
That's just one example.
On TV many static images can't be turned off
Aggressive Anti burn in measures make a mess of the PQ.
Anyone using an oled as pc monitor must be either insane or rich.
Either way. Burn in guaranteed
Abaidor
Posts: 27 +22
I have a BenQ SW320 that presents some issues lately (a single red line on the far left) that comes and goes but I know it's time for a replacement after 5 years of really hard use - some times 15-20 hours usagfe for web developement and productivity apps.
So I was thinking of getting the latest and greates Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM since even though it's expensive it still a lot less than a Professional 10bit monitor and I don't need Adobe RGB more or extremely rarely anymore.....I can use another monitor for checking colors if needed. Asus also offers pretty good coverage for Adobe RGB too.
However, the more I read the more I am scared to get Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM for productivity work (average 10 hours per day) even though I use 100% dark mode......
I would love to get that monitor but I think I need to look elsewhere.......
I game on a TV. The hdr is so much better than any monitor.I have a BenQ SW320 that presents some issues lately (a single red line on the far left) that comes and goes but I know it's time for a replacement after 5 years of really hard use - some times 15-20 hours usagfe for web developement and productivity apps.
So I was thinking of getting the latest and greates Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM since even though it's expensive it still a lot less than a Professional 10bit monitor and I don't need Adobe RGB more or extremely rarely anymore.....I can use another monitor for checking colors if needed. Asus also offers pretty good coverage for Adobe RGB too.
However, the more I read the more I am scared to get Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM for productivity work (average 10 hours per day) even though I use 100% dark mode......
I would love to get that monitor but I think I need to look elsewhere.......
I had a choice about 18 months ago. Oled or 8k Sony master series.
I use my TV as a pc monitor. It was either the top of the line Sony oled at 75 inch or the 8k.
I just couldn't risk oled because of burn in.
My pc is on in winter for maybe 12 hours at a stretch. Burn in guaranteed
The 8k is amazing. 4000 nits. Stunning sound. 4 times the DPI etc. Perfect off axis view etc
It's actually better than any oled. It's also much more expensive.
Oled is like plasma. It's inherently faulty technology.
But 8k is the pinnacle of technology.
And no burn in.
Sony also make the finest TV in both 8k and oled.
wiyosaya
Posts: 9,880 +9,835
Basing your recommendations for the average user on this article's 10-hours a day usage with productivity apps is what I consider irrelevant.
People buying an OLED for home use are unlikely to reach these extreme thresholds any time soon after they buy it, whether TV or computer monitor. At the point where burn-in becomes noticeable, its likely that there will be something better in the market. OLEDs have improved over time.
And not to mention gaming. Since when do most games have static images?
StrikerRocket
Posts: 231 +194
You're absolutely right. There's no other way.
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
If it's part and parcel of the tech you really have no choice. Burn-in isn't a new problem. CRTs and plasma had it as well. You either do whatever is needed to mitigate the issues or don't and suffer the consequences. And the long term test is a worst case scenario IMHO. While they're not purposely doing anything to cause burn-in they're also not doing much to prevent it. So as the old saying goes YMMV...
daffy duck
Posts: 435 +378
Even more reason I will avoid OLED like the plague for productivity. I'm just waiting for the perfect miniled LCD IPS monitor. Absolutely intolerable to see any burn-in after 3 months and why the 2-3 years warranties are a joke at this massive price point of over $2K in Australia.
magisys
Posts: 46 +31
I have an old LG oled tv from the 2013, the 55ec930V, I think it was one of the first commercial oled tv by LG, and I have used this tv as pc gaming monitor for 10 years without any burn-in issue.
the only temporary image retention was after long session of gaming with static interface or desktop pc use, or after a long movie with black bars. and those retention was very light, visible only with solid color as a gray background.
but after the panel cleaning cycle, everything was back to normal.
so I don't think that modern oled will perform worse than a 10 years old panel in term of permanent burn-in
Mr Majestyk
Posts: 2,093 +1,928
How does this relate to a desktop monitor used for actual work with static elements the norm. No has ever said OLED would be a problem for gaming or watching videos etc.
DonquixoteIII
Posts: 169 +104
magisys
Posts: 46 +31
I've wrote that I use with a PC, and on that PC I'm doing everything other than gaming, which inclused hours and hours of web browsing. Sure I don't "work" on it, but that oled has seen a lot of static windows during its lifespan. No burn in.
gamerk2
Posts: 1,043 +1,054
As a long term OLED user, I have some real-world comments to add.
I fall into the group who uses their display a good 10+ hours a day, and also has to do some amount of productivity work, so I generally fall close to "worst case" usage for OLEDs.
My first display was an LG B6P, which was an early OLED without many of the protection features newer sets have. I made the twin mistakes of running the OLED panel light at 100 alongside with not auto-minimizing the Windows taskbar. As a result, it burned in after a year or so. After that I was more careful with the display, turning the panel light down to 30 (which for Dark Room viewing is "plenty", even for HDR). The rest of the panel held up reasonably well until the pandemic (year 4 of ownership), where sustained heavy use plus an extra 9 hours of productivity work a day started to seriously result in panel wear. Overall, I got about 5 years out of the display.
By contrast, I now own a LG C2, and have owned it for about two years now. Same heavy use (albeit less productivity work), and not a sign of burn in, or any significant wear. I do note I've kept the panel light down to 30 since day 1, which has certainly helped matters quite a bit relative to my B2P. And yes, I play a *ton* of games with static elements; so far none of those have been a problem.
From my experience, the single best thing you can do to extend the life of an OLED display is to not blast it at it's maximum brightness.
I fall into the group who uses their display a good 10+ hours a day, and also has to do some amount of productivity work, so I generally fall close to "worst case" usage for OLEDs.
My first display was an LG B6P, which was an early OLED without many of the protection features newer sets have. I made the twin mistakes of running the OLED panel light at 100 alongside with not auto-minimizing the Windows taskbar. As a result, it burned in after a year or so. After that I was more careful with the display, turning the panel light down to 30 (which for Dark Room viewing is "plenty", even for HDR). The rest of the panel held up reasonably well until the pandemic (year 4 of ownership), where sustained heavy use plus an extra 9 hours of productivity work a day started to seriously result in panel wear. Overall, I got about 5 years out of the display.
By contrast, I now own a LG C2, and have owned it for about two years now. Same heavy use (albeit less productivity work), and not a sign of burn in, or any significant wear. I do note I've kept the panel light down to 30 since day 1, which has certainly helped matters quite a bit relative to my B2P. And yes, I play a *ton* of games with static elements; so far none of those have been a problem.
From my experience, the single best thing you can do to extend the life of an OLED display is to not blast it at it's maximum brightness.
Endymio
Posts: 3,051 +2,964
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.
cristianm
Posts: 83 +104
with work from home, 10+ hours a day and with productivity apps is relevant. This is one test, more different tests are better. each person can evaluate their use case and choose accordingly.
godrilla
Posts: 1,452 +950
I have the CX 48 inch oled for about 4 years now and no image retention still. This test mentions no mitigation techniques were used and the purpose was to facilitate the rate of burn in. Take home message if are going to buy an oled do it responsibly
. I play at max brightness as well as watch movies at max brightness but when using Desktop I use balck Desktop, dark .mode whenever possible, blue light protection hdr off which lower brightness. Also I use all the built-in burn in mitigation features and hide Taskbar auto dim, pixel shift, screen saver and most importantly shutting off display when not in use.
WhiteLeaff
Posts: 534 +976
I think mini-led is more likely to be the next evolutionary step, at least for the vast majority of consumers.
OLED has one advantage right now that is quickly becoming bigger. I mean the amount of displays made each year. They make more, people buy more, they make so many of these that the prices start to fall at faster rate. With high demand, so many screens could be made that even people who decided not to get them will be tempted to replace their screens at such great price.
What will miniled offer against dirt cheap, excellent picture and refresh rate OLED?
No burn ins I guess. Will they have technology to make miniled displays fairly cheap too?
I doubt it. We heard about miniled some time ago, good amount of time passed, and still no assurance
we are getting them at a competitive price soon.
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