Burn-in is often overblown, but understanding the phenomenon is still important.
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) televisions have revolutionized the home viewing experience. By ensuring that every pixel in your display is individually illuminated, OLED screens enhance images by providing deeper contrasts, fast refresh rates, and wide viewing angles. Despite these gains, early OLED televisions came with significant drawbacks. One notable problem was known as burn-in, in which OLED displays retain images even after they left the screen.
Burn-in is an unfortunate byproduct of OLED’s organic pixels, or diodes, which are more delicate than the synthetic ones used in LED screens. OLED screens also don’t use an extra light source, such as a backlight, for illumination. Instead, each pixel self illuminates and shuts down when not displaying color, creating more vibrant hues and deeper blacks. Although self-illumination enables better contrast ratios, it also asks each individual pixels to take on more direct energy. When asked to do so for long periods, it causes the pixels to wear down unevenly. Image retention is the ghostly remnant of this uneven degradation.
Burn-in is most likely to occur when parts of a display remains static, particularly with high brightness, as hotter diodes degrade faster. An obvious case would be a still picture or paused program which remains on the screen. Other common instances include television logos and chyrons, program menus, news tickers, and even subtitles. Black bars from letterboxing or 4:3 aspect ratios can also affect panels as those pixels won’t degrade while others do. As a whole, static images, when constantly on your screen, can leave their ghostly remanence upon your otherwise vibrant OLED display.
Does burn-in still possible?
Unfortunately, manufacturers have yet to fully eradicate image retention. Several major display makers, such as LG , Samsung and Sony, host webpages coaching users on how to prevent burn-in. Phone manufacturers that deploy OLED screens, such as Google and Apple, also warn users about the potential for image retention. As LG reminds its users on its website, “it is possible to create image retention in almost any display if one really tries hard enough.”
It is important to stress that burn-in won’t likely occur after just a few hours. Rather, tests indicate that permanent burn-in will likely only occur after months or years of a TV displaying static elements. For example, during a long-term burn-in test from review site RTINGS, one user noticed subtitles caused burn-in after roughly 7,100 hours of viewing. In a statement given to CNET, a Sony spokesperson noted that consumers should avoid leaving static images, like a paused video game, “onscreen for several hours or days.”
You’re most likely to experience image retention from chyrons, logos, news tickers, and static elements found in video games. However, you’re only likely to run into problems if you watch the same television channel for hours on end. As such, your uncle who spends his days screaming at Fox News might be more likely to experience burn-in. Even in extreme cases, however, permanent image retention remains unlikely.
Importantly, not all static elements are created equal. During RTINGS‘ long-term study, for instance, testers found that “static scoreboards in sporting events don’t cause any problems.” But for most consumers who use their OLED televisions to watch films, series, sports and other content with varying imagery, burn-in is largely a relic of the past.
Preventing burn-in
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Many OLED displays come with features designed to prevent the likelihood of burn-in. LG, for instance, touts its OLED display as possessing “self-healing properties” that counteract the phenomenon. Automatic screensavers, meanwhile, can help prevent image retention by nixing static images from the screen. Some televisions offer pixel shift and panel noise features that periodically move or reset the screen’s image to prevent burn-in. Some can even automatically detect and adjust the brightness of static logos. Other helpful settings, like panel refresh or pixel refresh, can help reduce screen retention. These mitigating features are often turned on by default, but it’s worth checking to ensure everything that can help prevent marring your high definition television is enabled.
Ultimately, it’s largely up to viewers to prevent burn-in. However, anyone with a semi-regular viewing habit shouldn’t have much of a problem. If concerned, refrain from leaving static images on your screen, lower your brightness and enable the settings mentioned above. When you start to see the faint glimmer of retained images on your display, turn off your screen and let it rest. Upon returning to your display, watch a few hours of regular programming. Movies, television series and live sports should all provide enough variety. If worried about burn-in on your OLED computer or phone screen, change your wallpaper and flip to dark mode. Luckily, burn-in remains a remote possibility for most consumers.
