To those of you with OLED TVs: Is burn-in something you are worried about or have experienced?

Hello bombardiers,

I think I'm going to upgrade my TV within the next 6 months. I'm really considering getting a LG OLED TV.

My current TV is a 10+ years old Sony LCD TV, so I could use an upgrade. It would also be nice with a slightly bigger screen to be honest.

I might be waiting for the LG 55CX to drop down in price. If not I might go for the LG 55B9S since it's still considerable cheaper here in Denmark than the CX model at the moment.

The CX model should be future proof for the new consoles and I would have to do some research on the B9S to see if it also is.

But to those of you who already have a OLED TV: How worried are you about burn-in?

Have anyone of you maybe been so unfortunate to have gotten burn-in?

I'm now in the market for a new TV after having this OLED less than 2.5 years. So, yeah...concerned.

@marino: That sucks, but that may have been a faulty TV.

The thing is that nothing comes close to OLED in terms of pure picture quality. All the other types of TVs seem so outdated. It just sucks that there is a presumably small risk of picture burn-in.

The alternative would be to wait for MicroLED but that is probably still 3-4 years out and the first TVs will be kuh-razy expensive.

I would also like an OLED because it would allow me to watch movies in a completely dark room without any of the downsides of LCDs such a blooming.

@marino:

According to reddit, LG has been doing one-time panel replacements for people out of warranty. And that image appears to be common burn-in (or at least passes for it) because the center is where "people" usually are. You should keep contacting them, if you're lucky they'll ask you to take a picture of the burn-in and for a copy of your purchase receipt. If they don't respond afterward within a week, just keep pestering them or threaten to leave a bad review somewhere.

@dsjwetrwete: Been through all that already. They just stick with the argument that since I didn't buy it from one of their deemed partner retailers, then I'm on my own.

@marino:

Ah, yeah the whole authorized dealer thing. I actually ordered a CX from Best Buy even though it cost more than at other places (also easier to return to a brick and mortar store).

Yeah I have been in and cautious of the TV market myself recently. I know I am about as rough on a TV as possible. I use my TV as my computer monitor so lot's of fairly static objects. Outside of that I watch a lot of subtitled anime or play games with subtitles on so basically constant white might as well be static bars at the bottom of the screen.

I would love to hear if anyone with similar use pattern have been fairing.

Also where are we at standard wise? I thought the holy trinity standard of 4k, HDR, and Freesync-like implementation at once was close to coming but not out yet. Which was the biggest thing holding me back from jumping in.

In terms of personal experience, I can't help you, unfortunately. That said, all LG OLED's within the past few years are pretty much future-proof. When it comes to audio from its HDMI 2.1 eARC, you cannot get DTS audio for the CX, unlike the B9 that can decode all types of audio. Most films are going with Dolby Atmos so it's not a big issue, but there are films that don't have Atmos and do DTS:X. So, if that matters to you keep that in mind. You should compare the specs of both TVs on RTINGS by looking at both in different tabs. Also, check out the other LG OLED's like the E9 and C9.

When it comes to burn-in (and yes, it's a reason why I am hesitant to buy one myself), if you're someone that plays or watches a lot of content with static imagery for several or more hours a day, it'd not be the best choice. For instance, they wouldn't make for good PC monitors, and if you're someone that gets sucked into a game and plays it for ten hours, it'd not be a good choice. As long as you're playing or watching varied content often, it should be fine. The B9 doesn't do Freesync while the CX does (although, not 4k/120fps?) You'll have to look deeper into that.

Burn-in is the number one reason why I am unsure if I will get one as I am someone that can get sucked into a new game and play it for hours, and I do like using my TV as a monitor. The local dimming or no local dimming for OLED is also a big thing. I have the TCL R617 from 2018, and its local dimming is considered to be average, and yet I really like how dark the blacks get despite some clouding. It's very hard to decide on what TV to get next because of the pros and cons of each TV.

I'm preaching to the choir here I'm sure, but it's a very good idea to look deeply into each aspect of the TV and making sure it fits with what you want before buying it. It sucks to buy a TV and then end up not getting something you hoped for, asking and confused as to why it can't do something.

I had an OLED. The LG from 2018 I think and yes, sadly burn in is quite real. Not extreme like the plasma days but annoying enough. Thankfully I had warranty and swapped it for QLED.

Unfortunately it does seem to be an issue. I play lots of games with persistent HUDs and while those don’t really cause trouble I do have two lines towards the bottom of the screen from the FFXIV experience bar. Didn’t feel like I had been playing a ton of it but for some reason that really did it. They’re not horrible, but noticeable on large solid chunks of color. My phone also has an OLED screen and the burn in here is way more pronounced. I can see some UI elements from a Twitter app, and the top of the display with time etc is completely borked. Fortunately not a huge issue.

I bought a C7 at the beginning of 2018 that arrived broken. Getting that straightened out was the single worst customer service experience of my life. It took about 4 months of calling LG twice a week, having them lose my case history and reopen new cases, scheduling appointments with contractors to inspect and repair the tv and them not showing up before I eventually got the screen replaced. It's seen a little over a year of use now and has developed extremely distracting burn in as of early July from the yellow icon featured in the You Tube app. I never let *any* static imagery remain on the screen for an extended period of time and keep the TV at 75% brightness. That icon only appears when I use the search function. I'll be calling LG again this week to see if they can do anything about it, but my assumption is that they won't.

I'd only advise you buy an OLED if you plan on using it strictly for movies and are cool with the idea of cycling it out every few years for the new model. Burn in is unavoidable otherwise. They do look astonishingly great (I upgraded from a sub-1080, 32in screen so the leap was insane for me).

Well I wasn't before but I am now. I have one of those LG OLEDs and was under the impression that as long as it's good out of the box then you're good to go. I had a scare during the initial unboxing of my TV that resulted in one of the stupidest and most embarrassing moments I can think of in the past 10 years. I thought my TV arrived with a ton of micro scratches along the surface and was incredibly annoyed and frustrated for a full day.. before I finally realized I had not taken the protective sticker off the screen. Never before have feeling SO stupid also felt like such a relief.

Anyway had the TV for about half a year, maybe a little more, and so far so good.

I have had mine since 2016, no burn in yet thank god. I bought it on sale from a shady online store so I am screwed if it starts.

Guess I won't be going for an OLED then. Probably gonna go with a QLED TV instead. I imagine the leap in picture quality will still be quite big from my 10+ years old 1080p TV.

The only thing that sucks is that LED still have blooming. It would be really nice to have a TV I could use in a pitch dark room without any distracting blooming. But the risk of burn-in just doesn't seem worth it. Sadly.

It seems like OLED would be close to a perfect TV if it wasn't for burn-in. I know that OLED are also more dim than LED/LCD TVs but that doesn't really bother.

I would still take a more dim TV with better picture quality than a brighter TV with slightly less good picture quality.

Hopefully MicroLED TVs will take all the best aspects of both OLED and LCD/LED without any of the downsides.

I have had an OLED LG55C7 since March of 2018 and have experienced no burn in. I ordered it straight from LG too so there wouldn’t be any question about who is responsible for the warranty. I never messed with the brightness, but I think it is on auto-brightness. I am careful with it and have used the auto-off feature after 2 hours of inactivity. There was a good few months where my mother was using it to fall asleep and would leave the screen on all night too.

Thank you for your kind sacrifice sir. FFXIV is probably the largest usage time I use on my TV by a country mile.

I'll keep and eye out for when Sony gets a model with full HDMI 2.1 support. As I am still using my Sony from like 07. Outside of some bard across the screen that have appeared across the screen from dead back lights in last 2 years. It always remained the best looking LCD/LED screen I had seen through the 1080 era and this baby is only 720p. The colors are so good on it and blacks are about the best I had seen.

I passed on getting an OLED when I got my current TV and it doesn't seem like things have gotten much better so I'll probably do the same again.

It doesn't support it yet, but Sony have said the X900H will get HDMI 2.1 support in a firmware update. It seems to be getting strong reviews too.

I have the 65" LG C7 OLED. All the responses in this thread make me more worried about burn-in, but I haven't had an issue. I'm usually somewhat militaristic with shutting off the TV when it's not in use or keeping my desktop from idling on the TV. I imagine this has helped my experience and it's become second-nature (I've always done this just to not waste electricity), but maybe adding another back-of-my-mind item to your daily routine might not be worth it.

Not sure if I've just been lucky, or if others are unlucky, but I've had my LG C7 for a little over two years now and I've had many very long gaming sessions with games that have static hud elements (Diablo III especially), and I have zero burn-in. Even made a proper check for burn-in a few months ago and it showed nothing.

Only issue I've ever had was that the first one I ordered had a thin permanent line in the the middle of the screen. But the place I bought it from had a fantastic customer service, so they just sent me a new one and picked up the old one so it was never really much of an issue.

@castiel:

It's probably going to be a few years at least before MicroLED is both mature and affordable IIRC. I say get a QLED or OLED TV now and worry again in 3-5 years.

I had to replace my LG B7p after 2 years because the PS4 menu was starting to burn in. I have my PS4 set to turn off automatically after 15 minutes, so even if I was being lazy and leaving it on too much it’s not like it was for hours at a time.

Yeah, the waiting is the downside. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be upgrading this year and it will probably be a Samsung QLED.

I don't need 8K, not on a 55' TV, so if I'm really happy with the QLED TV I can keep it for a little longer.

But if MicroLED really can deliver the brightness of LCD with the perfect blacks of OLEDs without the risk of burn-in. That would honestly be the kind of TV I could stick with for a decade or till it would just die.

@castiel: Burn in is a real problem. I have mine calibrated down from the out of the box settings (lower brightness, contrast, etc.) and still have the "Nick" logo burned into the bottom right from my kids watching cartoons and the CNN "Breaking News" banner burned in on the left side after we were watching Coronavirus coverage every day for a month.

That said, you don't see it in most scenes of movies/games, and the TV has a pixel-sifter feature I've been running that is slowly working it out. Still worth it, in my opinion as the picture is *way* better than my traditional LED.

@tom_scherschel: Yah I think it's also important to take note what your usage situation is going to look like. I live by myself and don't really watch any television so it's primary use is 2-3 hours gaming sessions maybe once a day. If you have children or are sharing this TV with your parents or something that is going to be using it for very long periods of time then this might be a bigger issue than if you buy it solely for playing games and the occasional Netflix movie.

@marino:I have a similar issue. Mine has a square in the center, right at the 1080 mark. It is the 2018 C8 model. It is a known defect caused by the heat of the electronics behind it. I hammered LG to replace it, right as we were about to schedule, the lock down happened and now I do not want some stranger to come in and fix the TV. Good news is, if you talk to them enough they will replace the panel for you at least once - as other have said. If needed reference the RTings video here - https://youtu.be/nX0AXzWm2cI. That helped with my leverage from it. Aside from that, with tons of hours in use, from live TV, to other things, it is okay. We are getting a little big of darkness where letter boxing would be, but hard to tell what that would be.

While I can not speak for everyone, I have had LG C7 for a few years now, use it everyday, and have no issues. I am very happy with my purchase.

I bought a LG OLED (OLED55C6P) 3 years ago and it has a pretty severe burn in from having my PC hooked up to it and using Chrome. The bookmark bar's icons burnt in but that's probably my fault for marathoning youtube videos without full screening it. Red icons burnt in the worst and are really noticeable with a red background, not visible on a white or blue solid background. I haven't noticed any game related burn in from HUDS or whatever. I just bought a new OLED and have turned on the pixel shift option which supposedly helps - I don't notice it at all and I haven't hooked up my PC to it yet - still debating if I even will.

We have a 55C7P, and while I haven’t noticed any burn-in I am and always have been super worried about it. There is some mild vertical banding which can be visible in certain situations which is a bummer. I’m also scared to watch GB through my Roku because I’m worried about the stream layouts/talking heads burning in.

It’s a shame, because this TV has ruined all other TVs for me it looks that good. Hopefully by the time we need to replace this those issues will be ironed out.

I have a 2016 55B6 that had pretty bad burn in due to channel logos or cyrons that stay on the screen (think CNN, Nick Jr ect). AVSForums have a pretty extensive thread on the issue. LG is offering a free 1 time panel replacement. The easiest way to get it is to either go to LG's Facebook or twitter support page. I was able to get one, through this method.

From what most of teh people ar RTING.com have said over the past few years, burn in is less likley that on the older OLED tvs. There can of course be issues and defects. But, ist seesm like many fo teh modern mitgation setting on hogh end TV make brun in far less likely.

I can't wait for the day we are able to buy affordable microled TV's.

Just reading all this makes me happy for my 55" led. Doesn't even have HDR. But it seems to have a fine picture, all I watch is internet and video games.

Not that I don't love technology. And now I have the term microled tv memorized..

I will say despite my burn in issues if I had to go out and buy a tv tomorrow I’d still choose an LG OLED. The picture quality of other 4K TVs I’ve seen just isn’t even in the same ballpark. It’s truly unreal and I don’t regret it for a second.

I have a B16 and a C17 (so the B16 is over 3 years old now) and neither have burn in.

Best screens I've ever bought. OLED > HDR or any other TV tech right now. In fact I mostly turn HDR off because it looks better without it.

I have an Insignia 42 inch Plasma HD TV that I got in 2007 and it does a bit burn images from time to time when gaming for long periods of time. I been wanting to replace for sometime and upgrade to a 50 inch 4K Smart TV. Guess I am waiting for it to give out as I don't need two TV's.

I went with the Sony X900E over the LG OLEDs because not only was there a significant price difference, I literally could not tell any difference in the picture quality, and I went and stared at the two TVs in multiple locations to try and find a difference. Quality local dimming on an LED can get you to a very, very similar place without the extra cost and risk of burn-in. I've had my X900E for several years now and it's as good as ever. Little to no blooming unless it's just a trash implementation of HDR like Red Dead 2 (I've admittedly become quite the HDR snob over seeing how excellent it can look). I could not recommend my set more highly. I can't speak fully to the newer X900F, G, or H, but I'll damn sure vouch for my X900E. Just an FYI in case anyone is looking for a more affordable OLED alternative without the drawbacks.

@notnert427: I have a 900e as a pc monitor with an OLED C7 for a TV. The difference is seismic like for me instantly different especially in games or HDR movies ( try watching 2001: A Space Odyssey on an LCD than an OLED). As for burn in have not had any problem even though I have let HUDS stay on for like 24 hours.i do not watch network Tv however so I can’t attest to having like a FOX, NBC, CNN all day everyday

@bollard: if you have an OLED and turning off HDR, what are you even doing??????? Like WTF

I’ve had a Sony oled with an lg panel since 2017. I’ve experienced no noticeable burn in whatsoever. However I vary my content a lot (I don’t play the same game with the same overlay everyday)and the pc I use on it has a stark black desktop and don’t browse the internet with it except to get to a YouTube or go video That I then full screen.

Bottom line they can get burn in, but your mileage varies based on how much you baby it/ vary what you do on it. Rtings did a couple burn in tests that you should google that will give you a good idea Things.

@grayfox666: The blacks are so impressive, and I prefer vibrant images. Everything I've seen in HDR was desaturated and crap. Tried calibrating it but it never looks as good as SDR, I guess I prefer "unrealistic" colours.

Seriously though the thing that impresses me about OLED is being in a pitch black room when the screen is dark. I tried Horizon in HDR and it does this horrific auto brightness adjustment so whenever you are in a snowy area at night it alternates between blown out brightness and not being able to see anything in the dark whenever you look up and down.

I've never had a problem with a game, but I was watching a Jeff stream on the TV and got the Congorilla manual stuck on the screen. It eventually faded away though

Edit: don't want to create a new thread for this question.

I have a dumb question about Dolby Vision and HDR. So I'm thinking of maybe buying a Samsung Q80T or a Q95T but none of Samsung's TVs supports Dolby Vision.

Samsung TVs support the following HDR formats: HDR10, HDR10+, HLG

That brings me to my question: What would happen if I watched Dolby Vision content on a Samsung TV? Would HDR just not "activate"?

@castiel: It depends on the app and device. If an app only supports Dolby Vision, you will get SDR. That said, 4k Blu-rays often (or, always?) support HDR alongside Dolby Vision, so you should be fine there. That TV does HDR10, and most apps like Netflix and Disney+ do HDR10. You have to pay extra for HDR on Netflix though. Hulu has no form of HDR. Amazon Prime has all types. Not something I've ever delved into, but reading about it, HBO Now has neither 4k nor any sort of HDR.

Something also of note, even though in your case it doesn't matter as you plan on getting a TV without Dolby Vision, but the Xbox One X doesn't support Blu-ray Dolby Vision, so you'll only be getting HDR. And the 'always on' HDR/Dolby Vision for the Netflix app on Xbox One isn't great. The Disney Plus HDR/Dolby Vision is hit and miss. Some big titles run in HDR, but they are ultimately not really HDR and look very dim like their Star Wars shows and films. It is, however, very easy to find what movies support HDR.

Amazon Prime, while it does all the formats, it's not so easy to find all of the films and shows that support it, especially alongside the ones that support Dolby Atmos.

@ntm: Thank you for a thorough answer.

Buying a new TV is a tricky decision. A part of me wants to upgrade my TV soon but another part of me wants to wait and see what the next round of TVs will be like.

I'm still so tempted buy OLED but I just don't want to buy a TV with the risk of burn-in. I know that I will use my TV in such a way that burn-in would be a big risk in my use case. So unless there suddenly exists a burn-in free OLED TV they are out of the question.

Samsung QLEDS aren't perfect either, but at least I won't have to worry about burn-in. And they should be great gaming TVs. And the picture quality is still really good. The only thing that sucks is that I wont be able to watch movies in a completely dark room without distracting blooming.

Oh well.

@castiel: I would wait at least a year or so. I don't feel like you'll lose out a whole lot by waiting a while. That said, going back to your original comment, do you use a 1080p screen? If so, I can see why you'd want to upgrade. 4k isn't everything, but the jump to 4k usually meant it came with other upgrades. Still, I think it'd be better to wait because in one or two years, the TV's you can buy may suit your needs better, and the prices for the ones you might want now will most likely be cheaper. I agree in every way about OLED, just the chance of burn-in worries me too.

To me, blooming isn't too bad or that noticeable unless you're watching a scene with very few light sources. For instance, I've seen a bunch of movies, and most of it is unobtrusive. The first and last time I really noticed the blooming in a distracting way was a scene in 1917 where the protagonist woke up from being unconscious in a building during the middle of the night. It didn't bother me too much, but it was really noticeable. Also, I would take clouding to an aggressive local dimming where it crushes details. Some Samsungs differ in that way.

With OLED, it's just about how much you use it, and how varied the content is on your screen. If you're someone that can or likes to sit down and play an open-world game for five to ten hours, and the game has a lot of static HUD elements, that won't be good for the TV. If you only have about two to four hours a day to play a game, watch a film or TV, and switch between those things within the time you have, you probably won't have as much of an issue.

The Sony XBR55X900H is getting some good buzz with a firmware update promised it should be a good gaming tv.

@doerr007: Hmm that looks like a good option as well. And it's a bit cheaper than the Samsung Qleds.

Plus it looks to be future proof for the new consoles and it has both Dolby Vision and HDR10.

At this point I would probably still choose an LCD over an OLED just so I don't have to worry about burn-in.

I can have a bit of mood lighting if I want to watch movies in a dark-ish room then to counter potential blooming.

But it looks pretty solid. 2.1 HDMI support (whenever the update hits?) and good grey uniformity which is important for gaming.

Thanks dude.

At this point it's down to either this Sony TV or one of the higher end Samsung QLEDS. but the cheaper Sony X900H actually outperforms the Samsung Qleds when it comes to complex dark scenes.