TV vs Monitor, Does Sunlight Harm OLED TVs? | You Asked Ep. 11

On today’s episode of You Asked: Who else just wants a big, dumb TV? Can sunlight damage your OLED TV? Why do TVs and monitors look better at the store than at home? And, a recurring favorite: TV vs. PC monitor?

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VIDEO CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:37 Is Direct Sunlight Bad for OLED TVs?
04:00 Why Do Displays Look Better at Stores?
08:16 Dumb TV vs Smart TV?
10:36 TV vs. Monitor

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[matthewrichards]

Very recently, I had a shadow from a piece of furniture temporarily retain on my Panasonic OLED screen. Mid afternoon, the sun shines through my apartment window and the dresser near the TV will cast a shadow on the screen. After a few hours gaming, I did notice a weird pattern on the screen and figured out it was the same shape as the dresser. I turned the TV off and the screen did a maintenance cycle. After leaving the TV off for a hour, the shadow did disappear. Long story short, I guess the shadow cast during this time kept that part of the screen cooler than the rest. Was worried as I've only had the TV for 5 months 😅

[jamie]

I've had an experience with an OLED watch being left in direct sunlight for less than an hour. The results were horrific pixel degradation and uniformity issues. I'm almost certain any TV getting direct sunlight will suffer degradation. Degradation will differ depending on how hot the sun's rays are during the time of day. I'm 99.9% sure you don't want the sun's rays hitting your set. I use complete blackout blinds to mitigate this issue. Still allows natural light into the room but at a reduced level. Oh and don't get those blinds that are cut into sections either, you want a black sheet blind. Hope this helps 👍

[burnsyd]

Keep it up, this series is SO useful. I've pointed dozens of friends to the You Asked playlist who are looking for "TV info".

Oh yeah, forgot, more bloopers at the end thanks, keeps us watching all the way through. 😅

[Oliver-hprk]

Why do TVs usually have brighter small HDR highlights than the entire screen can do? I see in measurements, a peak 10% window or sustained 10% window measurement for HDR highlights but don't understand how a TV can hit a certain brightness level but not sustain it, especially LED TVs. How can a smaller area get brighter than all the zones turned to the max? For OLED, this may make sense with ABL but I don't understand this in relation to FALD LED TVs.

[ryanxp]

Liking the question videos, very informative 👍

[Oliver-hprk]

Can you make a video explaining color accuracy, measurements and delta e?

[drugemp]

Another reason tv's are often perceived to look better in store versus at home, is the fact that most retailers set the tv to Retail Mode as opposed to the Home Use mode. Retail Mode uses visuals and content that demonstrate the tv's capabilities in the best possible light. Additionally, you're looking at multiple displays usually in a row at a retail store. Entry level models make mid-level models look fantastic and flagship models look insane compared to mid-level models. At home, your tv is a stand-alone with no other tv's around to compare it to.

[artpro]

Great video and really interesting questions and answers. Please continue doing them because, as you know, us weirdos that watch TV/Monitor reviews, have a LOT of questions that don't typically get answered in a normal review.

[yafeters]

Caleb, you are genuinely one of my favorite YouTubers today. Your fun and informative content on display and audio tech is really awesome, but it’s your presentation and jokes that keep me coming back. Please continue to make the things you have so far 👍🏾

[robertfranken]

I damaged my OLED with direct sunlight 3 years ago after I bought it and the damage is still visible occasionally - it affected only one colour range. I'm pretty sure it was due to it being on when the sun was on it, ramping up the heat. Since then the sun has been directly hitting it regularly but there has been no noticeable damage as I've not had it on when the sun has been hitting it since.

[dastankuspaev]

Such a good, clear and precise advice in concise fashion

[TheOzthewiz]

Is the sun damage only when the TV is on with the sun hitting it? Or can damage occur when TV is turned off?

[henrynoke]

Just for reference in the future, I think you misunderstood the point about streaming boxes doing the heavy lifting.

They likely didn't mean that the dongle was doing picture processing, rather that the dongle is doing the streaming of content to the screen. An Xbox Series X has way better hardware for streaming than any TV, like gigabit LAN vs 100mb

[harleyspawn]

I would worry more about direct sunlight causing the clear plastic layers in any screen to end up yellowing or breaking down over time. Especially if the sunlight is hitting the screen unevenly. I think the worst case is that heating part of the screen unevenly a little every day could cause some of the layers to de-laminate at some point, which would eventually look terrible, but it would probably require direct unfiltered sunlight hitting the exact same part of a screen long enough to make half the screen hot to the touch for 3-4 hours a day.

[wendystacos]

Killing it with the upload consistency now

[hitmanhatton]

I have an old Samsung "DUMB TV" and a firestick 4K. The software in the firestick is blazing fast with zero slowdown or lag. While the smart TVs i have including the higher end ones do show some software problems including slowdowns and bugs.If at all possible you should go this route.. or at least change to a streaming device if you're unhappy with your TV' software

[qcsupport]

@3:38 Living room Caleb settling in to watch TV Caleb with the wife: 😂

[selfmadedegenerate]

I work in electronic store. I constantly install new TVs and give demo to customers. There is a mode called "Demo mode" in all major brands like Sony, lg & Samsung. What ever display settings you select it will be brighter then in home. Even in vivid mode in store and at home there will be brightness difference.

[lawrencemwenda]

Hi caleb i want to by my first tv when going to my own apartment i was thinking of a 43inch size which good for movies (movie theater)with better gaming mode with a cheaper price which can your recommend

[inspire]

Built in demo mode in tvs are showing the best the TV can do and are usually turned in stores to impress.