10 Month Update! Permanent Burn-In On OLEDs & QD-OLED Monitors

While burn-in is inherent to OLED technology, manufacturers can compensate for it through software designed to improve the useable life of your panel. Fortunately for you, manufacturers implement this well, meaning that permanent burn-in isn't that big of a concern for most folks—unless you're using an ultrawide OLED monitor, that is.

In this video, we take a look at permanent burn-in. We discuss what it is, what manufacturers do to delay its impacts, and what you can expect from your OLED TVs and monitors.

0:00 Intro
1:02 Burn-In Overview
2:00 "Long Compensation Cycles"
3:50 The Sony A80J, A90J, and A90K
6:37 Samsung S95B vs S95C
8:53 OLED Monitors
13:14 What We Know About OLEDs & Our Recommendations

Goals of our test:
- How long do modern TVs last?
- What are the main reasons for a modern TV to fail? (we will be doing a teardown of each failed TV to determine this)
- How do modern OLEDs like the CX, C1, C2, S95B and A95K compare in terms of burn-in?

Non-goal:
- Predict lifetime of any individual TV

List of TVs:
Amazon Fire TV 4-Series
Amazon Fire TV Omni Series
Hisense A6G
Hisense A6H
Hisense H8G
Hisense H9G
Hisense U6G
Hisense U6GR
Hisense U6H
Hisense U7G
Hisense U7H
Hisense U800GR 8k
Hisense U8G
Hisense U8H
Hisense U9DG
Insignia F50 QLED
LG A1 OLED
LG A2 OLED
LG B1 OLED
LG B2 OLED
LG BX OLED
LG C1 OLED
LG C2 OLED
LG CX OLED
LG G1 OLED
LG G2 OLED
LG NANO75 2021
LG NANO75 2022
LG NANO85 2020
LG NANO85 2021
LG NANO90 2021
LG NANO99 8k 2021
LG QNED80
LG QNED90
LG QNED99 8k
LG UP7000
LG UP8000
LG UQ8000
LG UQ9000
Samsung AU8000
Samsung Q60/Q60A QLED
Samsung Q60/Q60B QLED
Samsung Q60/Q60T QLED
Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED
Samsung Q70/Q70T QLED
Samsung Q80/Q80A QLED
Samsung Q90/Q90T QLED
Samsung Q900TS 8k QLED
Samsung QN800A 8k QLED
Samsung QN85A QLED
Samsung QN85B QLED
Samsung QN900A 8k QLED
Samsung QN90A QLED
Samsung QN90B QLED
Samsung QN95B QLED
Samsung S95B OLED
Samsung S95C
Samsung The Frame 2021
Samsung The Frame 2022 QLED
Samsung The Terrace
Samsung TU7000
Samsung TU8000
Sony A80J OLED
Sony A80K OLED
Sony A8H OLED
Sony A90J OLED
Sony A90K OLED
Sony A95K OLED
Sony X800H
Sony X80J
Sony X80K
Sony X85J
Sony X85K
Sony X900H
Sony X90J
Sony X90K
Sony X91J
Sony X950H
Sony X95J
Sony X95K
TCL 3 Series 2020
TCL 4 Series/S435 2020
TCL 4 Series/S446 2021
TCL 4 Series/S455 2022
TCL 5 Series/S535 2020 QLED
TCL 5 Series/S546 2021 QLED
TCL 6 Series/R635 2020 QLED
TCL 6 Series/R646 2021 QLED
TCL 6 Series/R648 2021 8k QLED
TCL R745 QLED
Toshiba C350 Fire TV 2021
Vizio D3 Series 2021
Vizio M Series Quantum X 2022
Vizio M6 Series Quantum 2021
Vizio M6 Series Quantum 2022
Vizio M7 Series Quantum 2021
Vizio OLED 2020
Vizio P Series Quantum 2020
Vizio P Series Quantum 2021
Vizio V Series 2022
Vizio V5 Series 2021

Monitors:
Dell Alienware AW3423DWF
Samsung Odyssey OLED G8/G85SB S34BG85
LG 27GR95QE-B

[GeordiLaForgery]

The monumental effort put into this is commendable. Big respect to rtings.

[phahq]

Even if for nothing else, at least these tests are making Samsung and other brands more aware of issues with OLED technology.
RTINGS rules!

[aquaneon]

What would be interesting is to check the power consumption after the oled goes through a long cycle. In a long cycle, the Resistance increases as burn in occurs, which requires the Voltage to increase by a proportional amount.

[redizrubes]

I have an LG C1 that gets occasional use. A few hours a week. I noticed burn in already- its from the built in LG screen saver- LOL. Oh the irony! After running a pixel clean, I can no longer detect it. Now I just shut the thing off. Lesson learned. Abby is awesome! Great job selling your team's work. You are a natural on camera!

[lamardoss]

I have many Samsung QDOLED computer monitors.... When I asked them about burn-in, of course it isnt under warranty. They also told me burn-in isnt something that i should be worried about since they "havent had that issue on the monitors" I have. I then asked them that since there is no warranty, and that they consider this to be taken care of by them, the manufacturer, would burn-in be handled under a manufacturer Their answer: no.

[dil]

As someone who hates IPS glow on content in pitch black areas, I've been seriously considering a WOLED or QD-OLED monitor to replace my primary. This testing is super helpful and I'm going to wait and see how these panels change considering the new generation TVs and monitors are dropping at CES. Having to worry about image retention makes these a lot less appealing as a workhorse, do-it-all monitor. Thanks for the work your team is doing. It's a huge help for those who like to get the best longevity out of their tech.

[jackw]

If you get burn-in by playing 16x9 content on the 21x9 monitors, wouldn't you also get burn-in by playing 21x9 letterboxed content on 16x9 TVs? Lots of TV shows and movies are letterboxed. Maybe something worth testing in addition to your full-screen CNN loop.

[icy]

I've had my QD-OLED monitor (Alienware AW3423DW) for nearly 2 years and it's still perfect. I use it everyday for several hours for gaming and general computer use including 16:9 content. No image retention at all. I allow the monitor to run its maintenance cycles as intended as well. Perfect monitor for all uses.

[MikeG-cdvb]

I used the s95b as my main computer desktop for 2 years. Max brightness. Pixel shift and auto dim on low. I finally have a light blue burn in on an all white background. It is hard to see. Time to retire it to only movies now. Got a mini led monitor now that the other tech has caught up. Half the price, brighter, great darks. No more annoying pixel shift. Thanks for all your testing. Because of your videos, I ran pixel refresh and enabled burn in reduction modes.

[ler]

The level of work that must have gone into this is insane. So impressive!

[GuyCostigan]

Anyone else binge these videos AFTER buying a tv and wondering " did i screw up?" 😅😂😂

[Beladinland]

This is a masterpiece in QD-OLED topic regarding burn-in

[AluinKali]

Anecdotally I can say that the Dell Alienware AW3423DW holds up pretty well after one year of intense use. It’s a slightly different model then you got on test but the panel is the same. I use it for gaming almost every day but I also work from home. For the last year it’s been in use for 6 to 12 hours on most days. I mainly use the display for coding/working on spreadsheets and I usually have a technical drawing on one half of the screen. So for all intents and purposes there is a big white square on half of the screen. But even when I put on a monochrome background on screen in white grey or any colour I can’t see any signs of burn in. I mainly got this display for Dells 3 year burn in warranty but if the monitor holds up like it does now I probably won’t even need it.

[KeyboardSavant]

This video right here... this is truly exceptional! As an "ultrawide enthusiast" since 2014, OLED panels have been on my radar for a few years now. I've been hesitant as a result of the research in this video, and rightfully so. Although, in a couple of generations, it seems that burn-in may be all but imperceivable. 2025 could be the year I consider making the shift!

[eurly]

For most people permanent burn-in isn't as much of a problem as temporary image retention. My LG B9 is now 5 years old, and when watching netflix, even though I don't leave it on the UI screen for more than a minute, you can see after images of the profile icons / borders of movie artwork for the first 30 seconds or so when starting content depending on the color of the content. These after images aren't SUPER noticeable, but it's worth noting that just like Plasma before it, OLED has significant drawbacks to durabilty compared to LED.

[yosoyloco]

I tried to explain the concept of "burn-in" in OLEDs not being actually burn-in (like in plasma tv's), but wear-out (of lumination power) for over 2 years. Thanks for making a video about it!
I got my knowledge from a very small youtube channel, where he explained the actual tech behind it, why it is technically not a burn-in, how brightness and illumination have an impact on the longevity and how manufacturers do not properly explain the difference between the two sorts of pixel refreshers, which would be very important, as it can have a severe impact on the longevity of your monitor if used incorrectly. I think the guy was german.
My guess on how long pixel refresher work, when remembering correctly, it dims the screen all along while giving extra voltage to "unfixeable areas". This is just working cause all pixels have some sort of a headroom build-in by the manufacturer from the start. This is also the reason why some OLEDs are not able to achieve certain brightness levels. Turns out if your LG-OLED is not "bright enough" in comparison to your Samsung OLED, there is probably more headroom for your LG, which is a good thing. I also remember a serious advice:
*DO NOT use the big/long pixel refresher more than you have to, cause you can lose image quality by uniforming the picture, as you lose brightness and over-charge certain areas, that you don't have to.*

[SillyOrb]

Thanks Abby and RTINGS R&D team! See you in two months for the first yearly update (I hope). :)

[BobBob-qglo]

Dude this is such an incredibly well made video. The sheer effort put into answering vital questions about this technology and analysing their faults unbiasedly is so appreciated.

[pugi]

I had a s95b. Had issues in the first month of having it. The panel failed. Returned it and got the G2 65 as a clearance. My friend sold it to me half price. What an amazing tv. I love it. Way better than LCD to watch.

[CarnivoryHODL]

Been waiting for this!! Thank you for your continued support of the OLED community!