QD-OLED Burn-In | Should You Worry?

QD-OLED burn-in has become a concern for many who may be considering a new QD-OLED TV. But should QD-OLED burn-in potential really be cause for alarm? In part 2. of our OLED screen burn-in video series, we talk about why this new OLED TV technology is susceptible to burn-in, how to avoid it, and whether you should really be worried about QD-OLED burn-in when decided whether to buy a QD-OLED TV like the Samsung S95C, Samsung S90C, or Sony A95L.

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00:00 Intro
01:23 Reasonable Use & Expectations
04:17 QD-OLED Display Tech
06:10 Accelerated Testing
08:42 Average Use
10:20 Final Thoughts

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[KennerMarqueti]

Expecting electronics to work for decades is not unreasonable. I have tvs that are more than 10 years old and a CRT monitor that is almost 30 and they all work perfectly. Apart from needing to recap stuff that is either made with crap capacitors or with horrendous heat dissipation electronics should last A LOT, we should not normalize having to buy stuff every few years because of any reasons.

[michaelratcliffe]

I don’t own a QD OLED - so I’m not weighing in on that but I do want to weigh in on hours of use. I’m retired and my TV is on 7 days a week from 6:30am almost continuously until 9pm. I use my tv as background noise like many people have their radio or streaming music source on all day. So 9 hours of use seems reasonable to me for many people. I also note I have 4K Hisense QD ULed Tv that pops up a screen saver after a minute on pause and later “go to sleep” if I don’t go back to live programming and I don’t watch much live news weather or sports or game where there are one or more static elements. But I can see how people who do watch this type of programming and/or enjoy gaming could have their TV’s on for 9 hours a day much of it with static elements potentially causing burn in. A lot of young, middle aged and elderly folks live alone and their TV is on a lot - filling the void.

[Alex-cgxi]

9 hours is super reasonable considering a lot of people leave their tvs on for their pets for example as they go to work, weekend watching and the occasional forgetting to turn off before heading to work

[furiousseptim]

All due respect, I do think you underestimate how much the average person uses their main TV. 42" LG C2 OLEDs also seem to be pretty popular to use as high-end computer monitors nowadays and the amount of hours clocked on those is going to be astronomical.

On a related note, a relative was visiting recently and they watched shows from different networks on HULU. All of them had the network logo in the bottom corner throughout the entirety of the commercial-less episodes. Even outside of sports and the news, lots of programming has static logos. My typical use case for my 65" C2 OLED is moderate gaming sessions (2-4 hours at a clip, maybe 3 times per week, not always with the same UI) and movie watching. I feel like as long as I'm conscious about not abusing the panel by leaving static logos or UI elements on screen for hours and hours repeatedly, I should be fine. Still loving the C2 OLED.

Thanks for all you do and for weighing in on such a sensitive issue among OLED owners.

[twosawyers]

9 hours is definitely reasonable. My job has 60” LED LCD screens displaying data 24 hours a day. Some of these screens has been running for 10 years or more straight. ZERO burnin issues and screen brightness is identical.

[paskowitz]

I'm so very sorry if you spend over 2 hours a day watching CNN or Fox News (or MSNBC). That sounds like absolute agony.

[soonercubg]

Hello Caleb, thanks for another great video. But I've gotta say that nine hours straight on occasion is not unreasonable. Lots of people do that on football Saturdays and Sundays, and I know of folks who keep the TV on all day -- sometimes on news stations -- for the noise.

[Mageoftheyear]

Caleb, you have one of the most natural deliveries of narration of any presenter in tech.
No repetition of tone, no overuse of inflection, a relaxed pace without wasting my time. I don't know if it's a gift, practice or you're GPT9 - but I consider you to be the Sir David Attenborough of tech.

[shadir]

You’re surprised people work from home and leave TVs on for longer than 4 hours a day? You have kids that want to watch their cartoons, people putting on shows to play in the background for noise while we work. Then there are the people that are watching news all day in the background, so all of this makes a lot of sense.

[docuzzie]

I think 9 hours is reasonable. My wife will turn on the TV on a weekend and play it for the entire day. In that scenario, she'll often pause the television when friends call, or if she goes shopping. In this instance, LED or LCD is what I'll put in the room where she watches most often,

[curtismariani]

9hrs of continuous use is possible in my household. Some wet weekend and some days during the school holiday for example. My youngest could be watch his programmes from 6am, switching to gaming in the mid morning. My eldest could then take over the tv from anytime after lunch and my wife could watch a programme or 2 in the late afternoon. So it happens. We’ve had an LGC8 for about 5 years with no burn in issues but we did have a stuck pixel which meant a panels replacement after the fist year. We also vary the content. We now have a G2 so hoping for similar trouble free viewing.

[tototronic]

Hi Caleb! I really enjoy your videos. I know that this is a very sensitive topic for many people, and your measured criticism reflects this. I agree with all of your cautionary advice for Oled users.
One thing that I've always found to be true about TV manufacturers...If you want to know the truth about a TV, just wait a year. The manufacturer will spill the beans about the old model when promoting how much better the new one is! The following quote is from Samsung regarding the increased durability of the new 2023 models:
"Our 2023 model is built to last. It’s now twice as durable as our award-winning QD-OLED displays from last year. "
Read into this what you will. But it says to me that Samsung knows that the 2022 QD-OLED TVs have durability issues directly relating to the burn-in problem reported by many. I guess the 2022 wasn't "Built to last" if they list it as an improvement on this year's TV!

[skullz]

My S95B is on 24/7 on my weeks off, and when i'm working for the week it is on from the time i get home till i leave in the morning. After a year of ownership i have clocked 6642 hours on it with no issues at all at this time.

[rickmanning]

Caleb I am a subscriber and for the most part like your video. However I have done a ton of research into Burn In on OLED TV's. I purchased an LG OLED in 2019, and I got burned. It was a very expensive TV and I bought insurance and neither the Manufacturer nor the insurance help on the subject of burn in. Watching you videos I was leed to believe burn in is a bygoen era problem and new TVs dont have that problem any more. Ah but they do very much still have burn in problems. I was nearly going to purchase a new OLED feeling better about burn in after watching you video. SO I went to Best Buys and it was a slow night so I had alot of time to talk to their rep. The Long and short of the visit, he had two LG Oleds running different sizes. And lo and behold they both had burn in problems One TV was a little older than a year the other was seven months old, they both had burn in and there was no static image rather what can almost be discribed as screen save images. So I cal BS on you and Digital Trends. Tell the people the truth!

[MichaelsHomeCooking]

My tv is on from 7AM to 9 or 10PM most every single day. I am retired. I do watch the over the air news and television along with streamed content. I like my U6H tv but someday will get a better one and a 65" one instead of 55" what I have now. I enjoy your content very much.

[stephanieherman]

So OLED takes more energy, wears out earlier, suffers from burn in and is generally a lot less bright. still somehow it is better than everything we ever had?

[robertwilliam]

For households with kids, 8 hours a day can be a good start point tbh

[GregoryCunningham]

Caleb, please please please prioritize what’s best for the customer. I hate seeing good people fall for the trap of running PR for Billion dollar companies.

[sweetlows]

I was trying to come up with another analogy. Maybe thinking about the "organic" part of OLED in the same way people are. If you apply that to say repettitve stress injuries, doing the same thing over and over for hours a day is going to cause more wear and tear and can create a lasting issue. OLEDs like people need breaks and varying activities to even things out and give those overworked areas a break to recover.

[LAAM]

If you're watching CNN or FOX news for hours each day, you have bigger problems than burn-in on your tv lol.