Burn-in is the one big worry with OLED monitors. But evidence that it shouldn't be a dealer breaker for gamers is approaching critical mass thanks to another long-term assessment released today.

YouTube channel Optimum has been using a 32-inch 4K LG WOLED monitor for around 3,000 hours over two years and has found only minor burn-in. This is a particularly handy metric given that one of the best known existing trackers of OLED burn-in by Monitors Unboxed has been based on a monitor with a Samsung QD-OLED panel. Now we have something similar for LG WOLED.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 52 points 9 months ago (12 children)

I’d have to see it for myself but “minor” burn in after only 2 years doesn’t sound acceptable at all

  • source
  • hideshow 12 child comments
  • [–] 21 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    I agree, my monitors have 10+ years and it’s now at a point to be a good value. 2 years is nothing.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 23 points 9 months ago

    Let’s be generous and say it actually takes 4-5 years for noticeable burn in

    Maybe I’m looking at the wrong model but this appears to be a $1400 monitor lol

    That’s an absolutely insane value degradation but I suppose the target market are simply rich people and legitimate screen addicts

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    I have outright tortured my screen for the last 2 years and "minor" literally means it can only be seen at 0% brightness on a flat grey screen, and only if you know where it is already. If you go up even a single notch on the brightness it disappears completely.

    You will get 10+ years out of them easily, just run the brightness at 25-50% instead of full blast all day.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    I have a Gigabyte AO48U and one of the common complaints about it is that it auto-dims when a white background is on but I absolutely love this feature because fuck white backgrounds to death.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 0 points 9 months ago

    Sounds like you won’t get close to 10 years if after 2 the burn in starts

    And I gotta keep my brightness down all day too just to be safe?

    Lmao that’s simply why I’m not buying one 🤷‍♀️

    Thousand+ dollar monitors degrading after a few years of normal use and that’s somehow acceptable to people…maybe when I’m rich lol

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    You should watch the video. "Minor" is an overstatement. It's completely invisible in normal use, and only barely visible if you put on a blank blue or grey background and squint really hard.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago* (2 children)

    I dunno I’ve noticed blooming and other effects normally described as invisible or hard to see

    Sometimes sure it’s either extremely rare or hardly noticeable but it’s still often a near constant enough annoyance

    And what happens after 2 more years?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Are you using the same monitor? Blooming is not an affect of burn-in. If you want to know, watch the video. If you don't, don't. I don't care.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    No not for this monitor that was just an example of something recent I’ve seen on other monitors where people say the effects were not noticeable but they were to me and especially if the panel was dark

    Ive noticed slight oled burn in on other peoples devices but I think it’s mostly them going blind to it because it’s part of their default setup so they’re extra unlikely to notice

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    And 3000 hours is 10 hours a day of on time for 300 days...how long are people using their monitors to stretch it to 2 years? I use my PCs and monitors for work, which is usually 7-8 hours a day, if I game later, then add another hour or two. That means burn in for normal use is in under a year.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment