Answer:
Modern OLED displays deliver exceptional image quality thanks to their infinite contrast ratio, vibrant colors, and near-instantaneous response times. Newer models also offer impressive brightness levels.
The main drawback of OLED technology is the risk of burn-in, where static elements can become permanently visible if displayed for prolonged periods. Fortunately, there are several ways to minimize or even prevent this from happening.
The main thing people are worried about when looking at OLED displays is screen burn-in and image retention, but as long as you are careful about how you are using your TV or monitor, you shouldn’t stress about it.
Image Retention vs. Burn-In
OLED burn-in can occur if you leave your display playing the same content with static elements for too long.
This includes logos and news banners of TV channels, but also HUD elements in video games, such as mini-maps, health bars, scoreboards, pause menus, etc.
If you notice that your OLED display is showing these visual artifacts, don’t despair just yet.
It could go away by simply watching something else for a while, in which case you’ve got image retention, not burn-in.
Basically, screen burn-in is permanent image retention.
How To Prevent Image Retention And Burn-In?
If burn-in has already affected your OLED display, then there isn’t much you can do about it unless it’s covered by a warranty.
There are plenty of things you can do to prevent burn-in or image retention from happening in the first place, though.
Modern OLED displays come with many helpful features. Besides screensavers, you will find ‘Screen Move’ or ‘Pixel Shift’ features, which periodically move the image around the screen by a few pixels to lessen the risk of screen burn-in/retention.
On some OLED monitors, the Pixel Shift feature may crop the image as it moves it around the screen. Other monitors will have a bit higher screen resolution than native, so that the image doesn’t get cropped.
Additionally, a feature called ‘Pixel Cleaning/Panel Refresher’ eliminates image retention when used, though the process can take up to several minutes. Some models have the option to run this feature after a certain time automatically.
There are even models with features such as ‘Adjust Logo Brightness’, ‘Taskbar Detection’, ‘Boundary Detection’, etc. that detect bright static elements on the screen and lower their brightness.
Some OLED monitors also feature integrated presence sensors that can greatly help mitigate burn-in and image retention.
Finally, you should avoid using maximum settings for backlight, brightness and contrast. Since OLEDs dim over time, lowering these settings can also extend the display’s lifespan.
Conclusion
As long as you aren’t always watching the same content with fixed static elements over and over for long periods of time and you regularly run the Pixel Refresher (different name depending on the model) feature, there’s nothing to worry about concerning image retention and burn-in.
You should also pick the models that offer the best burn-in warranty in your region.
