Tim from Monitors Unboxed has published his latest results following a 15-month OLED burn-in test, showing little degradation even when using the display exclusively for work. Though still far from LCD’s resilience, this shows that OLEDs have come a long way, especially when paired with proper protection measures.
OLED-based panels are known for their outstanding performance and image quality, making them a prime choice for high-end setups. However, they also suffer from a glaring issue rarely seen on LCD-based alternatives, known as image burn-in. For those unfamiliar, image burn-in or OLED burn-in is a side effect of OLED’s nature where displaying static content for long durations – hundreds of hours – can leave shadow marks of static elements such as channel logos and Windows’ task bar. This constrained OLED and QD-OLED monitors’ to content consumption and gaming in the hope of keeping this issue at bay. However, with the improvement seen in panel technology and the lessons learned by manufacturers, static content may no longer be that big of a deal.
That’s what Tim set out to verify more than a year ago, when he started using an MSI MPG 321URX as his daily work monitor. Today, after 15 months and between 3,400 and 3,800 hours of operation, Tim shared the status of the QD-OLED panel. The good news is that, unless you are actively looking for burn-in traces using dark or monochromatic colours, you probably won’t notice any issues. Even using these methods, the main artifacts are seen where dark and bright static content meet, for example, at the edge of Windows’ task bar or where two side-by-side windows join. To put it simply, even harsh treatment wasn’t enough to leave clear marks.
This is even more impressive considering the YouTube hasn’t taken any special care. No dark modes, no screen saver, and no brightness reduction. The monitor was used exactly as any LCD-based model. Furthermore, the monitor was used continuously for eight or ten hours a day, leaving no time for the recommended four-hour refresh cycles. Instead, MSI’s OLED Care managed to run 413 compensation cycles, which actioned at the end of the day when the monitor enters standby or sleep modes. This automated function tries to maintain equivalent brightness between pixels to prevent image retention and thus delay the appearance of burn-in effects.
That said, over these 15 months, burn-in did progress slightly, even though it’s mainly visible when you look for it using dark backgrounds. Tim estimates that it would take about two years of intense use to start seeing clear burn-in effects, but habit changes like dark modes and full-screen apps may delay that.
Overall, OLED-based displays have improved a lot compared to their early days, and you might well consider them a long-term replacement for LCDs. However, if you like keeping your monitor for five to ten years or more, OLEDs may not be there yet.
