About to buy an LG OLED for PC Gaming, do I need to fret about burn in?

AlanOC91 · Oct 10, 2020

I'm off to buy an LG BX OLED today for my office room. I'll be hooking up my PC to it and swapping between monitor and TV depending on the need.

I've been reading the review on ratings: https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/bx-oled

They do warn about burn in. I'm a bit paranoid now especially considering either my desktop or steam library will be showing statically.

Realistically though from users who purchased and used for PC gaming, how paranoid am I being?

Deleted member 50232 · Oct 10, 2020

You'll be fine as long as you mix up the content and take certain precautions (screen savers) etc.

These new OLED's are pretty bullet proof.

Tetsujin · Oct 10, 2020

I used my LG OLED (B7) as a PC monitor (in addition to movies/gaming etc) for about 3 months, it shows mild signs of burn-in where the desktop icons were. It's non-noticeable during normal content but you can see it when the entire screen displays red or orange colors.

Transistor · Oct 10, 2020

I mean, it's always a worry with OLED displays. However, just take some decent precautions and you'll be fine:

Don't run the display at max brightness for long
Hide taskbar and hud elements when you can
Turn the display off if you walk away from it, even for a few minutes.

I've been using a OnePlus 7 Pro since the phone launched and I did a burn in check the other day and I have zero burn, by taking some of the precautions above.

It's worth mentioning that modern OLED panels have a lot of burn in prevention features

Deleted member 49611 · Oct 10, 2020

yeah. using an OLED with PC is gonna make burn in happen much easier.

i've seen people recommend auto hiding the task bar and F11 browsers. put the brightness/contrast as low as you can.

DongBeetle · Oct 10, 2020

only if you use it exclusively for games

Indy_Rex · Oct 10, 2020

If you're gaming 8+ hours a day on the same game/in desktop/in-browser? It's possible. Make sure to play content on it besides that, and use stuff like pixel refresher and LG's other built-in burn-in mitigation options.

SixelAlexiS · Oct 10, 2020

AlanOC91 said:
I'm off to buy an LG BX OLED today for my office room. I'll be hooking up my PC to it and swapping between monitor and TV depending on the need.

I've been reading the review on ratings: https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/bx-oled

They do warn about burn in. I'm a bit paranoid now especially considering either my desktop or steam library will be showing statically.

Realistically though from users who purchased and used for PC gaming, how paranoid am I being?

are you going to play hundreds of hours with the same game? Then yes, you should be afraid. If you change them then you are ok.

[btw it's about cumulative hours, so it doesn't count if you break them with other games in between]

Deleted member 49611 · Oct 10, 2020

Transistor said:
I mean, it's always a worry with OLED displays. However, just take some decent precautions and you'll be fine:

Don't run the display at max brightness for long
Hide taskbar and hud elements when you can
Turn the display off if you walk away from it, even for a few minutes.

I've been using a OnePlus 7 Pro since the phone launched and I did a burn in check the other day and I have zero burn, by taking some of the precautions above.

you do know phones aren't exactly same as an OLED tv right? different kind of OLED and different use case.

Lost Knight · Oct 10, 2020

Burn in will happen, but it'll take a long time and would be barely noticeable. You'll only get bad burn in if you intentionally tried to get it if you get the gist.

MazeHaze · Oct 10, 2020

Some people get burn in. Some dont. I have a B7 that spent 10,000 hours as my only PC monitor that is burn in free still. If youre worried about it get it from best buy and pick up the 5 year warranty.

Transistor · Oct 10, 2020

WillJoe said:
you do know phones aren't exactly same as an OLED tv right? different kind of OLED and different use case.

Oh, I know, but they're both still very susceptible to burn in.

No_Style · Oct 10, 2020

No. Both HDTVTest and RTings have done fantastic videos covering the topic as well.

Deleted member 49611 · Oct 10, 2020

Transistor said:
Oh, I know, but they're both still very susceptible to burn in.

of course but phones won't burn in as easily as a TV.

AlanOC91 · Oct 10, 2020

Indy_Rex said:
If you're gaming 8+ hours a day on the same game/in desktop/in-browser? It's possible. Make sure to play content on it besides that, and use stuff like pixel refresher and LG's other built-in burn-in mitigation options.

8 hours a day is a long thing of the past for me 😅
I have a 13 month old son with another due in February so I get a couple hours during the week and a few more the weekend.

Don't plan on web browsing or anything on it. Purely games and then using the tv itself for youtube, netflix, etc etc. Regular PC games like Warhammer Total War will still be played on my monitor.

This is mainly for Horizon Zero Dawn, Red Dead Redemption 2, etc etc

leng jai · Oct 10, 2020

WillJoe said:
of course but phones won't burn in as easily as a TV.

Isn't it the other way around? Phone users typically have the same UI elements in hours at a time every day. I don't think I've ever seen someone with with a Samsung phone that doesn't have burn in after 18 months of usage.

Transistor · Oct 10, 2020

WillJoe said:
of course but phones won't burn in as easily as a TV.

Not true at all. Over on the OnePlus forums you see people complaining of burn in mere weeks after having their phone because they spend a ton of time playing PUBG at max brightness and getting the HUD burnt in

GrimGrinningGuy · Oct 10, 2020

SixelAlexiS said:
[btw it's about cumulative hours, so it doesn't count if you break them with other games in between]

oh really? I want an OLED soon but my son plays tons of Minecraft and roblox. I thought havijg The tv on something else between those would "clear it out" like plasma, but it doesn't?

Indy_Rex · Oct 10, 2020

AlanOC91 said:
8 hours a day is a long thing of the past for me 😅
I have a 13 month old son with another due in February so I get a couple hours during the week and a few more the weekend.

Don't plan on web browsing or anything on it. Purely games and then using the tv itself for youtube, netflix, etc etc. Regular PC games like Warhammer Total War will still be played on my monitor.

This is mainly for Horizon Zero Dawn, Red Dead Redemption 2, etc etc

You should be good then! I've had my B7 for almost 3 years now and I have 0 burn-in. It's been main display on PC for 2 years now and I have 0 burn-in. Playing games and watching movies is pretty ideal for limiting burn-in.

SuperBanana · Oct 10, 2020

i've left my OLED on for long ass times sitting idle. Sometimes on bright screens for like 20+ minutes. Not a single bit of burn in. People overblow it waaaay too much.

AYF 001 · Oct 10, 2020

For that exact reason I use an IPS monitor as a secondary screen with all my icons and task bar on it. I also use the IPS for non-gaming uses, so browsers and other programs don't show up on the OLED unless I need the extra space.

sir_crocodile · Oct 10, 2020

20% of era users with an OLED in this thread had burn in:

Does Your OLED Have Burn In?

I’ve seen a recent spike in people getting OLEDs (probably for next gen gaming) and with that people throwing around that burn in is a major problem for OLED. So I just wanted to ask and make a poll of OLED owners to get their experience on the matter. For me personally, I’ve had my LG B8 55...

www.resetera.com

Never bought one myself though.

SixelAlexiS · Oct 10, 2020

GrimGrinningGuy said:
oh really? I want an OLED soon but my son plays tons of Minecraft and roblox. I thought havijg The tv on something else between those would "clear it out" like plasma, but it doesn't?

Nope, it isn't like Plasma so you will end getting retention or, worst case scenario, burn in anyway if you reach a certain number of cumulative hours of the same content. Take a look on sensitive spots where Minecraft hud is placed.

GalvoAg · Oct 10, 2020

No it's overblown, get the OLED it looks better than everything else.

tokkun · Oct 10, 2020

AlanOC91 said:
8 hours a day is a long thing of the past for me 😅
I have a 13 month old son with another due in February so I get a couple hours during the week and a few more the weekend.

Don't plan on web browsing or anything on it. Purely games and then using the tv itself for youtube, netflix, etc etc. Regular PC games like Warhammer Total War will still be played on my monitor.

This is mainly for Horizon Zero Dawn, Red Dead Redemption 2, etc etc

I wouldn't sweat it. I have been using a C9 like this for 18 months and I don't even get temporary image retention.

SuperBanana said:
i've left my OLED on for long ass times sitting idle. Sometimes on bright screens for like 20+ minutes. Not a single bit of burn in. People overblow it waaaay too much.

20 minutes is not going to do anything unless your set is a lemon. The point where I start worrying about burn-in is more like 200 hours, and even that is probably on the cautious side.

PotionBleue · Oct 10, 2020

What's the second best option if not wanting to go for OLED because of burn-in? Samsung QLED models?

GalvoAg · Oct 10, 2020

PotionBleue said:
What's the second best option if not wanting to go for OLED because of burn-in? Samsung QLED models?

TCL 6 Series, don't pay OLED prices for local dimming.

Brhoom · Oct 10, 2020

Quoting EvilBoris

The 444/RGB support on both sets is pretty awful, with a lot of banding vs running in the sets native 422 modes.
The excitement for that support for these TVs and the need for 48gbps is misplaced- I certainly won't be using it.

Pargon · Oct 10, 2020

The larger problem I've seen is that the OLEDs all seem to have bad color banding in PC mode - which is required for RGB/4:4:4 support.

Brhoom · Oct 10, 2020

I use my B7 as a PC monitor, running it at 1080p/120hz

My brightness never goes above 20, sometimes even at zero if my eyes are tired, black background, auto-hide the taskbar, and I regularly switch the icons on the taskbar.

2 years, 1000 hours on a single game, and no burn-in so far. it will happen one day but so far it has not.

Indy_Rex · Oct 10, 2020

GalvoAg said:
TCL 6 Series, don't pay OLED prices for local dimming.

I will second this. TCL's 6 series is such amazing value. I'm still using my 2017 equivalent as the living room TV b/c it was an amazing purchase.

CarpetSalesman · Oct 10, 2020

As mentioned above, it's a cumulative thing, 100 hours of HUD is 100 hours of hud, even if you switch it to something else for 10 mibutes every hour. It really annoys me that more games won't give you control over hud transparency, especially since everyone recommends oled for the best IQ in games now. Fortunately newer OLED panels are better than the old ones. I think LG changed the tech somewhat in the c8 models onwards, but I'm not 100%

I bought insurance with my OLED so I didn't have to worry about it, but I don't think it's as much of a concern as it was even a couple of years ago. I always put logo dimming set to max, but that's as far as I go with it.

dgrdsv · Oct 10, 2020

Brhoom said:
Quoting EvilBoris

How can chroma subsampling be "native"?

Transistor · Oct 10, 2020

Pargon said:
The larger problem I've seen is that the OLEDs all seem to have bad color banding in PC mode - which is required for RGB/4:4:4 support.

Isn't that being fixed in a new firmware update, along with the GSync issue?

Brhoom · Oct 10, 2020

dgrdsv said:
How can chroma subsampling be "native"?

I honestly have zero knowledge on the subject and just wanted to share what he said

EvilBoris · Oct 10, 2020

dgrdsv said:
How can chroma subsampling be "native"?

Every bit of image processing in that tv will revolve around the colour science of 420/422 signals, as that is how all video content is encoded.

EvilBoris · Oct 10, 2020

Transistor said:
Isn't that being fixed in a new firmware update, along with the GSync issue?

I have the new firmware (this is with it) We've tested before and after with mixed results.

NoWayOut · Oct 10, 2020

This again... I said it many times, OLED burn-in is way over exaggerated. RTings and other reputable sites tested it extensively. Vincent Teoh just talked about it the other day:

Just use it normally, and you will be fine. That's all there is to say.

brain_stew · Oct 10, 2020

AlanOC91 said:
I'm off to buy an LG BX OLED today for my office room. I'll be hooking up my PC to it and swapping between monitor and TV depending on the need.

I've been reading the review on ratings: https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/bx-oled

They do warn about burn in. I'm a bit paranoid now especially considering either my desktop or steam library will be showing statically.

Realistically though from users who purchased and used for PC gaming, how paranoid am I being?

You should definitely be taking precautions for PC use.

Make sure all of the burn in protection facilities are switched on.
Never switch the TV off at the wall, make sure it's left on standby as that's when the compensation cycles are run.
Set your Windows background to a plain black background.
Set the taskbar to auto-hide.

Enjoy the best PC gaming display on the market. :-).

laxu · Oct 10, 2020

I've been using my LG CX 48" as a desktop monitor with automatic static brightness limiter disabled for 8+ hours a day for several months now. Zero burn in. Will this be the case 2 years from now? Who knows.

I do several burn-in avoidance tactics:

Autohide Windows taskbar and MacOS topbar/dock.
Black solid color wallpaper. Looks like my windows are floating in space as the borders of the panel and the display blend in.
Use dark mode where available.
Run low OLED light setting in SDR mode (I use 30-40).
Alternatively just run in HDR mode with Windows SDR brightness slider set to 10% or less. This matches SDR brightness. I use 7% which on my display measures as about 120 nits.
Turn the TV or just its screen off if I take a longer break.
Keep the TV connected to power when turned off so it can run its pixel compensation cycle.

Overall I just use the display like I would any monitor. Maybe don't get one if you plan to show Excel spreadsheets on it for hours on end every day. My usage has terminals, browsers, IDEs etc software development tools open on it.

GrimGrinningGuy · Oct 10, 2020

SixelAlexiS said:
Nope, it isn't like Plasma so you will end getting retention or, worst case scenario, burn in anyway if you reach a certain number of cumulative hours of the same content. Take a look on sensitive spots where Minecraft hud is placed.

Oh dang I had no idea blaaaaah

PeterVenkman · Oct 10, 2020

I use my B6 as a monitor and have a fuckton of burn in; it's already been replaced once. It's an issue that shows up over time, and it's completely soured me on the tech.

dgrdsv · Oct 10, 2020

EvilBoris said:
Every bit of image processing in that tv will revolve around the colour science of 420/422 signals, as that is how all video content is encoded.

Shouldn't you turn off any image processing for gaming anyway?
I don't understand your point really. The matrix itself can't be "422 native" - or can it? The rest may somehow account for 422 while doing processing but your should disable such processing anyway in gaming.

EvilBoris · Oct 10, 2020

dgrdsv said:
Shouldn't you turn off any image processing for gaming anyway?
I don't understand your point really. The matrix itself can't be "422 native" - or can it? The rest may somehow account for 422 while doing processing but your should disable such processing anyway in gaming.

It's not like the days of CRT where we could just send an input and get and output that we could tweak with some dials and pots.

LG Display and LG electronics for example don't cross over so much when a new TV is created, so LG OLEDS have a bunch of hardware/firmware that means they are essentially Gamma 2.2 native.
Now consider that all production video content is gamma 2.4 and HDR isn't gamma, you immediately have some electronics and processing happening on the LG Electronics side to offset the LG Display hardware.
There is always some kind of processing happens with a digital signal - YCC to RGB, RGB to RGBW, managing near black artifacts to name a few.
That's before looking at the LUTS and CMS systems that drive the final image - and that is assuming that the user is even choosing to display an image with as little deviation from the panel's native capabilities.

TraderPoe · Oct 10, 2020

WillJoe said:
yeah. using an OLED with PC is gonna make burn in happen much easier.

i've seen people recommend auto hiding the task bar and F11 browsers. put the brightness/contrast as low as you can.

Turn it down in general or just when using the desktop ui? What about for gaming? Also what's ff11?

MazeHaze said:
Some people get burn in. Some dont. I have a B7 that spent 10,000 hours as my only PC monitor that is burn in free still. If youre worried about it get it from best buy and pick up the 5 year warranty.

Yup, do the warranty

AlanOC91 · Oct 10, 2020

Thanks for the tips guys! Just got it set up a while ago.

Really really nice TV!

And it has 120hz! Wow didn't know that before buying.

Have to buy a HDMI 2.1 cable though as my current cable is running out of bandwidth and can't accommodate 4k 120hz on my 3090.

Gonna play some games on it soon but I'm going to try my best to be as careful as I can with it. I live in Ireland so no best buy warranty. There is a manufacturer warranty I can sign up for that I am going to do ASAP!

Kain-Nosgoth · Oct 10, 2020

WillJoe said:
yeah. using an OLED with PC is gonna make burn in happen much easier.

i've seen people recommend auto hiding the task bar and F11 browsers. put the brightness/contrast as low as you can.

yeah that was my mistake, by screen is full of burn-in... as well as discord icons... i need to try that LG replacement that everyone was talking about in an other thread, even without warranty

Deleted member 9330 · Oct 10, 2020

Pure black wallpaper
No desktop icons
Auto-hide taskbar

About to buy an LG OLED for PC Gaming, do I need to fret about burn in?

Owner of YGOPRODeck.com

User requested account closure

Unshakable Resolve

Hollowly Brittle

Deleted member 49611

Deleted member 49611

Hollowly Brittle

Deleted member 49611

Owner of YGOPRODeck.com

Hollowly Brittle

Hollowly Brittle

Prophet of Truth - HDTVtest

Prophet of Truth - HDTVtest

Prophet of Truth - HDTVtest

Owner of YGOPRODeck.com

User requested account closure