Burn-in test

Gray and color fields

On each field, look where something sits still in your day: the taskbar, a clock, a channel logo, a game's map. The 15% gray comes first because RTINGS measured image retention against it. Judge once the controls fade, 2 seconds after your last move. A single dot that keeps one color on every field is a dead or stuck pixel, not burn-in.

Burn-in or image retention

Both leave a faint copy of something that was on screen. By RTINGS's definitions, only burn-in lasts.

• Image retention Temporary: voltage held in the pixels after a static, high-contrast image. Apple says image persistence on iPhone disappears after a few minutes of normal use.
• Burn-in Permanent: pixels worn by a static element until they cannot show other colors properly.

Even strong retention can fade. In RTINGS's long-term test, six Sony OLED TVs and a Vizio showed severe retention after 2 weeks. Compensation cycles and clearing videos removed most of it.

Why OLED burns in

Each OLED pixel makes its own light, while an LCD lights all of them from behind. RTINGS explains that more light output puts more cumulative stress on OLED pixels. So a taskbar or HUD held in place for thousands of hours wears its pixels faster than their neighbors. On an LCD, light at the edges of a dark field is backlight bleed.

Pixel refresh and panel care

• Switch off, stay plugged in OLED TVs run compensation cycles on standby, RTINGS notes. Samsung's OLED monitors run a 10 to 15 minute Screen Optimization when you switch them off after 4 hours of use. Pulling the plug stops it.
• Pixel Refresh, where there is one Samsung's manual cycle for after-images keeps the monitor off for over an hour. Not every model has it. A mark that survives it needs service.
• Less brightness, less stillness Lower brightness should reduce wear, though RTINGS hasn't measured by how much. RTINGS also advises hiding the taskbar now and then and using a screensaver when idle.

How the burn-in test works

Each field is one flat color, full screen, at your screen's own pixel count. The grays are sRGB levels out of 255: 13 for 5%, 38 for 15% and 128 for 50%. We keep them flat because a gradient adds steps of its own, called color banding. RTINGS photographs the same kind of fields in its long-term test: 50% gray and full red, green, blue, cyan, magenta and yellow.

You judge by eye; we measure nothing. Turn off night light, HDR and color modes first, since they change what the fields show. Faint vertical lines on the 5% gray are normal on OLED, according to RTINGS's gray uniformity tests.