C2 OLED as monitor precautions?

[tabascosauz]

Been looking at big screens, there's a local deal on a LG C2 I might go and check out tomorrow.

Any owners of LG OLEDs have any precautionary practices they can share? I'm aware of the benefits of WOLED over QD-OLED but it's OLED just the same and part of me is still anxious.

The stiffest competition is the QN90B/C, both of which are at $1300cad. Which would remove the OLED anxiety aspect completely. The C2 deal is $1200 but it's a clearance one so I have to think long and hard about it and make sure the unit is perfect.

 

[nguyen]

I have 9000h screen on on my CX and there are very light image retention (only noticeable with white background) on the right side where I use Sidebar Diagnostic.

I have screen brightness at 40%, which is bright enough for me, with the C2 you can keep brightness level even lower and there would be no risk for image retention.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I use translucent toolbar and and all black screensaver otherwise you should be golden for a very long time unless you are watching stuff like foxnews on your pc constantly. Your gpu might have a hard time driving it my 3080ti struggled in most games at 4k even with DLSS.

I still recommend a secondary monitor for productivity but of all the oleds I would trust LG the most for long term use even though I own both types.

Personally I like the picture quality of oled a lot more than mini led.... I have to turn off local diming on a va to even stomach one for desktop use and at that point what is the point. If you are doing 70%+ media consumption I'd stick with oled if you want a single display and do a lot of productivity I'd stick with an ips monitor.

 

[R-T-B]

All black screen saver is less effective than some kind of long photo slideshow of varied content for consistent wear leveling IMO. That's my sole mitigation, screenshots folder is set to a rapid switch photo screensaver.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

All black screen saver is less effective than some kind of long photo slideshow of varied content for consistent wear leveling IMO. That's my sole mitigation, screenshots folder is set to a rapid switch photo screensaver.

I do both, technically although mine is animated and just constantly moves around the screen after 15m at desktop.

I said screensaver but meant black desktop backround, no shortcuts

 

[tabascosauz]

I have 9000h screen on on my CX and there are very light image retention (only noticeable with white background) on the right side where I use Sidebar Diagnostic.

Shucks. I might need a lot of brightness on the C2, my room is very bright during the day (helps me work).

I use translucent toolbar and and all black screensaver otherwise you should be golden for a very long time unless you are watching stuff like foxnews on your pc constantly. Your gpu might have a hard time driving it my 3080ti struggled in most games at 4k even with DLSS.

I still recommend a secondary monitor for productivity but of all the oleds I would trust LG the most for long term use even though I own both types.

Personally I like the picture quality of oled a lot more than mini led.... I have to turn off local diming on a va to even stomach one for desktop use and at that point what is the point. If you are doing 70%+ media consumption I'd stick with oled if you want a single display and do a lot of productivity I'd stick with an ips monitor.

I'm not huge on the latest AAA games so it's mainly just DCS, where we got DLSS last year and I'm fine with dips down to 60fps.

The whole thing about needing another monitor is what gets me - I can't dedicate even more desk space to the side for that (42/43" alone would take up nearly the entirety of my main desk). There is a second monitor stacked above (which is where the M32Q will end up going), but I can't use that for main productivity purposes.

I like everything about the C2/C3 except the long term burn-in risk (more accurately, the pain in the ass having to constantly change my habits to avoid image retention) and low brightness.
I am not big on the $100 more expensive QN90C (43" and 50" are VA rebrands from last gen so VA problems, 50"+ are now IPS so IPS problems), but I don't have to change my habits.
X90K/X90L isn't even available in my size (55" way too big, numerous problems).

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Shucks. I might need a lot of brightness on the C2, my room is very bright during the day (helps me work).



I'm not huge on the latest AAA games so it's mainly just DCS, where we got DLSS last year and I'm fine with dips down to 60fps.

The whole thing about needing another monitor is what gets me - I can't dedicate even more desk space to the side for that (42/43" alone would take up nearly the entirety of my main desk). There is a second monitor stacked above (which is where the M32Q will end up going), but I can't use that for main productivity purposes.

I like everything about the C2/C3 except the long term burn-in risk (more accurately, the pain in the ass having to constantly change my habits to avoid image retention) and low brightness.
I am not big on the $100 more expensive QN90C (43" and 50" are VA rebrands from last gen so VA problems, 50"+ are now IPS so IPS problems), but I don't have to change my habits.
X90K/X90L isn't even available in my size (55" way too big, numerous problems).

I'd only pull the trigger on this with a good return policy, I love all my oleds and have used them all in up to moderately lit rooms connected to a pc without issue but everyone has different tolerances...

I'm also not overly concerned with longevity mostly due to my use case and having secondary monitors but also because LG has gotten crazy good at mitigating it. I'd be slightly more concerned with a QDOLED even though color is a bit better.

I could also easily replace them if needed so that's a big factor as well and they all have 4-5 year warranty purchased through the retailer.

 

[tabascosauz]

I'd only pull the trigger on this with a good return policy, I love all my oleds and have used them all in up to moderately lit rooms connected to a pc without issue but everyone has different tolerances...

I'm also not overly concerned with longevity mostly due to my use case and having secondary monitors but also because LG has gotten crazy good at mitigating it. I'd be slightly more concerned with a QDOLED even though color is a bit better.

I could also easily replace them if needed so that's a big factor as well and they all have 4-5 year warranty purchased through the retailer.

Holy crap! 5 year warranty? I don't think Visions even offers that. They do have a free extension to 2 years for all TVs but it doesn't mean all that much (better than 1 ig). The good return policy would probably only apply to the QN90C as a regular sale product, but Visions is okay on customer service - my short-lived Zenbook S13 OLED was from them as a clearance item (also apparently open box) but not advertised as such, they didn't give me any problems for returning that one.

The more I read, the more demoralized I am. There are just no good choices, apparently. People shit on the new QN90C IPS which I honestly wouldn't mind, but I can't because the 43" size is VA.

DCS is the only real driver behind this desire for a bigger screen, so maybe I'll just wait for a sale on a Quest 3. I got a decent draw on the panel lottery with both M32Q and S2721DGF, don't really wanna let go of either.

 

[XpanD]

Auto-hide your taskbar (or put it on that second monitor), pull up a black screen/background if you have to step out for a bit, and use a browser that has a good full-screen (F11) mode like Firefox. (where you can just mouse to the top edge to pop up the tab/address bars when you need them -- more screen real estate, too!)

High brightness is a concern, but if you can minimize unnecessary static content that should also minimize the damage. I've just exceeded 15k hours on my Panasonic OLED with a 2018 panel, and other than a few barely-noticeable dead pixels it's still great. (though only run at ~10% brightness for most of its life, ymmv)

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Holy crap! 5 year warranty? I don't think Visions even offers that. They do have a free extension to 2 years for all TVs but it doesn't mean all that much (better than 1 ig). The good return policy would probably only apply to the QN90C as a regular sale product, but Visions is okay on customer service - my short-lived Zenbook S13 OLED was from them as a clearance item (also apparently open box) but not advertised as such, they didn't give me any problems for returning that one.

The more I read, the more demoralized I am. There are just no good choices, apparently. People shit on the new QN90C IPS which I honestly wouldn't mind, but I can't because the 43" size is VA.

DCS is the only real driver behind this desire for a bigger screen, so maybe I'll just wait for a sale on a Quest 3. I got a decent draw on the panel lottery with both M32Q and S2721DGF, don't really wanna let go of either.

Either of those would make great secondary monitors and even if the C2 ended up as just a television in your household you wouldn't regret it they are amazing TVs. Small sample size but 3 of my buddies that are into pc gaming came over and seen my C1 setup purchased an OLED shortly after and the ones who didn't couldn't justify the cost was the only reason they didn't.

 

[tabascosauz]

Either of those would make great secondary monitors and even if the C2 ended up as just a television in your household you wouldn't regret it they are amazing TVs. Small sample size but 3 of my buddies that are into pc gaming came over and seen my C1 setup purchased an OLED shortly after and the ones who didn't couldn't justify the cost was the only reason they didn't.

I think I'll head down there tomorrow and see what it looks like if possible, and ask about returns. Maybe C3 would be similar overall? That's more likely what they'll have on display.

What I could do is rearrange my desks a bit to have a separate screen setup to the side for productivity.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I think I'll head down there tomorrow and see what it looks like if possible, and ask about returns. Maybe C3 would be similar overall? That's more likely what they'll have on display.

What I could do is rearrange my desks a bit to have a separate screen setup to the side for productivity.

The C3 is a bit brighter for highlights I believe.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Went all-in for a G3 to use as a monitor about 4 months ago. It has 482 hours of screen-on time by now, so not even a quarter of the way through the 2000-hour scheduled pixel refresh. I've been playing a lot of Genshin Impact on it (UID in bright white on-screen in the same place), what I do is basically:

- I don't leave the TV on when I'm not in front of it
- I avoid leaving the same thing displaying on it for too long (alt tab from game for a few minutes every couple of hours I've been playing, etc.)
- I do not use a very high brightness setting, in fact, it's in the absolute lowest (OLED pixel brightness at 0) until I wanna play some HDR flashbang (and this is what the G3 really excels at over the lower end C3 and B3 models due to the much higher quality and heatsinked MLA panel)
- Leave a black screensaver on just in case I forget since PC GPUs haven't figured HDMI CEC out yet

There hasn't been even the faintest sign of image retention on my panel yet. None whatsoever.

I think I'll head down there tomorrow and see what it looks like if possible, and ask about returns. Maybe C3 would be similar overall? That's more likely what they'll have on display.

What I could do is rearrange my desks a bit to have a separate screen setup to the side for productivity.

Wait for the C4... or maybe even the B4, they're coming soon and have already been shown at CES. The B4 gets 4 HDMI 2.1 ports and 120Hz this time around. C4 will get 144 Hz but no MLA or α11 SoC, which are reserved for the G4 only

 

[tabascosauz]

Went all-in for a G3 to use as a monitor about 4 months ago. It has 482 hours of screen-on time by now, so not even a quarter of the way through the 2000-hour scheduled pixel refresh.

Not worried about effects within 24 months - I have complete confidence in LG's proven effective mitigations (that clearly work better than what Samsung or Sony are doing). It's more what will happen in the 2-5 year period; I keep my monitors for a long time.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Not worried about effects within 24 months - I have complete confidence in LG's proven effective mitigations (that clearly work better than what Samsung or Sony are doing). It's more what will happen in the 2-5 year period; I keep my monitors for a long time.

Mmm, still unsure myself of the very-long-term viability of OLED, accelerated tests pretty much invariably show that they will fail eventually, but it's gotten to a range where i'm comfortable with it - if it lasts 5 years flawless and years 6-7+ I begin getting some noticeable image retention, I'm cool with that. I only plan on replacing this G3 by 2030, or if I move out into a new home with my - hopefully by that time, Mrs.

 

[nguyen]

Not worried about effects within 24 months - I have complete confidence in LG's proven effective mitigations (that clearly work better than what Samsung or Sony are doing). It's more what will happen in the 2-5 year period; I keep my monitors for a long time.

I believe the EVO panels on the C2 are enough to not worry about image retention for a long time, there is no need to wait for another break through...

 

[Massdeth]

I had a Sony A855 that died at the 13 month mark. After a bunch of begging and pleading and being nice i got them to do a one time warranty exchange for me, thankfully, and sold it asap. Never again! OLED is beautiful, Sony makes historically great tv and monitors, i had their CRT Trinitron TV's also, BUT OLED is NOT ready for the public. The tech is half-baked at best and it WILL fail in 2 years, DEF 3 years..... imo of course. I really want to like OLED and own another one, but people told me exactly what im saying now, and i of course didnt listen. Thankfully, i only lost a few hundred instead of thousands. Good luck to you in your endeavor either way though, @tabascosauz.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I had a Sony A855 that died at the 13 month mark. After a bunch of begging and pleading and being nice i got them to do a one time warranty exchange for me, thankfully, and sold it asap. Never again! OLED is beautiful, Sony makes historically great tv and monitors, i had their CRT Trinitron TV's also, BUT OLED is NOT ready for the public. The tech is half-baked at best and it WILL fail in 2 years, DEF 3 years..... imo of course. I really want to like OLED and own another one, but people told me exactly what im saying now, and i of course didnt listen. Thankfully, i only lost a few hundred instead of thousands. Good luck to you in your endeavor either way though, @tabascosauz.

OLED has been ready for the public for 10 years if not more than that. I've had traditional LCD TVs fail on me as well. You just got unlucky. While it may be true an OLED panel won't be the same in 10 years, LCDs also have their own share of failures over time. Backlights go uneven, for example. Time always erodes and decays. The difference is just how it manifests and how annoying that is, and image retention sucks toes.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Any owners of LG OLEDs have any precautionary practices they can share?

Yes.

Be prepared to be awestruck and of becoming a deep rooted couch potato! Seriously!

I bought my 55" LG 4K UHD OLED TV seven years ago. The first time I fired it up, I was amazed at how much better the picture was compared to the 55", highly rated, Samsung LED TV it was replacing. This TV in on at least 6 hours every day.

Even over these last holidays, while watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy in 4K, my guests repeatedly commented on how clear and crisp the "Middle Earth", the orcs, and essentially everything else looked.

You don't have to do anything in terms of precautionary practices. There are utilities built into the set that automatically perform the necessary tasks to keep the image quality optimized. For example, LG's Pixel Refresh utility runs automatically. How often depends on how you use the set. On some sets, you can also run it manually. Pixel Refresh recalibrates the individual pixels mitigating the risk of image retention and burn-in.

Does it work? All I can say is on my LG, even after 7 years (~15,000 hours), I see no evidence of any burn in, image retention or fading of blue.

I have to assume in the last 7 years, OLED technologies, if nothing else, have got better and better. Without hesitation, my next TV will be an LG OLED.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Yes.

Be prepared to be awestruck and of becoming a deep rooted couch potato! Seriously!

I bought my 55" LG 4K UHD OLED TV seven years ago. The first time I fired it up, I was amazed at how much better the picture was compared to the 55", highly rated, Samsung LED TV it was replacing. This TV in on at least 6 hours every day.

Even over these last holidays, while watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy in 4K, my guests repeatedly commented on how clear and crisp the "Middle Earth", the orcs, and essentially everything else looked.

You don't have to do anything in terms of precautionary practices. There are utilities built into the set that automatically perform the necessary tasks to keep the image quality optimized. For example, LG's Pixel Refresh utility runs automatically. How often depends on how you use the set. On some sets, you can also run it manually. Pixel Refresh recalibrates the individual pixels mitigating the risk of image retention and burn-in.

Does it work? All I can say is on my LG, even after 7 years (~15,000 hours), I see no evidence of any burn in, image retention or fading of blue.

I have to assume in the last 7 years, OLED technologies, if nothing else, have got better and better. Without hesitation, my next TV will be an LG OLED.

Dang, you're on the C7... have you had the chance to look at the modern G series? They'll blow you away man. I agree, they'll leave you spoiled rotten

 

[phanbuey]

the new batch of OLEDs is a week or two out from release. I would wait for the 4k 240hz 1440P 480hz dual switch oleds.

dell is coming out with a 32" model that looks awesome.

 

[Bill_Bright]

have you had the chance to look at the modern G series?

No. I'm afraid to see them so I avoid walking anywhere near the TV department of Best Buy or NFM. I am afraid if I do see one, I'll come home and be disappointed with this one, then have to retire this perfectly good LG to the basement den to make room for the new G. Then I'll have to figure out what to do with the still running old Samsung in the basement den now.

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

I bought a Philips 55" OLED TV for my main living room and was blown away by it.. so much so that it was somewhat difficult to go back onto my desktop rig with an LG 32" Nano bright display! yuck.... Quickly went out and replace that with the LG C2 42" "non EVO" model and again.. blown away!

I use it every day and have no issues with burn in. The display auto dims after no mouse movements or changing from tab to tab on a browser. This is a brilliant feature.

Also the TV itself will turn screensaver on also so.. I cannot see how there would ever been an issue with burn in unless you are obviously playing the same game over and over and over again which I usually do not do.

NEVER going back to anything less than OLED.

 

[Bill_Bright]

When it comes to computer monitors, 24" is the ideal size for me. I don't want bigger or smaller. Yet when it comes to OLED computer monitors, it seems you can find 13" up to 22", then it jumps to 27" and larger. I wonder why?

 

[the54thvoid]

I've literally just ordered a 55" C3 to replace a 6 year old B6. UK, so it comes with a 5 year guarantee.

I did a shit tonne of research into reviews, and the C3 is only slightly superior to the C2. I think Dolby DTS pass through is one feature.

My B6 does have burn in, but it's negligible. What it has instead, is heat damage from PCB components that have left a green tint in a '+' shape across the full display. Not really noticeable unless I'm watching something with yellow a background.

My worry with an OLED as a monitor is the prevalence of static features like the taskbar. Do as suggested above to minimise that, and you'll be good.

Mind you, I'd not but an OLED as a monitor on a personal basis. But if you use it for multimedia, then yeah, seems a good choice.