LG C2 - Use for professional work

rv8000 · Jan 17, 2023

I’m currently on the prowl for a new monitor and 4k is the main goal. After reviewing the majority of CES material, it seems consumers are stuck with new UW panels and OLED monitors sub 32”, so the LG C2 is one of the few options that come across as an actual upgrade for my setup. I am also considering mini led 4k panels, but the ViewSonic option is over priced, Acers models are non-existent, and there’s no release/price info for the new ASUS model coming out.

So my main question, to those of you with the C2, do you do any professional work CAD, photoshop, modeling etc… and have you noticed any burn in from this sort of work? Having read some of the post here it seems you can mitigate/prevent burn in with a lot of user side methods (solid backgrounds, auto hide windows UI etc).

I primarily use my pc for gaming, but having to work from home time to time, I have some concerns about using an OLED screen.

Desolutional · Jan 17, 2023

Burn in is a real thing, and is just how OLED works - it is organic so any usage of the OLED pixel will wear it down.

The only thing you can control is how long it takes for burn in to be noticeable, unlike LCD monitors where failure is instant/rapid (e.g. failed backlight, dead pixels due to thermal shock), once you start using an OLED pixel it will slowly get worse and worse; nothing you can do will prevent this process, but you can slow it down.

To slow it down, you can reduce brightness (reduces amount of wear on the OLED pixels, OLED wear occurs much quicker at higher brightness levels), use pixel shifting techniques (these are built into the LG TVs anyway) and run the "pixel refresher", it essentially normalises the pixel wear on the display by manipulating the voltage values, explained further below.

Burn in by its simplest definition is the realisation that certain pixels on your display have worn out quicker than the others, it is not a fault, it is the way OLED technology works. OLED manufacturers "mitigate" this by tracking how long each pixel has been active for, and at what brightness. Once it knows this information it can adjust the voltage of each individual pixel so that at a fixed brightness, each pixel on the display looks the same brightness (measured in lux or lumens). This is possible because the OLED manufacturer programs 100% brightness on the OLED displays to equal less than 100% of that pixel's max voltage, leaving some "spare" voltage to ensure the screen still looks good. This is also why using the manufacturing mode/remote to increase max brightness is not advised, you are going to wear it down faster.

The manufacturers design these displays to prevent burn in during the useful life of the display, e.g. 5 years, at which point user will buy another OLED.

What happens when the voltage is maxed out for some of the pixels? That's when "burn in" starts becoming noticeable, and there is nothing you can do except buy a new OLED display.

As to your query about using it for PC usage, set a screen timeout of 5 minutes and that's all you'll need to worry about, burn in is bad when used as a monitor cause most content is static, and bright (look at the background of this website you're currently using). By setting a timeout of 5 minutes you are going to reduce the amount of time the OLED is stuck wearing itself down.

sultanofswing · Jan 17, 2023

Been using my lg cx as a pc monitor for nearly 3 years, not a single issue with burn in.

rv8000 · Jan 17, 2023

sultanofswing said:
Been using my lg cx as a pc monitor for nearly 3 years, not a single issue with burn in.

Do you use any production/professional software for extended periods (3-4 hours at a time)? Something like AutoCAD for example.

Offler · Jan 17, 2023

I have this:

27-inch UltraGear Gaming Monitor - 27GN950-B | LG USA

Discover the 27-inch UltraGear Gaming Monitor that features Nano IPS Display and G-SYNC® Compatibility. Find reviews, specs, and more for 27GN950-B.

www.lg.com

I really wish to have OLED for deeper black, however my display runs up to 16 hours every day and IPS does not wear off that fast. 27" is slightly larger as I would like to.

Its used as a gaming monitor as well as for photoediting (with calibration sensor). Does manage sRGB as well as HDR10.

airisom2 · Jan 17, 2023

I'm about a year and a half on my C1. HDR always on, 100% brightness. No burn-in. Secondary monitor for icons and such, 1min blank screensaver, black background. I do 80% of my stuff on the C1 as well - web browsing, OS level stuff, some applications, gaming. Lots of static stuff, and I've been pretty lazy when it comes to moving my windows around so it isn't stuck in the same place, but we're talking about maybe 2hrs static before I move stuff around.

I wouldn't recommend having just an oled. I recommend grabbing a secondary lcd montior to offload some tasks and static stuff onto to help it out.

Rakanoth · Jan 18, 2023

I don't know how to call it in academic or professional terms but due to the subpixel layout, there is a slight imperfections in the text rendered in that TV. I guess most other TVs have this issue since they aren't intended for office work. It doesn't bother me so much but if you are a kind of person who gets slightly annoyed at such imperfections, I just want to warn you in advance.

bhav · Jan 18, 2023

I simply paid for 3 year insurance on my C1, whether thats long enough to cover burn in I'm not sure. but the stores offering 5 years insurance were out of stock.

I'll be looking to hopefully trade it in for a 4K 240hz whenever they launch, hopefully within the 3 years my screen is insured for.

Theres a lot of burn in prevention built in, e.g the screen automatically pixel refreshes when turned off - just avoid powering it off from the mains for 30mins or so. They have a pixel shift feature where the image shifts a bit towards another side of the bezel, nothing I've actually noticed but in some games the UI is a tiny bit cut off on one side maybe because of that.

Something that helps is not using any desktop shortcuts, yes even recycle bin on the desktop can be disabled and the accessed through file explorer. When playing static indie / clicker games, move the window around from time to time and such, I also use my browser non full screen and move it a bit as such.

1Kaz · Jan 19, 2023

Desolutional said:
To slow it down, you can reduce brightness (reduces amount of wear on the OLED pixels, OLED wear occurs much quicker at higher brightness levels), use pixel shifting techniques (these are built into the LG TVs anyway) and run the "pixel refresher"

Make sure to read the manual on pixel refresher. We had a user who had burn in extremely quickly because they were running the pixel refresher every night. it's not ment to be used that frequently.

airisom2 · Jan 19, 2023

If you do get insurance for it (highly recommended), make sure to read the fine print to see if it covers burn-in. The majority of them don't.

rv8000 · Jan 23, 2023

Thanks for all the feedback.

I'm still leaning towards a 42" C2 at this point, I might hold off a month or two to see if the 4k mini-led monitors from ASUS and acer see the light (576 zone ones). I don't really see anything but OLED being an upgrade at this point.

Desolutional · Jan 23, 2023

rv8000 said:
Thanks for all the feedback.

I'm still leaning towards a 42" C2 at this point, I might hold off a month or two to see if the 4k mini-led monitors from ASUS and acer see the light (576 zone ones). I don't really see anything but OLED being an upgrade at this point.

OLED will be better than any current gen alternative at this point, as long as you buy it with the knowledge of having to possibly replace it due to burn-in several years down the line; nothing equivalent price can match OLED for image quality.

For reference, graphic designers and photographers avoid OLED due to the risk of burn in causing image unevenness over time, and for good reason. As long as your work doesn't rely upon calibrated reference quality display, then OLED is fine.

LG C2 - Use for professional work

rv8000

Desolutional

sultanofswing

rv8000

Offler

27-inch UltraGear Gaming Monitor - 27GN950-B | LG USA

airisom2

Rakanoth

bhav

1Kaz

airisom2

rv8000

Desolutional

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities