Katarzyna Petru
OLED has been under scrutiny for years due to the risk of burn-in, but the latest three-year test conducted by Rtings shows something completely different. Over the long term, it's the OLED televisions that have proven to be the most reliable, clearly outperforming classic LCDs.
Rtings tested as many as 102 televisions, which operated for 18,000 hours under extreme conditions - non-stop, at maximum brightness, displaying the same 24-hour news channel with an unchanging news ticker at the bottom of the screen. The aim was to see how different technologies cope with prolonged strain and static image elements.
Results? Brutal
Out of the entire group, 20 televisions completely refused to cooperate, and another 24 were in a critical condition - the picture was barely watchable. Interestingly, all models survived the first 10,000 hours without major issues, which corresponds to around three years of use at eight hours a day.
LCD has its own problems
Although OLED burn-in was noticeable in some cases, most issues were related to LED-backlit LCD TVs without local dimming. After 18,000 hours, almost 60% of such models had noticeable image defects, with some of their LED lights simply burnt out. A good example is the Hisense H8G, which looked far from ideal after testing.
OLED burns in, but rarely and under specific conditions
In the case of OLEDs, failures have been exceptionally rare. Burn-in occurred mainly with static elements, such as information banners, causing a “ghosting” effect visible after a long time. With dynamic content, the problem practically did not occur. This is an important distinction - in normal usage of a television, where content changes frequently, the risk of burn-in is low. Rtings also emphasises that OLED burn-ins are a much bigger problem in gaming monitors than in televisions.
Which brands performed the best?
The lowest failure rate was recorded in the models of LG Electronics and TCL, although Rtings points out that the number of tested models for each brand was limited, so these results should be treated with caution. One of the more surprising conclusions is the lack of any correlation between the price of the television and its lifespan. The key factors turned out to be solely the type of panel and the backlighting method, rather than the price range.
Final Conclusion
According to Rtings, OLED is currently the most durable television technology, especially when compared to Mini-LED. OLED TVs are less prone to failures and degrade more slowly over time, even in extreme testing conditions that have little in common with everyday use. If you want to see how some TVs looked after three years of abuse, Rtings has published a full video summarising the test.
