Screensavers on LCD's?

[Mini-Me]

Is there any need to actually use a screensaver on LCD monitors?

The original concept was to prevent burn-in on the phospher of the CRT, but as pretty much all PC onitors are LCD these days, is there any real need for a screensaver?

In other words, if you had a static image on an LCD for a long time, is it going to damage the LCD in the same burn-in way as the older CRT screens?

[LochLomonder]

Mini-Me,

While the underlying physics of burn-in is different from CRTs to LCDs, it still occurs on the latter over time if a static image is displayed for an extended period of time.

On that basis, I think it's best to play things safe and still use a screensaver.

[mjc]

That also depends on whether or not your monitor/TV has it's own built in one or blanks the screen on its own after a certain amount of idle time...

Yeah, the built in ones are rather 'vanilla' or even more boring.

[123456]

If anyone uses a plasma TV as his or her PC monitor, using a screensaver is recommended since plasmas have a higher tendency for burn-in than LCD and LED displays.

[kiosk]

This thread makes me think about flying toasters. God, am I hungry now. :D

[123456]

This thread makes me think about flying toasters. God, am I hungry now. :D

http://uneasysilence.com/toast/

[Paul Komski]

LCDs don't suffer from burn-in but the longer they are left turned-on (screensaver on not) the shorter will their lives be, the dimmer they will become over time and if batteries are producing power they will obviously run down quicker.

[jlreich]

I have replaced many LCD's over the years and they do in fact get burn-in. It isn't as prevalent as with CRT's but it does happen. I would recommend either a screensaver or setting the monitor to shut off after a period of time.

[Paul Komski]

I know that I am, and was, being pernickety and pedantic but burn-in is only a phenomenon of phosphor-based technologies. The issue of "video memory" or "image persistence" on LCD screens is not quite the same thing and, dependent on the specific underlying technology, is seldom permanent.

Learn the truth behind LCD technology and image persistence (http://www.techlore.com/article/10099/Do-LCD-TVs-Burn-In-/)

Also - I'm not suggesting leaving static displays in place for long periods and I agree that turning off the screen display is not only the most energy efficient but also the best way to prolong their lives.

[Mini-Me]

Okey dokey, guys, thanks. :)

I am actually driving an LCD TV from an Atmel MCU, and there is no screensaver ability, per-se.

I can change the code, so that after a few minutes, it blanks the screen, until something actually needs to be shown, which would amount to the same thing.

For anyone interested in doing the same thing, here is the link to the TV out circuit, source-code etc...
TellyMate (http://www.batsocks.co.uk/products/Other/TellyMate.htm)

[jlreich]

I know that I am, and was, being pernickety and pedantic but burn-in is only a phenomenon of phosphor-based technologies. The issue of "video memory" or "image persistence" on LCD screens is not quite the same thing and, dependent on the specific underlying technology, is seldom permanent.
Yeah the problem is completely different but the outcome is the same. And the ones that I have seen are the ones that have the same image almost 24/7. Often this is a login prompt on a system that is used for a short time, the user always logs off or the system times out and logs off and goes back to the login prompt.

Another time that I see it is in restaurants that have kitchen display systems for orders and have a grid that is persistent or at least have one large bar at the bottom that never changes.

I have never noticed if this is something that goes away after awhile, but I have noticed in worst cases that the image is actually visible even after the screen is turned off. Perhaps it goes away after being turned off for awhile, I don't know, I ship them back for repair for other issues too fast to know.

[Mini-Me]

This is an interesting read. I was of the opinion that LCD's DON'T have the phosper burn-in issue. Ok - image persistance. ;)

I will write some kind of screensaver into the code...

[hackerballs]

I don't know what kind of screen you are using, but my Plasma (Samsung) has a built in pixel shift every 15 minutes to prevent all this..........