iMac 5k Retina Burn In

[DisfiguredBob]

Confused as to why my iMac Retina 5k has burn in issues. I always thought these issues were exclusive to OLED and Plasma TVs.

[Madster]

What model of imac do you have?

[DisfiguredBob]

Just now, Madster said:

What model of imac do you have?

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014

3.5 GHz Intel Core i5

32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2 G

Serial Number C02NF8G8FY11

 

Copy pasted from About This iMac page

[flibberdipper]

5 minutes ago, DisfiguredBob said:

Confused as to why my iMac Retina 5k has burn in issues. I always thought these issues were exclusive to OLED and Plasma TVs.

Burn in is FAR from exclusive to OLED/Plasma/CRT. LCD's are still completely susceptible to it, it just generally takes more time or a panel that didn't quite have all the kinks ironed out.

[DrMacintosh]

If used for long periods of time at near max brightness, LCD panels can suffer from burn-in. That’s just the reality of it. 

[Madster]

3 minutes ago, DisfiguredBob said:

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014

3.5 GHz Intel Core i5

32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2 G

Serial Number C02NF8G8FY11

 

Copy pasted from About This iMac page

The 2014 model is notorious for image retention/burn in issues. Really it comes down to either getting the screen replaced, or waiting it out to buy a new computer.

[just_dave]

Burn-in on LCDs is caused by the crystals being stuck in one place.

In most cases, it's not permanent.

I recommend this 

 

run it for atleast an hour. If you keep staring at it, you might end up a bit high, so i dont quite recommend it

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

6 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

If used for long periods of time at near max brightness, LCD panels can suffer from burn-in. That’s just the reality of it. 

Brightness should be irrelevant, as its not the back-light that gets burnt-in (it WILL get duller over time though especially if run maxed out), its the pixels that get retention.

[DisfiguredBob]

7 minutes ago, thicc_boi said:

Burn-in on LCDs is caused by the crystals being stuck in one place.

In most cases, it's not permanent.

I recommend this 

 

run it for atleast an hour. If you keep staring at it, you might end up a bit high, so i dont quite recommend it

 

The issues are far from permanent and arent that annoying. I was just more curious about how to b works on LCDs. Thanks!

[KarathKasun]

On LCD's it gets worse over time, its material fatigue.  I have some very old high usage monitors that will burn in from as little as 5 minutes of displaying a static image now.  You can clear it fairly easily, but it is annoying.

[just_dave]

I have a cheapass Zowie monitor. I often forgot it on for like 12 hours displaying one static image.

I dont have any burn in problems.

[vanished]

Just throwing my personal experience into the mix.  I've never seen burn in on an LCD I've personally used in my life, and that includes one that I'm still using today that is 13 years old and had static content (taskbar) on it for all of its active life.  There is literally zero signs of it whatsoever.

[KarathKasun]

4 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Just throwing my personal experience into the mix.  I've never seen burn in on an LCD I've personally used in my life, and that includes one that I'm still using today that is 13 years old and had static content (taskbar) on it for all of its active life.  There is literally zero signs of it whatsoever.

Onset depends on a number of factors.  Panel temp is one of them.

 

I would assume that in an iMac the panel temp is much higher.

 

I had installed quality IPS displays at a doctors office that were on for 8-12 hours on the same static image without problems, for 12 years.  By the same token, I have purchased mid range TN panels for home use that have randomly developed image retention.  The worst offenders are pre-2000 TN panels though, and they usually ran pretty hot.  Had a Dell laptop from 97 with burn in so bad it looked like a 70s arcade cabinets CRT.

[russianswinga]

This has been fixed by a reddit user. The fix is documented here, I can confirm it worked perfectly on my 2014 27" 5K iMac with the original LG panel and severe ghosting effect, now gone:

https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/bj8nfr/finally_a_fix_for_screen_ghosting_persistance/

 

“Hello,

 

Firstly, I know this is an old issue that most probably does not affect the majority of current Macbook users. However, I thought I would post here just in case this helps someone, as a current MBPR 2012 owner this issue has been driving me crazy but I've finally figured out a way to stop it from happening. And it's really simple:

 

Go to System Preferences -> Displays -> (Built-in Retina Display) Colour tab -> Calibrate...

 

In Calibration, drag the white point slider to the far right (most blue light). This causes the screen to become extremely blue, so to cancel this out:

 

Select Night shift, adjust warmth to preferred level (far right for best results), and set up the night shift schedule to always be on.

 

Essentially what this does is makes the display dimmer by applying two filters that counter act each other. As a result, the pixels themselves emit less 'light' or colour, and are not driven to the point at which colour retention occurs.

 

I hope this helps my fellow LG screen MBPR 2012 users out there. This machine is still a beast in many ways and deserves to be treated as such. Shame that Apple won't fix what is essentially their production fault on a laptop that RRPd for £2000.

 

Thank you for reading!”

 

[roba22222]

@russianswinga thanks so much for posting this!  Seems to have worked on my late 2015 27" 5k iMac.

 

I'm still pretty pissed that this workaround is necessary, but it does keep me from tossing my computer out the window or taking a bath on selling it to upgrade.

 

For others that encounter this problem- even a physical repair will most likely not fix this issue- I know because I accidentally cracked my screen, necessitating the purchase of a new one ($600, ouch...).  The burn in issue was exactly the same with the replacement.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

On 8/21/2019 at 6:25 AM, Ryan_Vickers said:

Just throwing my personal experience into the mix.  I've never seen burn in on an LCD I've personally used in my life, and that includes one that I'm still using today that is 13 years old and had static content (taskbar) on it for all of its active life.  There is literally zero signs of it whatsoever.

I have a nexus 7 tablet that burns In after like an hour of watching YouTube not in full screen. That's weird that you don't have any.