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February 6, 2008

troubleshooting

Scrub away LCD burn-in

Posted Feb. 6, ’08, 2:36 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi
Category | Troubleshooting

lcdscrub2.jpgOK, so it’s not “burn-in,” per se, which is the term used when images are permanently stained onto CRT displays. For LCDs, it’s technically called “image persistence.” But the concept is the same: if a static image is left on a display for too long, it can “burn” itself onto the screen, leaving a residual imprint even after the image is gone. And for the most part, there’s no fix.

Until now. [cue dramatic music]

Daniel Sandler at toastycode discovered his Dell LCD to be a victim of image persistence after it spent a night covered in green noise from a bad DVI connection.

Here’s where it gets interesting. When I replaced the DVI cable, the screen almost went back to normal: my Mac’s screen was now covered in dark shadows where the searing green had been. It was like having CRT burn-in.

After reading some support documents and forum posts, Dan came up with an interesting theory to fix his display: what if he tried to “scrub away” the image persistence with moving high-contrast images?

I set about building a screen saver module that would let me try different high-contrast patterns to see how they fared. Furthermore, since patterns with thin bright lines caused the problem, I set about using similar line patterns to ameliorate it. …It worked.

Brilliant. And to help his fellow man, he created LCD Scrub, an app designed to use this concept to eradicate image persistence on victimized displays. You can test the demo for 20 minutes; the full limitless version costs $18.

But as always, it’s better to prevent the problem than try to fix it. So use a screen saver, kay? Kay.

[via DaringFireball]


4 Comments

wesg Author Profile Page said:

How about building an application that moves the menubar around constantly?

February 6, 2008 2:58 PM
Dave-O said:

No! Set your system to put the display to sleep and save energy! You don't get image persistence if there is no image.

February 6, 2008 3:12 PM
sdkay said:

wesg: I don't think that's possible without constantly being in fullscreen in a specific application.

Changing the menubar, however... That's possible.

February 6, 2008 4:27 PM
krye said:

I stopped using a screen saver about 2 years ago. Instead of a screen saver kicking on after 15 minutes, I just have the LCD shut off now.

Since I use a 30" Cinema Display, it gives it a chance to cool off a bit, which I think over time will lengthen the life of the unit.

February 7, 2008 8:42 AM

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