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7 LCD and Plasma Screen Burn-In Fixes
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LCD, LED, and Plasma Screens Explained
Have you ever left your TV or monitor on for days, stuck on the same image? You return to your screen, only to find an image burned into the display. No matter what you do, it won’t go away. It is a permanent image burn.
Why do monitors and TVs get image burn? Why can’t manufacturers prevent LCDs and plasma screens from a burnt image imprint? Moreover, what can you do to fix an image burn?
In some cases, you can minimize the image burn effect. In others, you can remove the image burn completely, so long as it hasn’t been burning too long.
7 LCD and Plasma Screen Burn-In Fixes
Image burn-in fixes exist for LCD and plasma screens. The effectiveness of an image burn-in fix depends on the screen damage. Depending on the length and severity of the image burn, some displays may have permanent damage.
Still, if your screen shows signs of damage, you’re probably wondering how to get rid of screen burn. Thankfully, there are several fixes for LCD screen burn, and best of all, most of them are completely free.
1. Prevent LCD and Plasma Screen Burn
The best fix for screen burn is to prevent it in the first place. Okay, that isn’t super useful if your screen is already experiencing image burn. However, you should avoid leaving your screen on a still image for too long. The time it takes for an image to burn in varies from screen to screen, between manufacturers, sizes, and panel types.
My rule of thumb is to turn off the display if I plan to be away for more than 15 minutes. That way, it is difficult to get caught out, plus you save yourself money on electricity costs and monitor or TV wear and tear.
2. Reduce LCD and Plasma Screen Image Burn
Another prevention method is to reduce screen contrast as much as you can. Unfortunately, most screens aren’t calibrated correctly, often pushing the contrast and brightness settings too high.
Lower contrast means the lighting across your screen is more even. This means less strain on specific screen areas, which helps protect against image burning.
3. Use Static to Fix LCD and Plasma Burn-In
If your plasma or LCD screen already has image burn-in, you can try turning on white static for 12 to 24 hours. The constant movement of white and black across your screen in random patterns can help remove the ghost image from your screen.
Unfortunately, this won’t work for extreme cases. Some TVs will have a built-in pattern swiping option that accomplishes the same thing (filling your screen with random patterns).
4. Use Pixel-Shift to Fix LCD and Plasma Image Burn
Some TVs and monitors feature pixel-shift or screen-shift technology.
Pixel-shift constantly slightly adjusts the image on your screen, which varies the pixel usage to counteract image burn. You might have to enable a pixel or screen shift option in your screen settings. Pixel-shift is a handy feature for LED and OLED screens that cannot recover from image burn and should help counteract an LCD shadow.
Other modern screens feature built-in screen refresh functions that the manufacturer will advise using to remove image retention and image burn issues.
5. Use JSCreenFix to Fix LCD and Plasma Screen Burn
The best tool for fixing ghost images is JScreenFix. The original program helps fix monitors with dead pixels, but the same company also released an “advanced” version of the tool known as JScreenFix Deluxe.
While the Deluxe version uses advanced algorithms to repair burned screens and prolong plasma and LCD longevity, the official site is no longer up and running, and there is no way to download the full version officially.
You can find the free version of the Deluxe app online, but it is limited to 20 minutes running at a time. Furthermore, we’re not going to link out to the versions you can find online as we cannot verify the security of these installations. If you do use the Deluxe version, you do so at your own risk.
If you’re unsure if you have a dead pixel, try one of these dead pixel-locating programs to find out. Some options have built-in fixes, too.
6. Use a White Screensaver to Fix LCD and Plasma Image Burn
Another option is to set a completely white desktop background and leave it to run for a few hours. The solid color might reset the image burn. A solid-color background is more likely to help with image persistence than image burn, but it is still worth trying.
If you have television burn-in, you can attach a laptop to your TV using an HDMI cable, extend your desktop to the television, and share the white screensaver. Hopefully, that will shift your television burn-in.
7. Use a ScreenBurnFixer Video
The team over at ScreenBurnFixer offers a few different ways you can attempt to fix screen burn on your TV or monitor. As with any other screen burn-in fixes, their chance of working depends on the scale of the issue.
You can head to the ScreenBurnFixer Video page and find a video that matches your screen type, then let the video play for as long as possible (we’re talking multiple hours, not a quick half-hour blast). Alternatively, head to the Chart page and find your device or a device that matches your specifications.
LCD, LED, and Plasma Screens Explained
Before modern flat screens, TVs used CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) technology, where pixels comprised red, green, and blue phosphors. Over time, uneven phosphor wear could cause “image burn,” leaving a ghost image on the screen. But there are now multiple types of screen technology, all of which experience screen burn differently.
- Plasma Screens: Plasma screens use electrically charged gas (plasma) to release photons, which phosphors convert into images. Like CRTs, plasma screens suffer from image burn when phosphors deteriorate due to prolonged exposure to static images.
- LCD and LED Screens: LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and LED (Light-Emitting Diode) screens use backlit liquid crystals to produce colors. LED is a type of LCD with LED-based backlighting. These screens don’t experience burn-in like CRTs and plasmas but can suffer from “image retention,” where a faint outline of a static image temporarily lingers.
- Burn-in vs. Image Retention: Image retention on LCDs and LEDs is generally temporary and fades with screen movement. However, long-term exposure to static images on LED, OLED, and QLED screens can cause permanent burn-in as the pixels degrade faster. This is particularly common with static logos or news tickers.
To prevent these issues, avoid keeping static images on the screen for long periods. Check out our article on LED, OLED, and AMOLED image burn-in and how to avoid it. It has some handy tips for smartphones, too!