lcd panel test images manufacturer

Have you ever properly checked the display quality of the LCD you habitually use? Very often people become aware of previously unnoticed problems in display quality when they run a check using test patterns and so on. This time we are going to talk about the basic points used to assess LCD display quality, and show you a simple way to test it.

Below is the translation from the Japanese of the ITmedia article "The difference in image quality is perfectly obvious! – Let"s check the LCD"s monitor" published April 22, 2010. Copyright 2011 ITmedia Inc. All Rights Reserved.

First of all, bear with us in the following simple test. Below is image data of a row of three squares. In the center of each square is a letter so faint as to be barely distinguishable, so there are three letters in all. Read from the left they make up a word. Can you see that hidden word?

That"s right. The answer is "LCD" (it is displayed if you drag the space between the brackets). We assume that probably many users could read the letters concealed in the squares.

So, the next test is much more difficult. A word is concealed in the four squares below, just as in the image above. The letters are written in colors that are very similar to those of the boxes and we expect that, in many cases, it is hard to distinguish them in your browser. We would like you to download the image and check it closely in photo retouching software or a viewer that is capable of accurate color reproduction.

This time the answer is "EIZO" (it is displayed if you drag the space between the brackets). Depending on the lighting or the user"s environment it may be hard to make out but, if you can read these four letters, the display quality, or more accurately the still image gradation expression, of your LCD is extremely high.

Let"s get down to details then. "Image quality" is the top priority of the LCD, of course. However, recently LCD prices are fiercely competitive and there are surprisingly few products that insist on high image quality and performance. It may be nice to be able to get hold of a wide-screen monitor with full HD (1920 × 1080 dot) resolution or higher fairly cheaply, but it cannot be denied that such LCDs tend not to place too much importance on display quality.

On the other hand, the increasing opportunities to enjoy things like HD videos and games, and high resolution digital photographs on the computer make LCD display quality even more important. As far as possible it"s best to use an LCD with excellent display quality in order to fully enjoy the charms of the visual content.

Even so, perhaps you think that there can"t really be that much wrong with the LCDs that so many people are using at the moment. Here we would like to show you a simple method to check LCD display quality. You can get a good idea of whether the basic display quality is good or bad just by looking at how some simple test images are displayed, just like in the introductory quiz. First of all, we would like you to get a sense of how important it is that "image data can be properly displayed" by checking the display of the LCD that you currently use, (that"s right, the one you are using to view this page!).

The test items use color / monochrome patterned images to check gradation expression, and simple images to check brightness / chromaticity variation. Downloads are available of several test images, such as gradation patterns. We would like you to display the downloaded test images in photo retouching software or a viewer that can reproduce color accurately. As we mentioned at the start of this article, you have to be careful as in many cases colors cannot be displayed accurately in web browsers. (Currently only a few browsers such as Safari and Firefox 3.x can handle color management).

Before starting your visual check of the display quality, please return to your LCD"s setting to default, and select Adobe RGB or sRGB as the image quality mode. If these modes are not available it is fine to set the color temperature to 6500K and gamma to 2.2. If you cannot adjust the color temperature and gamma, simply adjust the brightness and contrast so that they are easier to discern. Of course, if it"s an LCD environment that has been color calibrated it"s OK to leave it as it is.

The average LCD takes some time for the monitor to stabilize after it is switched on so, after start up, please wait at least 30 minutes or so before doing the test. (Most EIZO monitors are an exception to this as they are equipped with our proprietary dimming function and the monitor stabilizes in a short time after start up.)

The surface treatment of an LCD makes a difference to the background reflection. Glare panels impede the surface diffusion of backlight, which does make it easier to achieve high color purity, but also makes distinct reflections of the user or lighting much more likely (photo on the left).

If the lights are similarly trained on a non-glare panel they do not have much effect on the display, only appearing as a fuzzy brightness (photo on the right).

For your reference, we ran a test on an EIZO 24.1-inch wide-screen LCD, the FlexScan SX2462W, for this article. The FlexScan SX series comes with a number of high image quality functions and boasts top class display quality as a general-purpose LCD intended for a computer.

When we displayed the quiz images (the more difficult ones, of course) on the FlexScan SX2462W, the four letters appeared faintly when we stared closely at the screen and we could read what they said. This indicates the high image quality level.

When checking the display quality of an LCD it is comparatively easy to understand the gradation expression capability by a visual check. Let"s display color and monochrome gradation images and check whether the entire image is smoothly reproduced. If there is a problem with the gradation expression it produces things like blocked-up shadows in dark areas and blown-out highlights in light areas, banding (vertical or horizontal stripes) in the middle gradations, and color cast, so you should check for problems like these.

Test images of color / monochrome gradations are shown below. Each test image is prepared for three resolution levels (1280 × 800 dots / 1680 × 1050 dots / 1920 × 1200 dots). When you click on an image it is displayed in that actual resolution. We would like you to download the images in the resolution which matches that of your current LCD. Gradation expression can vary according to whether the image is viewed horizontally or vertically, so it will be more effective if you rotate these images and view them vertically as well.

A gradation pattern where the colors red, green, blue, cyan, magenta and yellow go through 16 gradients as they change to white or black. This is an easy test image so we expect that it can be seen in most environments that each color bar is divided into 16 blocks.

A gradation pattern where the colors red, green, blue, cyan, magenta and yellow go through 64 gradients as they change to white or black. Each color bar is divided into 64 rectangular blocks. With this many gradients we expect that many LCDs will find it hard to make distinctions in the dark areas or the areas that are close to primary colors.

A smooth gradation pattern where the colors red, green, blue, cyan, magenta and yellow go through 256 gradients as they change to white or black. At this level of difficulty you cannot distinguish between adjoining colors from a distance but, if you have an LCD with excellent gradation expression, if you look closely you should be able to see that each color is divided into thin rectangular blocks.

A gradation pattern that changes from black to white. It is divided into 5 horizontal bars: from the top, smooth, 128 gradients, 64 gradients, 32 gradients and 16 gradients. Even if all the differences can be distinguished in the 16 and 32 gradient patterns near the bottom, we expect that there will be some parts in the 64 and 128 gradient patterns where it is hard to see the boundaries between adjoining colors. With this kind of monochrome test image you should also check whether any unnecessary colors are mixed with the gray.

On an average LCD gradations of gray that are close to black tend to appear as blocked-up shadows (gradations of gray that are close to white are displayed comparatively accurately). If your LCD"s OSD menu allows you to adjust the contrast, please try gradually turning down the contrast. Turning down the contrast often makes it possible to see gradations that had been subject to blocked-up shadows or blown-out highlights.

Probably most LCDs will be able to detect some degree of banding and color cast in the middle gradations. Banding in the middle gradations is tone jump (Missing gradations) and, along with color cast, means that the RGB gamma curves are unequal. Unlike blocked-up shadows or blown-out highlights, this is an area that it is hard to improve with adjustments made by the user.

When we looked at these test images on the FlexScan SX2462W, in the smooth gradation there was blocked-up shadows right next to the black but we could distinguish differences in gradations of gray until very close to the black area. When it comes to such subtle gradation distinctions the brightness of the room and the adaptability of the eye come into play, so the range that is visible will vary according to the environment and the individual. The gradation expression was excellent, with almost no blown-out highlights in light areas, middle gradation banding or color cast.

A row of images of slightly different grays (1050 × 300 dots). If you cannot see the boundaries between the grays there is probably a problem with the display environment or gradation expression of your monitor.

The answer is "The far right" (it is displayed if you drag the space between the brackets). If the other grays looked correct, color may not be being correctly recognized for a variety of reasons, such as the lighting environment or the LCD settings.

Now let"s assess the gradation expression with some slightly different test images. Below are color patterns with a spread of pale colors in gradations close to the dark range and the light range. They are arranged so that a distinction cannot be made between adjoining colors on an LCD with insufficient gradation expression.

We expect that you could roughly get the whole picture in the gradation patterns on the previous page, but in the patterns this time some parts that cannot be seen may have appeared in some cases. As we mentioned earlier, LCDs tend to display gradations close to black as a blocked-up shadows, and color patterns that are close to black are particularly hard to distinguish.

Since there are some parts that cannot be seen, the possibility arises subtle skin colors and tones cannot be accurately recognized when doing things like retouching photographs, though the misrecognition will vary according to the user"s eyesight. People who place importance on color reproduction should probably bear this in mind when they think about replacing their LCD or buying an extra one.

Incidentally, when we checked the FlexScan SX2462W with these tests we could distinguish everything in both the close to white and the close to black patterns. As well as no blown-out highlights or blocked-up shadows, we saw no unnatural color casts.

Every LCD has some degree of brightness and chromaticity variation, but there are many products where the variations become more obvious when the brightness is lowered. A comparison of the brightness and chromaticity variation of a number of LCDs reveals that there is a fairly large difference between products, so this is a point to bear in mind.

If you actually try this test you may be surprised to find more variation than you expected when gray or a near-white pale color is displayed. Generally speaking, the center of an LCD screen is the brightest and it gradually gets darker towards the edges. This is no problem if there is not a big difference in brightness between the central and peripheral areas, but there are some products where this difference is very striking.

Incidentally, this test is also an effective way to test the LCD for dot defects (normal lighting / unlit room). We would like you to check the black display in a darkened environment, for example by switching off all the room lights at night. Although you probably saw the whole screen as uniformly black in a light environment, very often in a dark environment you can find variations in some parts due to light leaks.

The FlexScan SX2462W got good results again when we tried it with the brightness and chromaticity variation tests. The brightness decreased slightly at the edges of the screen, particularly the lower edge, but overall the display was even and pleasing. It is installed with a "digital uniformity equalizer" that measures brightness and chromaticity throughout the screen and makes corrections so that the entire screen is uniform.

Monochrome full-screen displays on a FlexScan SX2462W. Only the screen display is shown. The bottom right is a near-white pale orange. There are not many LCDs that can display this kind of pale color as uniformly as this

However, the pitfall here is that it simply means that "the screen is visible". The thing is that the viewing angle specifications are permitted to use the term "visible" until the display contrast ratio drops to an extremely low 10:1 or 5:1 when the screen is viewed from an angle (the steeper the angle from which the LCD screen is viewed, the more the contrast generally declines). In other words, they do not take into account the display uniformity of the central and peripheral areas of the screen, or the level of chromatic change, when the screen is viewed from an angle.

The ideal viewing angles is that the brightness and chromaticity is very uniform and there is not much chromatic change, even when the screen is viewed from a slight angle. The viewing angles given in the specifications are not really very helpful, but you can judge the standard of the panel type that the LCD (liquid crystal panel) adopts. IPS liquid crystal panels have the least change in brightness or chromaticity when the screen is viewed from an angle, and they are followed by VA panels. An IPS or VA liquid crystal panel can be said to indicate the superior nature of the product itself, so this is often included in the catalog or specifications. It is probably a good idea to look through the catalogs of various products.

On the other hand, monitors installed with cost-effective TN liquid crystal panels are in fact the most numerous. However, the TN type lags far behind the IPS and VA types in terms of characteristic viewing angle changes in brightness and chromaticity. Simply viewing the screen from a slightly different angle makes the coloration change dramatically, and the screen looks completely different according to whether it is viewed vertically or horizontally. If the vertical and horizontal viewing angles in the specifications are different then it is a TN type. There are quite a few products with a 20-inch wide screen or larger where colors look different in the central and peripheral areas even when the screen is viewed straight on.

The display on an IPS panel. Even when viewed from this angle, the displayed content can of course be distinguished completely and the colors also show up really well

The display on a VA panel. Compared with the IPS panel the screen is a little whitish and the chromaticity has slipped, but it is a satisfactory viewing angle for actual use

The display on a TN panel. There is a very clear difference from the IPS and VA panels. The display throughout the entire screen lacks uniformity and there is a yellow cast

The gradation images and monochrome images from earlier in this article can be used as they are to check the viewing angles. Display an image on the whole screen, look at it straight on and check whether the brightness and colors are uniform at the top and bottom of the screen, and in the center and at both sides. Then gradually shift the angle from which you view the screen and check how the brightness and coloration change. If you do this with photographic data as well as the test images, you should be able to get a better sense of the difference in the display.

When we checked the viewing angles of the FlexScan SX2462W there was absolutely nothing to criticize since, in addition to the use of an IPS panel, it is equipped with many high image quality functions, including the afore-mentioned digital uniformity correction circuit. The brightness and chromaticity throughout the whole screen is very uniform, and the coloration hardly changed at all when the viewing angle was changed.

We explained here about easy ways to check LCD monitor quality. How were the results for your current LCD? We think that many people were probably very bothered by the blocked-up shadows and blown-out highlights when the test images to check gradation were displayed, by the middle gradation banding, and by the variations in brightness and chromaticity when the monochrome images were displayed.

As we mentioned at the beginning, recently the number of LCDs with excellent display quality is on the decline. Although we would not go so far as to say that the display quality of inexpensive products is poor. Of course a high quality LCD is indispensable if you want to enjoy using your computer, properly handle the needs of applications that require color reproducibility, and to fully enjoy all the benefits of rich content.

The EIZO FlexScan LCD series has excellent display quality in those regards, and we have no qualms about recommending them to everyone. The product line-up is diverse but each model is clearly ranked according to the purpose to which it is suited and its screen size, and they all guarantee above-standard display quality. They may cost a little more than you had budgeted for but the clear value they offer exceeds their price.

If, after trying these tests, you have doubts about the display quality of the LCD that you usually use, we would certainly urge you to consider an EIZO LCD. We would also recommend that you construct a multi-display environment by making the new LCD your main monitor and the one that you have been using your sub monitor.

In the past decade, LCD monitors have replaced CRT screens for all but the most specialist applications. Although liquid crystal displays boast perfect

When it comes to image processors, we also like to hold the reins. Our many years of experience go into developing our own image processors (ASIC) so we are sure to get the best out of our LCD panels.

Whether you’re reading texts, editing spreadsheets, or viewing images, EIZO office monitors always give you a clear view. This is because we carefully select the best panels for each model, given that even within the same type of LCD technology – for example, IPS panels – there are still significant differences in quality.

Our IPS panels guarantee outstanding viewing angle stability at all times. This means that you will barely notice any deviation in brightness or chromaticity, even at a slanted viewing angle.

When selecting LCD panels as we develop our business monitors, we do not focus on providers; instead, we look only for the best quality. An LCD panel ends up in an EIZO monitor model only if it has passed a rigorous quality test. This is how we make sure that you end up working with the best image quality.

Before and during the series production, we perform extended tests on the stability of the product and image quality over thousands of hours of monitor usage time.

Do you want to put the image quality of your monitor to the test? We recommend our monitor test. You can carry out 13 individual tests to check how homogenous the image display is across the entire monitor and if the text is displayed sharply. You can also check your monitor for pixel errors and get a sense of its viewing angle stability. Put your monitor to the test now!

LCD (liquid crystal display) is the most widely used display technology. They are used for automotive, appliance, telecommunication, home appliance, industrial, consumer electronic, military etc. But LCD displays have some drawbacks, such as slow response, narrow viewing angle, lower contrast etc. One annoying phenomenon often complained about by users is image sticking.

If a fixed image remains on a display for a long period of time, the faint outline of that image will persist on the screen for some time before it finally disappears. Normally, it happens to LCD and plasma screens, but for the purpose of our discussion, we will focus on TFT LCD displays. Image sticking is also referred to as “image persistence”, “image retention”, “ghosting” or “burn-in image.”

An LCD screen includes a thin layer of liquid crystal material sandwiched between two electrodes on glass substrates, with two polarizers on each side. A polarizer is an optical filter that lets light waves of a specific polarization pass through while blocking light waves of other polarizations. The electrodes need to be transparent so the most popular material is ITO (indium tin oxide). Since an LCD can’t emit light itself, normally a backlight is placed behind an LCD screen in order to be seen in a dark environment. The light sources used for a backlight can be LED (light emitting diode) or CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamps). The LED backlight is the most popular. Of course, if you want a color display, a layer of RGB color filter can be made into an LCD cell. A touch panel can also be added in front of an LCD display.

When an electric field is applied to the liquid crystal molecules, they become untwisted. When the polarized light reaches the layer of liquid crystal molecules, the light passes straight through without being twisted. When it reaches the second polarizer, it will also pass through, meaning the viewer sees the display as bright. Because LCD technology uses electric fields instead of electric current (electron passes through), it has low power consumption.

The cause of LCD image sticking is due to an accumulation of ionic impurities inside the liquid crystal materials. When slight DC voltage occurs, the charged impurities will move the electrodes and build up a reversed voltage field. When the power is removed, the reversed voltage will kick in to make the LCD molecules twisted different from the other part of the LCD, which shows up as the image sticking. The longer the time, the more impurities will migrate, the larger the reversed voltage will be, and the imaging sticking will appear worse.

For LCD manufacturers, try to protect liquid crystal materials exposed to the air by using nitrogen gas or dried air to avoid absorbing moisture that can create a huge amount of impurities in the liquid crystal material, as water is an excellent solvent. Controlling the humidity of the fab is also very important, as is selecting the right liquid crystal materials and their manufacturers. Different liquid crystal materials have different moisture absorbing abilities. Different liquid crystal material factories have different capabilities in terms of controlling impurities. Despite the fact that high purity can mean high in cost, using higher purity liquid crystal materials and designing the circuitry to get rid of DC in LCD display drivers can avoid an image sticking issue.

Unlike the “burn-in” issue common with CRTs, an image sticking issue is not permanent. It will eventually recover after some time. One way to expedite erasing a retained image is to have a screen on in an all-black pattern for 4-6 hours. If you want to make it even faster, the display can be put into an environment with a temperature of around 35 to 50°C for 1-2 hours. As this elevated temperature is within the working temperature range, it will not damage the LCD panels.

With LED-backlit LCD TVs, gray uniformity issues are caused by a couple of factors. LCD panels are pretty sensitive to pressure, so extra pressure caused by misalignment of the TV"s components or by mishandling of the panel during manufacturing or shipping could lead to defects appearing. Also, too much pressure can affect the backlight and how much light it diffuses, which causes some areas to be darker. Size may also have an effect because it"s harder to keep a larger screen uniform, but since we only test one size of each TV, we can"t draw any conclusions about this.

Gray uniformity is unique to each individual panel. This means that no two TVs, even of the same model, will have matching uniformity. Generally, though, higher-end TVs should have better gray uniformity, as the manufacturers will have stricter standards for the panels used. Higher-end LED-backlit TVs tend to use either Mini LED or direct LED backlighting, generally better for uniformity than edge-lit TVs.

LED and OLED TVs use different technologies to display an image. While LED TVs are really LCD TVs backlit by LED backlights, OLEDs don"t have any backlighting and instead turn each pixel on and off. As such, they perform differently when it comes to uniformity. For the most part, OLEDs tend to have better uniformity, and there are rarely any issues. LED TVs can suffer more from uniformity issues, especially if their backlight is edge-lit and not direct LED. However, we can"t confidently say one TV will have better uniformity than another just because of the backlight or panel type.

Early OLEDs had issues when displaying 5% gray images. There would often be faint horizontal and vertical lines that you could notice in near-dark scenes. It"s rare to see that issue on modern OLEDs, but it"s still possible. Below you can see the LG B8 from 2018, which has very noticeable lines, and the LG B1 from 2021, which doesn"t.

We test gray uniformity on monitors the same way as on TVs. While you can"t compare the final scores, you can still compare the standard deviations and the pictures. Generally speaking, there isn"t a big difference in the total standard deviation with the 50% gray image on LED-backlit TVs and monitors, as they can each suffer from backlight bleed along the edges. The big difference here between monitors and TVs is the amount of dirty screen effect in the center. Monitors rarely have that issue, and only four monitors have worse DSE than the best TV we"ve tested.

Although it may seem like gray and black uniformity are the same, they test for different things. The gray uniformity test is meant to see how well the TV displays a single uniform color, but black uniformity is to see if there"s blooming around bright objects. You may see some issues that are the same in both, like vignetting, but the tests aren"t exactly related.

Unfortunately, gray uniformity is entirely down to the panel you get. There isn"t much you can do to improve gray uniformity as it"s down to panel lottery. You can try massaging the screen with a soft cloth to relieve the pressure, but this is a delicate technique, so it may be best to not do it if you"re unsure of yourself.

Unfortunately, there aren"t many steps that you can take to improve gray uniformity – it’s entirely down to the panel you get. You can try massaging the screen, but that"s hard to do. If you find yourself with uniformity that you can"t live with, you should exchange your TV for a different unit, or even a different model.

The large majority of monitors have LCD panels, which stands for liquid crystal display. A voltage is applied to the liquid crystals in each pixel, which rotate to allow the pixel to produce a color. This is a very basic way of explaining it, but if the same voltage is applied to the crystals for long periods, they may retain their same shape and continue producing the same image. The type of content displayed also impacts potential image retention. An operating system"s user interface, like the taskbar or windows, usually stay on the screen for long periods, and that could cause image retention when you close them. You can get away with a gaming monitor that has image retention if the game doesn"t have many static elements.

The type of panel used also affects image retention. With monitors, there are three common types of LED-backlit LCD panels: IPS, VA, and TN. Although image retention is something that can vary between units, IPS panels generally suffer from image retention more than the other two. However, this doesn"t mean that VA or TN panels are immune to image retention, and we"ve seen some VA panel monitors that show signs of it, like the Samsung Odyssey G9.

OLED panels are different from LCD panels because each pixel is individually-lit, as there"s no backlight. These panels tend to suffer from image retention. Many monitor manufacturers are reluctant to use OLED panels because they also have the risk of long-term permanent burn-in.

OLED panels are known for both image retention and permanent burn-in. Only a few monitors have OLED panels, and they"re more popular with TVs. Many OLED TVs that we"ve recently tested don"t show signs of image retention, but they"ll always face the risk of permanent burn-in. We don"t expect this to be an issue for people who watch varied content, but it could pose a problem if you watch a lot of content with static elements, like the news, or if you use your OLED TV as a PC monitor. LED TVs appear to be immune to long-term burn-in, which you can read about here.

Lowering brightness:Lowering the brightness can help reduce image retention, and in the long run, burn-in, on OLED panels. It shouldn"t really affect image retention on LEDs.

Screensavers:When you take a break from your screen, like when you get up for a coffee or to eat, use screensavers while the computer is idle. A slideshow would be ideal since the computer rotates between different images, and one image doesn"t stay on for a long period.

Temporary image retention happens when high-contrast elements stay on the screen for a long period and appear to stay on-screen for a few moments after they"re removed from the display. Although it"s rare, some monitors may show signs of image retention, but the images generally disappear after a few moments. There are a few ways to help reduce the risk of image retention, like lowering the monitor"s contrast or using screensavers. Temporary image retention is also different from long-term burn-in, so you shouldn"t have to worry that your monitor is broken if it shows some image retention.

DisplayTester makes it possible to test almost every aspect of your device"s LCD/OLED screen. Using Google Cast it is possible to test the display quality of your TV. It is designed to allow full screen testing also on devices with soft keys (hiding the soft keys in ICS and later, immersive mode in KitKat and later).

Image sticking depends on various factors, such as the specific image content, the duration of the unchanged content and the temperature in the display itself. The phenomenon can even differ from panel to panel due to differences in the manufacturing process (process variance).

For this reason, panel manufacturers cannot completely rule out image sticking. However, the panel manufacturers carry out stress tests that provoke image sticking: a chessboard pattern is used for this, which is “burned in” over a certain period of time. The display is then switched off and changed to a grayscale image in which image sticking is recognizable best. Depending on the «burn-in time», any existing image sticking should disappear after the specified switch-off time. With a burn-in time of 8 hours, for example, a switch-off time of 30 minutes is usually specified.

The chessboard with the black-and-white pattern provokes the phenomenon the fastest due to the high contrast differences. This is best visible on the gray background.

In this quick guide we’ll cover what Dirty Screen Effect looks like, what’s happening on a technical level, and what, if anything, you can do to get rid of it. We’ll also touch on the notion of the so-called “panel lottery” and how that plays into how clean — or dirty — your new TV screen might look.

Dirty Screen Effect (DSE) is a term that’s used to describe an LCD panel that has inconsistent luminance performance across its surface area. It can appear as random splotches, uniform lines, wide bars, and, in some cases, vignetting (a slight darkening toward the corners). DSE once plagued plasma TV panels as well. But since those are no longer in production, we’ll keep this explainer focused on LCD-based TVs.

As a reminder, any TV that uses an LED backlight also uses an LCD panel, so TVs marketed as LED, QLED, and mini-LED are all susceptible. Due to what causes DSE on a technical level, some may argue it can only apply to LCD-based TVs. However, similar effects can be seen in OLED-based displays — thus the term is often applied — so we’ll include those types of TVs as well, but address them separately.

Some DSE is severe and some is so faint you may not notice it unless you look hard for it. As a very clear example of what DSE looks like when exposed by testing slides, we’ve included an example below.

There are a number of factors stemming from the manufacturing of an LCD panel that can cause Dirty Screen Effect, from variance in backlight distribution to variance in TFT switching for sub-pixels, to variance in conductivity and/or capacitance of transparent electrodes. That’s super-nerdy, though, and the actual cause is less important than the common theme here: inconsistency.

In panel manufacturing, there are numerous variables that can be introduced that would cause an LCD panel to have groups of pixels that shine less bright than others. This variance is, unfortunately, part of the tech that makes our TVs. And the manner in which different manufacturers handle that variance is also … you guessed it: Varied.

Dirty Screen Effect also can be caused by damage to the panel in shipping or mishandling of the TV during the setup or installation process. Generally speaking, it’s recommended one avoids “pinching” or otherwise exerting pressure on the front of the TV screen.

From what I’ve seen, DSE — ranging from insignificant to severe — seems fairly common among newly manufactured LCD-based televisions, due primarily to the nature of LCD panel manufacturing. Very broadly, the less expensive a TV is, the more likely it is to exhibit some level of DSE. More expensive TVs are not immune to the issue, but some manufacturers have tighter quality assurance tolerances for their high-end products so — again, very broadly speaking — DSE tends to be less prevalent among those models.

DSE as a symptom of age is virtually impossible to track, however — again, anecdotally — I have witnessed DSE creep into a TV’s display panel slowly over time and worsen with age. I’ve seen it happen in TVs I own, TVs friends and family have owned, and TVs installed in commercial environments such as hotels and bars.

First, a warning: Once you see DSE on your TV, it’s tough to “un-see.” So, if you are happy with your TV’s performance and wish to stay that way, then you may wish to subscribe to the “ignorance is bliss” theory and forego the following tests.

If, however, you suspect that your new TV may have levels of DSE that you deem to be unacceptable, you can use this YouTube video (also posted at the top of this article) to look for signs of DSE. In our video, we not only provide testing slides that help to expose DSE, but guide you on how to spot it.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to eliminate DSE. Some websites suggest loosening the screws on the back of a TV to lessen the strain on the panel. We do not recommend this tactic as it could stand to void an active warranty. Also, it’s not very likely to work.

Most TVs offer a “game mode” which, due to its tendency to brighten everything on-screen, can help to obscure DSE. But this is really just a Band-Aid measure. The DSE is still there, but it may be less obvious. Another somewhat helpful tip to reduce the appearance of DSE in LCD panels is to view the TV from as direct an angle as possible. As you move off-axis (view a TV from an angle) DSE tends to become more obvious.

The so-called “panel lottery” refers to the game TV buyers unwittingly play when purchasing a TV. Sometimes you “win the panel lottery,” which is a way of saying that the TV you got was in especially pristine shape and shows no signs of DSE. It’s also a term used to easily express that there’s such a variance in panel quality that it’s virtually impossible you’ll win a perfect panel. In other words, it’s all up to chance.

If the issue persists on the external monitor, it may be an issue with the video card (GPU) or video settings and not the laptop LCD panel. Go to verify display or video issues in Windows Safe Mode. Otherwise, go to the next step.

Performance issues may occur if there is any damage to the LCD screen. The display may stop working, work intermittently, flicker, display horizontal or vertical lines, and so on, if there is damage to the display screen.

Dell laptops have integrated diagnostic tools that can determine if the screen abnormality is an inherent problem with the LCD screen of the Dell laptop or with the video card (GPU) and computer settings.

When you notice screen abnormalities like flickering, distortion, clarity issues, fuzzy or blurry images, horizontal or vertical lines, color fade, running a diagnostic test on the LCD helps identify if the issue is with the LCD panel.

Press and hold the D key and turn on the computer to enter the LCD built-in self-test (BIST) mode. Continue to hold the D key until you see the entire screen change colors.

If you do not detect any screen abnormalities in the integrated self-test mode, the LCD panel of the laptop is functioning properly. Go to the Update the video card (GPU) driver, monitor driver, and BIOS section.

If you notice any abnormalities in the LCD built-in self-test mode, contact Dell Technical Support to learn more about repair options that are available in your region.

Display settings like brightness, refresh rate, resolution, and power management may affect the performance of the LCD screen on your Dell laptop. Changing or adjusting the display settings can help resolve several types of video issues.

Stress Test can thoroughly diagnose the video card (GPU) on your computer and report any potential hardware problem. Running a stress test on your computer can verify if the hardware components are stable and thus reliable.

If the diagnostic tests on the LCD panel and the video card (GPU) passed, it is most definitely an issue that is related to software that is installed on the computer. If the above troubleshooting steps did not resolve the issue, you may try to restore the computer to factory default settings as a last resort.

WARNING: Restoring or resetting the computer to factory default settings will erase all personal data on the computer. Back up all important data like documents, images, music files, spreadsheets, videos to an external hard drive or a cloud-based backup like Microsoft OneDrive.

With more people spending more time in front of computer monitors it is important to purchase a quality monitor that will provide crisp, bright images, while reducing the strain on your eyes.

With phosphor-based electronic displays (for example CRT-type computer monitors, oscilloscope screens or plasma displays), non-uniform use of specific areas, such as prolonged display of non-moving images (text or graphics), repetitive contents in gaming graphics, or certain broadcasts with tickers and flags, can create a permanent ghost-like image of these objects or otherwise degrade image quality. This is because the phosphor compounds which emit light to produce images lose their luminance with use. This wear results in uneven light output over time, and in severe cases can create a ghost image of previous content. Even if ghost images are not recognizable, the effects of screen burn are an immediate and continual degradation of image quality.

Screen burn on an amber CRT computer monitor. Note that there are two separate burned-in images: one of a spreadsheet program, and another of an ASCII-art welcome screen.

Phosphor burn-in is particularly prevalent with monochromatic CRT screens, such as the amber or green monochrome monitors common on older computer systems and dumb terminal stations. This is partly because those screens displayed mostly non-moving images, and at one intensity: fully on. Yellow screens are more susceptible than either green or white screens because the yellow phosphor is less efficient and thus requires a higher beam current. Color screens, by contrast, use three separate phosphors (red, green, and blue), mixed in varying intensities to achieve specific colors, and in typical usage patterns such as "traditional" TV viewing (non-gaming, non-converged TV usage, non-Internet browsing, broadcasts without tickers or flags, no prolonged or permanent letterboxing) are used for operations where colors and on-screen object placement approach uniformity.

A nearly two-year-old LCD television showing extreme burn-in of CNN"s circa 2008 digital on-screen graphic; this television is in a McDonald"s restaurant where CNN is permanently turned on and displayed throughout the business day.

In the case of LCDs, the physics of burn-in are different than plasma and OLED, which develop burn-in from luminance degradation of the light-emitting pixels. For LCDs, burn-in develops in some cases because pixels permanently lose their ability to return to their relaxed state after a continued static use profile. In most typical usage profiles, this image persistence in LCD is only transient.

Both plasma-type and LCD-type displays exhibit a similar phenomenon called transient image persistence, which is similar to screen burn but is not permanent. In the case of plasma-type displays, transient image persistence is caused by charge build-up in the pixel cells (not cumulative luminance degradation as with burn-in), which can be seen sometimes when a bright image that was set against a dark background is replaced by a dark background only; this image retention is usually released once a typical-brightness image is displayed and does not inhibit the display"s typical viewing image quality.

Other examples: Apple"s iPhone X and Samsung"s Galaxy series both mitigate or delay the onset of burn-in by shifting the pixels every minute or so for the battery, Wi-Fi, location, and service bars. Also, parallax scrolling may be enabled for the home screen to give icons a 3D-like effect, a setting Apple refers to as "perspective zoom". AG Neovo patented Anti-burn-in technology is also using pixel shifting to activate the pixels to move by the designed time interval to prevent burn in effect on LCD monitors.

The most prevalent burn-in image on early televisions was said to be that of the RCA Indian-head test pattern, which would often follow the formal television station sign-off. This was due to the viewer leaving the television set on at the end of the day, which was not recommended by the television manufacturers.