Video: YouTuber's Ultimate Switch OLED Test "Finally" Delivers Burn-In After 3,600 Hours

We need a bigger sample size. =p

I just watched this video over on YouTube, this definitely puts my mind at ease about the whole burn in situation. Now when I get an OLED someday I will have nothing to worry about.

It was bound to happen, it was just a matter of when.

But dang, six months straight is what it took to get it to burn in, sounds like you won’t have to worry about it in the switches lifetime.

So the burn in was a color distortion on the screen?

Buy a system and use it how you want with no fear. That’s what I say. Yes, for some that will mean that somehow their console will end up face-down in the middle of a freeway with a porcelain toilet on top of it… but that’s no reason to live in fear all the time, lol

So basically if your switch gets burn in, it's on you at this point. Baring the random 00.00000001 chance that your panel may just have a defect.

Well its good that the burn ins are only from defective units and not from regular use

So much for the FUDdie duddies; they're more DUD than FUD.

The ONLY Oled device I've owned was the OG PS Vita. Even then I didn't have any burn-in's or anything. Tho I did get a single dead pixel.

That's still a thing.

If you had to purposely do this just to prove that the screen could burn-in then yeah I think we could all rest easy that our Switch OLED won't face the same issue any time soon.

@DanijoEX Yep, no burn in on mine either. Just a big old scratch on the screen from my dog chewing it 😂

@Anti-Matter Yes, basically the LEDs start to get worn out from overuse. Burn in is less likely to happen if you keep your screen dim and don't linger on a single image for too long. It can happen to OLED televisons too, most often channel/network logos will get burned into the screen when you watch those channels/networks frequently.

@nessisonett Yikes! That's a worst case scenario...

@Franz Pre order cancelled. I require 4,000+ hours of a paused gaming capable of withstanding burn in before I will even entertain giving my money to a company. Nintendo can shove that seal of worthlessness once and for all.

3600 hours is pretty good, I guess. Of course, that's just a bit of silliness. That's quite good. Yes, OLEDs can have burn in/image retention. Just from general observation, it seems to me small devices with OLEDs seem to hold up quite well these days. It was been a long time since I recall significant complaints of burn on OLED phones. However, and I'm not saying this is significant, it does seem to be more common and/or quicker with TVs from what I hear. Those early experiences and the TV issues are probably why the concern still exists with something like the Switch. It seems OLED panels can differ quite a lot.

3600 hours that's only enough time to play xenoblade chronicles 36 times in a row!

What, so you mean I can't pause for 6 months solid? classic Nintendo being anti-consumer.

And think about it. It took 3600 consecutive hours to INTENTIONALLY get burn-in. Imagine how long this would last, realistically speaking.

I am actually (carefully positively) surprised by this.

Positively because a burn-in after 3600 hours is solid.

Careful because I have seen enough people use a OLED as a monitor and have burn-in after 5 to 6 months of regular usage (which is much less because 3600 hours = ~150 days non stop 24/7 usage)

On the other side of the road, I do know smartphone AMOLED and OLED screens are more durable but... even there a lot of people have burn-in after a shorter while.

So I feel positive but conflicted about this test.

Forget burn IN - leaving your Switch on for this long seems like it would cause your house to burn DOWN.

Anyways, I'm really starting to want an OLED now after people keep saying how good it looks in person. The improved kickstand is a big plus, I still have the base model with the worse battery, I'm running out of internal storage, and the increased screen size would make it easier to draw in Colors Live and play some of the NSO games with a small aspect ratio. The white Joy-Con also look pretty cool. I entered two giveaways for one a while back but didn't win the random drawing for either. Now there's two more giveaways I've entered--wish me luck, lol.

Shame you'll still get Joycon drift after a couple months. LOL.

the guy spent a lot of money on an expensive console just to ruin the screen at least it's not as bad as the morons that buy the consoles just to smash it into a million pieces

Or, seeing as the sample size for this test was 1, he has an exceptionally resistant unit and burn in will occur much faster on typical units.

At least the screen is flat, so it won't get screen rot like curved Samsung phones.

Cya
Raziel-chan

Of all the dumb things people do to hurry up the process of global warming and wasted energy usage, this has to take the cake.
If the world were a fair and just place, this fool would spend time behind bars.
What the world needs now is LESS of these...

@Franz,

For everyday use the OLED panel never going to burn in, the tech has got a lot better over the years.

So... also known as your average New Horizons play time.

Not sure why N=1 is such a big deal for this test.

For some reason I imagine that this test, or something like it, has been carried out on a literally industrial scale when designing and testing. All this does is confirm that.

3600 hours is something like 171 weeks if playing every day for three hours. Or not playing but staring at the same pause screen...

I got a Samsung S6 with pretty bad burn in, my father left it on with maximum bright, the game marked the screen with icons overnight. But matbe the Switch with weaker bright doesn't have that problem.

@Rambler
Exactly. Rtings did tests on LG OLED TVs and also came to about 4,000 hrs before burn in was noticed.

This is right in line with that.

I just picked up an oled and I love it. it’s nice to play between multiple switches and use same save file on botw. Been replaying it and noticed this morning that my launch switch had last nights save for my oled when I played on the tv this morning. Cloud saves work well. It’s just nice to have a little bigger screen in handheld, since most of my gaming is that, and the battery last much longer.

Yeah, @nintendolife, there is NOTHING to worry about.

@Donutman I love mine too. It has been worth the upgrade and glad I got it.

@RaphaBoss the S6 is pretty old. OLED technology has come a long way since 2015-2016. Believe it or not, it isn’t too terribly expensive to get OLED that doesn’t have burn in. It has been on the market for well over a decade and a half, maybe two.

@NinChocolate people are very easily put in a fear mode, governments have used this throughout history, and are currently doing it as well. Under fear they can be controlled and manipulated like crazy, driven to hate their own brothers and sisters.

As for the Switch, I pre ordered the original when it was still the NX and I didn't know what it would be. All while thoroughly enjoying my launch day Wii U. Yes, blind faith can lead to bad things as well (I'll never have faith in any government for example), but no faith won't prevent accidents and mistakes from happening. They are in turn potentially valuable lessons, but even then you should indeed not 'stay safe' in fear, because safety is always an illusion, and no courage to live and go dangerous is maybe my worst fear of all.

First off it is not burn in it is image retention. Burn in is on tv's with phosphor screens. Also this is the guy that just did a video on a monitor on how great it is and the monitor is known to have local dimming issues.

So basically not a practical worry unless you are doing everything in your power to force burn in. This isn’t even a 3,600 hours of normal play. It’s 3,600 on a single image with everything maxed.

3600 hours is enough

So what about in 20 years when the switch oled will be a legacy console? Will it stand up during that time?

@Smoose Thank God you're not the one deciding what is fair and just then.

@Orpheus79V

@Orpheus79V nice to know you support the lifespan of a screen over the lifespan of humans! Any more pearls of wisdom?

@Smoose Nobody is dying because of this. Ridiculous, goodbye.

@Orpheus79V You're shortsited approach is not appreciated. Go stare a a screen lol

@Smoose don't be silly. According to Nintendo the Switch has a power consumption of 6W for "active gaming" in TV mode (they don't provide handheld numbers, unfortunately). In handheld mode the CPU and GPU use less to increase battery life, but the screen uses additional power. So let's assume 10W as a worst case scenario.

3600h * 10W = 36 kWh

That's the equivalent of burning 3 liters of gas! I hope you took the bike to the grocery store instead of the car or we would have to put you in jail instead of him

@countzero

Yes. Let's all burn 3L of gasoline, for no reason other than to post something online. Hopefully the trend will "catch on".

You sound lemming-ish. I would just as fast lock you up and throw away the key.
#countzeroismyhero

@Smoose my Switch runs on Solar Power

@countzero mine runs on lighting bolts, cheap pharmaceuticals and a healthy dose of Jack's grandma's war stories. Not necessarily in that order.

This maybe wrong so don't go all out at me but 4 hours of playtime a day adds up to about just over two and half years of usage, it could be better but I suppose it is what it is when using oled screens.