Computer Question for TV Guys
 

Question: does a modern LCD computer monitor (laptop or desktop) need a screen saver any more these days besides watching pretty fish swim around? I remember the CRTs of old (orange or green text) used to suffer burn-in from the DOS prmopt, but I've heard that more modern displays do NOT suffer from this problem.

Can anybody who is screen-savvy spread some light on this?

No, but you might want to turn it off. The CCFL's that backlight the LCD do have a limited life. I've fixed dozens of LCD monitors whose owners were unaware of this, and they left them on indefinitely, only to have them die in the first 6 months or so - and each (give or take one or two that had bad inverters) had bad lamps.

Depending on the configuration, your computer may be able to power down the monitor for you while it's idle. This depends on your operating system.

Cheers,

Brian (also retired Navy...)

There's no risk of burn in, but you can get "dead pixels" (Pixels that are stuck on one color)

Also, as already mentioned, the backlight does tend to wear out, and can be expensive/difficult to replace.

My power saver setting turns the monitor off after 30 minutes, but when I power the machine down (desktop) I leave the monitor on. It's a new Dell, and the first monitor failed after about six months but that one I did turn on and off every time I used it, so this one I've been leaving "untouched".

If you left a fixed image on an LCD monitor long enough, it could get "image retention", which looks like a burn when the display is lit (but is not visible with the power off, unlike true CRT burn-in). It can be cured, though, by displaying non-fixed content for some amount of time.

This used to happen on my old crappy personal DVD player. If you display one image for a long period of time(I used it for gaming), the image will 'ghost' over the screen when the image changes. It lasted for about two minutes on my particular screen before disappearing.

So, yes or no: does the modern LCD flatscreen computer monitor still need a screen saver?

Well, a screen saver would be better then showing a static desktop for an extended period of time.

I think your best option is a screensaver combined with the monitor powering down after X amount of minutes of non use.

No. It's impossible to burn an image into an LCD under normal use. The only cases of LCD burn in I've seen were from years of displaying the exact same high contrast image.

I'm not a fan of screen savers, even for CRTs. It's better just to set them to turn off after around 20-30 minutes rather than switch to a screen saver. A screen saver won't reduce wear on the CRT, and it won't save any power.

Nah.

Tom

If you're still uncertain, then in Settings | Control Panel | Display, just set the Screen Saver option to (none) or [Blank] and the inactivity timeout to something like 10 or 15 minutes. The output to the screen will go black, basically shutting off the need for the back lights.

Better yet is the suggestion to go into Settings | Control Panel | Power Options and set the monitor to turn off after 15 minutes. Keep in mind that if you're sitting there watching a DVD movie on your monitor, then because there's no perceived activity (i.e., mouse or keyboard) the monitor will turn off while you're watching.
Always an adrenalin rush thinking the computer just went Poof! the first time it happens... :D

Well, what I was looking for was a definitive technical answer that says "due to the high refresh rates, and changes in manufacturings <yada yada yada>...." that a screen saver for an LCD is needed or not. I know all the coloquial answers and I am well familiar with the screen saver and power saver settings, but so far nobody from the TV screen guild has chimed in to say if technology has rendered a screen saver any more than just purty pictures and waste of processing power. That's whay this was posted in the TV forum, and not the general discussion forums.

No TV guys out there?

Well, to tell you the truth, until I read this thread I just assumed screen savers were just that-pretty pictures, a novelty, and that was all. I never thought of them as offering any benefit to the monitor. Basically, any kind of monitor: crt, lcd, plasma, etc, should benefit by being off more than anything. As others have proved, burn-in won't be a problem in most situations.

Truth be told, I don't use a screensaver. I just lock the computer and turn the monitor off when I'm not using it.

If a monitor is on, it's aging. This is true for LCD, plasma, CRT, and in fact, it's true for pretty much anything electronic.

If you want a screensaver, go ahead and use one. It has no real benefit for an LCD that I am aware of.

The first screensavers were made to prevent burn-in on early monochrome CRT monitors which were prone to such things. Burns were much 'easier' to produce on those earlier single-color screens, so a constantly moving image was designed to prevent a burn. After those screens went obsolete, however, I believe screensavers became largely a novelty; a way to brighten up your computer screen. :yes: