LCD Etching

I did a video job a couple years ago where the customer insisted on buying their own LCD flat screen monitors. I don't recall what brand they used, but they stared to suffer from etching almost immediately. When I was looking into that I was told almost all LCD monitors will etch fairly quickly when used in that type of application. Usually within days and with some within hours the bright text will start to etch.

I have a little ten inch Sharp LCD I have had for many years that I use for a test monitor and occasionally for part of a loaner system when I have to send a monitor off for repairs. It has always had a great picture and has never shown any signs of etching even when operated on a fixed quad system for over six months.

I have a customer who wants me to loop out and install a flat screen for one of their cameras. Naturally I thought of Sharp.

As I flip through my TV catalog I notice that Sharp seems to have two lines. One is just Sharp and the other is Sharp Aquos. Anybody have any recent experience with either of these for fixed view CCTV applications regarding etching or lack thereof?

Reply to
Bob La Londe
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I had pretty much decided to use a top end Sharp monitor for this application since my own Sharp monitor has worked so well for so long. I priced it accordingly.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

I had never experienced it before that job, but its pretty bizarre. Since I didn't supply the monitors I wasn't too worried about it. Basically there are artifacts left on the screen. The worst is where you get the bright imaging from the on screen text.

When I looked into it I had two different LCD mfgs (probably relabelers) tell me it was common for that type application.

I have only a handful of sites with LCD monitors (all Sharp) and I had never encountered it before, but I like to do jobs, take the money, and not have to do any service on them or have to make excuses for poor performance. I figured before supplying a flat screen for this customer I would ask around again.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Reply to
coord

I've installed numerous DVRs with LCD monitors and never once seen "etching" occur. In the office we have one on a test bench that's been in use for over two years (a 15" Sharp), often with the same DVR displaying on it for three or four months straight, and never a problem.

Frankly, I've never heard of this phenomenon... a quick Google search of "lcd etching", and the first three pages, the only references to "etching" refer to manufacturing methods, not display failure.

Reply to
Matt Ion

I've sold dozens of LCD monitors and never encountered "etching"... What the heck is it (what does it look like)??

Reply to
Frank Olson

I think someone is blowing smoke up your ass. Either that or they're using REALLY cheap third-rate liquid crystals. Why would a DVR suffer this any more than any other display that's left on all the time? You'd think there'd be talk of the Start button, taskbar and desktop icons being "etched" on a regular basis as well.

Reply to
Matt Ion

I'm with Frank on that as I've not seen it either, the reason a TV will etch is due to the scanning of the photo-ray (whatever they call it) on a phosporus (however they spell it) background which over time degrades. An LED pixel I would think wouldn't do that. Otherwise wouldn't we see that on keypads?

Reply to
Mark Leuck

I did, and found this on a thread: Create a white image in Photoshop (or similar) the same size as your screen. Use it as yiur screen saver and let it run for as long as possible. I had the same problem, ran the screen saver for 24 hours and and then rebooted and the burn-in (Apple call it "ghosting") was gone. I've seen it recommended that you run the white image as screensaver for as long as you've had the ghosting problem, but in my case a week was too long for me to have no computer access so 24 hours did the trick. The problem hasn't since re-occured... This solution was recommended by Apple, it's somewhere in their knowledge base... Here's the link:

formatting link
Another site desribes it as "retained pixel charge" - apparently it's not a permanent condition as with monitor or plasma burn-in, it just requires something to force a change of the charge.

Reply to
Matt Ion

Bought a 17" Westinghouse at Worst Buy less than a month ago and you can see all 9 cameras with the system off already. Very unhappy with this as the regular monitors don't have this problem.

Reply to
<thesatguy1

Who are the manufacturers?? I have monitors up and running all day and none have demonstrated "etching" or "artifacts on the screen".

Check that the customer has the proper drivers installed for the monitor(s) they're using. If it's an "embedded" DVR that's going to be tough to do though. Most often there may be "compatibility" issues and a list of approved monitors to run with the specific machine. The problem may also be the video card and not with the monitor itself. You could test this utilizing another monitor (if the customer has the manuals for the machine make sure it's one that complies with the DVR manufacturer's "recommended" specifications).

Reply to
Frank Olson

Bob. The nice people at Viewsonic's tech support finally responded about your "burn-in" problem. They pointed me to a link on their website which states:

Unlike CRT monitors, image persistence or "Burn-In" is not permanent on your LCD panel. To recover from "Burn-In", leave the panel OFF for an extended time. We recommend the use of a screen saver when the ViewPanel is not in use.

(From

formatting link

I hope this helps.

Reply to
Frank Olson

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