Do LCD/LEDs have a break in period? Do they degrade with time?

Yes, all electronics have shifting points depends on temperature rise in operation.
Calibration are always done after few hrs warm-up.
New electronics needs at least 24+ hrs /days continuous break-in to settle down.
LCD pixels/backlight/optic layers also needs break-in/settle down with/after regulary many hours use, PQ will improve mostly with time and when the material reach end of life, PQ will degrade and break-down.

Try this break-in to quick setlle down the LCD:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1406663/pixel-jogger-break-in-improves-pq-plasma-lcd-led-tv-for-diy-users-only-w-disclaimer
Edited by iBrad - 3/15/13 at 2:21am

You're welcome.
I'm an AV perfectionist and DIY researcher, have electronics degree, worked years in the av/pc/laptop industry as QA/R&D/repair engineer.
You will only notice the differences if you are visual accurate, else it'll be a waste of time for ppl with bad vision.
Here are the new links for 10minute pixel jogger and 60fps versions:

Pixel Jogger is the BEST pixel picture optimizer, break-in HD PQ solution/enhancer ever created!
http://youtu.be/7kxu-chASGg 10min
http://youtu.be/RhV_kfjEZb0 60fps 10min
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S-zDy9-_Lg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOfEwdDhjo0

fix dead stuck improve pixels PQ on Plasma LCD LED tv monitors etc.
keep playing repeat on for hours, check after few hrs, if problem is gone/fixed, else keep playing!
Download HD:
Pixel Jogger 30fps 10min.mp4
http://www.sendspace.com/file/nypxl6
Pixel Jogger 60fps 10min.mp4
http://www.sendspace.com/file/59unmj
a) Pixel Jogger.mp4 - 352 KB
http://www.mediafire.com/?hq5rv78qu1d9dhd
b) Pixel Jogger plus PinkNoise.mp4 - 2 MB
http://www.mediafire.com/?3i79g9u6rop4zd1
c) WhitescreenIR.mp4 - 1 MB
http://www.mediafire.com/?evee88qfnxarphi
Regular (outdated RGB versions) Download HD:
http://www.mediafire.com/?vo7x0d0dyvy5xdj
PixelOptimizer1920.mp4
http://www.mediafire.com/?81scr3r9r4z58un
PixelburninSmooth1920.mp4
---
By simply displaying alternate Black and White screens in 30fps (= max NTSC screen 60Hz refresh rate), the PLASMA/LCD/LED pixels gets the CORRECT even/proper aging/intensive break-in/warm-up! All RGB Pixels will simply switches ON/OFF in 60Hz, this will jog/warm-up the pixels to switch faster and even.
Try it yourself, let the video play a few 4+ hours on repeat and see it yourself, you will notice it directly!
PictureQuality comes to Life in your face! Testproof it yourself now!. (and also see the real differences between properly break-in/warmed-up PLASMA/LCD/LED displays)
AMAZING overall (3D like) PictureQuality improvements in:
1) Higher Contrast/Deeper Black Level.
2) Sharper/Higher Details Resolution.
3) Vibrant lifelike Colors (if your WhiteBalance is properly calibrated).
4) Faster/smoother/clearer movements etc..

Enjoy!
Edited by iBrad - 3/15/13 at 2:16am

Let's try a different approach.

1) Don't calibrate on day one. Enough might change that you ought to wait a bit. You want to do a crude, quick calibration of brightness, contrast, base color? Sure, do that. You'll enjoy the first 100 or so hours more. But in a few weeks, revisit the settings and don't spend much time on it initially.

2) Watch some TV for a while. That's all you need to "break it in." No really it is. If you want to check for dead pixels, then some full-screen single color images are useful. Check those out. Otherwise, watch some TV.

3) Your TV will lose brightness over time. But it's a lot of time. You likely won't care by the time this happens. Something else could fail before it does.

If you want to use PixelJogger, I can't see how it will hurt. But I can't really see why it's necessary either.

I seriously doubt the validity of those claims. Sounds scientifically implausible.

as far as a break period is concerned, the real answer is not really... but if you do calibrate on day one, a touch-up after 100-150 hours of use or so wouldn't hurt

You should read that as personal subjective observation and is dependent on the person's perception ability.

Comparable with it as a coldstarted tube amplifier sound with a warmed up and breaked-in tube amp.
Both "warm" sounds will be different subjectively hearable depends on the person's hearing/reception's ability and very difficult/impossible to measure with freq. analyzers, what exactly sound subtility changed.

I read that as "not based on scientific principles". The only way to experience a PQ improvement from a 'pixel jogger' would be the placebo effect.

I'm not trying to be rude, just stating that it's scientifically impossible for a 'pixel jogger' to provide any PQ improvements (and this has been discussed in the display calibration forum before, just use search to see what I mean).

here one example of such a thread (and it links to another within it):

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1443965/pixel-jogger-question#post_22674251

Yes, subjective discussed it without testproof it personally, so who cares.
People who actually test it did see improvement in sharper images and less ir, whether it's placebo and not scientific theoretical bs is not important, it works for those ppl.
Thats all!

LCD's can also degrade over time. For example, my lcd had a perfect picture when i first bought it with no flashlights, clouds and only 1 or 2 stuck pixels. However after 1.5 years flashlights began to appear. Now i have major flashlighting in all 4 corners. Still no clouding and the pixels are no longer stuck (and zero dead pixels) after 4 years, but the flashlighting alone destroys my enjoyment of the tv for now.

Yes, all material will degrade/deform overtime.
That 4 corners flashlighting is caused by contant pressure of too tightend screws in the backcover/lcd frame.
You can fix it by loosen up the screws in those corners, so the pressure will decrease and overtime hopefully minimize/fix that flashlighting.

Loosen the screws up in the backcover and/or inside the lcd mounting frame, is a proven fix/method posted somewhere here or on net.
http://www.mademan.com/mm/how-repair-flashlighting-lcd-television.html#vply=0

Combined with massaging the screen is also a solution:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1125227/possible-permanent-backlight-bleed-fix-for-lcd-tvs-and-monitors-w-disclaimer/0_50

Oh, my mistake then. I thought this was the Audio Visual Science Forum, not the snake oil forum.

So yes, the misalignment of the light guides or the edge lighting is what causes flashlighting. And, yes, sometimes loosening (or tightening) the assembly can cause the pieces to fall into proper alignment and ameliorate this problem. In fact, It's probably true that a semi-skilled technician could align the relatively small number of parts in a typical LCD to improve any flashlighting on almost any TV that has some.

That said, the "massage the screen" idea has always been done and should continue to be ignored. It might actually work because pressing on all the component from the screen side could achieve the intended result. But pressing on the actually LCD screen is dumb, likely to cause damage, and a terrible, terrible way to fix a problem that exists between a light bar that is not even located behind the screen (it's next to it) and a plastic light guide that is located behind the screen. It'd be like repairing a damage liver by performing surgery on your stomach.

What, there is no measuring/programmed instrument that can compare to human eye subtle perception and ability of preference.
Who set the ref.point of better image? The individual human eye, get over it!

If you can find the right very sensitive measuring instrument, that is able to measure the subtle i.e. sharpness improvement/variation, good luck with it.

As mentioned about i.e. the tube amp, audiophile won't listen to it, without proper warming-up the amp!
And is there a measuring instrument able to measure the variation in audio quality perception, besides the individual human ear and their preference? Don't think so.

Your preference could be not the same as others, you don't like/believe pixel jogger, so be it, do we care, NO.
Enjoy!
Edited by iBrad - 2/7/13 at 12:40am

Thier is no LED pixel! LED is the back lighting and you do not have to handle it like a plasma!

Nah, don't bother with it, as I'm not a manufacturer, can't invest into something to prove some DIY improvements/hobby projects, just take it or leave it.
My test samples are TV'S: PANASONIC P42S30, SAMSUNG UE40EH6030, SHARP LC26GA3E, SAMSUNG 244T, ACER AL1931.
LAPTOP'S (their displays): ACER ASPIRE 8930G, ACER TRAVELMATE 8104, MEDION PentiumIII notebook.

The comparation with tube amp is both are electronics and all electronics: tubes, leds, chips, resistor, transistors, capacitors etc. all have its own lifetime characteristics and optimum range or optimum performance in after usage in time/temperature swing/duration/life cycle etc.
So after some time in usage of stressing periode, electronics stabilize the performance/saturation point and from time will degrade to end of lifecycle.

Pixel jogger just aid quickly and efficiently into this aging/stressing/stabilizing process to reach the optimum performance point.
BTW. Electronics are always (stress)tested/aging at least few hrs/(high-range electronics 24+ hrs), before leaving the factory, go figure.

Enjoy!
Edited by iBrad - 2/7/13 at 7:41am

In reference to the original question. It depends on the technology used in a particular TV. Break-in seems to be more related to plasma panels than LCD. That said, after buying 8 different LCD TVs over that past 5 years or so, I do know that the light output level changes as does warm up time on CCFL and EEFL back lit LCD panels. This may also alter lamp color temperature somewhat, but probably not to a high degree. Either way, after about 200 hours of initial use of an LCD TV with florescent back light, some minor changes in picture may be noticed. The bigger issue is warm up time after the TV has 2,000+ hours on it or so. In some tests a few of us AVS memebers did on CCFL/EEFL back lit LCD TVs it was noted that it took sometimes over 90-100 minutes for the florescent lights brightness to reach 95% maximum light output at any setting it was used at.

Now that most LCD panels are lit with LEDs (LED TV is a misnomer), it is a game changer as to both warm up time and degradation of light output over years. Since LEDs do not seem to exhibit much appreciable "warm up" to produce maximum light output. As far as aging vs. degradation goes with LEDs, it is hard to say. There is some evidence for both of these concerns according to a few sources. And I am sure there are others. These links speak of LED light intensity and later about possible aging characteristics.

http://www.inphora.com/LED_intensity.pdf


http://luminousdiy.com/Technical%20Info.htm
Edited by Phase700B - 2/7/13 at 9:08am

here is a link about how LED-LCD displays might warm up:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spectracal.com%2Fdownloads%2Ffiles%2FWebsite%2FWebsite%2520Articles%2FDisplay%2520Warm%2520Up%2520Rates%2520-%2520How%2520Long%2520is%2520Enough.pdf&ei=Q-ETUfSQBsy50AH44oDwCw&usg=AFQjCNHmBue-q_LZBGY5-B7ZpvFbdquqnQ&bvm=bv.42080656,d.dmQ

I'm not sure if all displays with a LED backlight behave this way, but it's still a good read for anyone interested in the subject.

A important point for anyone considering this 'technique'. The last thing you want to do to any LCD screen is put significant pressure on it.

I blame marketing for this confusion (Samsung is the first brand that comes to mind). There is no such thing as a LED TV at the moment, just LCD TVs with LED backlights. Now when OLED comes out, it will be a different story.

It is important to note that any "expert reference" articles regarding warm up times, etc that are a few years old may not apply to current LED back lighted LCD panels.

Regarding my post about "Warm Up Time" here is an excerpt from a thread from May of 2012 and when a few of us were checking warm of times to maximum light output on an LG xxLD550 series LCD TV with EEFL ( a type of CCFL florescent):

Max output after 105 minutes to 3 hours stabilized is 270 lux +/- 2 lux.

Output after specified time:

100 lux @ 3 min. 37%
193 lux @ 15 min 71%
235 lux @ 30 min 87%
251 lux @ 45 min 92%
261 lux @ 60 min 96%
267 lux @ 90 min 98.8%
270 lux @ 105 min 100%

The Back Light output was stable at 270 +/- 2 lux after 105 minutes and monitored for 4 hours total. So in my opinion, from now on, I wouldn't do any setting adjusts on my TV until it was on at least 60 minutes or better still 105 minutes. And, as you can see, it takes an additional 60 minutes to gain the last 8% in light output to max output. I will say that after 45 minutes to 1 hour I really can not tell visually, any "brighter" or better picture with either excellent OTA content or Blu-ray reference movie content.
Edited by Phase700B - 2/7/13 at 10:37am

There is a < LED longterm performance? > sticky in the Calibration Forum, have fun
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1278372/led-longterm-performance

I recommended that thread be closed and ignored for a long time. Then I gave up.

If people want to risk destroying their TVs, I can't stop them.

If they want to carefully loosen a few screws (not too far!) to try to mitigate a problem... I can -- in that case -- help them understand why that might help a bit, while encouraging caution.

From what I've read in some other articles your eye can not tell a change in light output of much less than 10%. . . unless you are comparing a direct A-B comparison side by side. A gradual increase from the 92% to 100% maximum light output of the LCD TVs we were testing could not be discerned.

As far as light output curves regarding "other LCDs", I assume you mean LED back lit LCDs and the light output apparently is dependent also on the type and even brand of LEDs used as the light source. Which is another head shaker. Already we have panel lottery issues. What if there are light source LED issues too? One never knows how vendor sources may change from one run of TV production to another I guess. For instance. . . there really is no "white LED". Originally, LEDs came in red, yellow, green and then blue. From what I remember reading in some tech articles, they obtained white light from an LED by doping the substrate with a combination of materials from each color category to try and blend it and obtain a white light. So, what if one batch or one maker of LEDs is slightly different? That could shift the color temperature of the LED itself. Maybe another reason why TVs of the same brand/model but different make dates have differing characteristics? Dizzying amount of variables.

And, it raises the question if the LEDs will maintain the same color temperature of white light throughout their lifetime. My guess. . . probably not. But to what extent are we to worry about it. It would be nice to just . . .. set it and forget it. . . . wouldn't it?
Edited by Phase700B - 2/7/13 at 11:56am