RTings says that according to conversations with industry experts, "contamination during manufacturing, defects in the encapsulation of some OLED displays, or degradation of that encapsulation over time" may be at the source of the problem. The site's investigation also notes that some of its test units are affected by edge delamination.
For whatever it's worth, he notes that his set's dark spots mostly reside on the side closest to a portion of the wall with very minor humidity ingress from outside the building. The set is resting on furniture, not wall-mounted, though, so the relation between humidity and the edge rot is inconclusive at best.
Bruno Ferreira Social Links Navigation Contributor Bruno Ferreira is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has decades of experience with PC hardware and assorted sundries, alongside a career as a developer. He's obsessed with detail and has a tendency to ramble on the topics he loves. When not doing that, he's usually playing games, or at live music shows and festivals.
bit_user Thanks for reporting this. I'm in the market for an OLED TV, myself. It's a good thing I didn't buy one before the pandemic, because my TV hours went way up, during that time. They're now pretty much back to pre-pandemic levels. The article said: For whatever it's worth, he notes that his set's dark spots mostly reside on the side closest to a portion of the wall with very minor humidity ingress from outside the building. I wonder if perhaps the real issue isn't temperature fluctuations or gradients, then. Reply
magbarn My LG C2 48" I bought in 2022 has right upper edge rot now for over a year. C2 panels only had 1 year warranties so I'm screwed. That humidity excuse is hogwash. It's always run in my well air conditioned computer room with around 30% humidity year round. Reply
bit_user magbarn said: My LG C2 48" I bought in 2022 has right upper edge rot now for over a year. C2 panels only had 1 year warranties so I'm screwed. That humidity excuse is hogwash. It's always run in my well air conditioned computer room with around 30% humidity year round. Thanks for the report & sorry for your trouble. Just curious: roughly how many hours/day is it on? No judgement. I'm just trying to see how different factors weigh on it. Reply
thestryker bit_user said: I'm in the market for an OLED TV, myself. It's a good thing I didn't buy one before the pandemic, because my TV hours went way up, during that time. They're now pretty much back to pre-pandemic levels. I skipped OLED for my last two and opted for the higher end side of Samsung's QLED just to avoid all the potential problems. It's a lot easier to mitigate potential problem areas on a monitor than TV (for my usage at least) and I just don't really want to think about it when I have the TV on. Of course I also wouldn't buy a TV without an ATSC 3.0 tuner and those don't necessarily exist on OLEDs especially now (last TV I got was 2024). OLED blacks are certainly better and they don't have HDR glow, but I can't say either of those has bothered me. I think as long as you can find a good LCD with good enough HDR back lighting it's a good alternative. Reply
bit_user thestryker said: Of course I also wouldn't buy a TV without an ATSC 3.0 tuner and those don't necessarily exist on OLEDs especially now (last TV I got was 2024). I just discovered that was actually due to a lawsuit. Also, I heard something about ATSC 3.0 having some encryption that can interfere with recording. One thing I really like about ATSC 1.0 is that it's unencumbered by any of that stuff (they tried to add a "broadcast flag" mechanism that was supposed to block recording, but that ended up getting shot down). Reply
usertests bit_user said: I just discovered that was actually due to a lawsuit. Also, I heard something about ATSC 3.0 having some encryption that can interfere with recording. One thing I really like about ATSC 1.0 is that it's unencumbered by any of that stuff (they tried to add a "broadcast flag" mechanism that was supposed to block recording, but that ended up getting shot down). Antenna Man and Lon.TV cover this topic pretty extensively on YouTube, and have submitted comments to the FCC, etc. I haven't "tuned into" the issue in a while, since I just pirate everything. https://www.youtube.com/@AntennaMan/search?query=ATSChttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCZHp4d1HnItSSUpA-DskfKKKrQ_LQYwP Reply
thestryker bit_user said: Also, I heard something about ATSC 3.0 having some encryption that can interfere with recording. One thing I really like about ATSC 1.0 is that it's unencumbered by any of that stuff (they tried to add a "broadcast flag" mechanism that was supposed to block recording, but that ended up getting shot down). The wrong administration was in charge when a lot of the rules were being done so the FCC basically rubber stamped what the industry wanted. It's up to the broadcasters whether or not they want to use encryption so it's hit and miss. ATSC 3.0 also uses Wildvine for DRM for whatever reason which adds another layer of mess once you try to do playback outside of a television. The A3SA certainly seems to have way too much power given that OTA is provided by public license and they're allowed to pick favorites with regards to encryption. If you want to read some of the filings regarding ATSC 3.0 encryption they should be in here: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/search-filings/filing/1013019127432 The monstrous thread that's been going on for almost 3 years at Silicon Dust: https://forum.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=78888 There are so many crazy issues with regards to ATSC 3.0 which simply never needed to be. On top of the encryption nonsense is that they opted for Dolby AC-4 for audio which requires a license from Dolby. bit_user said: I just discovered that was actually due to a lawsuit. LG didn't want to pay licensing fees and lost in court over the tuners they were using so they dumped it (in NA at least). Samsung, Sony, TCL and Hisense all still sell TVs with ATSC 3.0 tuners they're just not ubiquitous. I think that the regulatory mess is why we haven't seen any real movement here. Reply
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