Philips Brilliance monitor periodically shifts screen by 2 pixels and cuts off screen borders

I noticed a strange issue with my new Philips Brilliance 242B7 (23.8") monitor: more or less every 5 minutes, the image moves 2 pixels vertically or horizontally.

The problem is that when the image moves, the border in that direction is cut off by 2 pixels. Here's some picture (taken obviously with a smartphone, since a screenshot from the OS wouldn't show the issue).

Lower border normal:

Lower border cut (note the incomplete Classic Shell Start button on the left and the missing blue lines):

Upper border normal:

Upper border cut:

Left border normal (this is an icon left-aligned on the desktop):

Left border cut:

Switching the monitor off and on again solves (temporarily) the problem.

There is no "adjust picture" or similar option in the monitor settings that I could try to use.

The monitor is set to 2560x1440 (native resolution) and is connected to the computer via DisplayPort. The computer has a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphic card.

I run Windows 10 Home, and here's is a post from a Mac user having the same issue on a Philip Brilliance 258B6QJEB monitor: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/315894-weird-issue-with-my-gpu-or-monitor-image-moving-1-px/

What could be the cause and how to fix it?

dr01

Posted 2017-06-09T18:53:53.137

Reputation: 2 509

2Are you sure it's not a built-in screensaver mechanism? My TV does exactly that if it detects a still image running for a long time. – Tetsujin – 2017-06-10T07:12:41.207

@Tetsujin I just witnessed it just after scrolling a webpage, so it's not a screensaver feature. Your idea made sense though. – dr01 – 2017-06-10T09:18:30.187

2I just checked my TV manual - it's apparently a setting deep in the menus, on or off, it's not a "smart" saver, it just does it all the time if the switch is on. You just don't notice it most of the time. – Tetsujin – 2017-06-10T10:11:00.960

I just looked up the manual - page 8, Pixel orbiting. It's a feature, not a bug. https://www.download.p4c.philips.com/files/2/242b7qpteb_00/242b7qpteb_00_dfu_eng.pdf

– Tetsujin – 2017-06-10T16:24:00.083

Answers

Based on nothing more than an educated guess - & not remembering the actual technical term of it initially - this would appear to be a hardware feature of the screen itself...

Pixel Orbiting.

A screen-saver mechanism intended to prevent burn-in on static images.

It's accessed via the OSD according to the manual, page 8 - available from Philips https://www.download.p4c.philips.com/files/2/242b7qpteb_00/242b7qpteb_00_dfu_eng.pdf

Tetsujin

Posted 2017-06-09T18:53:53.137

Reputation: 22 456

1Thanks a lot. The problem is that in the Philips monitor this is implemented poorly -- it would need a physical screen of min 2562x1442 so that no part of the screen is cut off when the image moves. I can't believe someone at Philips decided to implement it in this way. And leaving it on by default. And not documenting it. – dr01 – 2017-06-10T17:12:08.753

2I agree with you - it even has no other mention in the manual, only the OSD menu. If I hadn't already known the phenomenon from my own TV... – Tetsujin – 2017-06-10T17:14:32.113

4OMG, I was having the same on multiple monitors in the office and blamed Linux for it... I was floored when I read this answer. What a horrendously implemented feature. THANK YOU! – kaqqao – 2018-01-19T15:42:20.257

FYI for those saying this is a bad feature: it's important to the health of some displays to prevent burn-in. I use it on a Plasma TV, which would be permanently damaged if this type of display were used to show a computer's screen as burn in would be inevitable – Josh – 2019-08-23T15:51:40.163

2Mine is a plasma [now 10 years old, still no burn-in, even with this off], which is kind of how I knew the setting was there to find the info to supply this answer. TBH, 4 pixels is not enough to prevent burn-in. It's a 'fake' parameter. You just have to know not to let a static image sit there for hours, or you need to know how to mitigate it - if your TV has an anti-burn-in feature, or you switch it to regular programming for a few hours, or let your screen-saver kick in early. The Phillips is an LCD… makes even less sense for it to be on by default. – Tetsujin – 2019-08-23T16:04:59.540

It's a feature so bad that is a bug. Useless, undocumented, set on by default, and with an horrifying implementation. I hope whomever was responsible for it at Philips got fired. – dr01 – 2019-12-06T15:40:49.403