Panel refresh
I had one particularly thin band that had a darkened edge, that I could faintly make out on 10% Near Black and on a blank HDMI input (gray screen). It was darker than my other two bands (which were only visible at 5% and below). I unfortunately became fixated on it, so I recently tried this out to see if it would help.
This function is intended for helping with image retention, but in a way, banding is sort of like IR -- it's bad and we don't want it. My OLED panel was at exactly 00078 hours, not fully broken-in, but I felt it was time to at least give this a try and "test" this one last feature out before my return period expired!
Note: I don't suggest anyone to do this unless they feel it is needed. Please do not let this post encourage you to do it.
1. Enter thru a three-step screen process and start the Panel refresh
2. The screen turns black/off
3. Wait 58-60 minutes
4. "Click" Sound (Set Turns On)
5. A horizontal white line will scroll down the black screen from top to bottom
6. "Click" Sound (Set Turns Off)
7. It's not obvious, but at this point, you can turn the set back on and you'll be greeted with the "Panel refresh finished" dialogue box. I waited an extra two hours just to be sure (more like... I had other things to do!), and the TV stayed off, so yeah... it was done after the second "Click"!
(Sorry, these settings screens are really supposed to be more gray than blue but my phone camera is really bad in low-light.)
I can definitely report that the offending band is now noticeably lighter! But please don't expect miracles, if you're really unhappy with your uniformity, this is probably not going to be the answer, but overall, I'm happy with the slight improvement. The band is still there, but it's not as pronounced as before, and blends better with a gray screen.
The uniformity elsewhere seems to be about the same (there is still no vignetting even at 2-3% Near Black, and 100% Full White had no perceivable tint as before) and the actual picture quality/brightness looks the same.
I don't plan on using the Panel refresh function again unless it's needed down the road. I can say I have not noticed any image retention so far in my two weeks with this set, so that's a great sign of course!