If you’ve been researching HDTVs, you’ve heard about a nasty little problem, unique to plasma and CRT sets, called burn-in. That’s when your $4000 plasma screen gets imprinted with the ghostly image of a TV channel’s logo or the outline of a letterbox because certain parts of the screen have aged faster than the rest. But if it’s such a big deal, why do people keep buying expensive plasma HDTVs? Is burn-in really worth worrying about?
Burn-In Susceptibility in Modern Plasma HDTVs
The HDTV industry is very competitive these days, and plasma manufacturers are really starting to feel competition from the LCD industry. So, you can bet they’re doing everything they can to eliminate burn-in. Screen technology has improved
...The twisting and bending is a matter of degree, and the change in shape allows for more or less light to pass, which allows for up to 1024 shades of gray in television displays. The common wall clock or digital ...
Image Retention vs. Burn-In
Image retention is a common effect that you might have seen after turning off a CRT television at night: the last image to appear on the screen stays there for a while after the TV is off, then fades away slowly. This is caused by a charge build-up in the phosphors (the glowing picture elements in the screen), and will go away after the display has
...better, and a certain distance must be maintained between the plasma TV and the viewing area for optimal viewing experience. The plasma display is unsurpassed because of the aspect ratio of 16:9 and the incredible resolution of 1366 x 768. ...
Burn-in, on the other hand, is permanent. Since it is caused by uneven aging of the screen phosphors, the “burned” image will persist forever, like a tattoo. It can be caused by spending a lot of time watching stuff in a 4:3 (non-widescreen) aspect ratio, watching a news channel with a stationary “news ticker”, or playing a game with stationary screen elements. Just as a tattoo can be removed with a great deal of effort, there are ways to fix a burned-in screen. But an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure: follow a break-in procedure when the set is new.
The Break-In Procedure
If you would rather be safe than
...around among brands should not be a problem either. Some of the many manufacturers who make a variety of traditional tube televisions include such well known brands as Toshiba, Sharp, Samsung, Sony, Daewoo, Sylvania, RCA, Magnavox and Phillips, among others. ...
In the first hundred hours:
Make sure the display is in a viewing mode (aspect ratio) that completely
fills the screen (there are often three or more settings from which to choose). The panel is shipped in this condition, in what is called the “Just” mode.
Turn down the contrast to 50% or less.
Briefly engage the 4:3 mode to confirm that the side bars are set to mid-gray to minimize the chance of burn-in.
Return the set to a “full screen” (Just, Zoom, Full) position
...of resolution. This is done very quickly so it is hardly noticed by the eye. In the case of interlaced scanning there is a slight delay between alternate lines that are being drawn onto the screen. The slight flickering of ...
During the first hundred hours of use, don’t view the same channel for extended periods. This should prevent channel logos and other fixed images from being retained.
Avoid any static images (video games, computer images, DVD title screens, etc.) during the hundred-hour break-in.
After the hundred hour break-in period, during the next nine hundred hours:
Continue to retain the contrast setting at 50% or less.
Limit the use of 4:3 aspect ratio mode to 15% of viewing time.
Limit the use of static images (computer, video games, etc.) to less than 10% of viewing time.
After one thousand viewing hours, panels are much less likely to experience image burn-in.
The Bottom Line
HDTV experts
...is also totally flat, free of any curvature whatsoever and therefore free of edge-distortion, which makes plasma televisions a combination of large size, convenience, and high performance seldom seen before in the era of traditional CRT television technology. Plasma technology ...
About the Author
Tom Webster writes for [http://flathdtv.net]FlatHDTV.net and the [http://news.flathdtv.net]FlatHDTV Blog FlatHDTV.net is an online guide to the HDTV revolution.