We have to cover people's stupidity....

[Mr Hero]

About burn in: What if you're playing a video game that has some sort of display that doesn't go away? Like a life bar or something? Can that get burned into a TV?

[sld72382]

About burn in: What if you're playing a video game that has some sort of display that doesn't go away? Like a life bar or something? Can that get burned into a TV?

On older Plasma TVs that don't have some sort of "pixel shifting" (Panasonic calls it pixel orbiter) then yes, you might get burn-in if you leave those on there for a long time.

On new plasmas, once you break them in there shouldn't be a problem. Just be sure to leave the pixel shifting feature on.

[Andara Bledin]

First off I always turn off that "monitor go into standby mode after an hour" crap cause I hate it. I'd rather have a screen saver turn on instead.

I have a screensaver that kicks in at the 1 hour mark. Standby won't kick in until 2 hours, and I only do that because the screen saver is static with part of the design being quite bright. Otherwise, I never use standby, but it's the default setting, so people who don't know better won't have to worry about it.

I have no idea what the TV settings are. They don't really matter to me, too much, except when there's a huge download for the XBox, because it won't stay on if the TV shuts down.

^-.-^

[The Electric Fetus]

okok..... i have to ask.....

i have something of a technical background, but admittedly not up on all the current cool toys.

but i was under the impression that 'burn in' couldn't happen anymore due to the fact that plasma [basically] is an electrically charged GAS and not being 'shot' at the screen like electrons were with the old school CRT's. maybe i'm thinking of LCD tv's or are ALL screens prone to 'burn in' under the right conditions?

plz educate! 8)

[Chromatix]

I don't know the technical reasons behind it, largely because I don't even know how a plasma display works in the first place. But I'm willing to accept that it happens.

I do know that some types of LCDs can burn in - I've seen it myself on an old, greyscale passive-matrix display in a PowerBook. Essentially, after several years of habitual use, the outlines of icons from the Applications folder remained faintly visible when the display was showing only a blank shade that wasn't pure white or pure black. This is simply because the material physically moves in an LCD, and eventually it gains memory just like a piece of metal or rubber.

I would however be surprised to see it on a modern active-matrix display, whether in TN, IPS or MVA technology. It would seem to indicate an exceptionally poor-quality display, possibly with a panel being inappropriately overdriven by the control electronics.

[EvilEmpryss]

Second of all, I don't see how playing a CD would cause it.

When you put a CD into a CD/DVD player hooked to a TV, all the ones I had would put some sort of image on the screen so you know the CD player is playing through the TV. The DVD player I currently have does this with a static image of the player's brand in the middle of the screen. So yes, idiot boyfriend may be right in this instance, depending on the specific hardware being used.

As for burn in on LCD... I couldn't tell the difference between LCD and Plasma unless it's printed on the sale tag, and I don't know what kind of TVs they have at Wally World, but I have seen those TVs showing distinct signs of burn in. Then again, they're on 24/7 playing through the same loop of advertisements repeatedly, or displaying the main menu of the latest new release DVD, so it might not be a fair example of normal use.

[Hyndis]

I just like screensavers because they can be very pretty.

[Andara Bledin]

I just like screensavers because they can be very pretty.

My current one is a neon analog clock. I'm quite fond of it.

^-.-^

[SongsOfDragons]

Isn't there something called a degausser that can get rid of burn-in, or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

[Darkforge]

Isn't there something called a degausser that can get rid of burn-in, or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

degaussing sometimes helps on some monitors, but not all.

First of all it can only be used on a CRT monitor (an old style tv with the tubes and everything) but not any flat screens as they work in a different way.

secondly it will help improve the picture quality but if the glass at the front of the screen has been physically damaged by the burn in then unfortunately the only cure is replacement.

[Chromatix]

A degausser corrects a different kind of problem than burn-in. Most newer types of CRT monitor have one built-in which works automatically on power-up.