Plasma Hdtv - What About Burn-In?

If you've been researching Hdtvs, you've heard about a nasty limited problem, unique to plasma and Crt sets, called burn-in. That's when your 00 plasma screen gets imprinted with the ghostly image of a Tv channel's logo or the shape of a letterbox because inevitable 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 precisely worth worrying about?

Burn-In Susceptibility in modern Plasma Hdtvs

The Hdtv commerce is very contentious these days, and plasma manufacturers are precisely starting to feel competition from the Lcd industry. So, you can bet they're doing all they can to eliminate burn-in. Screen technology has improved to the point where allowable use of the Tv (starting with a detailed break-in process) will not cause a problem, but careless use just might. And many of the new plasma Hdtvs, like the Samsung Hpt5064, have a "screen burn protection mode" built into the Tv to repair mild damage.

Image holding vs. Burn-In

Image holding is a coarse follow 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 been Powered off for a limited while.

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 stoppage is worth a pound of cure: follow a break-in policy when the set is new.

The Break-In Procedure

If you would rather be safe than sorry, you'll need to go through a break-in process when the Tv is new. In 2004, Panasonic commissioned a detailed look into the qoute and came up with some guidelines for new plasma owners:

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 dissimilarity to 50% or less. Briefly engage the 4:3 mode to confirm that the side bars are set to mid-gray to minimize the opening of burn-in. Return the set to a "full screen" (Just, Zoom, Full) position during the first hundred hours of use. during the first hundred hours of use, don't view the same channel for extended periods. This should preclude 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 sustain the dissimilarity 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 taste image burn-in.
The bottom Line

Hdtv experts agree now that burn-in is an overstated problem. Complaints now come from a much smaller ration of owners than they used to. Buying a late model plasma Hdtv, using a break-in procedure, and avoiding inevitable viewing habits should sacrifice the opening of damage to just about zero.

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