Screen Burn

[randro]

It is safe to have the commercials play during HDTV network shows and sports. There's 15-20 minutes of commercials per hour, can this cause screen burn? I've been changing the channel during breaks just in case.

[RickNeff]

Yes, it is a concern (and I'll change channels simply 'cause I don't like commericals! )  But, if you drop your contrast lower than the often default 100%, you'll go a long way to prevent burn-in.

[lefty]

I just got a new 16:9 HDTV last week and love it so far.  Your post has me wondering if I need to expand the picture when I watch standard definition 4:3 broadcasts.  I have read about screen burn but I hate the distortion that occurs when the picture is expanded.  Even worse was watching the Fox football broadcast since the time and score was cut off along the top of the screen.  So, my question is do I need to expand the picture whenever it does not fit the screen?

[Gregg Lengling]

I've been watching a 61" RPTV for almost 2 years now and there are typically 2 modes you can switch to.  One is Full Screen which widens out the picture without trimming the top of bottom...of course everyone looks fatter, but when I watch NonHD football this is the mode I use.  The other mode is usually refered to as FILL.  This mode is especially useful on letterboxed widescreen shows that are sent over analog channels, but using fill it retains the aspect ratios but cuts the top and bottom off the screen.  So in a letterboxed show, such as Enterprise on channel 24, it fills the screen with the proper aspect ratio.  Of course the picture looks a little worse than the letterboxed version...because of line doubling ect....but still acceptable.

I find myself not watching much more that DVD's and HD stuff on the big screen...I watch the news on the 19" old set in the Kitchen.  I don't want to see Peter Jennings that big.

[borghe]

Screen burn on 4:3 commericials during HD programming is not a problem. While prolonged viewing of 4:3 with black bars can possibly cause lines of demarcation, the viewing of 15 minutes of commercials broken up over the course of an hour is not going to do that.

As for watching with grey bars on the screen, Mits (I believe) says that you should limit Narrow viewing to 10% of all viewing. According to this, if you watch 3 hours of TV in a night, Narrow should only be used for 18 minutes of it. Now this is a very conservatiev number, but that is because Mits along with most manufacturers don't cover burn-in under the warranty anymore.

Realisticly I have watched dozens of classic movies on DVD and TCM in 4:3 OAR over the last year and do not have bars or lines of demarcation burned into my set. However, I have watched significantly more widescreen movies and HD material. Further, all satellite TV gets watched in either stretched mode (partial stretching) or Expand mode (proportionate zooming), unless it is a 4:3 OAR movie on TCM.

[Pat]

Burn in is a distinct possibility for a CRT based set (RPTV, glass tube, or some front projectors) if you leave the contrast in "torch" mode (all the way up) as sets are normally delivered.  This setting of the contrast also redcues the life of your set.

But if you reduce the contrast to half or less (use Avia or Video Essentials for best results) and adjust the brightness control appropriately, you will increase the life of the set, increase color and gray-scale fidelity, and reduce the liklihood of burn-in to near zero.

You sould reduce the contrast immediately upon delivery, and you should be leary of buying floor-models which have run for extended periods in torch mode.

[lefty]

Thanks for all of the usefull advise to everyone.  I am glad I found this forum.  I will be doing alot of lurking  and learing.  I cannot wait for the super bowl.  We are having a 50 person party and I am wondering if there is some type of commission I can get for all of the people attending the party that will be buying HD sets in the near furture.  If they are as blown away as I was last weekend, it is now impossible to watch regular TV.

[mnr929rr]

how about when you have split screen pip,isn't grey brtter than black(bars)?