# Burn In Prevention for Plasma



## KLFLoyd (Apr 15, 2005)

I just bought a new HDTiVo and a 42" Plasma TV. Since then I've been paranoid about burn in. I thought for sure the HDTiVo would have some kind of screen saver or burn in protection feature but that's not the case. A paused TiVo will stay paused forever. I have to really make a point if I pause my TV for a minute to walk off to make sure that if I don't come back to the show right away I'd turn off the TV. Some kind of optional screen saver that would come on after 5 minutes of being paused would be really nice.


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## Okeemike (Apr 24, 2002)

That actually is a good idea. I thought that the whole burn in thing was hype, however, I soon learned that it really isn't. After just a few minutes of playing Crackdown on the Xbox 360, my plasma has lines on it I can't seem to get rid of.


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## WhiskeyTango (Sep 20, 2006)

Luckily this isn't really a problem for an LCD. I left mine on pause for 3 hours with no ill effects.


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## Okeemike (Apr 24, 2002)

WhiskeyTango said:


> Luckily this isn't really a problem for an LCD. I left mine on pause for 3 hours with no ill effects.


It's strange...I can play Halo 3 all day, with no issues. Crackdown, however, leaves an image almost immediately.


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## EvilMidniteBombr (May 25, 2006)

I'm a little paranoid about burn in on my Toshiba rear projection TV. So if I think I will be away from the TV for a while, I will do one of two things.

1) Pause the tv and turn it off.
2)Wait for a commercial break and turn on slow motion.

ETA: A screen saver may not be a bad idea. Maybe include an on/off option.


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## Okeemike (Apr 24, 2002)

EvilMidniteBombr said:


> 2)Wait for a commercial break and turn on slow motion.


Hey, that's a good idea!


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

You're not going to get burn-in from leaving your TiVo paused.

You _will_ get burn-in of the side panels if you watch a lot of 4:3 and don't stretch it. But you can't stretch it, because stretching sucks. So be sure to set the sidebars to grey instead of black, to reduce the damage.

Your TV, especially if it's a new one, probably has some anti-burn-in features of its own -- for instance, it may subtly move the picture around (only by a pixel or two), if you let it.

The main thing is to adjust it out of what's known as "torch mode" -- the very vivid settings that are usually the default, to make the sets look good in stores. Bring down the brightness and contrast.


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## HPD (Feb 25, 2008)

KLFLoyd said:


> I just bought a new HDTiVo and a 42" Plasma TV. Since then I've been paranoid about burn in. I thought for sure the HDTiVo would have some kind of screen saver or burn in protection feature but that's not the case. A paused TiVo will stay paused forever. I have to really make a point if I pause my TV for a minute to walk off to make sure that if I don't come back to the show right away I'd turn off the TV. Some kind of optional screen saver that would come on after 5 minutes of being paused would be really nice.


Burn in is the reason I avoided plasma and went with rear projection DLP, but I do agree they should put a screen saver on Tivo that kicks in after five minutes on pause.


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## EvilMidniteBombr (May 25, 2006)

Okeemike said:


> Hey, that's a good idea!


Thank you.


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## wblynch (Aug 13, 2003)

I've got a 5 year old NEC 42" plasma that we abuse all to hell and it doesn't have any burn-in. In fact I want to upgrade to a 50" NEC plasma before all the plasmas disappear.

Admittedly we don't leave the Tivo guide up for hours, but black side bars disappear after only a few minutes of widescreen viewing.

We honestly never think of burn-in at all anymore.


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## Okeemike (Apr 24, 2002)

wblynch said:


> I've got a 5 year old NEC 42" plasma that we abuse all to hell and it doesn't have any burn-in. In fact I want to upgrade to a 50" NEC plasma before all the plasmas disappear.
> 
> Admittedly we don't leave the Tivo guide up for hours, but black side bars disappear after only a few minutes of widescreen viewing.
> 
> We honestly never think of burn-in at all anymore.


LCDs supposedly don't have the same issue with burn-in like plasma. I have no source to cite, I just happened to recently read this online somewhere. Apparently it has to do with LCDs lack of the use of phosphorus to coat the screen (?).


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## madneon (Jun 17, 2007)

Same here I have a 6 year old Maxent 42 inch plazzy and I bought it b4 I even knew about burn in and since I have upgraded I do pause things (series 2 ) on that tv with no ill affects....knock on wood..


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## wblynch (Aug 13, 2003)

Okeemike said:


> LCDs supposedly don't have the same issue with burn-in like plasma. I have no source to cite, I just happened to recently read this online somewhere. Apparently it has to do with LCDs lack of the use of phosphorus to coat the screen (?).


But LCD still has that obnoxious purple glow and pasty faces. I'm surprised that even the best LCD flat screens I've seen lately have those pasty faces.

I'll stick with plasma till something better comes along (OLED?)


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## EVizzle (Feb 13, 2005)

plasma will be around in videophile circles until OLED becomes the norm. LCD looks closer to upconverted SD-DVD with a matte finish to me, which is why I replaced my LCD with a plasma.

As for burn in or "image retention" i just throw on live TV if i am going away from the TV for a few minutes, or turn it off if I will be away for longer or if I am watching paused live TV. Letterboxing goes away quickly after watching a movie. You just have to be smart about it and not leave something paused (or a DVD menu screen) on for a long time and you will be fine.


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## megazone (Mar 3, 2002)

wblynch said:


> But LCD still has that obnoxious purple glow and pasty faces. I'm surprised that even the best LCD flat screens I've seen lately have those pasty faces.


Never, ever go by what you see in stores. The display settings in stores are WAY off. And the first thing you do when you get an HDTV should be to calibrate it. The defaults are set for bright stores with fluorescent lights. The contrast is normally cranked up, and the color balance is way off. You can often find recommended settings over at AVS Forum which will go a long way, and a calibration DVD or BD is the next step (I've suggested several times that TiVo should offer downloadable test and calibration patterns), and then professional calibration.

Many LCD sets can produce very high quality pictures, better than some (low-to-mid) plasmas. Talking to TV service techs, they say plasma is the most problematic. Once they start to go, they're pretty much junk. They also suck the most power and produce the most heat. High end plasmas are still the best for the largest flat panels and sets like Pioneer's Kuro produce the best black levels.

But plasmas are being phased out rapidly as LCDs displace them. The next big thing is likely OLED, and there is still potential for SED to carve out market share, but it is perpetually delayed.

Modern plasmas don't have as many problems with burn-in. Each generation is better than the last - at least for the premium brands. The cheaper sets tend to use older generation technology due to the lower cost. LCD really doesn't have burn-in, nor do DLP rear projection sets.


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