Plasma HDTV: What About Burn-In?
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 $5000 Plasma screen gets imprinted with the ghostly image of a logo or menu box 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, 2007
The HDTV industry is very competitive these days, and Plasma manufacturers are really starting to feel the heat from the LCD industry. So, you can bet they’re doing everything they can to eliminate burn-in. Screen technology has improved to the point where proper use of the TV will definitely not cause a problem, but careless use just might. And several of the new Plasma HDTVs, like the Samsung HPT5064, have a “screen burn protection mode” built into the TV to repair mild damage.
Image Retention vs. Burn-In
Image retention is a common thing that you have likely 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 little while. This is common in Plasma TVs too, but isn’t something to worry about.
Burn-in, on the other hand, is semi-permanent. Since it results from uneven aging of the phosphors, the “burned” image will persist forever. It can be caused by spending a lot of time watching stuff in 4:3 mode, watching a news channel with a stationary “stock ticker”, or playing a game with stationary screen elements. 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’d rather be safe than sorry, you’ll need to go through a simple break-in process when the TV is new. Here are some guidelines from a report commissioned by Panasonic:
- 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 picture control (contrast) to 50% or less.
- Briefly engage the 4:3 mode to confirm the side bars are set to mid-gray (there is usually an adjustment in the Setup menu that takes the sidebars from black to gray) to minimize the chance 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 it is best not to view the same
channel for extended periods. This should prevent channel logos and
other fixed images found on some channels from being retained. - Avoid any static images (video games, computer images, DVD title
screens, etc.) during the hundred-hour break-in. - Continue to retain the picture setting at 50% or less.
- Limit the use of 4:3 aspect ratio mode (traditional picture size that does not fill the entire screen) 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.
© 2004 Panasonic
The Bottom Line
HDTV experts agree now that burn-in is a vastly overstated problem. Complaints come from less than 5 percent of all users, but those people are understandably upset and vocal when the centerpiece of their home theater is ruined. Buying a late model Plasma, using a break-in procedure, and avoiding certain viewing habits should reduce the chance of damage to just about zero.
For more information on Plasma and other HDTV technology, check out FlatHDTV.net.
