Plasma Burn in Question

[mayday1996]

I know that burn in has always been a minus for plasma TV's and even though the newer models are better about this that there's always a chance this can happen but it wasn't a major factor in determining if I would buy a plasma. I just purchased a Philips 42PF9631D and now feel completely paranoid about doing something to cause burn in. I've read some things where people that seem to really know what they're talking about say that burn only occurs if something stays on the screen for a really long time but then you hear people where it occurs almost fairly quickly.

So can anyone tell me what to expect on this? The main thing I'm worrying about is playing Madden 07 for Xbox 360. There's a line along the bottom of the screen showing score, down, etc. that pretty much stays there the entire time. If I were to play the game maybe an hour a day maybe 4 or 5 times a week is burn in something I need to worry about or is the case where it would need to be frozen on the screen for a very long time.

Also something else I was wondering....if you have a static image like a channel logo on the screen for 15 minutes, then turn to a completely different channel, and then go back to the static image, does that "reset" everything and the static image starts counting from 0 minutes again or would it be like that logo had already been there for 15 mintues?

Sorry for the stupid questions. Just trying to figure this out.

[57U]

Please read the HDTV FAQ on "burn in". If you are aware of burn in, vary your viewing and set up the TV properly, you can avoid burn in.

There is no "reset", it's cumulative.

[HDDEN67]

:mic: I don't agree with the burn-in FAQ with regard to time required for burn-in to happen. I purchased the Pioneer Elite PRO-1130HD in July 2006. I gave it a few weeks to break in, but then began to play a lot (2 - 3 hrs / day) of XBOX360's Call of Duty2.

After a cumulative TOTAL of approximately 20 hours of XBOX play over 2 weeks, I began to notice what I will call burn-in. There is a compass dial in the XBOX game at the lower left hand corner. I can now faintly but consistently see a ghost of that image, most easily on a blank / grey screen. (Glad I don't like to watch that.) I can see it very slightly at times while watching a movie / TV, particularly when there is a consistent color in the area of the ghost image.

Long story short - I'm pissed. This happened very quickly - much more quickly than anything I was told to expect or read about. I have stopped playing the game on this TV altogether and have been waiting to see if the burn-in image fades. It has been over a month since I stopped playing the game. Difficult to tell if it really has faded. I think I caught it early and it was pretty faint to begin with, but still noticable (especially because I know what it is.) Anyway, I love the set, the picture quality and everything else - but I am bummed I don't feel I can play games on it and I worry about leaving the wrong channel on.

[57U]

Have you done a proper setup of the TV, turning down the contrast, getting out of "vivid" mode, etc? See the HDTV FAQ "what you need to do to your new HDTV".