Plasma image burn in

[ryema22]

I recently bought a Panasonic plasma. I know supposedly one of the cons with plasmas is the vulnerability to image burn in.... does anyone know roughly how long you can leave a still image up before you're risking damage?

I'm contemplating hooking up a mac mini as a htpc and I want to know if I'd be risking burn in by leaving something like Front Row (or any other type of media center GUI) open for long periods. Am I safe within reason? Is this a completely awful idea?

 

[montypythizzle]

I wouldn't display any static images for ~100 hours+, just to make sure, after that just don't go over 45 minutes. Just use the Mac Mini's screen saver, and just have it be disabled when watching movies or w/e. (should automatically be off when using DVD software)

 

[FP]

Originally posted by: montypythizzle
I wouldn't display any static images for ~100 hours+, just to make sure, after that just don't go over 45 minutes. Just use the Mac Mini's screen saver, and just have it be disabled when watching movies or w/e. (should automatically be off when using DVD software)

lol. sounds like you are saying he could display a static image for 98 hours but not 100.

Op, i game on my plasma for hours on end and have never had a problem. Keep the contrast/brightness down and you should be fine. Be sure to play full screen HD material after you are done for a while.

 

[montypythizzle]

Remember, if it does burn-in ask the store how long their warranty is

 

[Shawn]

Screensaver FTW

 

[kedlav]

Once you use the plasma for a significant amount of time (generally referred to as a Burn-in period) with non-static image (100+ hours), burn in risk drops dramatically. That being said, I'd still refrain from keeping any static images on for a while (2+ hours/day every day of the week or 4+ hours), just to be safe. Running a HTPC with a static background seems like the height of idiocy to me. I'm well aware that this is well under reccomended spec and that double, or even triple that amount of time is safe for most televisions, but someone always draws the short-end of the production straw.

 

[Shadowknight]

Originally posted by: binister
Op, i game on my plasma for hours on end and have never had a problem. Keep the contrast/brightness down and you should be fine. Be sure to play full screen HD material after you are done for a while.

The trick to helping prevent burn in: For the first 100 hours or so, play images which fill up the entire screen, this is so you avoid the "Black bar" effect from movies/shows/games. The TV is most vulnerable to burn in during that time period, and you want to screen to get evenly used. Also, calibrate the sucker. Buy (or rent from Netflix) AVIA or DVE. As a last resort, use a THX optimizer included with some movies. Proper calibration will help you see the contrast and brightness settings correctly. The higher the contrast, the more likely you are to get burn-in, and the shorter the life-span of your TV. High brightness, sharpness, color, tint, will NOT hurt or affect your TV, just contrast. After being calibrated, you may need to mentally adjust to the new image because the new contrast setting is usually below the default one. THAT'S OKAY. You'll now see the details standing out in images better. A TV should show you the details instead of being used as a secondary source to light up the room (i.e. contrast too high, making your eyes hurt in the dark).

 

[MrChad]

Read this white paper (PDF). It explains how to properly break-in your plasma set.

 

[ryema22]

Thanks for the responses guys, I just wanted to make sure I didn't do anything dumb with my gorgeous new tv. I've calibrated the contrast and I've mostly been watching full screen HD on it so far, so it sounds like the burn in potential is reduced. I still won't have anything static for more than a couple hours once in a while so it sounds like I should be okay.

 

[montypythizzle]

Just don't push the contrast over 50 (50%) if possible.