Burn-In question

[lumis]

I contacted one of my local television stations asking them if they would switch from grey bars to black bars when broadcasting non-HD programming.. I received this response back.

Thanks for writing!  We decided to use the grey bars instead of black to minimize burn-in on those sets (plasma, rear-projection, CRT, LCD) that are susceptible to it.  We started with black bars but received comments from viewers about the burn-in issue.
 
Frankly, I find the grey bars a little distracting, too, but it's a small price to pay for no burn-in, at least in my opinion.  If you have one of the above-mentioned sets, I'm sure you'll appreciate it too in the long run.

I'm not trying to argue the point or anything. I'm just curious if this information is correct.

Thanks

[Krispy Kritter]

Yes, black bars can cause burn in.

[lumis]

Thanks for your response Krispy Kritter.

If you would elaborate a bit, do black bars cause more burn in than grey bars? Or do grey bars not cause any burn in? Or do they cause the same amount of burn in?

[stiltman]

Pure black, no lite pixels
Grey, lite pixels

Burn-in in the case of black bars on the side, would show a brighter picture where the black bars were later on during HD or 16x9 viewing

[edDV]

Think of it this way. The actual wear mechanics vary by screen technology.

The 4x3 area in the center is what is being burned in from use. Over time the picture brightness fades from pixel use. Extensive 4x3 use would result over time in the center area appearing dimmer than the side area when watching 16x9 material. Gray side bars age the side areas equally minimizing the wear difference.

Other types of burn-in result from unchanging high contrast still images (e.g. Windows desktop, menus or video games) left stationary on the screen for too long. From then on, a ghost like burn in is visible while watching normal video.

[stiltman]

BTW, I had this problem myself.
I was watching SD channels for about 2 weeks in 4:3 mode (normal mode on my plasma) in stead of zooming in a little and chopping off the top and bottom to fill the 16:9 (cinema mode). I ended up with brighter images on the sides compared to the 4:3 center images.

My only fix was to create a DVD that was reversed. I created a 16:9 DVD that had black in the 4:3 center and white in the 16:9 outside bars. I ran the DVD over night for a copy of days and the picture equalized out.

My plasma is a 2nd generation, 4th-7th plamsas really don't have this problem anymore. Most better brands have built-in stuff to keep this from happening

[dphirschler]

plasma, rear-projection, CRT, LCD

So what kinds of TVs are left? Doesn't that pretty much cover it?


Darryl

[Denvers Dawgs]

DLP aren't susceptible to burn in, right?

[SatStorm]

"Burn in" is a problem of Plasma screens.

[edDV]

CRTs will develop this problem over a long period of time. You see it in lower end broadcast monitors that have been running in underscan mode to show the edges.

I have this problem on a older Sony XBR Trinitron that has "S-Video" burned in to the screen.

[gshelley61]

DLP aren't susceptible to burn in, right?

Correct. DLP's can never develop burn in. They are based on a micro-mirror device that does not degrade over time from use like is the case with CRT, plasma, LCD, etc.