[mythtv-users] Getting a Plasma, Scared of Burn-In

David mythtv at morrisonthenet.com
Thu Jul 14 19:18:00 EDT 2005


I'd be interested in where you heard that, because from everything I see 
burn-in with plasma is still a very real concern, and plasma sets are 
much more sensitive than CRT's.  With modern CRT's burn-in is almost a 
thing of the past (not entirely, but practically).

What *has* improved with recent plasma TV's is half-life.  For those who 
don't know, the plasma gas used in plasma TV's has a finite life, 
measured in hours (or thousands of hours).  At their "half-life" they 
are half as bright as when new.  Brightness steadily declines over time 
to the point that the TV becomes unwatchable and must be trashed.  
While, say, a DLP bulb has limited life measured in several hundreds of 
hours, picture quality is generally constant until the bulb burns out, 
then after spending $200-$300 for a new bulb the picture is as good as 
new again.  You have no such recourse with a plasma -- when it's dead, 
it's dead, you can't pump more plasma gas into it.  You're left with a 
very expensive wall ornament.

In the early days of plasma, when the smallest ones cost $10K-$15K, 
half-life was somewhere around 2-5 years depending on the frequency of 
use.  Recent models have improved to a half-life of reportedly near 
80,000 hours as I recall, which would be a half-life span of over 9 
years if the TV was left running 24/7.  Of course none of these newer 
models have actually been around long enough to test that claim.  :)

But while half-life seems to be a non-issue these days, burn-in is still 
a major factor according to what I'm still seeing.

David

Matt Grommes wrote:

> From what I understand, burn-in really isn't an issue with new-ish 
> plasma displays. Any more than with a CRT anyway. That was more of an 
> issue with the first few generations of products.
>
>
> Peter Santerre wrote:
>
>>
>> I'm getting a good deal on a last-years-model Plasma TV (NEC 50" MX3) 
>> and will be hooking it up to my Myth box.
>> I'm very nervous about burn in, as this would be considered a very 
>> large purchase on my current salary :)
>>
>> What do other users of Myth do to prevent this issue, while still 
>> keeping the WAF rating high?    I guess I imagine while watching DVD, 
>> TV, etc the screen would not blank, but if it was idle on a menu for 
>> 30s or so it would black it out.  Sort of like MythMusic does I 
>> guess.  After 30s of no activity it goes full screen with my choice 
>> of music display.
>>
>> I know that plasma TV's are getting better and better about not 
>> getting burned, and maybe I'm being over paranoid, but like I said, 
>> this is a big purchase, and ruining it would be a very sad day :)
>>
>>
>>
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