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

[Pete Buelow]

David wrote:

> 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:
>
>
Interesting point, and since I'm always in the mood to buy a new TV, 
this is something to reconsider. Anyway, what I do now is treat it like 
a TV. I don't leave it on all the time. Granted, this is a bit of an 
a****le statement, but the reality is that my TV is kinda an electricity 
hog, so I turn it off when I'm not using it. Also, if you always leave 
it in TV playback mode, even if you leave it on for hours, you don't run 
all that great a risk for burn in. The big scare is if you switch to the 
menu and fall asleep. Anyway, based on previous issues with TV burn in 
(I have an RP, and had a past RP burn nice yellow bars on the side cause 
my roomate would fall asleep watching TV in normal 4:3 mode), it's just 
a matter of being judicious with the time you use it. Smart outweighs 
any program options.

That said, what's the expected time for burn in to occur? Are we talking 
minutes, hours, days, weeks? My RP started showing the yellow lines 
about 500 hours into using it (or roughly a year), but will this happen 
much faster with the plasma?

-Pete