Burn in/image retention on plasmas

Also something I would like to add, a lot of stations have the black bars on the top and the bottom of the screen, I cannot change this unless I do "zoom" mode, which cuts off part of the picture. If I continue to watch tv with black bars for a prolonged period of time, will it cause permanent burn in? From my understanding, Samsung forced consumers to choose between dark and light grey bars because black bars are bad and could cause burn in, correct? So should I be weary of watching tv with black bars?

supercoolmanz,

If you're going to be watching a majority of television in 4:3, then LCD may be a better consideration if you still have the ability for an exchange.

A few weeks of even the grey bars without watching full screen content has likely resulted in some image retention, but may not be permanent burn-in. What happens is that the phosphors age differently. In order for the screen to be uniform, the brighter parts of the panel have to age as the darker ones have. This may take some time, but doesn't necessarily meant that you've permanently damaged the unit. On the other hand, I can't say conclusively that you're in the clear either.

Black bars aren't recommended, because the screen that is showing content is aging while the black portion of the screen is dormant - that is, not aging. It's not recommended, but if done occasionally likely won't have adverse affects. The manual gives an estimate in percentages where this can be done safely.

Does that help explain the technology a little better?

--HDTech