Here is alink from c-net. that talks about this . John
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6463_7-5023901-3.html?tag=dir
...Certainly, we all know things like playing video games with a lot of their static images can potentially be a threat for burn in, but what about watching a 4:3 picture on a 16:9 screen with the bars on the left and the right of the image. Will these bars be "burned into a plasma display or are the sets designed so this is not a threat. My Sony plasma has grey bars on each side...I'm thinking that this is better than black.

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