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General discussion

Plasma Burn In And Watching "Regular" 4:3 On 16:9 Screen...

Aug 8, 2005 1:42AM PDT

...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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Plasma Burn In And Watching "Regular" 4:3 On 16:9
Aug 8, 2005 1:57AM PDT
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You may have to switch to s-video ...
Aug 9, 2005 5:48AM PDT

to stretch display (Which is what I have to do) I have a cable box that doesnt support hdmi or dvi, so I have componant a video cables AND an s-video cable coming from the cable box to the set. I use the remote control to toggle between comp.video for HD programing, then to avi-s for anything not in 16:9.
the picture is somewhat distorted when stretched (there are several different settings) but I have read that it is recomended to watch FULL screen on plasma, especially when set is new.
hope that helps Happy

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No problem yet
Aug 9, 2005 11:29AM PDT

I have had no burn in problem with my plasma. I usually stretch the 4:3 images. If the distortion bothers me, I put up the gray bars and view in 4:3 aspect. Not much can be done on wide screen movies that leave black bars at top and bottom except to zoom in and lose some of the scene on the sides. With mixed viewing, you should have no problem.