Plasma Burn In & Gaming

[Namrok]

I posted in the AV forum about this, but I don't think anyone actually goes there :P So sorry for this, but I'm buying a TV soon and I really want to know.

All the official literature I read about plasmas says not to play games with static HUDs or channels with logos or other stationary imagery for more than 5% of the time the TV is on. It especially urges you to avoid this for the first 100 hours or so.

Have any of you that own plasma actually had problems with this? I mean I assume there are plenty of gamers here, and hopefully a few with plasma, so I'm curious about your experiences with burn in or residual images.

[evilghost]

I own a 42" Phillips plasma, I've played Halo 1, Halo 2, and tons of other games as well for long times on end. The screen will periodically shift to avoid burn-in but after gaming on a black screen with no signal the HUD is still visible. Watching TV for about 30 minutes or leaving it on a grey screen fixes it.

[Namrok]

Do you have to watch TV or put up a grey screen to get rid of the residual image, or will it go away on its own?

[evilghost]

Goes away on it's own, naturally. I can't see it at all watching TV, I only see it when there is no image or an all black screen. I've never had permanent burn-in even with long gaming with a HUD.

[Libertysyclone]

Buy an LCD and dont worry about it.

I have a 42" sharp aquos, paid $1400 does full 1080p with a 6ms response time. I game a lot on it.

[Namrok]

I'm looking at a 50" for less than $2000.

A 1080 DLP or a 720 Plasma are my only options in that size and price.

[evilghost]

I prefer plasma over LCD due to response time and not being stuck at LCD native resolution.

[Lyme]

I've seen newer plasma tv that had burn in, the guy watched live football for eight hours strait.. He's got a nice little hud on the screen now.

As for the screen shifting thing.. well.. if your scoreboard/hud is always on the bottom 1/8th the screen, even shifting it doesn't move it much, it will still burn in.

[Revs]

There is a way to get rid of quite bad burn-it on plasmas. My mate (infusion2k7) used to sell em. He was telling me there was an ex-demo plasma in the shop that had pretty bad burn-in from a logo being displayed on the screen for ages but they got rid of it some how. I'll find out and post back.

Personally i'd avoid plasmas for gaming, just my opinion.

[vandalous]

I've got a 42" plasma that has some significant burn in from PC use. Activating the pixel shift and color inverse options helped a bit, as did running snow and gray screen for extended amounts of time but it didn't totally eliminate the images.

I suggest that you look at LCD for gaming if you're concerned about burn in. Note that LCD's can get a burn-in effect called image persistence but is temporary and usually easily fixed.

I just got a 52" LCD for USD$2200 so the prices are coming down. You may be able to find your 50" for 2 grand or so.

[Revs]

Originally Posted by Revs

....they got rid of it some how. I'll find out and post back.

It's a free, erm, thingy. Apparently it can sort some stuck pixels out too.

http://www.jscreenfix.com/

JScreenFix repairs stuck pixels through rapid, repetitive operation and resonance. Most stuck pixels are repaired within 20 minutes.

I've got a stuck pixel on my screen. I'll give it a go and report back.

[Rakeesh]

Originally Posted by Namrok

I'm looking at a 50" for less than $2000.

A 1080 DLP or a 720 Plasma are my only options in that size and price.

DLP has major line of sight issues - not very pleasant if you ever watch it from anywhere but straight in front of it. Plasma uses too much energy, gets way too hot, and burn-in happens regardless of shifting or whatever.

Burn-in is the result of uneven aging. If you keep a certain image on the screen for a while, then some of those phosphors will age faster than others. You may not necessarily see a coherent image that gets burned in if you don't keep a constant image there (e.g. shift away now and then,) but one part of the screen will be at least slightly different in appearance from other parts of the screen.

Unlike phosphors, liquid crystal does not age with use. The crystal rods can "stay" in place if held there for a while, but this can be fixed by turning them on and off several times. That jscreen fix thing does this rapidly.

Originally Posted by evilghost

I prefer plasma over LCD due to response time and not being stuck at LCD native resolution.

Plasma has a "native resolution" per se, as like LCD and DLP, it is a fixed pixel display. Any setup, regardless of the display technology, can be better or worse at non-native resolutions depending on the scaling hardware. Except of course CRT.