One more RPTV question . . .

[Cougar Guy]

Will the black bars that I notice on some anamorphic widescreen DVD's "burn" into my screen? It's kinda dissapointing getting a widescreen tv and then having "widescreen" movies still have the bars. I could use one of the stretch modes but it does distort slightly. If it is not a "high risk" type thing, I'd rather just watch them with the small bars.

Being new to RPTV's, I'm not exactly sure how this "burn" in thing actually occurs. Would it normally only occur if the brightness was cranked way up and you had the same stationary item on screen for like 10 hours? I usually watch lots of different programming so the bars would only be on during that particular movie and the remainder of my viewing is for tv. I do use one of the stretch modes for normal tv and the picture is still pretty good . . . the distortion is minimal so I can live with it.

Should this be something to be worried about?

Thanx!

[Lex]

Couger Guy. My RPTV is probably 4-5 years old now and so far, I haven't noticed any problems. Since mine is a 4:3 set, obviously, I have lots of black bars to look at with DVDs.

Burn in typically is associated with stationary images. 5-10 hours, not good. 15, 24 hours all not good. I think a major concern with black bars is, watching really long periods of time, and the bright edge next to the black bars is the feared part. Not the black bar itself, since there's really no light on those pixels. Yes, having the brightness dialed way up, could make you more susceptable to this.

Generally, adjust your set according to ISF standards, mix our viewing, or give your set a break now and again. Under normal viewing habits, you should be fine.

Duly noted, my major concern is not the black bars, but rather the embossed logos that continuously show on many TV networks now. I HATE those. Let's face it, many of us watch more TV than we do movies. Those logos coming up in the same spot day after day after day, concern me greatly.

Lex




Cable Guy DVD Collection

[David Meek]

CG, just to amplify on Lex's reply, no worries on the "burn in" possibilities - especially with anamorphic DVD's. As I understand it with old non-anamorphic ones, there is information being passed to the screen in the black areas - the actual image is just halted at the boundary. With anamorphic DVD's, there is no use of the area in "the black" at all, ie. the pixels are all compressed into the viewable area of the image.

Gang, if I have this skewed a bit, please hop in. . . .




David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[Kevin P]

Yes, burn-in can happen with black bars, regardless of whether your DVD is anamorphic or not. However, if you keep your contrast turned down to reasonable levels and vary your viewing (chances are you aren't watching 2.35:1 movies ALL the time) you'll get many years of enjoyment out of your set.

First of all, let me explain what "burn in" really is--it's really phosphor wear. The CRT faces are coated with phosphor which emits light when excited by an electron beam. The phosphor has a finite lifespan, and its brightness slowly declines with use--the more light the phosphor is made to emit, the sooner/faster it fades. If this wear takes place evenly over the entire face of the CRT, it's essentially invisible as it would only result in a gradual overall decrease in brightness. However, if some areas average more light output than others, over time the more-used areas will fade sooner than the less-used areas. This results in an uneven wear or "burn in" as it is commonly called. The worst case example of this is a static image on a dark background kept up on the screen for alength of time--the areas that are kept lit up continuously are wearing and slowly fading, while the unlit areas remain "fresh". Eventually this will manifest itself as a visible shadow. Chances are you've seen this on CRTs used in airports (arrival/departure monitors) and on ATMs, or on arcade games (the "INSERT COIN" message tends to burn in especially on RPTV-based arcade games).

If you're watching material with black bars, the center part of the CRT will experience normal wear and tear while the black bar areas, emitting less light, will experience less wear, so over time this can lead to the "bar" areas of the screen being brighter than the center. This is why CRT and plasma widescreen sets use gray bars instead of black, in an effort to even out the wear (though in reality they don't always work out that way).

So, in short, as long as you keep the contrast down (which slows down, but doesn't eliminate phosphor wear), and vary your viewing habits (e.g. fill the screen at least part of the time), you'll get many years of use out of your set without experiencing burn-in effects. By the time you've worn the CRTs to that point you'll probably be ready to get a new set anyway.

KJP




Official Computer Geek and Techno-Wiz Guru of HTGuide - Visit Tower of Power
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[Cougar Guy]

Outstanding info everyone

I do have the contrast settings cranked fairly low and if I figured out my proportionate viewing time based on hours, I'm sure the "black bar" material would be well into the minority . . . the screen is usually full.

Thanks so much, once again htguide.com comes through!

[Lex]

Your welcome Couger Guy.

Kevin, outstanding post!

Lex