Are we damging our TV????? (1 Viewer)

[John_Nagy]

He always tells me that it is bad for the TV if the black lines are above and below the screen when watching a mvie that is not formated for our widescreen tv. It drives me up the wall when we get a great movie with excellent picture and we have to play it on "zoom" mode, which cuts off most of the picture.

We just finished watching Xmen 2 a couple hours and it was the last straw.

So, we thought we'd post the question to get some answers from some more knowledgable people.

Will this damage the TV. Given it would only be used as such when watching the one movie once a week, meaning no extended viewing beyond 2 hours. Or will it cause long term effects?

We have a 65in rear projection Mittsubishi medallion series tv that was bought new last year.

Thanks in advance for helping settle this issue!!!!

 

[Jason_Els]

"Bad"? No.

What does happen is that there is uneven wear on the tubes and over time it could create a visible difference in brightness when watching 1.78 material.

If your contrast is set properly it isn't nearly as much of an issue and it could take years of watching material wider than 1.78 before you see a difference. Watching TV in a mode/aspect ratio that fills the entire screen will help a great deal in delaying the effect. So long as you balance your viewing between full-fill programming and wider-than-1.78 you should be fine. Again, be sure your contrast is properly set.

As it is, isn't the reason you got the TV so that it can be used to enjoy widescreen presentations? Life, and the lifespan of the TV is too short to worry much about it. Not watching OAR when the opportunity presents itself is much like wrapping all your furniture in vinyl to save it for that mysertious time in the future that never seems to come.

 

[Allan Jayne]

Turn the contrast down to a third (oh well maybe back up to a half) for projection TV and turn the contrast down to a half (oh well maybe back up to two thirds) for a direct view tube TV and you should get reasonably long life while watching a reasonable amount of movies whose picture leaves unused black areas on the screen.

You may need to recheck this periodically because for some TV's, if the power fails, the TV resets itself to contrast all the way up.

Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm

 

[ChrisWiggles]

I agree with the turning down of the white level (contrast), of course, but I you should definitely get your hands on Avia or DVE and correctly calibrate, as this will get all your picture settings correct for a FAR superior image, and at the same time drastically reducing the wear on your TV. Also see the Master burn-in thread at the top of this forum:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=105385

You should not worry about the black bars as long as your contrast is reasonably lowered, IMO.

Secondly, I am assuming you have a CRT-based RPTV, or some other kind of CRT-based TV, or a plasma. If you have any kind of digital display, then burn-in should not be a problem at all.

 

[Craig]

I've owned a Toshiba 56" widescreen for a little over 4 years. In that time I've played several hundred movies with black bars on the top and bottom without using a zoom mode. I DON'T HAVE ANY BURN-IN. I have contrast set at 38 (on a scale of 100), which is a little higher than some people, but it's what looks best in my viewing environment.

My advice is turn down contrast to a reasonable level and enjoy your TV. It would be a shame to spend all that money on a bigscreen TV and miss out on the best viewing experience.

In short, the danger of burn-in from the dreaded "black bars" is way overhyped. Watch the movies the way they were meant to be watched and enjoy your TV.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

John,

I used a 4/3 rptv to watch widescreen movies for 2 years, and have used a 16/9 set for over 2 years with plenty of 2:35 aspect ratio movies. Both sets had the contrast turned down to less than 50% and neither showed any sign of burn-in from black bars.

If, as you've posted, you are also watching a lot of stuff that fills the screen, you needn't worry about burn-in from the black bars from a few dvds watched on the weekends.

With correct contrast settings burn-in is just not an issue.

 

[David Norman]

I'm currently 11 years or so with a Pro-96 (last of the great Elite 4:3 RPTV) and have not seen a trace of burn in on my CRT's. I have watched countless hours of Letterboxed LD's and DVD's on this set. I initially calibrated the contrast with the LD AVS disc and had it ISF calibrated after 2-3 years.

Unless you run a static image for a long time and/or far above a proper contrast setting, you shouldn't have a problem. I guess Video games would be worse due to a lot of static on-screen scoreboards. I've also heard a lot more cases of burn in from folks who watch TV with those bugs on screen than I have from LTX DVD's (particularly if you vary 1.66, 1.85, 2.0, 2.2, and 2.35 discs) and vertical burn in bars from watching 4:3 programs.