Station-bug logo ruins videophile's RPTV. A cautionary tale. (1 Viewer)

[Jack Briggs]

This is a letter-to-the-editor in the current, April 2002 issue of Home Theater magazine. A man's RPTV has been burned-in, and he is, well, burning mad:
Burn-in Burnout
About six months ago, I purchased a Sony rear-projection TV (the KP-53V85). Since September 11th, our set has been practically glued to CNN Headline News. As you can guess, the Headline News logo is now burned into the screen. What, if anything, can I do to eliminate this problem?
Richard Avery
(via Internet)
Technical Editor Mike Wood's reply:
Not much, beyond buying new tubes. See if the manufacturer will replace them under warranty. Most won't, as most warranties don't cover burned CRTs. If you can connect a computer to your TV and create a computer screen with a negative Headline News image (i.e., a full-white image with black areas in the places that the image is burned), you might even out the picture, but that's a lot of ifs.
My take:
Someday, somehow, some way the cable and broadcast networks are going to experience a reckoning with regard to those omnipresent station-bug logos. Enough is enough. When megabuck RPTVs are being ruined, the time has come to stop this egregious, tasteless, and shamefully commercial practice.
Squash the bugs. And boycott TNN.

 

[Bill Catherall]

I agree. They should terminate those bugs...but, I'm sure they'll just start animating them to keep them on instead. That would stop the burn-in, but I'll still be mad.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Why can't we sue the station?

Glenn

 

[CRyan]

I do not know of any RPTV brand that does not warn of static images and what they can do. Station bugs suck, but it is his fault for leaving the set on a station with a bright station bug for an obviously extended amount of time.

I am not sure what we can do about these things. Every channel uses them and vocal RPTV owners are not in sufficient numbers to sucessfully boycott the practice.

I would love to hear a few good ideas though.

C. Ryan

 

[MikeF]

I was always under the impression that RPTV burn-in was a result of phosophor -- or something -- that could be removed with the correct instrument or instruments.

I could be totally off-base with that!

 

[MikeAlletto]

Why can't we sue the station?

No one forces the individual to watch the station. Its like suing a radio station because you don't like what they play.

 

[Scooter]

I am ADDICTED to FOX News and had the beginings of a burn from the logo. I did a coupla things...

I ran a white screen for QUITE a while....got rid of it..but like I said it was JUST starting to get burned in.

Now I keep my P.I.P on that corner of the screen and that seems to have allieviated the problem. PAIN in the ass..but stuck with logos for now.

 

[Rob Willey]

You get an RPTV to watch CNN Headline News??
Rob

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Mike, that didn't make any sense to me. If I don't like a station, I'll change the channel, but if I like their programming, I'll stick with it. Wouldn't the advertisers want to know that I can't watch their adds because the station they picked to put them on ruined a TV?

Glenn

 

[Dustin B]

How about DLP or LCD sets that don't use phosphors and hence can't suffer from burn in.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

Sure the bugs are annoying, but the real problem is the TV manufacturers who build RPTVs with the contrast levels cranked to "torch mode". I don't think the manufacturers should be able to deny responsibility.

 

[Brian Lawrence]

Why can't these News and Sports channels just change over to a slightly darker (Grey) and semi-transparent logo like the Sci-Fi channel now uses most of the time.

 

[Dan M~]

A case against the broadcasting station may be possible. They are transmitting something (without a warning) that is damaging to common hardware. You would first have to prove that they KNOW about this problem and have REFUSED to do anything about it. If the guy hasn't contacted his broadcasting source... why not? The stations will change if enough people complain. They may change to something worse, but they will change.

 

[Richard Kim]

Why is this in After Hours? Shouldn't this be in the TV section?

Anyway, I watch alot of Cartoon Newtwork and Food Network, and I change my RPTV's aspect ratio periodically to try to prevent burn-in.

 

[Brian Perry]

Perhaps TV manufacturers should expand the owner's manual to include precautions to take against burn-in. When you buy a new car, there is usually the recommendation to vary your speeds over the break-in period. Maybe the TV makers should give similar advice (i.e., "Do not leave your TV on the same station for more than 12 hours at a time, especially if the station displays a logo or other fixed graphics such as a stock ticker.").

 

[Michael Reuben]

Why is this in After Hours? Shouldn't this be in the TV section?

Oh that Briggs! He just has to do things differently.
M.

 

[Jack Briggs]

My reasoning for putting this here is that this is a general-issues sort of forum, as opposed to TV-specific one; I thought it might generate more readership and commentary here.

About the issue at hand, though: Given that most people are ignorant about proper White Level settings and such, the networks are foisting something on us that we didn't ask for and which we certainly don't need.

Yep, my WEGA's owner's manual also cautions against station bugs. But how to watch TV without station bugs these days? There is already so much noise and clutter in our lives. And the station bugs kind of cheapen the quality of life in a small way. I'm so tired of it all.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

A case against the broadcasting station may be possible. They are transmitting something (without a warning) that is damaging to common hardware. You would first have to prove that they KNOW about this problem and have REFUSED to do anything about it.

The exact same thing could be said about the manufacturers. Except the manufacturers have done something about it: they put a disclaimer in the manual and excluded burn-in from the warranty.

The broadcast stations are transmitting perfectly valid signals. Heck, they could transmit a screen full of solid white 100 IRE all day long if they wanted to. You know that they'd do it in a heartbeat if it would score big ratings points. They'd probably do it if it would score only modest ratings points, because the cost of producing the "program" is zero.

If the signal is valid, it seems reasonable to me that a TV set should be able to display it without damaging itself. As CRTs don't last forever, it is reasonable to expect burn-in to happen, but over a period of years, not hours. I think that a TV set that can ruin itself within a matter of hours is defective, and the manufacturer is negligent not only for making it possible for the contrast to be cranked so high that it can happen, but even more so for actually shipping RPTV sets with the contrast preset to such damaging levels.