I just got a brand new plasma TV, and last night, I used it to watch a DVD for the first time on my nice, big screen.
However, the DVD was letterboxed, and I quickly became worried about burn-in on the plasma screen. Fortunately, the DVD was one of the reversible ones with a fullscreen version on the flip side, so I watched that out of the burn in concern. Howver, most movies I rent come only in the widescreen editions, so I’m sure I’ll come across this problem again very soon.
Now, I very much prefer watching widescreen and letterboxed films, so I would hope that I wouldn’t have to settle for silly pan and scan movies. However, my TV’s user manual didn’t seem to offer any advice for watching letterboxed DVDs.
What is the best way to watch letterboxed DVDs on plasma TVs? Am I just going to have to grin and bear it by zooming in so that the letterbox fills the whole screen, and kiss off the sides of the movie frame? Are there any adjustments that I can make to lessen the burn in problem if I just go ahead and watch the letterboxed version of DVDs?
Just watch it as intended and then watch something else (ie: broadcast TV) full screen. It all comes out in the wash and shouldn’t be a problem unless you only watch letterboxed movies.
If you haven’t done so, go into your DVD player setup menu, and change the screen setting from 4 x 3 to 16 x 9. If it has two different settings, choose “automatic” or it’s equivilent.
When you play a widescreen dvd, you’ll want your tv set to “full” or whatever the name of the setting is that provides for stretching the picture evenly across the screen. This will make most movies fill your screen exactly and eliminate the black bars. For the really widescreen movies, it’ll still leave small black bars at the top and bottom, but if you watch things that fill the screen most of the time, this shouldn’t be a worry.
Do not play video games with static screen displays, as this can easily created a burned in ghost image.
If you can post the Manufacturer and model number of your tv, I can probably find the exact information you need for screen settings.
Also get the Avia setup disc and use it to adjust your picture.
Perhaps I simply don’t understand all the complexities of plasma screens, but is is even possible to “burn in” an absence of an image (which is what the black bars are)? Wouldn’t that be as impossible as burning in the blank screen from having the thing turned off for too long?
In this context, “burn in” refers to uneven wear of the pixels in the set. Playing something with black bars at the top and bottom or left and right for long periods of time would result in those areas of the screen wearing out more slowly than the parts that were used. After a very long period of time, these areas woule appear to be brighter than the rest of the screen when displaying a picture that used the whole screen.
The best way to prvent this is to turn down the white level (or “picture” setting), which is often set all the way up at the factory. The proper level can be found by using Avia or Video Essentials.
I thought all Plasma Screens are 16x9 anyway. Many DVDs will fill the screen for you if that’s the case.
Anyways, I’ve had my plasma for nearly a year now, and watch DVDs and TV of all kinds, 1.33:1, 1.67:1, 1.85:1 etc, and as gotpasswords said it all evens out as long as you don’t stick to only one kind that does leave some of the screen empty.
Another thing to look out for are things like console games that have onscreen HUD icons that are fixed in one place - if you have the same game on for many hours for many weeks then you might have some burn-in problems. Just play fullscreen DVDs in between playing.