# Video games and rear projection televisions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 30, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-and-rear-projection-televisions/216069 "2003-11-30T15:51:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kid\_Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kid\_Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_Gilligan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-and-rear-projection-televisions/216069/1 "2003-11-30T15:51:25Z")
I have always heard that video games can cause unreversable burn-in on rear projection TV’s. However, I have also heard that people with pacemakers can’t be around microwaves, and that’s not true of modern models. Is the rear projection / video game connection still a bad idea, or have they corrected anything with either current games or the latest TV’s? Does it make any difference if you connect with RF, composite, or S-Video? If this is less of a problem today than it used to be, I would love to see a link to an authoritative source so that I can convince my wife. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-and-rear-projection-televisions/216069/2 "2003-11-30T17:20:20Z")
Is Gord an authoritative source? [The Acts of Gord, Book of Annoyances, Chapter 8](http://www.actsofgord.com/Annoy/chapter08.html). > [@](#): > > Oh, how the lower intellects believe they know more than the Gord.\_ In the store there is a rather large projection TV, and these enlightened individuals warn the Gord about how he is going to be cast down into the depths of hell for playing games on it. > > Normally a quick “well, it was a problem back when TV’s were new and all we had to play was Pong” or “only if you own an RCA, which are half the price for a reason” will bring an end to the issue. > > But once this particularly annoying person wouldn’t shut up about the forthcoming damnation the Gord was to experience. > > “Oh god!\_ Nooooooo!” screamed the Gord as he grabbed the fire extinguisher and hopped the counter.\_ He then books it to the back and unplugs the TV from the power bar, then dives behind a couch and waits for a second to see if there was an explosion. > > “Well, that was close!\_ I’ve been running that TV for 3 years without a problem.\_ Had you not walked in and warned me about the dangers of projection screen TV’s, I surely would have been killed in the explosion that was about to occur.” > > \ > > “I’m only acting retarded, what’s your excuse?” queried the Gord. > > The young advice columnist left. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-and-rear-projection-televisions/216069/3 "2003-11-30T17:55:26Z")
The problem with burn-in on rear-projection TVs is caused by any image being displayed in the same spot for a long period of time. Older videogames could cause this, and newer TV channels can cause the “tag”? in the lower-right corner to burn-in if the channel is never changed. There are a few fixes for this, but it still could happen to you if you’re not careful. My Sony rear-projection TV (bought 2 1/2 years ago) has a “screen-saver” that kicks in if the image doesn’t change (for example, a paused DVD or videogame) for 10 minutes. This will prevent the most common types of burn-in. About the only way to get burn-in with a videogame is to play one that has something static on the screen (ie a healthbar, compass, score, etc) that doesn’t change often. If you play the game for hours on end with no break, you’ll likely get an image burn-in. To prevent this, just switch the display somehow (pause the game if that takes you to a different screen, or switch to a TV channel) every few hours. The input source (RF, composite, S-Video) has nothing to do with burn-in. It’s all about a static image being displayed for a long period of time. ---
**Author:** ![jmwatts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jmwatts/32/17348_2.png) [@jmwatts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmwatts)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-and-rear-projection-televisions/216069/4 "2003-12-01T01:35:04Z")
Oh yeah, it’s a problem ☹ I have an older Toshiba RPTV, just a regular tube, not HDTV or anything fancy. I use it as a monitor for my computer, running win2k. The picture is delivered via s-video, but this doesn’t make any difference. What has occurred, after about 4 years of use is that some of the more commonplace windows icons “My Computer”, “My Network Places” etc have left kind of a ghost imprint on my TV. They’re definately visible is the TV is on and the background is solid and dark, but it’s not too bad watching regular television programs (you have to know what to look for). What I _should_ have done was to move the icons around say, every other month so they never have a chance to burn in. I was looking for an application that moved icons around ever so slightly automatically, but never found one. My next bigscreen TV will be a Samsung DLP, which does not suffer burn-in because it displays the picture differently.