Aspect ratio question

[Jeffhs]

Will pillarboxed (i. e. 4:3 on a 16:9 screen) images or content damage a flat screen TV under normal use? I spoke over the phone the other day with a Spectrum cable customer service representative and asked him that question. He answered no, the pillars will not damage a flat panel under normal TV usage; however, he also mentioned that these pillars could damage the screen if the TV were to be left on one channel, say ESPN, for extended periods of time, say days on end (as might occur with TVs used in sports bars, and the TVs were left on around the clock--even when the place was closed). How is this possible, since the pillars are black?

Is there any danger in leaving a 4:3 image on a 16:9 screen, with the pillars at either side of the picture? I cannot see how these black pillars could possibly damage any HDTV panel unless, as I mentioned, the TV were to be left on one channel for hours or days on end. The Spectrum CSR with whom I spoke regarding this issue told me there is no information in those pillars anyway, so there would be little if any chance of the pillars actually burning into the screen. I cannot see how these pillars can burn any HDTV screen, since they are black; the only types of images that might damage the screen, of course, would be bright white, stationary ones, such as TV station ID images, network logos, et al. as was possible with CRT TVs if the vertical sweep failed, leaving a bright horizontal line across the width of the tube.

[kramden66]

From what I know it shouldn't damage the screen unless it is a plasma tv , the LCD / LED type would not be effected.
now because the pillars are black they wont burn into that part of the screen but where the image just ends can burn into a plasma on the left and right of the screen leaving a small line on both sides that the 4.3 image would fit into.
not actually seeing one burned I don't know what it looks like but there should be pictures on the internet of such a thing.
again that's based on what I know , if someone else knows more feel free to add away

[MadMan]

Well assuming it's an LCD screen that has a section of black for long periods of time... remember that the actual liquid crystal in the black region will be absorbing all that white backlight light, and will thus get very hot - degrading the liquid crystal over time. Even if this doesn't happen, you have to remember that the opposite is also true. The rest of the screen that isn't black is being used constantly and the black sections are not. So the rest of the screen's liquid crystal will likely wear out and the color will fade. You might not notice until you have a fullscreen picture again, at which point the normally black areas will likely have a better color quality than the rest of the picture. (This would probably also be a much bigger issue with an OLED screen.) So yeah, in theory, it can suffer in those ways. A plasma tv would also suffer similarly, but for different reasons. And I think most people say that plasmas are more prone to burn-in anyway.

All that having been said, I really wouldn't worry about it much if your tv is just under normal home tv usage. By the time any sort of burn-in occurs, the tv will be old and broken anyway.

[compu_85]

Ya, if you left it running 24x7 for many years it could cause a memory effect on the screen.

For normal home viewing I wouldn't worry about it. A plasma or OLED screen would be much more susceptible to burn in.

-J

[dr.ido]

Modern LCDs are not immune to image retention, it's just unlikely to happen in regular domestic use.

I've some ~2 year old Samsung LCDs get burn in of the no signal message - Even though the firmware moves the message box around the screen there are a limited number of positions used and it eventually burns into all of them. These are sets that are left on 24/7 connected to games consoles in a lounge area - When the place is empty and no one is playing they just sit there displaying the "no signal" message for hours and hours. The consoles go into standby when not used, but whoever installed the sets did not set them to go into standby when there is no signal - probably because while you can wake up the console by pressing a button on the controller there is no way for someone to wake up the TV that is mounted behind glass.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by dr.ido

The consoles go into standby when not used, but whoever installed the sets did not set them to go into standby when there is no signal - probably because while you can wake up the console by pressing a button on the controller there is no way for someone to wake up the TV that is mounted behind glass.

There's a way to wake it up...Chain a remote to something solid and wake it up with that.