A lot of the shows nowadays that are broadcast on analog TV's have black borders at the top and bottom, because of aspect ratio differences.

I'm wondering if over time, those black bars would burn into the CRT's phosphors?

I doubt it would be a problem, CRTs tend to burn in only if there are strong white areas in one place for a long time, unless you were watching widescreen for months on end it shouldn't matter.

Of course the real solution is to buy a new 16:9 flat panel set <duck> :D

I don't care for those borders. If I wanted to watch a 17" picture; I'd have a 17" tv instead of a 19" set. BTW, I've seen several burned CRT's where the vertical would collapse to a line and the owners would continue to operate (often for a long time) the set.

If the TV's contrast is set high (as all CRT TV sets were from the factory probably dating back to the 1970's) and "letterboxed" programming is watched almost exclusively, then yes, there could eventually be a problem. The black bars would be the non-burned areas compared to the middle. As long as the contrast is kept to a moderate level (important for any CRT display) and a variety of programming is watched, there should never be a problem.

Even with HDTV you will still get this letterbox effect with some movies on DVD because Hollywood's widescreen and NTSC's widescreen do not always agree.

My Bugeye zenith has a burn line on the left edge of the tube due to someone using it through prolonged horizontal collapse. If someone has a 17avp4a that tests strong let me know.

Even with HDTV you will still get this letterbox effect with some movies on DVD because Hollywood's widescreen and NTSC's widescreen do not always agree.

There are several different aspect ratios the the film studios use. Not many people realize this.

Here is a link to the different formats used.

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/video-format.htm

Aspect ratio burn in is only really an issue for projection TVs. I've seen this on store displays that were running for many months with bars. The black bars don't burn in, it's the rest of the screen that gets worn. After a long time, the area that's always black will be brighter than the rest. The only time I've seen this on a direct view set has been on professional monitors that were always used in underscan mode.

Even with HDTV you will still get this letterbox effect with some movies on DVD because Hollywood's widescreen and NTSC's widescreen do not always agree.
The aspect ratio chosen for HDTV, also used in other countries for standard-def and on widescreen DVDs, is 1.77:1 or 16:9. This ratio is basically an average of all the other ratios used over the years for TV and movies. Movie directors choose different screen ratios for different types of movies, typically wider 2.35:1 or 2.4:1 for action and dramas, and 1.85:1 for most comedies as well as many other films.

Attempting to "fill up the whole TV screen with content all the time" by chopping the sides of wider movies or exposing content from movie negatives that was not used in theaters makes no more sense than going to an art gallery and modifying the paintings so they all fit in a 16x20-inch frame.

BTW, I've seen several burned CRT's where the vertical would collapse to a line and the owners would continue to operate (often for a long time) the set.

wtf????????

someone explain to me why you would leave a TV that's f-ed up like that, ON for a long enough time to burn???

maybe in the hopes the picture would spring to life again, orw hat?

I think its a combination of people just enjoying the tv's sound, even though the raster has vertical collapse, and the fact that many, many times this kind of problem is intermittent. Nothin' that a good SLAP on the side won't fix! Of course this is a terrible practice.

The aspect ratio chosen for HDTV, also used in other countries for standard-def and on widescreen DVDs, is 1.77:1 or 16:9. This ratio is basically an average of all the other ratios used over the years for TV and movies. Movie directors choose different screen ratios for different types of movies, typically wider 2.35:1 or 2.4:1 for action and dramas, and 1.85:1 for most comedies as well as many other films.

Attempting to "fill up the whole TV screen with content all the time" by chopping the sides of wider movies or exposing content from movie negatives that was not used in theaters makes no more sense than going to an art gallery and modifying the paintings so they all fit in a 16x20-inch frame.


Multiple aspect ratios ...what a nightmare. Remember Cinerama??

It's like the chicken and the egg theory. Television adopted the film aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in the beginning. When the theaters were losing moviegoers to the "new" kid on the block, they needed something to bring them back. Wider and bigger screens did the trick. Only natural for tv to go to a wider screen to keep up with the film industry.

It's a rare thing to see a wide screen TV that's set to the correct aspect ratio. They almost always set them to cut off the edges, or stretch everything out. Even sets used on TV as props sometimes have the wrong aspect ratio. They really should have made the aspect ratio switching fully automatic.

wtf????????

someone explain to me why you would leave a TV that's f-ed up like that, ON for a long enough time to burn???

maybe in the hopes the picture would spring to life again, orw hat?

When I was a teenager in the mid '90's needing to make money to buy a car, I mowed lawns in the summer. I had one customer who was elderly and almost completely blind. She had a late '60's Motorola that she would use just to listen to the audio, It's hard to say how long it had the vertical collapsed, but a very dark line was burned into that CRT. She had no idea it was a problem because she couldn't see the screen anyway.