What kind of TV gets the burn in issue? Flat screen, plasma, or those new widescreen tv? The reason I ask is I plan to upgrade to a flat screen (old conventional TV still works with no burn in issue except it is only 19") TV like the Sony Wega type and have heard about this burn in issue on somebody who paid thousands on a big screen TV only to have this problem come up. We watch both regular off the air broadcast and widescreen DVD and don't want to pay good money just to have burn in in later years.

I am not sure about plasma.

Virtually any other type of video display device is subject to burn in although advancements have reduced this possiblity.

Big screen projection TV (RPTV's) suffer the worst from it although a regular tube TV can also be burned in.

I am not sure why you are worried as it takes a real effort to cause burn-in to happen.

Here's a link to read a little about it:

http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/learnabout/burnin.html

I gotta say, this sounds like more trouble than it's worth. Watch fuzzy, dim TV to save the phosphors? I understand not wanting to intentionally degrade performance, but that's a bit much. And no fixed images ever??? Say goodbye to about 80% of your cable channels, and all your broadcast ones.

That 38 inch RCA directview set is looking better and better....

I do think they went a little overboard with that. You need to watch a mix of things. My RPTV manual says that if you play a game with fixed images for a while then watch something different for a while to even things out.

However I would never recommend an RPTV for bright daytime regular TV watching, especially of programs with tickertapes. But in regulated light it is not at all difficult to have the brightness turned down and have a much sharper (actual, not perceived) picture than a direct view.

They don't have 1920x1080 direct views yet, and while 7" tubes on the RPTV don't fully resolve that either (9" can), they come a lot closer.

Also remember if you are at all trying to get a theater like atmosphere you will not get it with a 38" screen! You need to get up into the 47" and up sized to really get the theater look and envelopement.

I find my 40" Mitsubishi tube to be just fine from about 10-12 feet away

I hate rear projection sets!

I don't doubt your TV looks great! What I am saying is to get the Theater feel you need a bigger screen that takes up a big chunk of your field of vision like a theater does.

When was the last time you checked out a correctly calibrated HDTV? RP High Def 16x9 TV's will look better then a tube TV in all enviroments except bright lighting. It is much more satifing to watch HD on a larger RPTV as well.

True, the bigger the better so to speak!

RP's have gotten ALOT better in recent years, but tubes still rule the analog picture world and that is my world right now. My room is a bit too bright for a RP and I still don't like the limited "sweet spot" they produce.

I'm not arguing that they don't look good. Better than a HD tube tube?; possibly, I haven't compared them but I still prefer tubes and if I switch from a tube it will be to a CRT or DLP and not a RP

You are aware that RP HDTV's are in most cases CRT based TV's do you not? The limited sweet spot you mention again makes me think you have not seen RP HDTV's in the last couple of years as they have more then enough viewing angles these days. I am talking about 16x9 HDTV's which do tend to have superior parts as opposed to their 4x3 counterparts and FAR better parts then the analog RPTV's.

Yes I have seen them and yes I know they are CRT's, just rear projected CRT's. Some have 7" and some have 9" RGB guns in them. IMO, Mitsubishi makes the best RP's on the market today followed by Toshiba.

Like I said they have gotten better in the past few years with HDTV and all, but the limited sweet spot is not from side to side as much as it is the top and botttom one I don't like.

Until I have the space required for a CRT or DLP FP I will stick with my current direct view set, unless a deal to good to pass up comes by, as it did for the 40 Mitsu. I have now!

I guess I am a HT oddball cause I don't like Diva or Outlaw products either! I am still in the analog world, I even like to watch a Pan & Scan once in a while on my 4:3 set

Thanks for the help though

You obviuosly have NOT seen Pioneer HDTV's or you would not have made this statement! Especially the Elite series but including the SD line Pioneer is most widely considered the best manufacturer out there.

Yeah, I didn't really want to say anything, but...

I have an HTPC hooked directly into the DB15 port of my Elite. I just got a dual-monitor video card so I can drive two monitors simultaneously with the same picture (still working on different screens/monitor, but that's another story). I was really surprised yesterday when I was looking at both my 15" CRT (which is very sharp and close to me) and the RPTV (about 10' away) when a Windows screen was up. They looked very, very close in terms of sharpness except the RPTV didn't have any visible scanlines.

It was funny noticing how the grayscale of the RPTV made the whites warmer though, in contrast to the stark whiteness of the computer monitor. Bringing up some test patterns and seeing them on both monitors at the same time was very satisfying and showed what that set can really do!

Good thing you know me so well so you can remind me what I have and haven't seen, sometimes I forget!

That is your opinion, not mine and you are welcome to it.

I would never buy a Pioneer or Sony product again, don't like their products at all, they are crap!

I would buy a Toshiba or Mitsubishi if I was going to buy a RP set anytime soon

X: Have you ever had a chance to see a 9" CRT model like the Philips 64PP9751? I got to say, although the Elite scalers really do rock everything else out there, HDTV on one of these 9" TV's really look better than the 7" Elites. At $4300 for the 64" model, it's a real bargain. Of course, if I had another few thousand, the 73" Mitsubishi Diamond would be tempting.

I have seen a Philips 9" model but it was in a bright showroom and not calibrated and not showing HDTV. But I still remember being impressed with it although I also recall it cost around $8-9K. The price for the model you mention sounds very good for 9" tubes! Is there a reason Philips doesn't show this model on their site?

Yep, exactly what you mentioned. People balked at paying $8k for their TV. It's still being sold under the Marantz nameplate though:



Phillips 9" CRT TV Sold under Marantz Nameplate

I think that one is selling close to $9k.