I just got a Toshiba 40H80 and immediately set the contrast to 40 from the 100 factory setting to avoid burn in (I read somewhere that 40 was the preferred level among a lot of Toshiba owners). I haven't done the calibration with Video Essentials yet (I'll do it this weekend) and I just started learning about HT, but I was wondering if 40 is low enough to prevent burn in. Please let me know. Thanks.

The best way to find out would be to make use of that Video Essentials disc before you use the TV for anything else!

Yes 40% is pretty safe for avoiding burn-in! As suggested above get Avia or VE and calibrate using either one to get best picture quality.

I'm not going to tell you whether or not the 40% is sufficient enough to avoid burn in, I'm sure it is, but I can assure you that 100% is enough to get it. I learned the hard way with my Mitsubishi. I now have a very light red line at the bottom where the difference is on a 1.85 movie and a 2.35 movie. It's not enough to ruin the TV but I take my hat off to you for knowing this before it was too late like in my case.

How about for non W/S TV's?
 

For some reason, this is the one adjustment that's hard to do on my 27 in. TV - the Video Essentials "line-bend" test just doesn't seem to bend when I adjust it. Any suggestions?

Re: How about for non W/S TV's?
 

This is a good sign. On a poorer TV, the line would bend significantly, maybe even always be bent. As long as you're confident in all of your other settings, don't worry about it. A lot of the tests are redundant anyhow.

Man, this is getting ridiculous! First I hear about channel logos, now this. I feel for you, 1blwnsaleen. Personally, I don't think any level of adjustments will totally prevent burn-in because you're basically getting a moving picture in one section of the screen while a static picture in another section. Definitely reduce the contrast to AVIA/VE levels, but I think the only thing that really helps the situation save for distorting the image to fit the screen is a Roaming Picture. I think this is a feature on the Iscan Pro where a 4x3 image changes location (slightly) on the widescreen TV each time there's a new scene. It alleviates 4x3 burn-in on a 16x9 set, but the whole 1.85 vs 2.35 thing, I dunno. That just takes the cake!

I agree El Pollo that no amout adjustment will completely avoid burn in but since I knocked down those contrast settings it has not appereared to get that much worse.

1blwnsaleen, how long did you have your set (and how much did you watch movies on it) before this happened? I'm just curious to know, as I haven't heard of that many actual cases of burn-in like this and my curiousity would like a point of reference.

I have my set's contrast and brightness down to what should be safe levels but I still worry about it a little. My set spends a lot of time with letterbox bars (although there is some variety with the different aspect ratios and the 16 x 9 mode on my set).