The curious thing about all this, is that it happened less than one month after purchasing the high-definition pack for the Xbox console. It's almost as if the TV couldn't handle it.
I do have a two-year, in-house warranty on it. I just might use it. I appreciate all the help I've received thus far.
Burn is permanent, they give you the option of reducing screen size so you can watch normal sized pictures just like they give you the option of sitting there staring at a paused video game all day, a bit of either won't hurt but long term it will wear the phosphors you use sooner and there's nothing you can do about that. They do give you a warning, it's in the manual of every widescreen TV I've seen.
In this case it sounds like there's a problem with the TV though which as I said several times before is *not* related to phosphor burn or the tube in general.
What damage? Take the damn thing to a competent technician before damage is done by fooling around with it.
Coincidences like that happen all the time, if the xbox were to damage the set it would happen immediately. You have the warranty, use it.
The difference between the center and where the 'side bars' were, is definitely caused by burn-in. I kept the TV on 4:3 most of the time because that's what looked the best. This option causes damage ('burn in') to the area where there's no picture, making it stand out from the rest of the screen. Too bad the instructions that came with it said nothing of burn-in. I reread it for the tenth time; not a single word about it. So, even though widescreen or 16:9 looks like crap when not using HDTV, you're suppose to keep it on that mode -- or risk damaging your TV.
Burn in does not result in the pixelation that you described. The burn in in your application would be in the 4:3 area which has naturally aged from use while the phosphors on the sides are more unused and more like new.
Your TV maker and your dealer should have educated you on burn in. If you turn the contrast down to a reasonable level it won't be much of an issue. Even using it out of the box on the factory defaults it likely is not an issue this early in the life of the set.
Leonard
I've always kept contrast and brightness levels extremely low. (contrast lower than brightness) Under 40%. I despise what brightness, especially, does to a picture. However, other people use this set as well and have finagled with the calibration -- much to my ire. Only for a shortwhile, however. (as they know it annoys me) This couldn't have caused damage, correct?
That brand is one of the worst
Why don't you take the advice which has been given to you and call in a Professional and have the fault diagnosed. If you do not wish to do so then replace the TV after all its only an Appliance..............Isn't it ?
kip
No...
Tom
If not, it's fairly strange how the distorted pixels correlate almost precisely with the 4:3 black bars. I'd like to understand this fully, as this won't be the last set I purchase.
One thing I wish every set had, was the ability to lock calibration features. That means no possibility of changing them without the password / pin number. I'm tired of worrying about other individuals tinkering with the subtle beauty I've attained through persistent and tedious observation. Of course, then you'd have retards who lost their pin number. I've never understood why most people enjoy their picture deformed with high levels of brightness and contrast.
"It's not bright enough." - sign of an idiot
It's because the artifacts are brighter than the black bars.
I prefer a subdued picture also, but most sets, when set up properly, are reasonable with 50% brightness and up to 100% contrast. 40% is pretty low for contrast on a correctly calibrated set. The SMPTE colour bar signal has blacker-than-black and lighter-than black that allows perfect calibration...you see what you are supposed to see, and don't see what you are not supposed to.
When I worked in broadcasting we used a colourimeter. It was a hand-held device that was held over a white screen. It had a hole in its middle with a calibrated white surround, and the idea was to adjust the monitor so that there was no discernible difference between the screen and the colorimeter's surround. In the end, though...a chacun son gout.
Tom
I think it's already been mentioned... when the TV is in "4:3" mode, it's stretching a 4:3 (almost square) image to fit a wide rectangular (16:9) screen. This is so that you don't get the black bars on the sides. I have a Panasonic HD model that does the exact same thing. It leaves the center of the image unchanged, but the extreme left and right portions of the picture (maybe 1/4 of the picture on either side) is stretched horizontally to fill the screen.
If you have the TV in 16:9 mode then it doesn't stretch anything, and you get a 4:3 image unstretched in the middle of the screen, leaving the black bars on either side. When you're looking an HD signal, it's 16:9 natively and so there is no stretching needed for the image to fill the screen; it should look fine in this case.
If you added the XBox recently, maybe you changed a setting that affects how your set scales the image... or you changed the input that your cable box (if you are using one) comes in on, or even changed the type of connection between the TV and cable receiver. I switched to a DVI connection between my cable box and TV, and had to make a change in the configuration menu on the cable box to get the aspect ratios right.
Hope that helps!
Hi, JM
The funny thing about the high-definition pack for the Xbox (which is in 480p mode), is that I can't adjust the ratio. It's always in widescreen mode. (taking up the entire screen; no bars on top, bottom, or sides) It either a limitation of the television itself, or the high-def pack.
What's got me more concerned now, however, is the flickering. The brightness seems to flicker, especially when in 480p mode. It's as if someone's quickly highering and lowering the settings.
I've thoroughly examined the pixels on the left and right sides. They are definitely damaged. Whereas the resolution is smooth as you approach the middle from the sides. It's as if only part of the color is present in the side pixels. Strange indeed.
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