HDTV Dangers!

I’ve been enjoying HDTV or High Definition Television since November 2003 and although the content is getting better, it is by no means ‘The best thing since sliced bread’, yet.

I could make this blog post all about the evolving technology, and the who, whats and wheres of the changeover to all digital in the upcoming few year, but alas, I have a tale of woe to tell.

In November of 2003, I excitedly rushed out for the holidays and purchased my first HDTV. It was my Christmas present to myself and my wheelchair bound mother. She liked to watch TV, but found that it was getting harder to see the 27″ screen from where her wheelchair was positioned at the edge of our sunken living room.

It was just what the doctor ordered, so to speak.

At 57″, the rear projection Hitachi 57S500 was a top model that year. I felt just like a sports car fanatic with a brand new toy. We were both captivated by the clarity of the picture quality.

Fast Forward 3 Years: January 2007.

Herein is where the danger lies. At that time, I subscribed to the school of thought that believed if you leave on an electronic device that would be less strain on the components. We have all heard of the dangers about constant voltage surges and spikes at the moment of turning light bulbs on and off, right?. I have since learned the errors of my ways as well as being more concerned with todays energy conservation and being more ‘green’.

By now you are asking, where is the danger? The danger is that coupled with a Dish Network DVR satellite receiver, my beautiful Hitachi was slowly, systematically, day by day being damaged. In their ultimate wisdom(or lack thereof) Dish Network programmed a screensaver on their DVR boxes that displayed their logo to at various places on the screen after a set time of inactivity. This logo would appear to be random and I never thought anything about it.

Now at this point, I was LIVID! I was like Howard Beale in Network.

BURN IN

Yes, Burn in. Something that we all have experienced at the local video arcade(circa 1980’s) and at the ATM machine where you can see a faint ghost of an image seared into the phosphor coating of the displays electron gun. Early console gamers and their parents knoww all too well about burn in, when the kids leave the same video game on for days and days and days. My HDTV now faintly displays the Dish Network logo in several spots on the screen during light or single colored scenes. During action scenes, it isn’t too noticeable, but it is there nonetheless.

Two’s Company, Three’s a bundle!

Now if you know nothing about rear projection or TV, I’ll give you a crash course. In a regular analog TV, there are rows of dots on the screen comprised of red, green and blue in a single cathode ray tube or CRT. The picture is displayed when electrons are fired at the front of the glass and the phosphor coating glows. There you have it in simplistic terms.

For in depth explanation: See this WIki

A rear projection television has three CRT’s. There needs to be a CRT for ‘each’ color. These CRT’s or ‘guns’ as they are called are aligned to produce a single picture. Knowing this, you now now that instead of just one ‘gun’ needing replaced, I need all THREE! Replacing each plus the cost of installation and then having it recalibrated would cost me nearly as much as buying a newer model.

Since that time 1 year ago, when I reported their equipment was causing damage to my HDTV, Dish Network has changed their screensaver.  I still have to contend with seeing their logo at intermittent times like subliminal brainwashing, but I cannot bring myself to spend more money on a component that is nearly obsolete, no matter how good the picture quality.
So be warned. Plasma screen owners face the same consequence. The only ones spared will be LCD owners.

I have learned to turn off my electronics and I’ve also learned a lesson. In a conscious effort to conserve energy, I don’t leave my HDTV powered on 24/7 anymore. So I hope this blog post keeps someone else from having burn-in happen to them.