Video games and widescreen TV's

[BENS]

I’m interested in purchasing a wide screen HDTV in the 50"+- size. I want to be able to play video games on the TV and someone mentioned something about “burn in”. That on certain types of TV’s you cannot play video games because it will ruin the TV. I know of 3 types of TV’s. Projection, LCD and Plasma. I’m going inexpensive and am looking into Projection. Can I play games on a projection TV with out ruining it? Thanks… Any suggestions?

[kuhurdler]

I think they post a warning on pretty much every video game cartridge/disk's instruction manual. You can find it there. That being said, I personally would just ignore it if you play different games and still watch TV on the same unit.

[stereoguy]

2 keys to avoiding burn in:

1. Set your contrast and brightness porperly with a video config disc like Avia or Digital Video Essentials. These are a must for rear projection CRT tvs.

2. Don't leave the same static image in any one place on your tv for an extended time. I've played video games on our 2 RPTVs for hours at a time where there are pictures or something that never move. So far, not a problem. These are decent tvs, and lower end tvs may be more suseptible, I don't know. I think as long as you don't have the same static image on the screen for 24 hours +, and you vary the stuff you view on the tv, you will be fine. Just get the calibration dvds.

Also, I believe plasma is the most likely to burn in. I'd avoid those. CRT will give you the best picture at the cheapest price, but in a huge box.