Caring For Your Family.

Three important topics.

Radiation & Eye Strain.

While watching television, the lighting in the room should be dimmer than the screen. Make sure that the lighting doesn't reflect on the screen or cause a glare. Don't watch in very dim light because the contrast in light is almost as bad as glare. Avoid viewing from an angle which causes an unclear or glare effect. Sit in front of the plasma screen about four or five times the width of the TV screen away. This is just a rough guide.

Photosensitive Seizures

Television and electronic games are major factors that evoke seizures. Other light sources include flickering or reflected sunlight, lightning, car headlights, flickering artificial lights, arcade games, disco or even simple Christmas tree lights and sharply contrasting patterns.

Some computer games can evoke seizures. Several factors explain why seizures occur during video games: photosensitive response to physical characteristics of the TV display, e.g., flicker at or near the frequency of the electrical supply; photosensitive response to the game’s visual content; specific cognitive activities, decision making.

Emotional factors are also a significant cause, such as anxiety or excitement; sleep deprivation or fatigue; and simple chance.

To minimize the risk, the viewing distance should be at least four times the screen width. The room should be appropriately lit to avoid glare or excessive contrast between screen and ambient room light levels. Avoid prolonged play! Children should not play when sleep deprived or febrile.

Plasma & LCD TV's Get Hot

Quite simply plasma and LCD TVs get very hot. Especially on the top edge but generally all over as well. Out of all the large screens I have checked (and i have checked a fair few) I don't think it is possible to cause a significant, serious burn but they do get as hot as say a radiator.

If a child were to touch the hottest part they would probably instinctively let go quick enough that no real harm would be done. But just suppose the TV were to fall or perhaps a circumstance were to arise that the child could not remove their hand (or other part of their body) then some large screens are hot enough to cause a nasty burn. I cannot really picture a 'highly likely' scenario where this would happen but it is worth being aware of if you have children or if perhaps you are using your LCD set in a public/work place.