All About Screen Burn & Image Retention on Plasma & LCD TV

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This is a series of pages detailing just about everything you might want to know about Screen burn or image retention. The information is appropriate if you have a Plasma Display Panel, LCD TV or Laptop(TFT) display where an image has been burned to the screen. We talk about how to avoid problems, and fix them if they have already occurred. There is so much to find out about LCD TVs and PDP sets and we try to tell you as much as possible in a hopefully interesting and maybe even amusing way. We also recommend or sell products, services and accessories like Microfibre screen wipes for cleaning TFT, Laptops and all the other types of display.

And as you might expect from a page all about screen care we have PixelProtector for screen burn removal and tv calibration.

Screen Burn Articles

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Computer games and Plasma/LCD Screen Burn

PCs and Plasma/LCD Screen Burn

Built in Screen Burn Prevention Features

Screen Burn Articles contd:-

Pixel Shift for Screen Burn Protection

Plasma and LCD 'Signal Pattern' and 'All White' Features

'Snow' distortion trick for Plasma and LCD TV's with Screen Burn

The PC Screen Burn Fix trick for Plasma and LCD TV's

Make Your LCD or Plasma TV Last a Decade

PixelProtector - A Commercial Program for Screen Burn Removal

Built in Screen Burn Prevention Features

HDTV Calibration

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Image Retention (Screen Burn) Summary

This is probably the most important section to read. Failing to prevent screen burn will render your plasma or LCD TV as useless, it will not be covered by the warranty and it can occur within a few hours of getting it home. Not only that but some of the most likely causes are NOT what most people are on the lookout for. Screen burn CAN be prevented almost completely.
What Is Screen Burn

Screen burn is where an image you were viewing on the Plasma or LCD screen remains there either temporarily or eventually permanently even after we have finished displaying it. The result in minor cases is that an annoying ghost image appears when we are watching our favourite program and in the worst case the retention is so bad that the display is totally unwatchable.

If you want to try something now to remove screen burn then check out 3 popular methods for removing LCD or Plasma Screen Burn.

Image Retention Removal Method 1

There is a commercial program for just such problems. It is called PixelProtector (Pixel Protector) and retails for about £25. It has a great pdf manual and will help remove or reduce screen burn. Have a read about what it does and how it works. PIxelProtector also will help you calibrate plasma & LCD TV.

Screen Burn Fix Method 2

Other things you can try include downloading a free program called JScreenFix. If you google for it, it will be top of the results. It is a free program which creates blacks and whites on your PDP or other TV and might be more convinient for you than my screen burn fix. The only snag is the headache of connecting the pc up and the fact that removal technique will not be running at your screens native resolution. This is where products like PixelProtector come into there own.

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Image Retention Removal Method 3

If you can hook your PC up to your screen burnt TV try this. Create a folder in 'My Documents' called 'Screen Burn'. I'm not joking keep reading. Now open up a picture editor like 'paint' available on all Windows PC's. When you run 'Paint' a blank white document is what you should have in front of you. That is exactly what you need. Select File – Save as and name your picture 'white'. Be sure to save it in the folder you just created.

Next you need to click on the 'black' section of the colour pallete at the bottom of the 'Paint' window. After you have selected black click on the 'Fill' icon (a tipped paint pot) on the left. Now simply click in the middle of your white picture and it should become totally black. Select File – Save as and name you picture 'black'. Again be sure to save it in the folder called 'Screen Burn'. You don't need paint any more so you can shut it down.

Now right click on the Windows desktop an select Properties – Screen Saver and using the drop down list select 'My Pictures Slide Show'. Now to configure the slide show. Click Settings and configure as follows. Slide the bar to 'More' so that pictures change frequently. Slide the next bar to 'Larger' so pictures fill the whole screen. Now click the 'browse' button and find the folder you made called 'Screen Burn'. In the next set of options:- Check 'Stretch Small Pictures', Uncheck 'Show File Names', Check 'Use Screen Transitions' and finally uncheck 'Allow Scrolling Through Pictures With The Keyboard'. Save the options.
Different versions of Windows might have slightly different configuration options but as long as the result is a completely filled (no borders), alternating white and black screen with no writing then it will probably help.

Now set your screen saver to 1 minute and leave the keyboard and mouse well alone.

As with the 'snow' and 'signal pattern' leave this for a while to see some results. If you use your TV for the PC then it might be a good idea to use this as your regular screen saver and run it frequently.

The only snag is the headache of connecting the pc up and the fact that removal technique will not be running at your screens native resolution. This is where products like PixelProtector come into there own.

Dont forget to check out all our Screen Burn Articles to make sure your plasma or LCD screen lasts a decade.