I had gotten past all my plasma fears until the other day when I was told that watching SD content or really any sort of format watching that doesnt take up the entire screen will age the screen differently and cause the picture to suffer in a manner not unlike burn-in/IR.

Now I planned to watch a lot of SD stuff and game semi often and I dont want hope my devices let me set the boxes to grey rather then just "off". So is this an issue and more importantly something to worry about?

I hate stretching and if its something I just have to live with I may rethink a plasma purchase....perhaps. The TV I am about to purchase is the TH-50PX77U in case that plays a part in answering my question.

ummm, bump?

i don't watch any 4:3 content on my plasmas but i don't think that the black bars on the side could cause any burnin. i've seen some with my pc desktop if i left it up too long but none with my 360.

From what I've read on these forums, try to avoid them for the first 100-150 hours or so. Then don't worry about it.

It's not going to hurt as long as you vary your viewing between full screen and 4:3 content.

All has been said, but to add another tidbit, Panasonic's "Just" mode of stretch isn't too bad (I'm still in the breakin period, new set!). It stretches non-linearly with the center portion not stretched so much and the left/right edges stretched more. Can have some odd effects when panning, but most of the time the stretch isn't too noticeable because the center of attention tends to be in the center where it isn't stretched much.