blu ray movies without black bars

You could probably use the BD player to stretch the image to fit the screen. I wouldn't worry too much about it though, not ALL films are 2.35 (which would give you those black bars ...well 1.85 would too but not so big) plus just watch some TV on it once in awhile and you should be fine .

I watch a bunch of films (a lot of 2.35 content) on my Sammy PN59D6500 and have no issues.

Go to this site: http://www.blu-raystats.com/Stats/TechStats.php and filter on Aspect Ratio = 16:9.

A film that is exactly 16:9 = 1.77777.... will have no black bars. Note that many films called 16:9 are more like 1.85:1 which will have tiny black bars.

As said, you could just zoom the other ratios. Or not worry about it.

-Bill

I don't think burn-in on plasmas is quite as bad as it used to be. If you watch nothing but 2.35:1 movies constantly for ten years, maybe, but if you mix it up and watch other aspect ratios it should be fine.

A friend of mine is an indie movie producer (so he watches a LOT) and has had a plasma for eight, nine years now. No burn-in that we can see, watching pretty much every movie that came out during the life of the TV.

^^^
Agreed. During the first few hundred hours it advisable to mix letterboxed content with 16:9 content but afterwards forget about it. Maybe 20 min of 16:9 after a scope movie is more than enough.

I agree that burn in is not a problem for plasmas made within the last few years. I have had a 60 inch Pioneer Kuro plasma for nearly 5 years and haven't had the slightest problem with it. I watch a bunch of 2.35:1 films, black bars and all, but there has been no discernible burn in. My daughter and son in law have a couple of Panasonic plasmas, a 55 inch and a 65 inch, and haven't had any burn in trouble either. As long as you are fairly conscientious in the first few hours and avoid a steady diet of 2.35:1 movies, I can't imagine burn in would be a problem these days.

Burn in is definitely still a problem on recent plasmas, especially for those who watch content with network tv logos, sports graphics elements, or those who play video games.

I have a Panasonic 65VT30 which is ISF calibrated and my kids played the Skylanders video game on the TV for about 50 hours straight on the set. The video game graphics are now, hundreds of hours of use later, retained in the lower left corner of the panel, and visible regularly in normal content, and utterly distracting when watching something like The Art of Flight.

Owners threads suggest that the 2012 Panasonic plasmas may be even more predisposed to IR/burn-in.

I would not sweat IR from black bars. But IR/burn-in from bright, fixed content is very real if your panel is one of those that is susceptible to it.

Your report that late model Panny plasmas are susceptible to burn in was disappointing. Because of how happy my daughter and son in law have been with their Panasonic plasmas, I figured that when my Kuro finally died I would replace it with a Panny. I failed to mention another potential problem. Setting a display on "Stun" exacerbates burn in problems. As your Panny has been calibrated, I assume that excessive brightness and contrast did not contribute to the burn in that has occurred.

50 hours straight is a helluva a lot without mixing any content in between. I have the same TV (65VT50) and have played COD or Halo for several hours, Fox news, and watch tons of movies and have no IR.

What you said comports with my own experience and the feedback I have received from others who have late model plasmas. Plasmas aren't burn in proof, even now, but it appears you have to do some pretty extreme stuff to a plasma to damage the screen. I also think avoiding stetting brightness and contrast settings to torch mode makes a lot of difference.

Stick with normal viewing/watching and you'll be fine... but animated movies are great (Nemo, Cars, Madagascar 3 look fantastic!) 50 hours? I say that's a wee bit extreme.

Tell those kids to play outside.

No problems here with a ST50 (my first plasma). Just mix up your viewing. The TV also has an automatic shut down feature that's come in handy a few times.

Yeah, I think that's a bit of an outlier. Plus, I don't see black bars being as dangerous as brightly colored stationary network bugs or news tickers or in-game status bars to a plasma. I know all cells are precharged before illumination, but isn't a cell displaying black sort of at a "null" setting?

It was over a week of real time, during summer vacation, and I was busy at work, so the TV only got a few hours of other content mixed in with those 50 hours. My kids got plenty of exercise doing Little League and swimming, no worries!

Also, I don't think this pattern is unusual for gamers. Some people, when they get a new game, play many hours of it on end, for some number of days or across a couple weeks. And then there are those gamers who get into competitive games, like Call of Duty or Battlefield. In no way, ever, would I recommend a late model Panasonic plasma to people with usage habits like that. And when you think about it, how different is this from an avid baseball fan who spends 3 hours a day for 6 months watching their team play, with bright graphics in the upper right part of the screen? Or people who watch a lot of network TV, with network TV logos in the lower right?

...All of which raises the issue of peace of mind. I really would like to not have to worry about all of this stuff. Like a child accidentally pausing a screen with a network logo as we're out the door for school and I go to work -- and we only see it 7 or 8 hours later. All kinds of scenarios crop up when you see IR and start to worry about it.

I really love the PQ of the VT30, and with ISF calibration, I am enjoying video content more than I ever have before. But in retrospect, I'm not sure I would have chosen the PQ advantages of plasma if I had fully appreciated the IR risks, worries, and realities that go with it.

Just my opinion, of course!