I just bought a plasma tv this week and I am worried about using VMC with it. I'm fine with video and photos, I'm just worried about when I play music that the screen will burn in. I see that the screen dims after a few minutes, which im sure will help, but is there anyway to activate a screen saver or something of the sort? Sorry if this post has already been answered awhile back, but after a half hour of searching I couldnt find anything.

I run an XP MCE 2005 computer directly to my plasma TV so I am in the same boat as you.  What I do is run audio to my receiver in addition to my TV.  I start playing music, make sure to turn on the receiver, then turn off the TV.  This way I get better sounding music as well.

In your case you could just use 2 y-splitters to split the left and right audio jacks to your TV and receiver (assuming you have one).  Something like this I suppose:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021803&p_id=663&style=&seq=1&format=1#largeimage
Obviously you would run white/white from one splitter and red/red from the other, not red/white from each as it is color coded.

Assuming you have a 360 Premium, one question I do have is whether the 360 will output sound via the digital optical connection and the analog stereo outputs simultaneously.  That way you could run the left and right (white and red) analog jacks to the TV and the digital optical output to your receiver.  Like I said though, I can't tell you whether the latter scenario would work or not.

cplain:

I just bought a plasma tv this week and I am worried about using VMC with it. I'm fine with video and photos, I'm just worried about when I play music that the screen will burn in. I see that the screen dims after a few minutes, which im sure will help, but is there anyway to activate a screen saver or something of the sort? Sorry if this post has already been answered awhile back, but after a half hour of searching I couldnt find anything.

Visualize, you just need to click visualize and you get the funky screen saver to the music thing.  That should save you from burn in.  And some of them dont look bad.

scuffs:

Visualize, you just need to click visualize and you get the funky screen saver to the music thing.  That should save you from burn in.  And some of them dont look bad.

And that's why scuffs is a Special Member.  I give the complicated solution, he gives the easy one.

Right, but you don't get Visualize (or any other other screen savers) when running in 360 extended mode, do you?  At least, I don't recall ...  ;-)

Honestly ... burn-in won't occur unless you're really sitting on a still image for a very long time.  I run MCE on my Pioneer Elite 1080p plasma, and find the screen saver (really a very dark screen saver) that kicks in after 6 minutes does a good job.  I do wish that you could configure a shorter time to activate, though ...

One other thing about plasmas ... they're hugely inefficient in terms of energy.  I used to turn the television off when I wanted to play music for hours (in the end I'd much rather have a constantly-moving screen saver over the static dimmer one they give you, and since I can't when running with the 360, I would turn the TV off), but have now found it easier in terms of energy to simply switch inputs on the TV to one that's not being used.  :-)

Final suggestion here ... you can always run a picture slideshow during music playback.

Steve

drTh20dog:

Right, but you don't get Visualize (or any other other screen savers) when running in 360 extended mode, do you?  At least, I don't recall ...  ;-)

Honestly ... burn-in won't occur unless you're really sitting on a still image for a very long time.  I run MCE on my Pioneer Elite 1080p plasma, and find the screen saver (really a very dark screen saver) that kicks in after 6 minutes does a good job.  I do wish that you could configure a shorter time to activate, though ...

One other thing about plasmas ... they're hugely inefficient in terms of energy.  I used to turn the television off when I wanted to play music for hours (in the end I'd much rather have a constantly-moving screen saver over the static dimmer one they give you, and since I can't when running with the 360, I would turn the TV off), but have now found it easier in terms of energy to simply switch inputs on the TV to one that's not being used.  :-)

Final suggestion here ... you can always run a picture slideshow during music playback.

Steve

Yes, it is avaliable on the xbox 360 as well.

Burn in on plasmas theses days are hardly an issue.  I have 2 pioneers and one panasonic and never had an issue.  The tech on the newer displays are really good now, not like they were about 4-5 years ago.  Don't worry about it, you will be fine

DanITman:

Yes, it is avaliable on the xbox 360 as well.

Visualizations?  Was this added recently?  It certainly was not available in extender mode a few months ago.

I have a  360 and that is how my audio is set up, it will do both the the stereo cables (connected to tv) and the surround sound (optical output connected to my receiver) at the same time.  Truthfully though I almost never bother with TV sound, just always have my receiver on.  Also, when I listen to music I usually start a playlist and pop off the TV, it seems like a waste of lamp hours to leave it on.. burn in or not.

 

Hey Guys.
Thanks for all the replies.

I actually have been using the "play slide show" option in vmc now. Its a nice screensaver effect. The 360 as an extender doenst have an option to visualize, but oh well, the photo slide show works.

Anyways, I bought a better tv, an LCD, last night so no worries anyways.

"Better" TV?

I'd argue that the best TV you can get right now is still the Pioneer Elite PRO-FHD1 ... a plasma, no less.

Steve