> Wasn't sure where to post this... > > > I remember when I got a 2600 my parents would never allow me to connect it to the > living room TV. They heard it would eventually damage the screen, causing permanent > white horizontal lines to appear. Was that true and what caused it? I do remember > seeing a few TVs back then that exhibited those lines and they did have 2600s > connected. Supposedly, the problem was fixed in later revisions.
I wasn't alive during the VCS days but from what I know of the system, burn-in is likely. A lot of games had lots of static backgrounds, even with scrolling, and who knows how many hours kids (and their parents) would spend on these things.
It's nothing specific to the VCS though. Any static image on a CRT or plasma display for long periods of time will cause burn-in. I can also see how parents would use this as an excuse to get back the TV for sports and other things. I think most people only had one TV back then.
I'd love to see how families reacted to this thing. I'm sure it must've been an amazement, esp. for those that didn't have computers.
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