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I have a home server that is connected to my TV via HDMI. I want it to display some information that I can easily see by flipping the channel on the TV. I would like to disable the screen saver and any display-disabling functionality on the machine so that the display is always active. That way I can hit the HDMI button on my remote and see the info.

The computer already runs 24 hours a day (the TV, much less). So although it might be pushing pixels to the HDMI cable, it won't be visible unless the TV is on. Is this safe? Are there any damages to the cable, graphics card or TV that this could cause?

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4 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

I can't see a problem with this (other than the environmental cost of keeping electronics on 24 hours a day).

You can't damage the cable in this way and as the computer is already on 24 hours a day it's not going to change that.

The image isn't going to be permanently on screen and that was only an serious issue with CRT displays, not LCD (which I assume you've got from your mentioning of HDMI cables).

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+1 ... but keep in mind that LCD displays are not as prone to 'screen burn' as CRT monitors, but they're not entirely immune against it. – Molly7244 Sep 27 '09 at 15:17
@Molly - it's not really an issue as the image isn't going to be visible all the time anyway, but I've updated my answer to reflect your point. – ChrisF Sep 27 '09 at 15:24
@Molly - most lcd's today reach their lifespan before they start to have problems with image burn. – ldigas Sep 27 '09 at 16:55
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up vote 2 down vote

There shouldn't be a problem at all.

I do the same and have got machines left on 24x7 for 5+ years (excluding occasional power failure) running as notice boards at some places (screens off at night, computers left on)

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up vote 1 down vote

From a computer perspective, there's no problem at all.
From a monitor perspective, if you use the display anyway then there's also no problem -- otherwise you could turn off the display at times.

I do the same; my TV-pc is always on and when I need it, I turn on the video projector.

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up vote 0 down vote

I have a screen that is always on, and i'd like to download a screen-saver, to avoid "screen burns"- but it must allow the background to stay active. The screen monitors out office network- therefore we must be able to see when out monitoring tool alerts.

Any suggestions?

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For our monitoring PC we have it attached to an LCD TV (not a monitor) as that's far easier to see from the other side of a large office. The TVs we use have an anti-screen burn function tat you can turn on where they shift the image left, right, up or down by about about 20 pixels every 5 minutes. You really don't notice that the outside edge of the screen goes off the edge by a little bit every now and then, and its moving enough that burn in is prevented (so far). – GAThrawn Nov 1 '09 at 16:54
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