I'm in the process of buying a used rear projection TV. I know one of the things to look for is screen "Burn-in". What does "Burn-in" look like when your watching a rear projection tv with this kind of damage. I recently saw a nice 53" Hitachi (2001 model). When this Hitachi is on, it looks like someone took a pink magic marker and drew a small happy face on the "inside" face of the screen. Does this screen have burn-in?
Sounds like it. If it is, Smiley will be especially visible in brighter scenes. The only cure for burn-in is new CRTs, and that's gonna cost ya. I'd keep shopping.
When you display a solid white background, or whatever, if there is burn-in present, you will see 'ghost' images burnt into it. They won't move, like ghosts - they are just there. They will usually be very faint, however, sometimes they are VERY pronounced.
The shapes will vary. Sometimes you will see bars running down the sides, if they watched 4:3 TV a lot. Sometimes it will be 'smack dab' in the middle of the screen, like a company logo was there, all night, every night. Or, it might be kidney shaped, et cetera, if they played a lot of video games on it.