Alright, I have read everything I can on this phenomenon. I understand they are different.
There are some people out there who say this is a myth with modern technological advancements. I bought an LG PJ550 50" plasma about 2 months ago, and I mostly use it for games. I played NHL 11 quite a bit when it first came out, but I haven't touched the game in over 3 weeks. In fact I haven't played anything in that same amount of time.
Today was the first chance I really got to do any gaming. I popped in Red Dead Redemption, and have been playing it for about the last 3 or 4 hours. While riding through the west, I noticed some text in the sky. I have been swinging the camera around, and figured out it says "Edit Lineup". Over to the right of the screen is some more 'burnt in' text, like EA PUCKS, and LT/RT OFFENSE. The more I look, the more I find.
What the hell? The TV has been used sparingly over the past few weeks, and no time spent on that particular game (if anything I watched a little cable while doing laundry or on the treadmill). I was so paranoid about having this happen in the first place that I never left a fixed image on the screen for more than a half hour (if I had to be away for any reason I would just simply turn the TV off, or shut down completely). After doing some more reading, there are sites that say you should run your TV on low contrast/brightness for the first 200 hours. It would have been great to know that, as I would have taken that precaution as well.
Is this just image retention? If so, shouldn't it have disappeared by now? I've been playing a game with NO fixed imaging and the screen should have had plenty of time to refresh. Am I screwed?
[EDIT: I meant for this to be in the Tech forum. I have no excuse other than stupidity.]