What's the rationale behind putting a computer screen showing a roaring fire in a faireplace, in front of the fireplace?

I didn’t know there was anything commonplace about this, but my son did it in our living room at Christmastime: placed a monitor in the fireplace running an image of a flickering fire. Behind the fireplace screen, it was a good enough illusion that you could enjoy the effect without seeing it as a parody of a fire.

Pluses:
• No danger of a spark to the Christmas tree just a couple of feet away.
• No consumption of fuel.
• No smoke.
• No throwing the house thermostat off, making it cold in the other rooms.
• No ashes to clean up.

Minuses:
• No, it would not be mistaken for a real fire. It was just an animated picture of a real fire.
• No crackling. No fragrance.
• It was a little bit 1984ish.
• No ceremonial burning of the Christmas tree, as we used to do once the holiday was past.

Saving fuel for fireplace. Whole livingroom is juxtaposed towards the fireplace and the computer is a logical substitute.

No draft, no excessive heat, no need to get more wood for the fire.

Think back about 10–15 years ago when the Amish mantel fireplaces were all the rage. It was a space heater with a fireplace visual effect. Most put out good heat and the visual was pleasing. Some even provided the sound effect of a burning fire. The main drawback was the cost of your utility bill. One of my neighbors swore that just the fire playing without the heater managed to make her feel warmer. I’m thinking that was just her imagination.

Using a monitor is even cheaper than buying the heater. Some of the streams visuals are very realistic. There is minimal chance of having a fire. There is less cost than having a chimney sweep out regularly. Your utility bill is minimally affected. One of our friends who entertains regularly uses the monitor frequently. When the room is full of people socializing and not just focused on the monitor, it can be quite pleasing.Unlike my neighbor, I don’t get that warm and fuzzy feeling of having a real fire but I also don’t find the visual unpleasant

To me, personally, it is just plain goofy.

This past winter I brought up fireplaces burning on you tube and played them on my flat-screen a couple of times. It made me feel cozy.

It tricks you psychologically to feel warm and cozy. Your brain interprets the fire as warm. Same concept as why candles are said to relax people.

It looks nice when you’re doing videos?