Plasma TVs and Image Burn/Retention

[theonlywhiteout]

Originally Posted by Nage Waza

Without a doubt, the only reason to every buy a plasma is for a dedicated home theater with no outside light that will be used only to watch the occasional movie. No matter what anyone says. Do not play video games or anything else on the screen, including television (unless you want things like CNN or playboy burned to the bottom). I find anything to the contrary is pretty much sales pitch for the plasma community.
Many electronics have break in periods; I didn't realize plasma would burn so quickly without it. Sorry to hear your screen may be ruined.

I will second this. If you think watching CNN or any program with a ticker isn't going to leave artifacts because you have a fancy plasma you're kidding yourself. LCD is the way to go imo

[Roast Beef]

Originally Posted by Yamer

It's a bit of both. EA (or sports game in general) just don't need to put those menu tickers that display your gameface....as well as several other static images. Game makers are aware of the technology out there, and should be more accommodating to the consumer.

That is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time. Why should game makers give a crap about what kind of display you have? Why should they care if you can't follow the instructions for proper care of your device.

If anything the manufacturers should either make the instructions for proper care more prominent or they should work in each TV before putting it on the market to sell.

[Bob]

If anything the manufacturers should either make the instructions for proper care more prominent or they should work in each TV before putting it on the market to sell.

They could largely fix the problem just by doing what cautious consumers do anyway: long break-in periods to start, and competent out-of-box settings (i.e. no "torch mode"). However, break-in consumes a non-trivial amount of power (hundreds of watts per panel for 100+ hours, not to mention storage), but I think they do this anyway as part of manufacturing (Pioneer certainly did). Normal out-of-box brightness/contrast would help, but make them fare even worse in a store setting; not that it matters a lot, as pretty much all plasmas looks terrible next to all the insanely bright LCDs in a Best Buy.

I haven't done anything to my plasma beyond those two things, and I have over a thousand hours of letterbox content, pillarbox content, gaming, sports, and general TV watching without any retention at all. I literally didn't even think about it until a few days ago.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by Roast Beef

That is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time. Why should game makers give a crap about what kind of display you have? Why should they care if you can't follow the instructions for proper care of your device.

If anything the manufacturers should either make the instructions for proper care more prominent or they should work in each TV before putting it on the market to sell.

They should care because they are paying their wages, no? If I choose to avoid a certain game because they have fixed images on my screen for long periods of time, that would be one less sale.

There were no instructions provided to me on how to break in my TV. I found out after scouring the internet. EDIT: Actually, having read the whole manual there is a single sentence on 'Image Burn', and it only instructs to not have a fixed image on longer than 1 hour (which I heeded). It doesn't even explain the ISM settings, which I now know are vital to preventing this problem.

Not a biggie on such a large scale of consumers I suppose. Still not worth calling me ridiculous.

[Roast Beef]

Originally Posted by Yamer

They should care because they are paying their wages, no? If I choose to avoid a certain game because they have fixed images on my screen for long periods of time, that would be one less sale.

There were no instructions provided to me on how to break in my TV. I found out after scouring the internet. EDIT: Actually, having read the whole manual there is a single sentence on 'Image Burn', and it only instructs to not have a fixed image on longer than 1 hour (which I heeded). It doesn't even explain the ISM settings, which I now know are vital to preventing this problem.

Not a biggie on such a large scale of consumers I suppose. Still not worth calling me ridiculous.

Where in my post did i call you ridiculous?

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by Roast Beef

Where in my post did i call you ridiculous?

This thread isn't about personal tiffs.

[Hack&Lube]

For the record, I still prefer plasmas to LCD technology any day but this is of course, personal preference. That doesn't mean I wasn't irrationally nervous watching the sportsnet west logo and the scoring bar graphics on the game last night

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Yamer

There were no instructions provided to me on how to break in my TV. I found out after scouring the internet. EDIT: Actually, having read the whole manual there is a single sentence on 'Image Burn', and it only instructs to not have a fixed image on longer than 1 hour (which I heeded). It doesn't even explain the ISM settings, which I now know are vital to preventing this problem.

I often wonder, in the case of Plasma break in, if it is in fact, a myth that this is required. Do any manufacturers actually include this information in the manual for their televisions? Has an engineer who designs plasma displays and understands the chemistry involved with the phosphors actually come out and described in detail why this would be required?

Or is it all confined to “forum wisdom” on a handful of discussion boards and amateur websites?

Just curious - I use LCD across the board, so I don’t really know, but I can never find a definitive source online that outlines why any of this break in stuff is required.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

I often wonder, in the case of Plasma break in, if it is in fact, a myth that this is required. Do any manufacturers actually include this information in the manual for their televisions? Has an engineer who designs plasma displays and understands the chemistry involved with the phosphors actually come out and described in detail why this would be required?

Or is it all confined to “forum wisdom” on a handful of discussion boards and amateur websites?

Just curious - I use LCD across the board, so I don’t really know, but I can never find a definitive source online that outlines why any of this break in stuff is required.

Seems to be forum wisdom and internet soothsaying to me. There are many tech/consumer websites however that have done tests with trying to intentionally cause burn in on plasmas and failed, concluding that you would have to leave a TV on a static image for several days for permanent burn-in to occur.

It could be a few people getting bad panels and certain TVs just being poor choices. As I said, I've had mine for a few months and I intentionally set it on it's most brightest and vivid setting from the get go. I simply avoided any 4:3 TV or any static images for over an hour and have never had burn in issues. I don't even have any latent/ghost burn in (the temporary kind) whereas my friend's Panasonic will have temporary burn in from half an hour of playing PS3.

Maybe videogames are just bad for plasmas. Keep in mind, a videosource outputting a true 1080p signal to your TV is actually much crisper and defined than the compressed and fuzzy 720p HDTV signal. When I stick my nose to the TV and check out the pixels, they are all fuzzy and sparkly and jumping everywhere on a 720p TV signal which probably helps as a sort of faux-screensaver effect.

[3 Justin 3]

LCD it is then.

[Hack&Lube]

Plasmas are still superior in response time and black levels which are the most important thing to me. Awesome for home theatre.

That said, maybe you shouldn't buy them if you are playing videogames with static GUIs for hours and hours but I think this depends on the particular TV.

I have mine hooked up to an HTPC and I've come home before and caught people watching stuff with Mediaplayer Classic or VLC but they were too dumb to know to press alt-enter to fullscreen it so they just maximized the window and still had giant grey frames from the media player program bordering the video for hours and there hasn't been any burn in from that either.

[FurnaceFace]

I've had a Panasonic Plasma for 3+ years now and have not noticed any type of burn in. It's been our main TV so gets a few hours a day. I've not played games on it.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Plasmas are still superior in response time and black levels which are the most important thing to me. Awesome for home theatre.

That said, maybe you shouldn't buy them if you are playing videogames with static GUIs for hours and hours but I think this depends on the particular TV.

I love mine for gaming. I'd gladly buy plasma again.

[Flames89]

Plasma has the best picture, black levels, and panning ability. Watch hockey on an LED then a Plasma. No comparison.

[BlackEleven]

I have a Panasonic plasma as well, about 3 years old.

I game on it (for hours at a time sometimes), and it's my only tv so I use it for everything else as well.

Not a single issue with burn-in. I can sometimes see some image retention from the black bars on 4:3 content after I shut the cable off, but it's gone in 5 minutes or less.

[Yamer]

I've lightened my stance on Plasma now that I am aware of how to care for them properly.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by Yamer

I've lightened my stance on Plasma now that I am aware of how to care for them properly.

Maybe I spoke too soon, as I often do.

After several hours of white wash, 3 straight days of playing the television in a continuous loop, the burnt image is STILL there. I don't know what was wrong with my eyes that I couldn't see it earlier, but it's as clear as it was the first day I created this thread.

It is definitely burnt in, with no sign of going away.

I advise everyone in this community to not only avoid buying a Plasma TV, but LG technology in particular.

I've owned it a little over 2 months, bought from Costco. They have a 2 year warranty, so I wonder if I can get my money back. If I mention image burn I would imagine they wouldn't cover it, as the manufacturer won't even when they don't give you sufficient warning on this condition.

Very, very disappointed.

EDIT: Costco has a 90 day return policy, I bought it on August 8th.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Maybe I spoke too soon, as I often do.

After several hours of white wash, 3 straight days of playing the television in a continuous loop, the burnt image is STILL there. I don't know what was wrong with my eyes that I couldn't see it earlier, but it's as clear as it was the first day I created this thread.

It is definitely burnt in, with no sign of going away.

I advise everyone in this community to not only avoid buying a Plasma TV, but LG technology in particular.

I've owned it a little over 2 months, bought from Costco. They have a 2 year warranty, so I wonder if I can get my money back. If I mention image burn I would imagine they wouldn't cover it, as the manufacturer won't even when they don't give you sufficient warning on this condition.

Very, very disappointed.

EDIT: Costco has a 90 day return policy, I bought it on August 8th.

That's 68 days ago you lucky bum. Go return it!

Just how much did you play NHL on your TV? How long was your average gaming session? Maybe your panel is just bad. I have an LG plasma and it's totally fine despite certain channels having many elements stuck permantely or people watching things on my HTPC leaving the Windows taskbar and files and folders in the same place for hours.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Yamer

EDIT: Costco has a 90 day return policy, I bought it on August 8th.

It's a (sorta) problem that Costco has had in the past. I've heard many stories about how people go and "borrow" a brand new TV for the Superbowl. Mainly in the US though.

Not sure it makes sense to dismiss a product because of difficulties resulting from essentially (mis)using it in the first place. (hehe, sorta kidding - glad you can take it back.)

[Yamer]

I realize how freakin' lucky I am to have noticed this early.

When the game first came out I didn't play it a whole bunch. I played HUT almost exclusively for the first week (as almost every other mode is bugged to hell). Like I mentioned earlier, I was so paranoid about the burn-in that I quite literally never played it for extended amounts of time (those damn fixed menus!). I had the TV set on it's default 'game mode' for display. I would say that the longest session I played was about an hour and a half.

I've noticed that the image shows the most on light blues.

I have seen plenty of opinion here stating that they have had no problems with plasmas (like you have informed me). So I am guessing it is the make of TV.

An LG 50PJ550. Do not buy unless you are using it solely for movies in a dark basement.

EDIT: Guess there is a reason it was the cheapest model at the size it was at. Too good to be true.