Plasma burn in?

[Rokz0r]

When i first bought my hitachi 42pd8800 after the first week of use one night i fell asleep right before the dvd ended and woke up 4 hours later to the bright dvd menu...turned it off and yes it looked burnt in. played a dvd the next day within 20-30 mins it was gone, stopped the dvd and no burn in was noticable against the black background. have used up 460 hours of the panel and have never been worried about burn in, nothing seems to be permanent...

[Hussla]

When i first bought my hitachi 42pd8800 after the first week of use one night i fell asleep right before the dvd ended and woke up 4 hours later to the bright dvd menu...turned it off and yes it looked burnt in. played a dvd the next day within 20-30 mins it was gone, stopped the dvd and no burn in was noticable against the black background. have used up 460 hours of the panel and have never been worried about burn in, nothing seems to be permanent...

In most modern panels its only ever temporary. Generally though any burn it will be MOST noticeable against a white or grey background.

[Tyson]

Despite the potential threat of "burn in" what's with the tv stations displying there watermarks at the bottom of the sceen anyway. I don't know about anyone else but they give me the shits even on my old CRT.

Has anyone taken the time to write to a tv station and complain.

What about we start a petition to get them off our screens...surely we all know what station we are watching or is there another evil purpose behind these watermarks?

[Hussla]

Watermarks are just annoying....although I havent seen any cases in either of my plasmas or any of our shop TV's where the logo has "BURNED IN"

[Wing Nut]

... no burn in was noticable against the black background. have used up 460 hours of the panel and have never been worried about burn in, nothing seems to be permanent...

Ditto. I believe first generation plasmas could/can suffer permanent burn-in, but this old saw is still dragged out regularly by proponents of competing current technology. I doubt any currently available plasma screen has this problem under normal use.

Bit like crossing 2WD cars off your shopping list since they might get stuck more readily under exceptional circumstances.

My 12 month old Humax 42" plasma shows a hint of whatever bright image was last on screen, but rather than call it burn-in since it is immediately erased by the next fleeting image, I'd prefer to call it temporary bright image retention - not unlike the human eye. It's only noticeable against a dark screen so the DVD screensaver situation is about the only time I see it. I don't even notice it under normal viewing and it is more than compensated for by a nice bright wide viewing angle HD picture that to my eye beats most other equivalent cost technologies.

[Rokz0r]

waaaaah! iv just noticed not burn in but a brighter sort of faded portion on the right side of my panel - gonna call hitachi tech support and see if they can replace my unit or fix it. It seems sorta like its faded and mainly noticable on darker background (esp black) i believe its getting brighter the more i view it. It covers around 10-15cm of the right side of the display in height and 5-10cm in width, it is really noticable even fiddling with brightness/contrast didnt make it any prettier, also tried screen wipe and it comes up a different colour on the white background sorta like a green/yellowish tinge to it but its definately not white. someone please give me some feedback if u have encountered similar or the same type of problem and if you have had any success in getting the problem fixed or even better had it replaced(mines only 2-3 months old). Friggin hitachi! this is the second panel they have screwed me with...grrrr!

[bluebird]

Last week on saturday, I was watching the FA Cup final between West Ham and Liverpool.

I was enjoying my new Panasonic PV60A 42" Plasma. To my horror they placed a solid score bar at the top left hand corner. Quite large and noticable.

Bright Red and dark blue colours with a solid white edge. The worst thing you can ask for on a new plasma.

The fact that the game went into extra time did not help either.

So after having this solid bar across half of the screen on the top for over 2.5 hours was a nightmare and I was so worried about permanent burn in.

Law and behold, the bar was slightly noticable after the game finished on every white or grey background with a white edge and the red tint in it. I said, this is the ulimate test now, whether these new plasmas are free of the dreaded burn in problem.

After running the screen for around 10 hours next day, the image has completely disappeared. Now I am not worried at all of burn in.

I can vouch for it now, that the new Panasonic plasmas has no permanent immage retention problem at all.

(PS: I was not using the screen at that time on the low run in settings. I wanted to enjoy the game in its full glory.)

Conclusion: This is the screen to get everyone.

[Rokz0r]

thats good! all new current gen plasmas dont get affected by image retention like earlier gens, but i still need to know what the heck this faded lighter colour on the right side of my plasma is doing there i have not excessively viewed any images in that area for it to "burn in". but i did call hitachi tech support and they stated that if it is image retention that i will fork out the dough for thier visit which is very pricey indeed. So please someone give me some feedback if they have idea as to what it sounds to be or could be so i dont take that chance and have them charge me $200 just to take a look at it for 5 mins, its still under warranty but i have to be sure!

[mossy1503559706]

waaaaah! iv just noticed not burn in but a brighter sort of faded portion on the right side of my panel - gonna call hitachi tech support and see if they can replace my unit or fix it. It seems sorta like its faded and mainly noticable on darker background (esp black) i believe its getting brighter the more i view it. It covers around 10-15cm of the right side of the display in height and 5-10cm in width, it is really noticable even fiddling with brightness/contrast didnt make it any prettier, also tried screen wipe and it comes up a different colour on the white background sorta like a green/yellowish tinge to it but its definately not white. someone please give me some feedback if u have encountered similar or the same type of problem and if you have had any success in getting the problem fixed or even better had it replaced(mines only 2-3 months old). Friggin hitachi! this is the second panel they have screwed me with...grrrr!

I've got the same exact problem and I have an LG. Although mine is quite larger, half of the screen on the left is the light colour black and on the right is darker. Very noticeable when watching dark scene DVD's when all the lights are off. I don't notice it on the white background at all, just the dark/black. Very annoying.

This is the second unit I've had. LG are refunding which is good. Going to wait for the new Pioneers or Pana 600a.

Mossy

[Rokz0r]

Get this, i have also another problem with this plasma - straight out of the box 1 dead pixel right near the centre of the screen and also another 4 that are at half luminance...not very noticable under normal viewing conditions but nonetheless still there!

i aksed the techies at hitachi (probe) that what thier dead pixel policy is... lol this is so funny they told me there had to be a dozen dead pixel to get the unit replaced under warranty, i mean wtf?!?!

also if there was a few in the same area that then it will be covered - what a policy huh!

anyway they seem to think that my problem is burn in with that faded side of the panel, well how could i possible burn it in when i havent had the plasma running for days with the same screen for it to burn in (i mean cmon im not using it for commercial purposes its in my friggin home, the most i get out of it is around 4-6 hours viewing a day) and they wanted my credit card details before they arrive to take a look at it - one of the techies told me that thats thier new policy cause people werent paying them - lol i wonder why!

[Wing Nut]

Had my first 42" Humax HD plasma swapped almost immediately by Humax when I spotted a stuck red pixel dead centre. They did have me run a factory reset before calling in the removal van, but it was a nice response with a happy outcome.

[Hussla]

Last week on saturday, I was watching the FA Cup final between West Ham and Liverpool.

I was enjoying my new Panasonic PV60A 42" Plasma. To my horror they placed a solid score bar at the top left hand corner. Quite large and noticable.

Bright Red and dark blue colours with a solid white edge. The worst thing you can ask for on a new plasma.

The fact that the game went into extra time did not help either.

So after having this solid bar across half of the screen on the top for over 2.5 hours was a nightmare and I was so worried about permanent burn in.

Law and behold, the bar was slightly noticable after the game finished on every white or grey background with a white edge and the red tint in it. I said, this is the ulimate test now, whether these new plasmas are free of the dreaded burn in problem.

After running the screen for around 10 hours next day, the image has completely disappeared. Now I am not worried at all of burn in.

I can vouch for it now, that the new Panasonic plasmas has no permanent immage retention problem at all.

(PS: I was not using the screen at that time on the low run in settings. I wanted to enjoy the game in its full glory.)

Conclusion: This is the screen to get everyone.

that's a feel good story isn't it?

After a few more hundred hours of use it'll only get better, in regards to image retention, the more use the harder it is to get retainted images.

[Rokz0r]

Well i had the techie come over yesterday to inspect my panel, he reckons the fade on the rhs is phospor wear. How can that be? iv had the thing for 2 months and i get un-even phosphor wear?. i also inspected under screen wipe function and have noticed 3 dark purple pixels and 4 @ half the luminance across the screen... Im soo getting over it bad! before i got this panel i previously returned the hitachi 42pd6000ta model after complaining to harvey norman that they sold me a dud (only just after 6 days), and they wouldnt take it back. They tested it in store and they said they found nothing wrong with it and that i only wanted another panel cause i had changed my mind about that 1, which was total and utter crap.

I had to get the techy to come and verify that it was a panel fault so i get an upgrade cause apparentely they had to recall thier entire 6000 series cause of the same problem i encountered...It wouldnt hold its settings in memory after u turn it off or change input, it would revert back to default everytime.

Anyway this is the second time in 2 months iv had the hitachi tech come over...its been 2 days they havent called me back for a reply which they said they will call me the next day.

Now u can see how much im getting over it bad, im not even pi$$ed off anymore just mildly anoyyed and want them to hurry and either get me a new panel minus the problems or money back.

[POV]

gday everyone.......first post.

I have just purchased the Panasonic VIERA TH-42PV60A 42inch Plasma TV - (HD). I'v matched this with the toppy TF7000HT and the pana DMR-EH65 dvd recorder and am absolutely stoked with all bits. My question is for foxtel sport watchers i guess..........i'm a bit concerned about screen burn from the foxtel sport logos on fox sports 1 & 2 and fox footy(yellow and blue for fox sports plus the press red for active thing and red blue and white for fox footy with the press red for active thing sometimes) as i love watching sport and generally watch the same channel for long periods at time. The bloke at the shop where i bought the plasma said that i don't need to worry about it unless the same static image is left there for hours and hours with this new pana plasma. Is that right....should i be worried about this and what if anything can i do???? any advice would be great.

cheers.

[Rokz0r]

W00t! they ordered another panel in for me after 2 and a half weeks of bustin' em - they never got back to me the lazy #$%@$! should be here in the next cpl of days hopefully just a straight swap over he told me - im like " thanks for keeping me updated" sheesh.

[mythbuster]

gday everyone.......first post.

I have just purchased the Panasonic VIERA TH-42PV60A 42inch Plasma TV - (HD). I'v matched this with the toppy TF7000HT and the pana DMR-EH65 dvd recorder and am absolutely stoked with all bits. My question is for foxtel sport watchers i guess..........i'm a bit concerned about screen burn from the foxtel sport logos on fox sports 1 & 2 and fox footy(yellow and blue for fox sports plus the press red for active thing and red blue and white for fox footy with the press red for active thing sometimes) as i love watching sport and generally watch the same channel for long periods at time. The bloke at the shop where i bought the plasma said that i don't need to worry about it unless the same static image is left there for hours and hours with this new pana plasma. Is that right....should i be worried about this and what if anything can i do???? any advice would be great.

cheers.

the sales person is right. these days there is no dramas unless you leave them on for hours and hours. It does pay you to be concious in the first few weeks just to give the panel some extra time to settle in. Unless your stupid or carelss then you wont get any image retention let alon the past burnin. the only thing with FOX is there is no Advert break to give the plasma a "break" but a the half time etc breaks are more than adequete to give it a rest, a lot of stores now run fox as their feed and NO probs with the footy.

the pana actually run their panels in for 100hours before they box the up (checked through a special service menu as i didnt beleive the Rep and sure enough 105hrs on the unit straight out of the box)

i have left a dvd menu on for 6hours WITH NO IMAGE RETENTION at all just to double check (also shows my faith ) and IDC left HALO 2 (XBOX) for 2 days and YES there was some image ghosting but it wnet quite quickly with normal viewing.

just use as normal, with whatever settings you like. but if there is a CONSTANT image on the screen run a DVD through afterwards.

hope you enjoy your set, sounds like you have a nice setup.

[hudsta]

All plasma's have the burn in problem. Some have a setting on them called pixel shift that can delay the burn in but not for long. Fujitsu has a white out function that cleans the panel of any burn in by burning a balnk image on the panel. This fixes the problem but this function reduces the life of the plamsa. My suggestion is LCD at the moment but if you are after a plasma the best for PQ and burn in protection and repair is Fujistu and Pioneer.

PS. check out the panels in your local retail store. I bet that most have an image burnt in!!!!!!!

[alcoop1503559994]

All plasma's have the burn in problem. Some have a setting on them called pixel shift that can delay the burn in but not for long. Fujitsu has a white out function that cleans the panel of any burn in by burning a balnk image on the panel. This fixes the problem but this function reduces the life of the plamsa. My suggestion is LCD at the moment but if you are after a plasma the best for PQ and burn in protection and repair is Fujistu and Pioneer.

PS. check out the panels in your local retail store. I bet that most have an image burnt in!!!!!!!

What qualifies you to make these assumptions?

By the way the poll on this forum indicates the Pioneer to be the worst for image retention albeit a small sample size.

I think image retention on new plasmas is rare these days, probably as rare as on LCD's, or are you also stating that LCD screens do not suffer image retention?

[Biffstar]

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi guys, I am this close (holds thumb and forefinger 2mm apart) from purchasing a Pioneer 43 inch plasma but after reading some of the posts here am now a little worried. I have been a long-term plasma hater for the usual reasons - burn-in issues, low-def, longevity, power consumption, hefty price for just-mentioned problems - but am aware that they have been resolved over time, and with prices falling relatively low I finally thought the time is right.

Knowing the limitations of the knuckles masquerading as experts who do the selling in-store and the varyability of store set-up - lighting, cables, feed etc - I have scoured the magazine and online world for reviews and forums like this for real-world feedback and chosen accordingly. I was down to a Panasonic Viera or maybe Hitachi. I like the look of the Pioneer and it has had awesome reviews but seemed overly expensive.

Armed with this knowledge I went to DJ's Bondi Junction today ready to purchase, I want a long-term interest-free period and they have 10% off as well. For a reference point I also went to HN. Long story short, I fell for the Pioneer and with the discount, and the added warranty and delivery cost of the Panasonic, the Pio at $4700 seemed like a good deal. Knowing I had changed my mind and that I had till Sunday to get the 10% discount I put off the purchase, came home and started re-reading on the Pio to confirm my choice. And this is where I started to get a bit nervous. Burn-in really worries me but I thought it had been basically resolved, I read that IDC research paper last year on Pioneer's website and thought there is no way I will even come close to that torture test. Then after reading this thread someone pointed out that the research was actually sponsored by Pioneer (I thought it had been conducted independently) and even though it may be legit, it may also be not legit ...

Plus, this thread seems to indicate burn-in is still an issue for many and a linked poll seems to indicate that Pioneer are the worst brand in regards to burn-in. I know it is a small sample but still ... most of us wouldn't give two hoots if you were paying a grand but when you fork out close to 5K you basically want a 100% guarantee that nothing is going to happen to it. I am not a gamer, will not hook it up to a pc and will use the Pioneer to watch dvd's and FTA via the upcoming Toppy HD PVR so I am in the low-risk category, but still you wonder ...

I am now seriously thinking of holding off till the Philips ClearLCD model comes down to around the same price point but don't think DJ's stock them. So, should I be concerned about the Pioneer and burn-in? Who to believe? I sure as hell don't want to sit there worrying about it and treating it with kid gloves to avoid any screen pitfalls.

If someone could help with some unbiased advice before this coming Sunday I will be much obliged.

[hudsta]

What qualifies you to make these assumptions?

By the way the poll on this forum indicates the Pioneer to be the worst for image retention albeit a small sample size.

I think image retention on new plasmas is rare these days, probably as rare as on LCD's, or are you also stating that LCD screens do not suffer image retention?

Hi alcoop

I was in retail for 5 years and I'm still involved in the industry.Yes burn in has improved alot but it still happens especially with foxtel and free to air channels not giving a damm really. LCD can have burn in but it would take days on the same image for this to happen hence it is not regarded as a problem.

I'm not a plasma hater but i just think more things can go wrong with them. I was seriously considering a Fujitsu HD as i was getting a great deal on it but have decided to get the new samsung LCD.

Biffstar

Get the pioneer. You seemed settleed on it. Just take care of it and be careful with the way you use it. The deal you have on finance is great. My insiders deal at HN for the same panel is $4200. ( I not an ex HN saleperson but i know one of the guys there)

[SDL]

Biffstar, I'm no expert and others probably can give more feedback, but I can give you my experience.

I bought a Pio 50" a week and a half ago and have been very happy with it. As yet I haven't seen any issues at all and I have been watching it as I normally would except for with the World Cup. The installer suggested he had heard about some problems with the scorecard and that what I do is use the zoom feature and then slide the pic up a small amount. I have done this and it has made no real difference to watching the matches other than the close ups where you might lose a little of someones forehead. My wife is at home during the day and watches the TV, and I told her what to watch for, like bright areas that don't move (like news tickers etc.) and just to be aware. I even watched the footy the other night on ten with their scorecard on most of the time but, whether due to the add breaks and replays that take it off or not, I had no problem.

In short I am extremely happy with the set to date and haven't really changed my viewing habits, except perhaps its like for me owning a sparkling new car where I wouldn't park it too close to someone in a shopping centre, I'm just being careful.

The installer also checked the TV out of the box for dead pixels as I asked about it and there was not one.

[mythbuster]

Hi alcoop

I was in retail for 5 years and I'm still involved in the industry.Yes burn in has improved alot but it still happens especially with foxtel and free to air channels not giving a damm really. LCD can have burn in but it would take days on the same image for this to happen hence it is not regarded as a problem.

I'm not a plasma hater but i just think more things can go wrong with them. I was seriously considering a Fujitsu HD as i was getting a great deal on it but have decided to get the new samsung LCD.

i have been in the industry for long period as well and recently have done an over the top comparison of LCD vs plasma and quite frankly there are benefits for both.

But when it comes to the myths and stories about plasma such as more to go wrong on a plasma that is something that i would have to disagree with. both technolgoies can get dead pixels, they both use a form of plasma to create illumination PLasma each PEL and pixel is illuminated idividually and LCD via its Fleuro baklight (have you learnt the cost of replacement bulbs???? cheaper to replace your set)

i have seen image persistence on LCD (lG 37 & Toshiba LCD) and of course YES you can get image retention on a plasma. these days though the better brands do have such things as pixel shift and screen savers (same as LCD) but the benefit and downside to plasma is this:

Yes you can get image retention BUT it has to be either very careless or deliberate to get a ghosting. I have tried by leaving a plasma on a dvd (bright) menu for 8 hours and there was not a show of ghosting or image retention, the panel only had approx 340hrs on it. I have played playstation etc and NEVErhad anyrpobs, i have seen and heard of people that have but they have faded within a few hours and that was normally due to leaving an image on the screen for a few days straight.

the good thing is it is DEFINATLY NOT PERMANENT and the longer you use the plasma the more resistent they get to image persistence.

LCD on the other hand is a bit of a hit and miss when it comes to image persistence as the crystals are stuck open, and there is NO timeline or guarenteed method to UNSTICK them other than be patient. this is why every LCd manufacturer states it in theri manuals - sony page 9 sharp page 5

Plasma running a white out feature doesnt "shorten" their life much for the record. you might go from approx 60,000hrs (27 years if you watch 6hrs a day) to 59500 hours = BIG DEAL.

The simple facts remain.

The bigger you go with LCD the WORSE they get, less colours, poor motion response speeds (especially with true 1080i uncompressed signals such as HD-DVD or Blueray content- which i have tried)poor contrast ratios, black blacks, wrong gammet of colour range which is why colours look over exposed and LCd manufactures are using LED for backlights in the future)

regards to resolution = well that depends on how far away you sit anyway, adn you can get HD and SD in both LCD and plasma

your eyes can only see a vertain pixel width anyway - and thus wy seatign dsitance measn that a SD plasma can look just as good as a HD

what people normally quite as better res is simply LCD has less colurs so a soft grey will turn black giving a strong contour or sharp line. this is purely its inability to create soft "mood" or shadows found in nature. all LCds are stick via 16 million viewable colurs (1.7bn if you want to include the varuying backlight control) i also STATE VIEWABLE not processor capabilities, compard to say Panasonics VIEWABLE 28.9 Billion. ( i am using pana as there rating is viewable and not their processor such as other manufacturers.

if you want more evidence i can link you to a huge amount of evidence.

simply both technologies will be here for a ong time adn both will give you solid viewing. The difference is that Plasma will give you an overall better image in large sizes compared to LCD limitations (so far) when LCD goes larger.

the good about LCd you can make them smaller, brighter, lighter adn thus are great for medium to small sizes and brightly light rooms.

[50mxe20]

What qualifies you to make these assumptions?

By the way the poll on this forum indicates the Pioneer to be the worst for image retention albeit a small sample size.

I think image retention on new plasmas is rare these days, probably as rare as on LCD's, or are you also stating that LCD screens do not suffer image retention?

Sorry for the confusion. The issues in the plasma burn-in poll thread have probably been lost. I guess when I started that poll, I was thinking of permanent or semi-permanent burn-in. Not image retention that can be eliminated.

But then maybe "any" burn-in can be eliminated with some work?

Anyway there must be many different levels and degrees of burn-in or image retention. And I suspect it is a subjective issue and in the eye of the beholder.

The Pioneer stats are worrying to me, yet all the guys I have coresponded with that have Pio's seem extremely happy.

If I could figure out a way to re-run this poll with a more quatitative meaningful measure of burn-in, I would, but I can't. It is a qualitative issue NOT a quatitative one.

Edited July 7, 2006 by Lyle

[mquin1503560492]

I have had the Pioneer for about 3-4 months without any issues of image retention or burn-in .....

The wife even leaves the TV in pause for notable length of times (ie changing the babies nappy during the day / pausing to make dinner etc) with no issues.

My advise is to ignore the burn-in issue if you are puchasing a top-of the range plasma (ie Pioneer/Panasonic etc).

The Pioneer delivery fellas will explain to you all of the issues about burn-in and how to look after the TV.

matt

[Biffstar]

Thank you to the people who posted advice, much appreciated.

I was worried by the poll elsewhere on the forum that seemed to rank Pioneers as a problem for burn-in but then people like mquin say their's is fine. In the end I decided to go the Panasonic, I could not discern any major difference between the two in various stores, and the extra HDMI input and $800 cheaper price swayed me, although on the aesthetics front the Pana is more John Howard than Bill Clinton compared to the Pio ... I have taken note of the issues/techniques raised about burn-in and will be careful to follow the guidelines other members have highlighted esp the first 200 hours of use, thanks to Lyle and all who have contributed.

As an aside, I mentioned I was worried about the quality of advice you receive in store. The guy at DJ's Bondi Junction was honest and friendly but told me 2 HDMI inputs are useless as there are no HDMI-equipped DVD players on the market. Hmmm ... sad that you have to do all the legwork yourself these days!

Anyway, I am looking forward to watching material on my new TV. It will be quite a change from my Sony 51cm CRT with composite VCR feed!