Options
Is plasma screen burn really an issue?
[Deleted User]
Posts: 521
Forum Member
✭✭
Hi all,
I am sorry if this has been covered a 100 times before, but i am thinking of buying the panasonic TX-P42G20B. The only thing that is holding me back is the screen-burn issue. I watch a fair amount of sky news (often a couple of hours at a time). Since most of the digitial channels have logos in the corner, i really don't want to be watching a DVD with the sky one logo in the corner!
Anyway, i was wondering if any plasma owners out there could give a me a real world answer, as the internet is full of claims and counter claims.
thanks
:cool:
I am sorry if this has been covered a 100 times before, but i am thinking of buying the panasonic TX-P42G20B. The only thing that is holding me back is the screen-burn issue. I watch a fair amount of sky news (often a couple of hours at a time). Since most of the digitial channels have logos in the corner, i really don't want to be watching a DVD with the sky one logo in the corner!
Anyway, i was wondering if any plasma owners out there could give a me a real world answer, as the internet is full of claims and counter claims.
thanks
:cool:
0
Comments
Once it's fully 'run in' there's little need to take special precautions, I leave mine sat on pause for ages
I cannot praise this model highly enough, it's superb in every aspect.
My advice, for what it's worth, is buy with confidence and get it from somewhere that gives you a 5 year warranty. John Lewis is one, I got mine locally but they did give me a free 5 year warranty. Shop around.
I watched a lot of 4:3 with no problems but I did use the grey bars (on brightest) rather than black ones.
If you have a static image such as news channel banners on screen for any length of time, you may well see a ghost of the image on screen (text can be easily read), for a short period when you change channels. It always goes and unless you are really looking for it, you don't notice it after the first few seconds. How long it takes to go, depends on how busy the action is.
Turn off such crap as Dynamic Noise Reduction, Edge Enhancement etc. with digital sources, as they can often make the picture worse. Turn down the contrast and brightness for the first few weeks too, avoid watching channels that have high contrast logos for hours on end (Channel 5 are you listening?).
After the first 100 hours it isn't a major issue. You'll probably get some image retention after that, but it disappears after a minute or two when you watch another channel.
I don't worry about now my LG Plasma is over a year old.
In otherwords, for general usage, you really don't have too much to worry about with modern plasma tvs and if you have a decent quality plasma, you shouldn't even notice retention at all.
As the owner of a 3 year old Panasonic plasma set I did take care during the first 100 hours, as recommended (setting it to "Cinema" mode did the trick) and have never had any screen burn or image retention problems.
I vaguely recall slight temporary image retention effects when I first got it but I had to practically press my nose to the screen to see it - and for the last couple of years (beyond that initial 100 hours) I have never noticed any image retention, not even temporary. None at all.
I actually used to get more image retention on my Sony Bravia CRT. That was actually more of an issue because when I first got that 95% of my viewing was 4:3 (or 14:9) with black bars.
Changed a few settings following some kind people making some posts on this thread and the issue over the last couple of weeks is all but resolved.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1361162&highlight=screen+burn
We left ours on the default settings for the first 200 hours or so and then set it up properly.
We did a search online and found several sites where people had posted their settings and used those as a guide. As others have also said, we found the best thing was to turn anything intended to "enhance" the image off
We have a 26" LCD here which is tuned to a static colour CCTV camera with close to 24/7 operation, and that did eventually show some retention on some of the white hi-lite areas, and along the time/date stamp area. This however, was only after many months of use.
A few hours on a 'normal' tv channel clears it completely, or a 30-min run of a DVD I put together cycling through full screen solid colours of red - white - blue - green - yellow etc does the same job.
I really wouldn't worry about it. The above use is extreme, and it still returns to normal!
I did the same, found the settings online some guy who had paid £300 to have his set professionally calibrated had posted. Spent a bit of time setting mine up using his guide and the difference in picture quality was really noticeable.
I'd recommend anyone with a good Plasma or LCD see if the calibration settings for their set has ever been posted on line by doing a Google search.
Really makes a difference if you can find the settings.
Thank you for your prompt and very helpful reply stylo.
Does the same apply to an LCD computer screen if one uses the same browser for long periods of time?
Screen burn is not a major issue with modern LCD screens. It is possible, and I have seen it on the odd one as well as on old CRT monitors too. But I would guess it would take months, if not years, of having the same static image displayed before it would be permanently burnt in.
I used to see it occasionally on monitors used on servers where no screen saver was used, no power save options to turn off the monitor and the monitor was left on all the time.
Seriously, for general PC use I wouldn't worry about it.
The 14" CRT that was used before being replaced by the LCD did show very obvious burn (not retention), but that had been in constant use for several years.
It's different tech, and you're more likely to have replaced the TV anyway in the coming years than to ever experience any retention problems
No, it's impossible on an LCD as there's no phosphur to burn.
Not possible on LCD's, but it was commonplace on CRT's as (just like a Plasma) you have individual phosphurs that can be 'burnt'.
We rented a Ferguson TX10 (fine sets) to a metal recycling company, when it came back in it had the metal prices teletext page permanently etched on the screen
They had it a good few years, presumably running all day every day, and it never went faulty.
It's not screen burn as such, more image persistence, not generally a problem, but it can be permanent, especially if the crystals get a permanent memory and especially if it's used for PC work, like mine was - in this case it's best to use a screen saver, task bar and desktop icons will leave an impression if left static for long/regular periods.
Yep. I had an LCD monitor with the Office task bar permanently etched in. But that was years of constant use for several hours a day.
Very unlikely with normal TV viewing or even gaming.
That seems to be the key - finding the settings in the first place!
Fortunately the guides I found did have where they were in the setup menu, but without that info I would never have found them.
As you say, it can really make a big difference to the picture.