Plasma Screen Burn In
-- Fri, 09/25/2009 - 14:01
Are Plasmas still really susceptable to screen burn in or image retention? Every person I know who has a plasma has some kind of burn in on there set. This is never talked about in reviews. Why not? Have the really newer sets gotten better at this? Yes, Plasmas have a better picture quality than LCD's, but until they address this very disturbing issue, they will fade away.
Are Plasmas still really susceptable to screen burn in or image retention? Every person I know who has a plasma has some kind of burn in on there set. This is never talked about in reviews. Why not? Have the really newer sets gotten better at this? Yes, Plasmas have a better picture quality than LCD's, but until they address this very disturbing issue, they will fade away.
The issue of Plasmas having burn in is a dead issue. Now I am speaking about Pioneer and Panasonic sets that have pixel orbitors, white bars and autoshut off. The screens are also more resilient to burn in as well. I work part time in a very high end Home Theater sound. I have found no burn in on any of my TV's but I will say that the Samsung set the PNB850 and 860 are not as good. What is unknowing to the mass market is that LCDs do get burn in as well. Though it has a higher threshold than that of a plasma. At the end of the day burn in is a non-issue with the current Plasma sets and if you do get one it boils down to owner negligence.
"The issue of Plasmas having burn in is a dead issue" Rubbish
I have a Pioneer Plasma PPD-427OXD which says manufactured October 2006 on the back I know I paid around £1500 for it
I have got very bad burn in from watching too much teletext. I don't feel that I got adequate warning about this or possibly I listened to
or read advice from people who did not know what they were talking about. I have read that there is no cure for this So people
don't believe the people who tell You that Burn In is a thing of the past - It is not!!
I have had a Kuro Pioneer Plasma for over 1-1/2 years with no burn-in issues. This is a myth...abuse the set and like a CRT or LCD you can get a burned in image...but that really takes some doing now days. Plasmas rule as far as picture quality goes, if you like a cartoon like color and brightness then buy LCD, great for gaming I hear. But if you want to really enjoy a movie experience by plasma and a Pioneer while you can, eveything is #2.
Under normal use, current generation plasma and lcd tvs will not experience any image retention (burn-in). Television programs have commercials (think of this as your free screen saver). 4 x 3 program material should ALWAYS be viewed utilizing an expansion mode that you can live with (think side stretch). This will become less of an issue as more 16 x 9 content is being produced and broadcast. Contrary to popular belief, lcd tvs are NOT immune to image retention (burn-in). 2.35:1 program material (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Fifth Element) is acceptable in a home environment because you would usually watch only one movie per evening, otherwise you would be watching tv content. In a retail setting (where I work) this could be an issue on any of the tvs, including lcd tvs, if we were to loop the same movie from opening time to closing time every day of the week. In the 42 inch and larger sizes I would buy a plasma over an lcd because of the plasmas superior picture quality.
Dear Doug,
I've been watching my Pioneer Kuro 151 for almost a year-and-a-half with no burn-in, and I never watch 4x3 programs in "stretch" mode; plus I use black, as opposed to grey, side bars. Before my Kuro, I had a 50 inch Pioneer Elite hdtv for three years, and watched it the same way ... before I gave it to my son ... no burn-in.
Part of the problem, is many associate 'burn-in' with image retention (IR). They are not the same thing. Some displays are more susceptible to IR, but even that has improved significantly in the last few years. All modern displays contain the same cautions against burn-in in their owners manual, as well as Burn In protection schemes to rotate pixels, run scrolls or a white screen to remove persistent IR, etc.
Common sense and a couple of hundred hours on the display without constant 4:3 viewing with no gray side bars, excess contrast, or fixed images on the screen for a prolonged hours, will generally be all that's needed. For the best picture have it calibrated, or use Avia or other cal disk to correctly adjust contrast and brightness (as well as color, tint, sharpness, gamma, etc.) will go a long way in giving you a very natural and impressive image to watch for years to come.
I see a mixture of good information here but, also some that is misleading or false.
For normal viewing - movies and television, burn in should not be an issue for a modern plasma sets. However, that does not mean that it is not susceptible under any circumstances.
Burn-in is most likely to occur when there is a stationary image or object displayed, for long periods of time, that is bright or white in color. The brighter the image and the higher the contrast level, the quicker that burn-in will start to be noticeable ( long term ). If this just occurs for a few hours, then watching normal programming for the next few days or, using a built-in white screen to erase the affected area should remove the residual image.
The greatest danger comes from two primary sources: Use as a computer monitor and video games. These sources are notorious for displaying images that have stationary objects such as the desktop icons and taskbar and in the case of games, on-screen displays. The OSDs are usually in the corners of the screen and provide information about scores and such. These are typically white and depending on usage, can be on screen in the same spot for hours at a time.
Permanent burn-in is not going to occur if these objects are just displayed for an hour or two. Permanent scarring will only happen if the images are left on for many consecutive hours or, repeatedly for several hours a day over the course of several months. This is reason why I recommend caution, discipline and common sense to anyone who wants to play videogames on a plasma and why LCD is perhaps a better option for serious gamers.
So, if you are conservative with the contrast levels and don't leave stationary bright/white objects on screen for extended periods of time, a modern plasma should be able to give you many years of service without risk of burn-in. In fact, if you want to entend the life of your plasma, I recommend that for the first 30 days of use, you set your brightness and contrast settings to no more than 50% to allow a nice, gentle break-in period. This should be followed by a rudimentary setup with a calibration disc to balance the set for color, tint, brightness and contrast.
Your phosphors will thank you later.
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