Samsung plasma wins CNET's accidental burn-in test

[MDRiggs]

I'd like a way to prevent the power up super bright Viera logo too...

You can turn it off in the setup menu.

[slb]

This shouldn't be necessary to get rid of that kind of IR. It should dissipate on it's own within minutes of normal viewing.

Guys, it's time to stop making excuses for Panasonic... a plasma in 2012 shouldn't be this fragile unless they're using cheap materials or have done poor R&D. Especially 2 years in a row. Period.

This could very well be an artifact of the changes made to improve brightness and black level. My understanding is that the phosphors and gas mix have change significantly over the past few years to improve panel efficiency and performance, so increased image retention may be the trade-off to achieve this.

[gadgtfreek]

Personally, i just think some engineers somewhere have their head up their ***. This is also not uncommon for some engineers. Reason I make that statement is it has been commented on before and Panasonic does not acknowledge an IR problem. So, my hypothesis is that, one cannot see IR if their head is up their ***

[slb]

Personally, i just think some engineers somewhere have their head up their ***. This is also not uncommon for some engineers. Reason I make that statement is it has been commented on before and Panasonic does not acknowledge an IR problem. So, my hypothesis is that, one cannot see IR if their head is up their ***

Ha-ha. FYI, I'm an engineer, and I can see IR just fine.

[gadgtfreek]

LOL, I knew an engineer in the bunch would laugh.

[slb]

Well, I do admit that I have been accused of having by head up my butt on occasion (usually by my wife).

[gadgtfreek]

Anyone who has been married has been there before

[SiGGy]

This could very well be an artifact of the changes made to improve brightness and black level. My understanding is that the phosphors and gas mix have change significantly over the past few years to improve panel efficiency and performance, so increased image retention may be the trade-off to achieve this.

yes, it's a possibility. The new drive is very different, I've noticed a lot of side effects of the new drive. However the IR reports so far seem to be that it's similar to the 2011 panels. I've also seen it myself on the store models Every one had ESPN and NBA tattoos and lines. None of the Samsung's which have been showing material as long or longer had any.

LOL, I agree Jason about the engineers comment. Too funny.

[NightHawk]

You can turn it off in the setup menu.

How exactly do you disable the Panasonic ST50 startup Viera logo?
I can't find such an option in the setup menu.

[NightHawk]

I'm hoping that the Panasonic 2012 plasma IR issue (in my case only from the bright white Menu & Picture words from the menu) is due to a higher susceptibility to IR in the first few hundred hours of use of the set.
I know on an older Panasonic Plasma I had for 4 years, it rarely got any IR after the first few months of use.

[MDRiggs]

How exactly do you disable the Panasonic ST50 startup Viera logo?
I can't find such an option in the setup menu.

Hit the Menu button. Then go down to the Setup section (wrench icon) and click on that. Then scroll down till you hit Advanced (takes a while) and punch that. Should be there.

[maygit]

Although it would be a costly experiment, it would be cool to see how long it takes for each manufacturer to suffer IR, bad IR, and burn-in. Have a test pattern on an all black screen and have a white circle pop up on the upper left corner of the screen perhaps 25 pixels in diameter. Then every "X" minutes (maybe 15 min?) have another circle pop up next to it with a "Y" pixel gap between the two (maybe 5). Keep adding more circles every "X" minute and run the text for "Z" hours (maybe 10). Once the test is complete, see how long it takes for each circle to fade to unnoticeable. The one in the top left would have been there the longest, "Z" hours. The one next to it "Z - X" and the next one "Z - 2(X)" and so on. The patterns would Need to be created carefully so that in the later time frames ABL doesnt kick in and ruin the results.

Just a thought if there ever were an official test for IR/Burn-in.

[NightHawk]

Hit the Menu button. Then go down to the Setup section (wrench icon) and click on that. Then scroll down till you hit Advanced (takes a while) and punch that. Should be there.

Nope, can't find anything there on my 50ST50.
Under Setup-> Advanced Setup
there is only an option to enable or disable the Viera Connect banner which I already had disabled.
I tried that enabled but thats separate and is for an ad that appears at the bottom of the screen when you go to Viera Connect.
What I'm asking about is the Bright White "Viera" that appears only right after the TV is powered on for a few seconds, not related to Viera Connect.
Can't find a way to disable that power on logo display.

[maygit]

Just curious, why do u want to disable it? Because its really bright and hurts ur eyes at night, or is there another reason?

[NightHawk]

Just curious, why do u want to disable it? Because its really bright and hurts ur eyes at night, or is there another reason?

I saw some IR for awhile from the very bright logo, also the bright word words "Menu" and "Picture" from the regular menu.

[dansmail26]

It's amazing this article came out and now there are a lot of posts here and at avs about ir on the Panny's vs. the Samsungs. It seems like it wasn'ty much of an issue until this article.

[Dierk]

....it would be cool to see how long it takes for each manufacturer to suffer IR, bad IR, and burn-in. Have a test pattern on an all black screen and have a white circle pop up on the upper left corner of the screen perhaps 25 pixels in diameter. Then every "X" minutes (maybe 15 min?) have another circle pop up next to it .....
Just a thought if there ever were an official test for IR/Burn-in.

Sounds like an interesting experiment - now all we need is Multiple Panel Volunteers!

Alas, test would have to be run on Multiple Examples from each manufacturer - and perhaps for several different models from each as well? - and then repeated Each Year when the new models roll out....

[Dierk]

It's amazing this article came out and now there are a lot of posts here and at avs about ir on the Panny's vs. the Samsungs. It seems like it wasn'ty much of an issue until this article.

Heightens awareness. Also gives "fanboys" something to argue about - although that actually seems to have been surprisingly muted.


OTOH, there has been discussion of IR / Burn-in as long as plasma panels have been around - and particularly for the 2011 and 2012 Panasonic models.
(Have you seen the "Burn Baby Burn" thread?)

Another factor that may be involved: The 2012 Panasonics have earned rave reviews, so it would reasonable to expect a lot of people to be researching them as a possible purchase. For most of us, a HDTV is still a relatively "high dollar" purchase & therefore there can be a lot of Pre- and Post-Purchase "Buyer's Concern / Remorse."

And even though most owners (self included!) are not REALLY all that Observant when it comes to many of the "finer aspects" of PQ - that is, we tend to know what Looks Good To Us, as opposed to what may be Accurately Calibrated - IR is something that can be fairly easy to spot, and thus something that lends itself to Worry.

The question - and there seems to be no good answer to it yet (barring Volunteers for Maygit's Experiment!) - is "How much IR is Normal?"
How quick of an onset? How long to dissipate? Will it improve as a panel ages? Or get worse? What can I do to avoid it? Mitigate it?

Lots of things to concern the potential buyer, let alone an actual owner!


As an aside, CRTs are (were) not immune either - but it was seldom an issue in TVs, although computer monitors often had problems. Hence the "invention" of Screen Saver Software.

[TWD]

I went to BB yesterday and looked at the ST, GT, VT and the Samsung 6500, 7000, 8000. i couldn't see IR on any of them. Don't know if it means anything. Just reporting what I saw.

[Dierk]

I saw some IR for awhile from the very bright logo, also the bright word words "Menu" and "Picture" from the regular menu.

You actually observed IR from that dumb Viera start up logo?

Have not noticed any after image from the logo - and it appears for such a brief time, that even if the screen went Directly to a scene that tended to "show off" IR, I would not expect the Echo to last more than a few seconds.

OTOH, totally agree with your observation about the Menu Items: Don't know whether it would be at all within reason (matters of Technology AND Cost), but would certainly applaud a Firmware Update from Panasonic that provided the option for changing the Color and/or Translucency of the Menu headings!

Of course, then I would still have to Worry about the Darn U-verse Bright White Menu headings.....