I just started recording Anderson Cooper 360 in HD and all of a sudden I am seeing a BUNCH of IR from the bug, the 'Breaking News' and everything. This is the Samsung 50 inch 550. I have the TV set in 'movie mode' and have all the 'low contrast' but it is still freaking me out.

I mean, it looks freaking amazing, but I don't want to screw this new TV up by watching an hour long news story every evening.

I changed the settings to http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10425704#post10425704, but even then it is sorta... scary

I just started recording Anderson Cooper 360 in HD and all of a sudden I am seeing a BUNCH of IR from the bug, the 'Breaking News' and everything. This is the Samsung 50 inch 550. I have the TV set in 'movie mode' and have all the 'low contrast' but it is still freaking me out.

I mean, it looks freaking amazing, but I don't want to screw this new TV up by watching an hour long news story every evening.

I changed the settings to http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10425704#post10425704, but even then it is sorta... scary


Do you have a picture in picture mode where you can choose where to place the other window? I would place it right over the bug if you can!

Could be slight IR. I recommend going into the screen burn protection menu and set it to all white or scrolling for maybe 30mins to an hour and see if it goes away.

I just started recording Anderson Cooper 360 in HD and all of a sudden I am seeing a BUNCH of IR from the bug, the 'Breaking News' and everything. This is the Samsung 50 inch 550. I have the TV set in 'movie mode' and have all the 'low contrast' but it is still freaking me out.

I mean, it looks freaking amazing, but I don't want to screw this new TV up by watching an hour long news story every evening.Did you break the TV in for a few hundred hours before watching this news channel? Is the IR just temporary or does it last more than a few minutes? If you haven't broken it in you should probably do so. After you watch the news program, tune the TV to a full-screen HD channel and leave it on for an hour and see if that washes the IR away.

Even after a plasma is broken in, it's normal to get some IR but it should go away quickly. I have my PZ700U on my local ABC HD news channel every morning for a few hours and also every evening for a few hours and the logo and ticker IR has always gone away from within several seconds to maybe a minute after changing to another channel, even the first week i had the TV.

I'm at about 50 hours

I have a Samsung FP-T6374 and have had it since December. When I first got it, I posted here in panic over image retention as well... :)

Since then, I've learned better.

I watch news as well. My girlfriend and I are political junkies. We watch MSNBC. Their logo constantly gets "retained" on the screen.

I solve it with weekly use of the built-in "scrolling grey pattern" thing in the set. I just let it run this overnight. The next morning, the MSNBC logo is mostly or completely gone and all is well.

(And yes, I too use "movie mode" for all programming...)

Well, you could watch Fox News for a more Fair and Balanced Image retention:) . lol. Just kidding. My cable company has CNN on HD which is quite good especially for a crappy cable company.

Good luck getting rid of the retention. Watch some hi-def movies you like and it should go away after a while.

Welcome to Samsung Plasmas, this seems to be common on all Samsung plasma sets and they are behind the curb when dealing with IR and burn in. If it bothers you, give Panasonic a try, they handle it much better than Sammy.

This is the Samsung plasma's only real weakness that is left and if they could get IR levels to that of Panasonic then I would probably buy one again. Until then, Panasonic will probably get my money even if the PQ is a bit behind. (Samsung has made some great steps forward in the PQ and color accuracy departments, but they have neglected IR resistance (the scrolling pattern, pixel orbiters, and white wash are poor replacements for actually making the panel itself more IR resistant)

I have a Samsung FP-T6374 and have had it since December. When I first got it, I posted here in panic over image retention as well... :)

Since then, I've learned better.

I watch news as well. My girlfriend and I are political junkies. We watch MSNBC. Their logo constantly gets "retained" on the screen.

I solve it with weekly use of the built-in "scrolling grey pattern" thing in the set. I just let it run this overnight. The next morning, the MSNBC logo is mostly or completely gone and all is well.

(And yes, I too use "movie mode" for all programming...)Using a video pattern bar should be the option of last resort because this procedure greatly increases the rate of phosphor wear in order to smooth out or reverse IR.

Using a video pattern bar should be the option of last resort because this procedure greatly increases the rate of phosphor wear in order to smooth out or reverse IR.

Incorrect

Incorrect-sigh- :rolleyes:

Whitewash and other extreme measures (http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7596_102-0.html?forumID=60&threadID=145810&start=15)

you want to age the pixels (phosphers) by watching the whole screen filled in like 16x9 no black bars until the IR corrects it self, ITs normal and the longer the tv ages (break in) the less the IR will happen ....

just watch something with no logos and it will wear off.

Also many people get confused with a video pattern to white wash to other built in things in th tv.

a normal step is to use the whole screen filled in with a series of colors you can use break in disc for this,

what you do NOT want to use is the white wash or something like that it will reduce your lifespan of the tv

although i dont think you will still keep the tv more then 6+ yrs even with reduced lifespan

bottom line chill pop a whole 16x9 filled in screen as you watch the movie IR will be gone.

or if you want to do what i do is after i play 9+ hrs of gta4 or another game i just put the break in disc and sleep by the time i wake up my tv automaticaly turned off (i activated 6hrs of no use/activity) to turn off

and i have a fresh no ir tv

I realize that plasma's picture (in general) is narrowly more pleasing than LCD, but if I had to run an IR eraser every week... I would be very annoyed. I thought image retention was a thing of the past? I guess it will always be an issue that plague's plasma TVs. :(

Good luck with fixing your issue... the suggestions in this thread seem good.

I realize that plasma's picture (in general) is narrowly more pleasing than LCD, but if I had to run an IR eraser every week... I would be very annoyed. I thought image retention was a thing of the past? I guess it will always be an issue that plague's plasma TVs. :(

Not really. Pioneer doesn't have burn-in trouble, I've never even seen temporary IR on the Kuro. Panasonic is extremely burn-in resistant. And they both look better than any LCD on the market :)

It's worth the slight extra risk to me for the extra IQ. Now Samsung, they seem to have more issues with IR.

i have 50pz700u and 5084 and broke both in and play ps3 games on both for hours and have had zero IR issues. Break it in properly, set your brightness/contrast levels to reasonable levels and you shouldn't have any long term IR issues. I've had more problems with the panny than the sammy and the sammy tech support help, response time and tech knowledge has been better. Just my opinion.

what you do NOT want to use is the white wash or something like that it will reduce your lifespan of the tv

although i dont think you will still keep the tv more then 6+ yrs even with reduced lifespan


Using a video pattern bar should be the option of last resort because this procedure greatly increases the rate of phosphor wear in order to smooth out or reverse IR. White wash, full white screen, all involve 100% APL (reduced to much less than that due to ABL - automatic brightness limiting). Now if you choose to use these methods (which are confirmed to work) then yes you will age the panel faster than the manufacturer quoted numbers. However, according the method of testing panel life, the worst case scenario would be that you would have to multiply the time using the whitewash by 5 (actually more like 2 due to the ABL, >2 for scrolling bar).

So add up all the hours that you put the whitewash on and multiply by 5 and subtract that from the panel life. Hopefully, this will make you realize how insignificant it is.

In his calibration report of a '550 in Widescreen Review, Bruce Blackburn found the scrolling pattern would reverse IR the quickest. Likely why Samsung has incorporated it to begin with?

AtomHeart, through careful break-in, and presently conditioning the screen a few minutes with the rolling pattern after turning the set on from cold, is now noticing shorter recovery times, when IR does occur.

Maybe a lesson or two to be learned here.

Welcome to Samsung Plasmas, this seems to be common on all Samsung plasma sets and they are behind the curb when dealing with IR and burn in. If it bothers you, give Panasonic a try, they handle it much better than Sammy.

This is the Samsung plasma's only real weakness that is left and if they could get IR levels to that of Panasonic then I would probably buy one again. Until then, Panasonic will probably get my money even if the PQ is a bit behind. (Samsung has made some great steps forward in the PQ and color accuracy departments, but they have neglected IR resistance (the scrolling pattern, pixel orbiters, and white wash are poor replacements for actually making the panel itself more IR resistant)


I haven't had a single instance of IR with my 450.

I watch ESPN every morning for about an hour; my wife watches Bravo which often has black bars top&bottom.

Basically after having the TV for 2 weeks I crept the contrast up to it's current level (83-85 depending upon what's on) and haven't had even a hint of IR.

I think it's overstated by many. So far the only thing I've used is the pixel shift (which is a no-brainer for any panel), without the need for the scroller or white wash.

I haven't had a single instance of IR with my 450.

I watch ESPN every morning for about an hour; my wife watches Bravo which often has black bars top&bottom.

Basically after having the TV for 2 weeks I crept the contrast up to it's current level (83-85 depending upon what's on) and haven't had even a hint of IR.

I think it's overstated by many. So far the only thing I've used is the pixel shift (which is a no-brainer for any panel), without the need for the scroller or white wash.

Every Samsung owner's thread I read on here has a lot of IR talk, with a few people sometimes checking over a dozen panels to see if it is isolated (they always see the same amount of IR on each set as well) Most people just don't know how to spot IR and thus don't think that they have any. I guarantee that if I were to look for IR on your set, I would find some rather easily, especially after a game like Gears of War or Zelda TP which leave some nasty IR fairly quickly.

And I can pull up 6 reviews on the 450 that have people complaining about IR/Burn-in if need be. (the 550/650 only have IR reports on here right now, but they are quite common in the owners threads, especially the 550 thread.)

Not really. Pioneer doesn't have burn-in trouble....,

From the owner's manual of PRO-111FD and PRO-151FD:

7.6 Image Information Including Retention & After-Image Lag

Menu Window Size (after a Video Switch)

Programs may be high definition (HD) or standard definition (SD). This flat panel TV automatically scales to the appropriate definition type. If the video program’s definition type changes while a menu window is on screen (for example: HD to SD or SD to HD) the menu size may temporarily shrink or enlarge until the panel finishes adjusting the picture. Adjusting may happen, for example, when switching between a TV program and playback from a DVR, or when a recorded program switches between different definition types while the menu is showing. The menu returns to its normal size after a couple of seconds. This action is normal and does not indicate a problem with your flat panel TV.

Pixel Information

Plasma screens show picture using pixels. Pioneer flat panel TVs contain a very large number of pixels. The size of the panel determines the number of pixels. With the ELITE Series models, there are over 6.2 million pixels in the 50”/60” panel. All Pioneer display panels are manufactured using a very high level of ultra-precision technology and undergo individual quality control.

In rare cases, some pixels can be permanently switched off, or on, resulting in either a black or colored pixel permanently fixed on the screen. This effect is common to all plasma displays because it is a consequence of the technology.

If the defective pixels are visible at the standard viewing distance of between 2.5 and 3.5 meters (8.2 feet and 11.5 feet) while viewing a normal broadcast (i.e. not a test card, still image, or single color display) please immediately contact Pioneer Customer Support (USA) or Customer Satisfaction (CANADA). See inside back cover for contact information. If, however, the faulty pixels can only be seen close up or during single color displays then this is considered normal for this technology.

Image Retention (a.k.a. Burn-In)

Leaving a static picture on screen for several hours can cause a faint imprint of the image. This imprint is known as image retention or burn-in. The image may be temporary or permanent. Although caused by different things, image retention can occur on all display technologies including LDC, plasma, direct view CRT TVs, and projection TVs.

On today’s plasma displays, permanent image retention is less of a worry. Most image retention can be improved simply by watching something with a lot of action or rapid screen changes. To avoid image retention as much as possible, refer to the guidelines below.
• Change the picture periodically when showing static images, such as a fixed image from a PC or a TV game unit, for longer periods.
• Avoid leaving fixed images such as time of day indicator or channel logos on screen whenever possible.
• Display content in a wide aspect ratio (no black or gray bars on any side of the content). This flat panel TV is equipped with multiple wide-screen viewing modes; use one of these modes to fill the entire screen with content. View in a wide aspect ratio unless doing so would be a copyright infringement.
• Set the Side Mask detection function to Mode 1 or Mode 2. High Definition 16:9 aspect ratio images containing side masks are detected automatically and side masks are added or the image appears in fullscreen.
• Avoid showing dark images after still images for a period of time. In most cases, any image retention caused by this sequence can be corrected by displaying bright images for a similar period of time.

After-Image Lag

Displaying the same images such as still images for a long time may cause after-image lagging. After-Image Lag refers to a ghost of the still image remaining visible after the picture is no longer being shown. This may occur in the following cases.
• After-image lagging due to remaining electric load
If an image with very high peak luminance is displayed for more than a minute, after-image lagging may occur due to the remaining electric load. The ghost-image remaining on the screen disappears when moving images are shown. The luminance of the still image and the length of time it was displayed determine how long it takes for the ghost image to fade away.
• After-image (lag image) due to burning
Avoid displaying the same image on the flat panel TV continuously over a long period. If the same image is displayed continuously for several hours, or for shorter periods over several days, a permanent after-image may remain on the screen. This after-image is permanent because the fluorescent materials burned. Burned images may fade eventually after playing other video sequences but do not disappear completely.

When a program menu, or frozen image is displayed for up to 10 minutes, the flat panel TV automatically turns the image off to prevent the screen from being burned.

Screen Protection

Screen Protection simultaneously optimizes the related settings to alleviate image retention. For details, see “3.6.2 Extend Your Panel Life.”

Image Orbiter

Another built-in feature to protect against burn-in is the Orbiter function.

Again, despite the fanboyism or hate all of these panels, and in this case plasmas in particular, can experience IR.

kerplnknet i assure you 100% that you dont have to do a pattern every time lol! its self correction meaning say you spot IR which is temporarly!
then you just watch a movie or something that the whole screen fills in
i bet 100$ that buy then the temporarly Image retention will be gone!

IR is not permenet! people just watch regular tv and the tv will fix it self!

what i meant to say is to run a break in disc, not an eraser or wash method just a series of whole screen filled in regardless if its a movie on a loop or a set of colors

bottom line is it will clean the IR for good

oh and as the tv ages more the harder it is for the ir to stay.

I realize that plasma's picture (in general) is narrowly more pleasing than LCD, but if I had to run an IR eraser every week... I would be very annoyed. I thought image retention was a thing of the past? I guess it will always be an issue that plague's plasma TVs. :(

Good luck with fixing your issue... the suggestions in this thread seem good.