This is hard to explain so I didn't know how to search for this on here. I have a Panny 50" 60U. I've noticed on numerous times that when the screen is mostly white or a light color that if there is a dark object in the middle, a shadow or a light gray color will band out of the sides of the dark object that is equivalent in height to the object and goes out from the left and right to the edge of the TV. For example, when I watch "The Office" and a confessional is going on there are usually blinds on the window behind the person. I will see dark bands that are equivalent in height of each blind come out and display on the walls of the office. Its very subtle but I notice it. This often happens when text is displayed on the screen. Any help here? Is my TV defective?

This is hard to explain so I didn't know how to search for this on here. I have a Panny 50" 60U. I've noticed on numerous times that when the screen is mostly white or a light color that if there is a dark object in the middle, a shadow or a light gray color will band out of the sides of the dark object that is equivalent in height to the object and goes out from the left and right to the edge of the TV. For example, when I watch "The Office" and a confessional is going on there are usually blinds on the window behind the person. I will see dark bands that are equivalent in height of each blind come out and display on the walls of the office. Its very subtle but I notice it. This often happens when text is displayed on the screen. Any help here? Is my TV defective?

This is a relatively common occurance with this plasma (perhaps others too). I see it on my set. Many others see it too. There are a handful of threads in this forum devoted to this.

Do you know what the term is or do you have a link to the thread? I don't even know how to search for it. IS there a solution to this? Its been bugging me. It tends to only happen when the its against white background or light gray.

I have a 4 year extended warranty and I'm wondering if I can get this fixed or get a new plasma or something.

From and older article that still applies:

Artifacts And Image Quality (http://www.htadvice.com/on_gear/tvs_plasma.html)

"Most, if not all, Plasma displays suffer from some sort of image artifacting while the "old school" analog CRT displays do not. Many new Plasma TVs can produce a very good picture with HD or DVD sources. Plasma TVs with bad picture quality suffer from color banding, color dotting, and image artifacts with any source that most anyone can see with side-by-side comparisons done at the store.

The bane of Plasmas (and most new TV technologies out now) is medium-dark to dark scenes in program material. Many Plasmas cannot display the information correctly and instead display a mush of color bands, odd contours, and sometimes just the wrong color entirely. Plasma makers are getting better at improving this issue, but it is still an issue.

HDTV and DVD sources will look better than cable or satellite simply because there is more data in the picture with DVD and HDTV. When image processors have more data to work with, fewer artifacts will be made.

The reason old-school, interlaced, direct-view CRT TVs look better with standard-definition sources is that the interlacing and smaller size is actually hiding a lot of imperfections. With today's much larger, progressive-scan TVs you're simply revealing how bad standard-definition sources are, and viewing them much larger than they were intended. "

But what i'm talking about is in reference to watching the office in HD and also watching Ice Age on Blu-Ray. I'm also talking about light scenes where there is mostly white in the scene and one dark object. Tonight I will try to post a pic of what i'm talking about.