Avid Gamer and Movie watcher

I can't speak for the GT50. However, I have had the 55ST50 since early April and love the thing. I am a young professional who works about 7-6, but will from time to time have some 2 or 3 hour video game sessions at night after work and have had a couple 5 hour sessions on the weekend to veg out and relax. My games include NHL12, MLB2k12, and CODMW3 on 360

At this point, i have never had any burn in issues whatsoever. I know that the 100 hour panel prep has next to nothing to do with burn-in, but i didn't do it. So before you ask, if you were going to, no need for it unless you want to replicate certain calibration settings. I would also note that i have never noticed even the slightest input lag. I have taken tvs back in the past for this and usually pick tvs with little input lag and will compromise features to get tvs with low lag. Luckily with my ST50, i didn't need to compromise anything and still have no lag.

One thing worth mentioning, i don't pay a lot of attention to the GT and VT threads, but my understanding from early reviews is the GT was a marginal upgrade over the ST, but not worth the money. However, the VT was worth the money over the ST. This view may have changes since i was researching in early April, but it is worth considering. Depending on you budget, you may be better off saving some money and getting the ST or paying slightly more and getting the best Panny has to offer.

You don't run your feeds through a receiver or prepro?

Sounds like you shouldn't even be worrying about burn in. As you've stated you watch alot of movies as well so don't even worry about it. I've had static task bars going on a 2008 Panny plasma (which i'm pretty sure had risen blacks that leads to worse ir) for up to 8 hours a day for a month, i saw a little image retention on a black screen that went away after watching a movie or playing a video game. I wouldn't switch to led just for the fear of burn-in if you like plasma and are really afraid of burn in Samsung's 2012 models might be even better for image retention: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57449881-221/samsung-plasma-wins-cnets-accidental-burn-in-test/?tag=contentMain%3bcontentBody%3b3n
Grain of salt though as the plasmas weren't calibrated to equal brightness and they were brand new.
Edited by Mik James - 7/3/12 at 11:11am

While i don't have a 2012 model, I do have a 65" ST30, and I do things on it that are probably more dangerous than what most people do, such as use a computer on top of playing tons of games. I haven't had any issues at all with close to 2000 hours of usage. Like, i never even really see IR at all. I might have the HUD from SWTOR stick for a couple of minutes, visible only on a white background, but honestly, I've never even witnessed image retention that was visible over actual content. Any I've noticed has only been on a solid white screen, and never for longer than 5 minutes or so.

Just to give you an idea of what kind of abuse i've put this thing through, I played about 100 hours of SWTOR within a 3 week period on it. There were a couple of stretches that were longer than 5 hours. Half of the screen is a HUD in that game.

I do watch plenty of TV and movies, but over the 2000 hours of usage this thing has had, at least 1200 was video games, and not even that many different ones and I've done plenty of 3+ hour stretches with it. Plenty of time has also been spent browsing the internet, or just doing general computer things. I'm convinced that you'd seriously have to leave the same image sitting on the screen for days straight to get any permanent burn in.

I had a G-10 and S2, both older tech Panny's and never had a problem with either.

I've got a Panasonic TH-46PZ85U (2008 model plasma). I have not experienced any burn in, and the picture quality is still top notch with dark blacks. Games like Tales of Vesperia, Uncharted 2, Ico HD, and BlazBlue look nothing short of stunning, though i will say the gamma can be a bit low in some games using "cinema" calibration.

I'd imagine it's even better with more recent models, especially anything THX certified.

The only issue i've ever had WRT gaming was some image retention on the HUD after long sessions of Ninja Gaiden. But that went away soon enough - nothing permanent. I do keep the image retention settings on, as well as run a "IR sweep" if I ever do run into anything. It's just a matter of due diligence. Also set the TV to shut down automatically after so and so time. And avoid "torch mode" - use correct PQ settings.

I don't have any experience with the Panasonic series but I did have a Samsung plasma and the image retention was an issue for me, as I do about 70% gaming on my sets. After a ten minute match of Halo, the score and radar icons from the HUD would remain and be visible on the menus...games with a life bar at the top would cause the image to be retained and be visible and annoying during letterboxed cutscenes. The retention wasn't permanent (although the set did have a permanent burn in of the ESPN logo from the store that caused me to return it) and could be dealt with using the white wash feature, but it was annoying enough and required too much babysitting for my taste. Nice image quality, even if it threw a lot of heat. Just not for me, happy with my LCD and LED sets for gaming...hopefully some new tech like OLED or another can give the picture quality of plasma with the benefits of LEDs.

I don't have, nor have had, a Panasonic plasma. However, I share my experience with a 2003 50" Pioneer plasma. We played hours (as much as 6-8hrs at a time all summer long) of video games on it. Burn in happened only < 5 times and I was able to fix it with running a "static-y" picture by leaving the TV on without tuning in a channel (not leaving a constant, static picture) for a couple of hrs. We finally retired that TV (still works well but it only had a DVI input) when we bought a 64" Samsung plasma last November. We don't play as much now (4-6 hrs on weekends) and watch news with the ticker running at the bottom of the TV without any issues. I suspect the other post of a burn in on a Samsung plasma (ESPN) was because it was a display model in a store running for 12 hrs/day for months at a time until it was bought. I have played HALO on it for hours and have not had burn in as the other post. Not sure if Panasonic has it but, as mentioned above, Samsung has an "anti burn in" mode to get rid of burn in. I suspect that current generation of plasmas don't have as much of a problem with burn in as long as you don't use it like a display in a store. My problem with my plasma is that on certain "dark" games, I have to turn the contrast and/or the brightness up to see more detail. IMHO, I would buy the TV you want, use it and return it within 30 days if you experience any problems. If money is not an issue, I suggest buying the LED Elite (60" or 70"). The reviews have been good. I have seen the 3D performance on this TV and it is the 1st one I have watched where the picture comes out of the box. Good luck!!

2003 Pio Plasma still going strong with no burn in? They really built those things well ! Image retention isn't much of a problem anymore. After Pioneer pioneered ( ) anti image retention features and Panasonic picked them up it pretty much became a non issue other than a few Pannys with risen blacks where ir became more noticeable. Samsung cleaned up their act a little while later and their new plasmas are just as good for image retention if not better. The only Plasmas that have had serious issues with image retention up to this year (and maybe this year as well) is are Lg's but they don't have the deep blacks a plasma should have.

Pioneer Kuro 5080HD with 18,644 hours as of a few days ago, I use the Game picture mode with all of my consoles and haven't experienced any image retention or burn in, The TV is used for a lot for gaming sometimes several hours a day, I don't know how well current LED / LCD HDTV models handle motion but when gaming on the Plasma even my 2ms TN PC LCD pales in comparison when it comes to motion clarity, especially when comparing games that run @ 60fps.

I have a G20 myself, and I'm a HUGE gamer - nightly COD sessions with friends, eight hour Skyrim/Fallout marathons, and a heavy dose of anime, movies and TV shows to round out my digital appetite. I can say that, while high maintenance, Plasma is just fine for gaming as long as you take care of the set. The first month is especially crucial - I ran a sideshow of colored slides I found here on the AVSF 24/7 for a month when I wasn't gaming, just to break in the set (I also limited time to an hour per game, to prevent burn-in). After the first month, I just got in the habit of running the screen-wipe control on the TV set every time I took a bathroom break, made food, or left for the night (after setting a 15m sleep timer). Doing that, I have had zero burn in for the entire ownership of the set.

I don't regret it for a second, and you won't either. Just take care of it, and it'll serve you well for years to come.

While it isn't the new plasmas I do own a TC-P50G25 system and I can tell you straight you do not have to worry about burn in.

HOWEVER.

You will have to worry about Image Retention. And yes it does get piss poor annoying. I used to play ungodly amount of time of games before I got my job on the TV and yes the HUD will get flashed on the screen...

IE if you play BF3 or COD a lot the radar, ammo counter, weapon type, compass will get stuck on the screen. The solution? Cycle a lot of HD **** that will go over it again, and again, and again, and again, like 24hrs straight of different HD content again, and again, and again.

So yeah when you have a nice white scene or bright scene it will show up. So take that as a caution/warning if you game a lot. And if you DO game a lot. To reduce input lag you will have to connect your HDMI cable Console > TV. Nothing in-between.

Funny, I have the same TV and I have burn in... see my posts in this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1417201/led-lcd-to-replace-vt50

There is a setting w/in the eco settings to have the TV automatically turn off if there is no change(channel or volume) on the set after 3hrs. That should be enough protection against burn in.

I am currently running a dvd to see if i can reduce it. It's really not that bad, but it's there.

Odd. I used to play 6hrs straight of BFBC2 and never had it burn in. Yeah I've had it get stuck but I cycled an image for 24hrs straight and it went away. I've had CODMW2 and CODMW3 for 2~10hrs straight and once again I just cycled a set of HD images for 24hrs straight and its clean. I think I have less then 1000 hrs on the TV but I need to check on that.

Sorry to hear that you've actually got an image to burn in.

I don't own a Panasonic, but own 3 Pioneer plasmas (2 of them are the Kuro) and no burn in at all on any of them. I use the oldest one as a PC monitor, the second oldes one as gaming (Wii, PS3) monitor and the newest one for TV watching. No burn in at all.

my burnin knowledge to pass along, plasma or crt displays. If you found a game you stuck on like Mass effect 3 or another "high hour" veg game, don't play it too much back to back on this display

. in other words, if you play 5 hours of the game, turn off the tv, then come back later and play another 5 hours of the same game. It was like playing that game for 10 hours strait. Turning off the tv does not "reset" the burn in concern.

I think you'll be fine especially if you watch movies,tv, in between gaming sessions. I havent had any issues with burn-in but my friend did. It was a combination of too much Halo gaming sessions and accidentally leaving the game paused over night. But that was an earlier generation plasma. Just dont get drunk and pass out while gaming

Panasonic with plasma and Mitsubishi with big DLP tvs. Im glad there keeping these techs alive:D

I have a 58VT25 and a newer 60ST30. I'm a big gamer, we watch tons of TV/movies and my daughter is a My Little Pony addict on netflix. I have never seen anything close to burn in on either of my sets, even though I will have a static image or 4:3 content with black side bars going for hours. The image retention is another thing though, where you can see a slight shadow of those static images on the screen for a short while afterward but nothing stays permanently. I will say this though, the image retention is MUCH less noticeable on the newer ST30 model then on my VT25. In fact I can't remember ever seeing any on the ST30 (although I'm sure it was there in some form). I've used both sets in regular and in AV receiver setups too and it makes no difference. I can imagine the anti image retention on the new ST50, GT50, and VT50 model lines are even better. IMO you can't get a better gaming TV than one of these plasma sets, especially for the price.