AVS Roundup of the Best-Reviewed Flat Panel TVs of 2012 - Page 2

My buddy loved the set, but not how it was heating up his apartment when he tried to get the Brightness up to watch the set during the day time!
Sent back for a Sharp LED that's bright, and runs cooler during the day.

Check the VT50 Owners Thread on here, quite a few owners disagree with you whole heartedly. I've seen a plethora of examples of the VT50 thriving in sun-soaked rooms. I however can't comment on hot they're running. I can't imagine it's too incredibly hot.

IMO the only reason you would get anything but a plasma TV is if your room is too bright. As far as heat goes, my Samsung PN50A550 does run hot but then it's a 5 year old TV. I had my dad's 65" VT50 running slides for about 50 hours and felt no heat radiating at all.

You meant to say "raising contrast" right? Otherwise you lack the most basic understanding of these displays.

As far as used VT50s on Amazon. Keep in mind people who buy flagship TVs are likely to change TV most often. Also keep in mind that VT50 has been claimed as the best TV in 2012 hence they sold a lot. Just look at the number of posts in official thread. More units sold more in the used market.

Check out the thread right here on this forum regarding the 2012 Panasonic and complaints about burn-in and image retention. Many have no problems but there are more than enough that do. There is a reason why Panasonic does not warrant against burn-in and why the only company that does warrant against burn-in is Best Buy. Even though most do not have this problem, do you want to spend between one and three thousand dollars and take that chance? That's the question new buyers have answered and will answer with their pocket books. You can look at the sales results over the last three years and draw your own conclusion.

I draw an entirely different conclusion than you do, which is no real surprise.

Most buyers have no idea what the hell this image retention nonsensical fear is.

But when they walk into Costco and the one plasma is set on the "eco" mode and looks super dim and every LCD looks nice and bright, it's kind of a no-brainer what to buy.

Incidentally, plasma sales were much higher a few years ago when the risk of burn-in was literally worse, so this can't be the cause of the demise of plasma. Few companies marketing it, cheaper and better LCDs, scores of LCD sellers, however? They sure can be.

Or it could be both aforementioned factors, with one weighing more significantly than the other.

It seems to me that during the last few years the IR problem has kind of bounced back and forth between Samsung and Panasonic. 2011 Panasonic posts here seemed to be more concerned with increasing black levels compared to IR rants. But for 2012 Panasonic changed the phosphor structure in order to get a brighter picture and suddenly the IR problem has gotten worse. ROGO I know you have a 65VT50 with no problems at all which is a perfect example causing me to wonder aloud this year if Panasonic may have a quality control problem. Many of the IR complainers are long time plasma owners and are well aware of how to break in a plasma. Which leads me to believe it's a random thing. As far as most people not recognizing this IR nonsensical problem, all I can say is the we aren't most people and I assume any of us would recognize it when we saw it.

I think that people who read AVS Forum make a very big mistake in thinking that people outside of AVS Forum are influenced by it.

There is no way some change to the phosphor structure or increasing black levels explains the cratering of plasma sales. Neither of those accounts for anything more than some marginal noise, I'm quite certain.

I'm not going to tell you those aren't real problems (I don't believe they are important problems, nor do I believe the image retention "problem" even affects any substantial number of people), but they have nothing to do with what amounts to a "cliff-like' function in plasma sales. That function can be explained by the yen, the global economy and the competitiveness of LCDs.

OLED, at affordable pricing, with 4K and Passive 3D, will more than likely affect ALL Higher End LCD/LEDs, and Plasmas in the near future! Hold onto your hats, it's going to be a wild ride!.
2013 is starting the future of changes!

2013 is definitely not going to be the "near future" where OLED has any affect on any other display technology for televisions.

Maybe 2015 will be when pricing begins to encroach on other technologies?

Not the Adjustment Brightness Setting, but Brightness overall, so it's able to be seen in a Bright Room. (I know various adjustments will bring up the overall Brightness, or should I have said viewability?)

Just in from my buddy:

Those people are crazy, watching in a basement or dark room with ECO settings on. It does make it livable, but you give up 30% of your Bri/Con and may as well turn the set off. After 2-3 hours of viewing with a digital
thermoniter at 2 feet away I measure 87 degrees and behind the set with the fans blowing it is even hotter. This unit heats the whole 13x13 room and the room next to it, another 13x13.connected with a double doorway with no doors.....Ed
Edited by p5browne - 2/25/13 at 10:23am

That is laughable. You honestly believe that? Something tells me this guy has never used anything but standard mode or something.

Please don't spread this nonsense around. Not that it matters, hopefully people trust the word of professionals who laud the VT as the best set of the year over some guy who thinks his plasma is heating 350 square feet of living area.

Laughable indeed.

Thanks, Scott. Nice article.

Sometimes, I think I live in a parallel universe. Plasma TV heats rooms? Wow. I'm on my second plasma, first was a Pioneer KURO PDP- 5020 FD, and now a Panasonic TC-55GT50. The Pioneer "blew up", as in smoke came out the top! Great picture before that happened.

The Panasonic dissipates about 270 watts, hardly enough to heat rooms. You can feel the heat coming off the top, but it's not too bad. We have it in our family room with curtains open at each end of the room. The picture is fine in the daytime, as well as at night. There's no need to close the drapes on the brightest days. There is no buzzing, or IR, or anything else. Just a great picture. It's not quite the picture the Pioneer had, but very close. I've added a Darbee, and now it's pretty close to the KURO.

I went with the GT as it was one step down from the VT, for a lot less money. This was back in September, when I bought the GT, and you can buy the VT now for what I paid for the GT. The GT is a great TV. I like to buy things one step down from the top, thinking I'm getting almost all the features, for a lot less money. May not be true. YMMV.
Edited by Oldandslow - 2/25/13 at 2:22pm

 

Laugh all you want...it is true, even the Best Buy guy couldn't believe it. Then we went to their store and low and behold, their display did it.

We were going to swap it out with another new set if their set proved differant, not as noticable in a showroom floor but the screen radiates

heat. It is killing me to have to go with LED but I cannot afford 5,000 plus for a 60+ screen that the wife wants...

Remember this heat just isn't there, you have to leave it on for a couple of hours.

Now this is really funny, running slides, except for grey only using one colour pixel at a time, probably the closest thing to a standby mode you could use!

Send that VT50 up here. Sure could use a Fireplace Video to warm up the place, especially with this year's much colder Winter! (But then what do I watch during the Global Warming Summer?)

Scott, the Elite is blacker but with poorer color accuracy. For a set of that cost, the color issues would be a deal breaker for me. ( I have seen them side by side both isf'd in light controlled environments) I am still very happy with my 141 and have no interest in replacing it and am waiting for the OLED's to mature. If I had to pick, I would go with the VT50 and would wait for the upcoming ZT set which is even better.

The VT50 in THX mode could not warm a walk-in closet, let alone a 13 x 13 room. It is moderately warm after being on a while if you place your hands on it. The fans do, in fact, operate! Shocking.

I suppose there is some odd motivation to keep posting plasma fiction on these forums, but other than being a shut-in without any life to speak of, I'm not sure what that motivation is.

Which was my point above. If a TV can heat not one but two rooms under normal operation it should be very warm at the least after running for 50 hours straight, even if just playing slides. It wasn't. My 5 year old Samsung on the other hand...

Was this on the THX for Daytime, or THX for Night?

My 2007 Panasonic 42" plasma TV has a rated power consumption of 570W (typical) and it definitely heated up the room (currently however it is in my storage closet). But these days, plasmas consume a lot less power than they did then. Overall, I prefer plasma televisions because there are less issues with screen uniformity and the dreaded dirty screen effect that I often see on larger LCD and LED sets. The only real reason why I'm running an LED set now is because it offers passive 3D and has the input and output jacks that I want and couldn't find in a plasma.

Scott, when I referred to Elite I meant the Sharp Elite. MY 141 has just about perfect color calibrated.

*sigh* I miss shopping for a flat panel TV. But my 60" and 42" ST30s are performing flawlessly since last winter and I can't find a reason to upgrade...yet...

I have the st50 in a room with windows and blinds. I generally can't wait till night time. I can stand it during the day but at night then the tv looks incredible.

I totally agree with you. 4K & 3D passive are the ones to watch for. Every HDTV mentioned no doubt are excellent HDTV's, however for 3d active glasses don't cut it when frienda & relatives attempt to "enjoy" 3D even on the best. These same people enjoy 3D on LG passive hdtv & "free passive 3d glasses. We are waiting for LG to come out with a affordible 3D passive front projector using these same 3D passivew 3D glasses.

Just stop... You can run it in Vivid. It won't change. The VT50 runs slightly warm at most, never hot. I actually own one, so I know. We've had it on for nearly an entire day a few times. It gets warm in back. It does not heat the room -- I wish it did during the winner. Just stop.

(By the way, before my ISF Calibration, I had my set on THX Bright about 90% of the time.)