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Burn-in is almost impossible to get a replacement for unless you've just fired up the display immediately after the delivery agent has departed and therefore can prove you have not had the remotest time opportunity to destroy your display in this manner.


Try an overnite session of just plain old static, the random black and white noise you get when you have a television channel tuned in which does not exist in your area. The combination of this highly random black and white noise has helped many a case of light burn in.


I am not sure if serial numbers are not a good way of telling age at this point. If you are speaking of the Panasonic TH42PWD4U, this product has been out for 10 months in this version and inventories sell out quickly. It was very allocated (difficult to find up) until the middle of January of this year due to production problems with the new plant which came on line last summer. Also, most distributors do not keep more than a two or three week inventory at most, if they can help it, and especially on this model because Panasonic really does not offer aggressive price protection. That is to say, if the manufacturer's cost to a distributor changes on one day, there is no guarantee that a given distributor's existing inventory will be given a cost reduction to reflect the same cost as new inventory after the price change is announced.


Best of luck and onward with the static.
 
Oferlaor,


Next week I get my NEC 50 inch. Can you tell me how find the "clock" time....which menu do I search in?


Thanks


Pat
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
Monday June 17,


Update on my burn-in situation. Perhaps details of my travails may come in handy to someone who encounters a similar situation down the road.


Situation: Not only does my new plasma have the letter-box shaped burn-in as described at the start of this thread. It also has a faint, but readily discernible patch of yellow discoloration throughout the center of the screen. It's been mentioned on the forum that blues wear out most quickly on a plasma screen, and when they do the color balance in the worn area will therefore shift to yellow. Could this be? In my new panel?

Combined this with the burn-in and I began to wonder if my panel was even a new screen. Had I received a re-packaged panel?


Before I started any complaint process with my dealer I wanted to address the issue, and learn what I can about my problem so I can talk to my dealer "properly armed" with information. I first got in touch with my local Panasonic service center. Peter, a tech guy at Panasonic, had me put on the white scroll bars for half a day. I did that and much more. Put lots of 16:9 material on the screen, with lots of scroll bar time in between, to try and even out pixel wear. This went on for many days, and I probably put more hours on the screen after discovering the burn-in than before.


The burn in (and yellow blotch) didn't budge.


Peter seemed baffled that I could be having this problem with a new screen and asked me to bring it in to him. Wait...dont' I have a year "in-home" service? Can't someone come here? Yes, but they can't guarantee a

field technician will be able to get out to me as soon as I'd like.

I want a resolution to this problem ASAP, so I gently haul the screen into the back of the car, treating it like a woman in labor, and gently drive it to Panasonic. (As I'm pulling out of the driveway, some speedster zooms around the corner without stopping. Had I not been driving extra carefully and stopped in time, he would have rammed directly into the back door of the car, taking out the plasma as well. Manslaughter would have ensued).


Once at Panasonic, Peter hooks it up to the bench and invites me to the lab to discuss the problem. The burn in is not heavy, but it is distinct. He and another technician see it and mumble their disappointment to each other. They call someone higher up the food chain, who I surmise is the Head Honcho of the service department (and who clearly has more technical knowledge than Peter and his chum). I explain the situation: New plasma, fed very carefully a diet of largely 16:9 material, occasional small dollops of letter-box material, followed by large quantities of 16:9. Why is this happening to conscientious lil' me? Why burn-in already? Why yellowish blob in center of screen? (Especially as there I had never paused an image).


Now, I encounter a potential problem inherent in this scenario: the subjectivity of our eye-sight. The Head Honcho (HH) can see the letter-box burn in, but he's having trouble spotting the yellow discoloration in the screen. Suggests I'm seeing a reflection of some sort of external object in the screen. Nope, it's the same splotch I see in my home. I can see it plain as day. I could draw a picture of it from any angle. Anyone discerning viewer on this forum would spot it easily. But this guy is having trouble. "I guess you've got great eyes my friend," he says. We view the panel from a side angle were the patch becomes more obvious. The screen is showing a white signal, and it looks like a dog has taken a piss on the center of the screen. HH is still having trouble but, we move on.


Here is the upside. The guys at Panasonic, despite how it might sound from my description, were helpful, and seemed to be sympathetic to my plight. HH said to leave it with them today. They were going to do a special reverse-image letter box burn in procedure to see if it would help.


HH turned to me and said: "We'll try our procedure...(he looked at me meaningfully) and if that doesn't work.... (his tone turned "comforting")...Peter will help you out with this."


I was left with the impression that if they want to me to end up with a properly working screen, be it the one I brought to them or a new one. (I'm not sure of course, but I didn't want to push the issue at that point).

Problem is: what if I return to Panasonic to find that, in their eyes the problem has been sufficiently diminished, whereas it still looks buggered to me? We'll see.


They will phone me tomorrow after the test, with what I hope is the denouement to this saga (when you're off work, events like these become sagas :-0 ).



Tales From The Dark Side will continue tomorrow....


:^)


Rich H.
 
Rich-


Several months back it was explained to me that Panasonic has a 30 day failure program of some sort. If I remember right, it was one of the tech guys at the Panny's 800 number, you might consider calling them and asking about details of that program. I think the gist of it was an automatic exchange. That's what you need to push for anyway. Maybe start at the dealer then go to Panny.


Bruce
 
Rich:


Did you ever manage to find the number of hours on the unit mentioned by someone else in this thread? Presumably, it would show the number of hours the panel has been used and couldn't be "fudged".
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
Jim,


Yes they checked the hours on the panel. I don't know for sure how many hours I put on the thing, and since spotting the burn in I piled many more hours on to it in an attempt to even out the pixel wear.


That said, the number quoted to me seems to plausibly cover my use of the screen...I think. Therefore, I'll continue on the assumption that my plasma was new when I received it.


BTW, I told my dealer today what was going on with my plasma. Beyond assuring me it was not a re-packaged item, he didn't sound terribly interested in my plight. The guys at Panasonic *seemed* decidedly more attentive to my problem.


Rich.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a way of monkeying with the hours count so that a dealer could sell a used display at a new price. I am not saying that happened here. I am just saying it might have happened. Truthfully, although I know very little about plasma displays as yet, common sense dictates there could be no burn-in, particularly not this intractible burn-in, without significant prior use. Personally, I would probably be more forceful in insisting on a replacement. But it seems like it will work out for you in the end. :) Good luck.
 
Rich:


That's very disappointing. I'll bet that "dealer" won't be seeing any more of your hard earned dollars. IMO, your dealer should be taking a leadership role in resolving this. You shouldn’t have to be running around dealing with Panasonic.


Surely, Panasonic is going to replace it without further adieu? :confused:
 
davidw,


You're right - how'd I miss that?! The NEC's service manual has a procedure for clearing the number of hours EVEN if the number of hours is only listed in a screen that the user supposedly never uses!


That's basically saying that a dealer can "PROVE" it's a brand new unit, whereas in fact, it is not!
 
Unbelievable. You'd think that an hours count on a display would be treated like they treat odometers on cars - there are built in mechanisms that make it very difficult to tamper with. In fact, doing so is a crime. Instead, for plasmas they tell you in the manual how to do it!


I'm going to take a wild guess as to what happened here. Someone, we'll call him person X, bought this plasma from the same dealer before Rich did. Person X, probably not understanding burn-in, watched like 80 hours straight of letterboxed material. Person X then noticed the burn-in and took it back to the dealer within the 30-day return policy. The dealer then reset the hours count to 0 and sold it to Rich. Again, just my best guess...
 
Yeah, there's no way that what was described in this thread would cause burn-in! I'm not nearly as careful as what was described -- I watch 2.35:1 dvds, leave things paused for 15 minutes at a time, etc -- and I've got absolutely no burn--in. Something's strange about this one.
 
flyboyAA,


sorry, I didn't notice your request sooner (That's why I put my email in, so these things are asked directly of me).


Send me an email (you'll have to do it tonight, I'm leaving for Italy tomorrow) and I'll email you my "undocumented NEC" PDF that I've compiled.
 
thanks Jim.


I read thru the posting. I think I may be seeing the same "issue" with the Sony. The bars I have do not match any formats either. They're just there. THey are subtle bars.


I almost hope this is not normal since I'll have to live with it.


Did Rich get a replacement from Panasonic ?


What did Panasonic say ?
 
AFAIK, Rich did get a replacement, which was slightly better than the original one. I think that's all explained in this thread, but could be wrong. I just remembered he started the other one afterwards.
 
Discussion starter · #40 ·
acf53,


Yes, I did have my Plasma replaced. Although, as the other thread shows, I'm now certain the lines were not burn-in, but part of some sort of manufacturing or design "feature" of the plasma. My replacement plasma had the lines as well, only more faint. I corresponded with one or two others who looked at their Panny with a white screen, and who could see the faint lines as well. Although on very rare occasions I can spot these seams on large, whitish shots of sky, overall it is not an issue and does not affect viewing material on the plasma.


Funny how even the techs at Panasonic were unaware of this feature of the panel, as even they assumed what they were seeing was burn-in.

Still, I'm very happy with the service from Panasonic, and grateful that they saw fit to give me a brand new plasma, despite the fact burn-in was not covered in the warranty.


Rich H.
 
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