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I'm currently considering purchasing a new plasma. I'm fully aware of the IR/BI argument, and after my research I've concluded that it wouldn't be an issue for me. I plan on properly breaking in the plasma set, and even then I'm able to live with occasional instances of temporary IR.


But what does concern me, and what I'm not seeing a lot of discussion on, is the long term effect of watching letter boxed content. I'm an avid movie watcher, and I refuse to watch a movie in 'zoomed' mode and not in its original aspect ratio. I've seen random comments that you should never watch letter boxed content on plasma televisions, and I've seen the horror stories like this guys year old Vizio . I have no problem restricting this kind of viewing during the initial break in period, but beyond that these sort of issues would be a deal breaker for me.


The difficulty I see in discussing this is that, a) this may not be as much of a factor on the newer plasmas, and b) it would probably take hundreds of hours of letter boxed content for this problem to arise.


So can anybody out there advise me on the problem of uneven phosphor wear due to letter boxed content on the newer plasma sets??? I need to know if this sort of phosphor wear problem would materialize after two or three years of movie watching.


If it matters, I'm currently deciding between either a Panasonic 80u/800u or Samsung 550/650.


Thanks for any input.

 

[Patrick.]

Using the gray bars you should be fine if you don't watch 4:3 all the time. Honestly I find the gray bars to be distracting and they tend to make the image look a little more washed out. If you can't stand zooming or the gray bars then yes it's still a problem. People have reported even having problems on recent TVs so I wouldn't take a chance. As for movies as long as it's not all you watch you should be fine after break in, just mix it up and make sure it's not the majority of your viewing.

 

[daniel'son]

.. you probably should go LCD; noone should speculate on 2-3 years from now & the possibly (or not) for long-term BI, given your preferred viewing habits.


i would suggest a couple LCD model Samsungs: LN50A550 or LN46A550.

add: i agree w/ Patrick "should not discount plasmas completely" as long as you mix your programming; plus, Vizio's are numero uno worse w/ IR/BI.

Will be interesting to see over next 2+ years what broadcasters will do w/ 4:3 films, whether they'll send them widescreen. But, I'm assuming you also

have avid VHS/DVD oldies collection which is a concern w/ reference to plasmas'.

 

[Patrick.]

I don't think it's enough to completely avoid plasmas, tons of people here watched letterbox on their older (over 3 years) plasmas. But like you said only he really knows his own viewing habits, for peace of mind LCDs don't have any of those problems. I think that burn-in may be in the past for Plasmas (except under extreme conditions) but uneven wear is as bad as ever and that's what happens with the black bars. If you watch movies every day I agree you're probably better off with an LCD.

 

[Powered by Soy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick. /forum/post/14284377


Using the gray bars you should be fine if you don't watch 4:3 all the time.

I realize the Vizio example I linked to was specific to 4:3 content. But given that I don't watch a lot of 4:3, and that 4:3 will be phased out sooner than later, I'm not too worried about it. My big concern is with letterboxes while watching movies on Bluray. I don't think I would be content with gray bars as a solution either, but do manufacturers even offer that option for letterboxed? I wouldn't think so, since there is still a signal there - it's just that signal is black.

 

[Patrick.]

No option at least with my setup, I don't think you'd like it anyways, the gray bars make the image lose a lot of it's "punch" especially in the dark. It really depends on you I guess, even I don't know how much is too much. I watch a movie a day maybe and I'm not worried. I remember reading in another thread some guy called Panasonic and they said 15% per week is ok, of course that's just hearsay but if you really want to know it would be nice to see what the company has to say. I don't see why they couldn't do the gray bars with widescreen, they would just have to give you an option of how to set them with different aspect ratios.

 

[30XS955 User]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Powered by Soy /forum/post/14284218


I'm currently considering purchasing a new plasma. I'm fully aware of the IR/BI argument, and after my research I've concluded that it wouldn't be an issue for me. I plan on properly breaking in the plasma set, and even then I'm able to live with occasional instances of temporary IR.


But what does concern me, and what I'm not seeing a lot of discussion on, is the long term effect of watching letter boxed content. I'm an avid movie watcher, and I refuse to watch a movie in 'zoomed' mode and not in its original aspect ratio. I've seen random comments that you should never watch letter boxed content on plasma televisions, and I've seen the horror stories like this guys year old Vizio . I have no problem restricting this kind of viewing during the initial break in period, but beyond that these sort of issues would be a deal breaker for me.


The difficulty I see in discussing this is that, a) this may not be as much of a factor on the newer plasmas, and b) it would probably take hundreds of hours of letter boxed content for this problem to arise.


So can anybody out there advise me on the problem of uneven phosphor wear due to letter boxed content on the newer plasma sets??? I need to know if this sort of phosphor wear problem would materialize after two or three years of movie watching.


If it matters, I'm currently deciding between either a Panasonic 80u/800u or Samsung 550/650.


Thanks for any input.

My Best buy ran a Panasonic 50pz700u 12 hours a day looping nothing but Pirates of the Caribbean and Casino Royal. I never saw any other content being played on the thing. Then they switched their BD demo to a Samsung 46 inch and the 50pz700u now plays ESPN HD. When I go to Best Buy I do not see any indication of abnormal wear on the top and bottom of the screen on the 50pz700u, and this is after hundreds if not thousands of hours playing POTC and Casino Royal, which as you know are not 16x9.

 

[ludivigo]

You'll have to take a bit of a leap of faith since the models you're looking at haven't been out long enough for true long-term tests. However, I wouldn't expect anything like you see with that Vizio since the longest you'll be watching a movie is about 3 hours. That looks like the result of watching 4:3 television for days on end.


You've got different aspect ratios on blu-ray movies. Many are 16:9 and have no letterboxing at all. After a few years, the phosphors at the top and bottom may be slightly different than in the middle, but it shouldn't be that drastic. As I said, no one will have a definitive answer, you'll have to have some faith.

 

[zooboss]

Crosshatch


I recently picked up the px80 after plenty of reading (thx to all of you) and deciding that LCD was not for me. Brought it home, ready to fall in love, when I noticed a ghostlike crosshatch pattern floating on the screen. As I moved, it did too - it got larger, smaller, changed shape, etc. It took a while to determine that it is the Panny anti-reflection screen causing the phenomenon, only apparent in dark screen areas, when I can see one my room's windows in the reflection.


Frankly, it is so disconcerting, I plan to return it and try the Sammy. Yeah, I know, they aren't supposed to be as good with reflection, but as long it isn't a 'pattern' that shifts, I am figuring I will OK with it - tried out their LCD 650 and didn't mind the screen reflection, just didn't like the LCD look.


After searching this site, I was surprised to only see TWO references to this cross hatch. Everyone in my family easily sees it, so I don't think my eyes deceive. I find this far less acceptable than a simple, stable reflection.


Does anyone else see it or is this just a bad screen application?


thx

 

[Powered by Soy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ludivigo /forum/post/14285205


You'll have to take a bit of a leap of faith since the models you're looking at haven't been out long enough for true long-term tests.

True, that's pretty much what I was eluding to in my OP. But at the same, testaments like the Best Buy example above are reassuring - even on slightly older panel technology. I know forum user RandyWalters also has a Panasonic, and I believe he's mentioned somewhere that he has hundreds of hours on his panel, and he has no indication of uneven phosphor wear. Although, I'm not entirely sure of his viewing habits.


Not to rip on Vizio or anything - but I know they're more of a budget manufacturer, so I wonder if that guys wear problem was more an issue with an inferior panel.


At this point I wish to go with plasma for all the other reasons. But again, uneven wear would kind of be a deal breaker for me, and gray bars and zooming aren't options I'd want to live with. But if I hear enough feedback to reassure me that uneven wear isn't anything to worry about, I'll continue to hop aboard the plasma train.

 

[AtomHeart]

I have a PN58A650 that has about 110 hours of break-in on it so far...I am in the same boat you are...this TV is only to be a DVD and Blu-Ray monitor, and I will never be watching any television on it. The only full-screen images it will show are the few 1.85:1 ratio movies I have. The rest will all be with letterbox bars.


I cheated on my diciplined break in, and watched a letterboxed movie a couple nights ago. After the entire movie, I did see a VERY faint after-image of the dark bars at top and bottom. After running the "scrolling" patter in the screen burn protection menu for 10 minutes, the images were gone. This may boil down to something as simple as this:


Those of us that ONLY watch DVD's and Blu-Rays on these plasma TV's might have to make a habit of wiping the Image Retention of the black bars off the screen for 30 minutes after every movie viewing. If the black field is always wiped back to a uniform black with the scrolling pattern after each viewing, there may be no visible issue with long-term wear/build-up of the image retention.

 

[Nk1]



Quote:
Originally Posted by AtomHeart /forum/post/14285611


I have a PN58A650 that has about 110 hours of break-in on it so far...I am in the same boat you are...this TV is only to be a DVD and Blu-Ray monitor, and I will never be watching any television on it. The only full-screen images it will show are the few 1.85:1 ratio movies I have. The rest will all be with letterbox bars.


I cheated on my diciplined break in, and watched a letterboxed movie a couple nights ago. After the entire movie, I did see a VERY faint after-image of the dark bars at top and bottom. After running the "scrolling" patter in the screen burn protection menu for 10 minutes, the images were gone. This may boil down to something as simple as this:


Those of us that ONLY watch DVD's and Blu-Rays on these plasma TV's might have to make a habit of wiping the Image Retention of the black bars off the screen for 30 minutes after every movie viewing. If the black field is always wiped back to a uniform black with the scrolling pattern after each viewing, there may be no visible issue with long-term wear/build-up of the image retention.

OK Lets talk about this, most BluRay movie content is in a letter box format. So what should the protocol be? After a 3 hour movie of letter box viewing do we need 3 hours of full screen viewing? Or would 1 hour of the "Scrolling Pattern" in the Plasma menu options suffice?

 

[Powered by Soy]

Well, I'm still new at this stuff, but are we even talking about the same thing? Faint images of black bars immediately after watching a letterboxed movie would be IR, correct? But what I'm concerned about is uneven wear of the phosphors. Meaning, after watching enough letter boxed content over the years, would the pixels in the center of the television - which would have seen much more 'use' - appear different than those in the letter box?


Again, that guys Vizio from above is what I really fear. That isn't IR, as far as I understand it.

 

[ludivigo]



Quote:
Originally Posted by zooboss /forum/post/14285471


Crosshatch


I recently picked up the px80 after plenty of reading (thx to all of you) and deciding that LCD was not for me. Brought it home, ready to fall in love, when I noticed a ghostlike crosshatch pattern floating on the screen. As I moved, it did too - it got larger, smaller, changed shape, etc. It took a while to determine that it is the Panny anti-reflection screen causing the phenomenon, only apparent in dark screen areas, when I can see one my room's windows in the reflection.


Frankly, it is so disconcerting, I plan to return it and try the Sammy. Yeah, I know, they aren't supposed to be as good with reflection, but as long it isn't a 'pattern' that shifts, I am figuring I will OK with it - tried out their LCD 650 and didn't mind the screen reflection, just didn't like the LCD look.


After searching this site, I was surprised to only see TWO references to this cross hatch. Everyone in my family easily sees it, so I don't think my eyes deceive. I find this far less acceptable than a simple, stable reflection.


Does anyone else see it or is this just a bad screen application?


thx

Check the px80 thread for more info. I've only seen it a couple times when the light is right (wrong?) and I'm sitting in a certain seat. It could be that with the ambient lighting in your room and your seating position it's just not right for you. It is there, but it's never bothered me.


The best solution for glare is curtains.