[Confederate]

Dear forum members,

I have been the owner of a Pioneer Kuro Model PDP 508 XD Plasma TV since November last year. I checked the service menu for the
first time last night and I have learnt that it has approximately 6380 working hours behind it. I do not believe that to be a very high number.
The reason why I bought this TV was because I love Pioneer as a brand and I already started with its laserdisc players many years ago.
I even own a MUSE high-defintion Laserdisc player.
I also own the VSX-LX53 A/V receiver produced by Pioneer. I have also heard heard the 720p models do a good upscaling job and
I can say I am impressed by how good VHS tapes, Laserdiscs and standard definition cable TV looks on the Kuro. It is perfect in my opinion.
The colours are extraordinary.

Now, I do not have the issues that I read a lot about on some forums: burn in, buzzing sound, afterglow ( I am not sure this is the right term
in English ), reddish black etc.

However I have one issue that I really need help with. I had never had much experience with Plasma TVs and I have never really seen any other
plasma TVs to compare it with. What I can say is that the colours are fantastic ( even when watching a nature documentary in standard definiton ),
the picture also has a nice almost 3D feel to it and a great level of depth, and it also does an excellent upscaling job on my standard definition material.

However I am not sure about the following, whether this is a problem with my plasma or not. The picture in my opinion appears really shiny, especially when one colour such as white
is dominating or when people are sitting in a very bright room. I am not sure whether this is a problem with my plasma and or whether all plasmas
are like that. It really depends on the visual content you get on the Kuro. I find it a bit disturbing to be honest however I can live with it. Sometimes
it does not bother me at all sometimes a bit more. I also noticed I find the picture more aggressive and shiny in HDMI ( 720p ) mode than when
watching standard definition material. I read the wikipedia article on plasmas and in it it says:
Due to the bistable nature of the colour and intensity generating method, some people will notice that plasma displays have a shimmering or flickering effect with a number of hues, intensities and dither patterns.

That is precisely what I am perceiving. I watching from a 2 metre distance. I do not consider the picture to be flickering however it is quite shiny
at times. Now I can live with that because I am very pleased with the colours, upscaling etc.
However I really want to be sure that my panel/TV is OK. Is there a way I can be sure of that as a layman ? I live in Berlin. I have previously asked
on the biggest German TV related forum for some assistance to have someone help me with calibrating the TV and checking my Kuro for detects
but noone has replied I would be willing to pay fo it of course. Maybe I should call a Pioneer service technician ? But that would cost me a fortune

 

[OttoKürschner]

From what I read it sounds like the white level is set too high (clipping white)

I am not sure how that is set on Pioneer plasmas but it might be set with contrast controls

 

[all clear]

i think i need a new word for shiny
do you mean bright?

if so lower the contrast setting.
its probably around 40 or higher now
lower it to 25-27

if you set contrast to high on the kuros they will clip whites (less details near white)
usually a contrast setting around 40 is max that you can use before they clips.

or put up this testpattern
http://privat.bahnhof.se/wb192876/3-White Clipping.mp4
if you want to use max brightness without clipping the whites.
set contrast as high as you can until the bars stops flashing at level 235

a good idea is to post your current settings

 

[Confederate]

First of all I want to thank you for your feedback. I really appreciate that. I really want to find out if there is something wrong with my panel.
Of course the ideal situation would be for someone with a lot of expertise to have a look at my plasma in person ( my location is Berlin, Germany ).

As I said the colours are still fantastic and this TV does not a huge amount of hours ( ca. 6300-6400 hours ) however the picture has some sort of shimmering and radiating
effect. It looks like there is a veil on the screen, a glare, even at night. During daytime it does not bother me at all but during nighttime it does bother
me a bit. It also depends on the programme. If there is a nature programme it still looks fantastic but if there is a scene where one colour is dominating
or if there are larger one coloured areas like a brown wall in a house it is a bit irritating. In general it looks like there is a whole veil over the entire screen. I guess when I got this TV
I did not notice it all in the beginning because I really didn't but after a short period I somehow started noticting and I can't help but notice it ever since. I try ignoring it
and focuse on the actor's faces which helps but that is just a bit weird.
My feeling is that I am sensitive to plasma noise / PWR noise which I had already mentioned in my first post here ( wikipedia says: Due to the bistable nature of the colour and intensity generating method, some people will notice that plasma displays have a shimmering or flickering effect with a number of hues, intensities and dither patterns. )
However I want to be 100% sure nothing is wrong with my panel and everything is OK. Since the colours are still perfect and the black is too I kind of guess it
is but I am not convinced.

I had already set the contrast level to 24 and it did help a bit without any idea. I tried various settings changing the contrast level, brightness etc. but it did
not solve the problem entirely. My panel does not have any other issue as rentention or burnt-in or a loud buzzing sound. In fact I can very barely hear the plasma's buzzing
even when it's mute.

These are my settings at the present moment:

Power Control -> Energy Safe off

Options -> HDMI input Enable / Signal Type Video / Video: auto
Orbiter is set to ON
Video pattern: Mode 3

Picture -> AV Selection: Standard
Contrast 24 / Brightness +4 / Colour -4 / Tint 0 / Sharpness +2
Pro Adjust -> 1 ) Pure Cinema -> Film Mode Smooth / Text Compensation On
2 ) Intelligent Mode -> On
3 ) Picture Detail -> DRE picture: Mid / Black Level: ON / ACL: ON / Enhancer Mode: 2 / Gamma: 2
4 ) Colour Detail -> Colour temp: Mid / CTI: ON / Colour Space 1
5 ) Noise Reduction -> 3DNR: Mid / Field NR: Mid / Black NR: On / Mosquito NR: off

Changing some of the setting such as the noise reduction settings does not seem to change a lot at all.

I do not have the proper expertise to reset the TV and use KuroEdit. I simply want to know if my panel is still alright