Long time reader, first time poster! Viera Q...

[KilledBill]

hi all

i've been a long time reader of this great forum for some time now, as i've been an avid home cinema buff for some time. now, i get to join in the plasma fun as i take delivery of my shiny new 42" viera on saturday (woot!)

quick question though: i'm aware of screenburn and the need to run the panny in and all that - low contrast settings being the order of the day. BUT, is it absolutely essential that for 100 - 150 hours i avoid watching anything with a 2.35:1 ratio or 'anything with black bars' as a forumite posted the other day?!! this seems a tad severe to me. i was hoping to christen my new telly with the star wars trilogy or lord of the rings - i can't wait 150 hours! and how does that work with broadcasts in 4:3 (viewed in the correct ratio as i do on my trusty old sony 32" crt)? i can't wait 150 hours until i watch the simpsons?!?!

any advice gratefully received... thanks all :-)

[Steve_P]

Good luck with the new telly

There is a setting on the Viera such that when you are watching 4:3 or 14:9 signals instead of having black vertical bars you can have them in grey instead to minimise the chance of screen burn.

As for black borders top and bottom, you shouldn't get that with most DVD's as they are Anamorphic widescreen. The picture from a DVD should fill the screen.

You should be fine if you turn the contrast and brightness down for the first 200 hours or so. I'd also try to avoid using 'Dynamic' picture mode and instead use one of the alternatives, 'Normal', 'Auto' or 'Cinema.

The only other trick that I did, but I guess it's not essential, was to use one of the three zoom settings when watching a digital TV channel that used a particularly offensive/bright DOG (channel logo) E.g. TMF, HIT's or BBC3 / 4. Why broadcasters still insist on using these obtrusive screen logos is beyond me

If you search these forums though you'll see that the Panny's whilst not immune from screen burn are probably the plasmas most resistant to this phenomenon.

Enjoy your telly!

S.

[Battlestar]

Originally Posted by Steve_P

Good luck with the new telly



As for black borders top and bottom, you shouldn't get that with most DVD's as they are Anamorphic widescreen. The picture from a DVD should fill the screen.

!

S.

Only if the dvd is 1:85 ratio.
If the dvd is 2:35 eg starwars, lord of the rings you will still get black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. If you dont, then you are watching them on the wrong screen setting anamorphic or not

[Steve_P]

Ah ha, I stand corrected, thanks for that David. I guess that's why they have those fixed zoom settings Zoom1, Zoom2, Zoom3. I think one of them when used gets a 2.35:1 aspect to fill the screen.

Anyways to answer KilledBill's question, so long as you don't make a habbit of watching 2.35:1 with top and bottom borders all the time, the TV should be fine.

S.

[KilledBill]

so does the viera have the grey bar display option for 2.35:1 displays? will it be safe to run the screen in 2.35:1 but with the settings in low contrast?

anyway, i thought screenburn was primarily caused by brighter static things, like DOGS, not 'black' space...

EDIT: took me so long to type this you answered my question already! cheers!

[Steve_P]

Originally Posted by KilledBill

so does the viera have the grey bar display option for 2.35:1 displays? will it be safe to run the screen in 2.35:1 but with the settings in low contrast?

anyway, i thought screenburn was primarily caused by brighter static things, like DOGS, not 'black' space...

EDIT: took me so long to type this you answered my question already! cheers!

The grey bar feature is only active on vertical bars when watching 4:3 or 14:9 signals. If you're watching 2.35:1 widescreen then you will get black horizontal bars top and bottom I am afraid.

If you continuously watch 'boxed' pictures with black space you will eventually cause permanent screenburn, the manual for the TV specifically warns against this.

To watch films in 2.35:1 now and again shouldn't be an issue. Damage only really occurs when you are continuously using this format. New/virgin screens, i.e. with less than 200 hours have sensitive phosphor and thus are more susceptible to screen burn than displays that have been run in.

One solution could be to zoom the image to fit the screen but I can understand you may not like this 'fix' and prefer to watch films in the aspect ratio they were originally intended. However, to quote the manual:

Originally Posted by TH42/37PE30B manual

Zoom1 - will display 16:9 letterbox or 4:3 pictures with no aspect distortions.

Zoom2 - will display 16:9 anamorphic letterbox pictures as a full screen display with no aspect distortions.

Zoom3 - will display 21:9 letterbox pictures as a full screen display with no aspect distortions. 16:9 will display the picture at its maximum size but with slight stretching.

S.

[Battlestar]

Can i just step in again for the minuet and say that since I bought the viera I have watched pretty much nothing but movies. most of which have been in 2;35.1 ratio. I have had no problems what so ever with screen burn. The secert is, in my humble and I must stress non expert opion is to keep the picture settings low for the first 200 hours. brightness and contrast no more that half way. After running in for 200hours or so then calibrate with the dve disc. As long as you do not watch more than 1 or 2 movies at a time with the same ratio you really should not have a problem I have had the old playstation 2 running with life bars and scores in the top corner of the plasma and also had no problems with this either.
I think the option to make the side bars on the plasma when watching 4:3 programs grey in colour is quite a good idear though. there are still a lot of programs on during the day when the mrs is at home that are broardcast in this ratio so its always a good idear to have this sort of protection.
I have my viera set to 16:9 all the time so it really is a non issue for me anyway. The mrs does not like the bars at the side (in any colour) and when I am at home after work pretty much anything that is on on prime time tv and on the dvd player is in anamorphic wide anyway
Remeber, even crts and computer monitors can suffer with screen burn if exposed to static images for a very long time, Plasmas are nowhere near as bad now as certain people will have you belive.