2013: Plasma's Last Stand?

[zekepliskin]

You're saying that people shouldn't need to worry about using their TV in the correct manner i.e. switch the thing off when not in use. That is ridiculous - whether or not the source remains running (PC, Sky box on pause etc.) - a TV provides you with a massive indication that it is on and burning a whole ton of energy when not being used, as it produces an image

Actually no, depending on the usage case it's neither ridiculous nor necessarily producing a noticeable image. For example, in my usage case with the screen saver on XBMC set to "Dim" and the percentage far down at a glance it can look like the TV is off when it's actually still on, just at a very low brightness level. If I were to accidentally go out and leave the TV on like this and XBMC were to crash (which it does sometimes) it would go back to a full brightness desktop with the sharpness cranked up, where it could easily sit for six or more hours. Not good for an LCD TV, even worse for a plasma.

You've also forgotten usage cases where the device hooked up to the TV produces a static image when not in use and no-one will notice regardless of how bright the image is - when they've fallen asleep in front of it and forgotten to set the sleep timers.

So you see, what's obvious to you is not necessarily obvious to everyone else with a TV, and it wouldn't take much to sear images into a plasma panel by accident. Just saying.

 

[Blackbartblues]

You've also forgotten usage cases where the device hooked up to the TV produces a static image when not in use and no-one will notice regardless of how bright the image is - when they've fallen asleep in front of it and forgotten to set the sleep timers.

So you see, what's obvious to you is not necessarily obvious to everyone else with a TV, and it wouldn't take much to sear images into a plasma panel by accident. Just saying.

I'm guessing retention and burn-in varies by set then, as my plasma has been used for 3 years as a PC monitor (as previously stated), with hours of internet use and no sign of long term burn-in (a bit of retention that disappears within minutes of switching to movies/TV shows). Variation in a similar fashion to LED back-lit LCD screens, where two different sets of the same model can vary greatly in back-light uniformity.

 

[zekepliskin]

That sounds fairly accurate, yeah. The same model of set can have panels from different manufacturers and even panels from the same manufacturer will have variances. It's why factory default settings need to be changed on any television set - it's the same with any valve (aka "tube") driven audio equipment - you need to select matched/balanced valves and then set the bias to account for variations because it's not an exact science.

Having read quite a few accounts of burn-in from people using their plasmas just for motion content I certainly wouldn't risk using one for a PC.