Screen "run-in" period: Question What happens if it doesnt work?

[Deleted member 186976]

Heres a question:

What happens if after you spend 2 or 3 months with your new Plasma tv on "run-in" settings. So you figure you can turn it up to a reasonable brightness etc but then after 3 months you find you are getting MAJOR screen retention....and its not going away.

What do you do? Manufacturer/warranty wont be any good even though you follow the correct instructions (if even there is any within the manual which IMO there absolutely should be considering the price of the purchase) to make sure you DONT get screen retention.

Im sure i saw an older thread where this happened to someone depsite the fact they were very careful with the screen settings.

All that time you have been zooming into pictures, making sure logos arent onscreen, restricting gaming use to a mere minimum.. .never leaving the set on long with static images etc. And yet it isnt enough... what then?

I might add that doing all this, does it not severely restrict the viewing pleasure??? (a bit like buying a ferrari with a dodgy engine so only taking it up to 50mph because if you take it over that speed there is chance it will break down)

This imo is the major thing which puts me off plasmas. Babysitting a tv for months on end and it still might not be enough.

 

[lgans316]

Safe limit : 1000 hrs
Check the intensity of the channel logos before you try to eliminate it from the screen.

 

[MAW]

Simple answer to this one, don't buy a Pioneer if you are paranoid. None of the manufaturers expressly suggest running in, in my experience it's unnnecessary and makes no difference. You should of course set up your screen correctly, from minute 1, not hour 1. The 1st thing to do is to go to the DVD input, with a setup disc in the drive. This could be as simple/cheap as the THX optimiser on any THX disc, or DVE etc if you have the time and inclination. Set up the brightness, sharpness and contrast there. Generally, though it's by no means perfect, you can copy these settings across to other inputs if your screen has 'per input' settings. It will certainly be OK as far as preventing screen burn is concerned, though may not be picture perfect. If your new TV cannot be used to watch TV on, it's faulty, and you should take any steps needed to get the situation resolved. As a retailer, I safeguard myself against problems like this (I'm liable after all) by refusing to sell brands which give trouble, or have insufficient manufacturer backup. That does drastically limit what I sell, but it works for me. No incidences of screenburn on my customers screens, not ever, 5 years of selling plasmas and counting.

 

[Bumtious]

Good old MAW

You are right about setting up from day one.

I have done that will all my sets and NEVER had one days retention with any, including the Pioneers.

Sorry but once again this retention lark is not an issue with the 7G panels set up correctly.

50% contrast setting on a Panasonic is equivilent to around 25% on a Pioneer may give some indication of why the Pio can retain if left with the stupid, and I mean stupid out of box settings.

My Pio has now around 800 hours on it and I watched HD football from around 1pm to 10pm yesterday, that is continuous logos except for adverts, contrast set to 34(daylight) and not a hint of retention.

So running in, I don't buy it on any Plasma, just set it up correctly and enjoy!!

 

[MartinCollinson]

To support ******** I have the same panel as him and have not had a hint of retention let alone burn.

I watch hours of sport - I watched ALL of the England/Aus cricket (thats over 10 hours) with the score and channel graphics on the screen apart from adverts and not the slightest problem. During the day my pre school kids watch CBeebies/and or cartoon channels for hours with more bright logos than you can shake a tweenie at and again no problem.

Can't talk for all Pioneer 7th gen panels but from my sample size of 1 I can report zero retention issues.

 

[MAW]

It's a fact that many many more Pio owners complain of retention/burn than any other, though you should note a level of humour in the 'if you are paranoid' bit. Pio's problem is about 99% retention, 99% paranoia, 1% problem I guess. Though I'm not sure what to make of 'dirty screen'. A very similar problem with Hitachi PD3000s a few years ago turned out to be burn, in fact worn out screen. I've seen dirty screen, and remain unconvinced one way or the other.
I hope you 2 can agree with me in my last part, if you can't watch your plasma set up properly without getting screen burn then it's faulty.

 

[MartinCollinson]

I hope you 2 can agree with me in my last part, if you can't watch your plasma set up properly without getting screen burn then it's faulty.

100% agree with this. If I had to change my viewing habits or - even worse - police my wife and kids to stop them watching 'normally' then the panel would not be fit for purpose and I would reject it as such under the sale of goods act. 6 months in and 100's of hours of normal use later, not a single problem I'm delighted - as I should be having shelled out well over £2k for the panel.

I know some Pioneer 6th gen owners have reported retention problems and I have seen the reports of the dirty screen problem with the 427 but touch wood I have seen very few reports of any problems with the 507. So far the 507 seems to be almost glitch free.

I'm not even sure exactly what dirty screen is and have no idea why it seems to be affecting the 427 but not the 507 but I personally would stay away from the 427 until it was sorted just as part of the reason I did not go the Panasonic route was all the reports of purple snakes etc.

 

[Deleted member 186976]

thanks for the replies.. helped assuage my fears somewhat.
(Having never owned a plasma before but arranging to get a px70 delivered for later this month)

Regarding the purple snakes issue on some panasonics - would that qualify as a faulty set? To specify further would it qualify as faulty if it didnt show up until 1 year or 2 years later?
Also would getting a monster/or equivalent high level scart or hdmi cable prevent or at least make such picture anomolies un-noticeable?

 

[Bumtious]

The px 70 does not suffer from snakes

The 60 did out of the box.

It does suffer from slight magenta coulouring where it should be grey in dark areas of the picture, but you really need to know what you are looking for and is not an issue for normal viewing.

I think you are being a wee bid paranoid, but reading this forum I'm not suprised, just when you get your tv take it out of dynamic, put it in normal picture mode with normal colour balance, take contrast down to around 2/3 from the right and enjoy.

NB some people say use cinema and warm settings, what ever suits you but I think this setting looks poor.

 

[MAW]

Settings wise, I'd say use the ones that look right with a setup disc. I have not yet set up a PX70, so couldn't comment on where you are likely to end up, clearly ******** has one, and has a fair bit of experience to back up his suggestions. Nothing beats doing the job properly though, and I'd be very surprised if you have no THX DVDs in your collection.

 

[brandondanger]

ive just got a 42px70 and got all the setting low for a run in period of about 200 hours. but it says nothing about it in the manual, im only going by what others have said on this forum.. i cant wait to turn it up to 'nice' levels and enjoy it properly... but now ive read this i might just turn it up anyway. it looked amazing out of the box on cinema mode and it broke my heart to turn it all down
opinions? should i turn it up to 'nice' levels or run it in?

ps. cant recmmend this screen enough, amazing. but then again ive been watching a 32 lcd for over a year now

 

[Ste__2006]

ive just got a 42px70 and got all the setting low for a run in period of about 200 hours. but it says nothing about it in the manual, im only going by what others have said on this forum.. i cant wait to turn it up to 'nice' levels and enjoy it properly... but now ive read this i might just turn it up anyway. it looked amazing out of the box on cinema mode and it broke my heart to turn it all down
opinions? should i turn it up to 'nice' levels or run it in?

ps. cant recmmend this screen enough, amazing. but then again ive been watching a 32 lcd for over a year now

What settings are you running in with? I find some stuff so dark its barely watchable.

 

[gIzzE]

I would put it in CINEMA mode and use Warm personally, this will give you near spot on colour temp and a gamma of 2.2, may want to use NORMAL for daytime viewing.

You want to keep whites looking white, so put the sky banner up or the freeview menu and look at the whites, lower the contrast until it no longer looks white and then knock it up one notch.
Then with the text still showing adjust the contrast so it looks as sharp as possible but no noise round it.
For colour I would put it around 40-45% percent, natural skin tones is what you are aiming for.
Then for black level put a film on with black bars and stand nect to the screen, up the brightness so you can see noise in the bars and then drop it back so it is solid and noise free, this is as black as the screen will go so don't go any darker you are just crushing detail.

I do that from day one and have never had a problem with any of my screens.

 

[RockStrongo]

MAW,

What do you mean by using a THX DVD? Is this a specific settings disc like DVE or just any DVD film with THX?

I'm "running in" a Hitachi PD429700 at the minute and am up to about 100 hours. The settings as posted on the owners thread seem very contrasty to me and I'd like to turn them down so may try setting up via a disc. Given that this is an ALIS panel I believe that it should be inherently resistant to burn anyway so 100 hours really should be enough.

 

[gIzzE]

Given that this is an ALIS panel I believe that it should be inherently resistant to burn anyway so 100 hours really should be enough.

Very Good!!

 

[brandondanger]

any film which has been thx mastered will have a thx setup menu on it. starwars, signs, pearl harbour etc.. itll be inside the setup up menu of the film.

 

[lgans316]

How about running in the break-in period DVD for 300 hrs and then begin watching actual television ?

 

[italianninja]

to set up your tv, buy the monster isf calibration dvd of ebay! 19.99 incl. delivery.

 

[RockStrongo]

Very Good!!

Have I been misinformed or are you just being sniffy about my choice of panel?

 

[robert22nh]

I' ve got a 42px70 do I need to run it 200 hrs or not???

 

[gIzzE]

Have I been misinformed or are you just being sniffy about my choice of panel?

No I wasn't being sniffy at all mate, I genuinely thought you were joking, I thought you were being sarcastic! Sorry.

The ALiS panels are well known for having some of the worst screen burn there is. I have only ever seen 3 panels with burn, 3 were Hitachi ALiS panels and the other was a Pioneer 435XDE.

Once again sorry, didn't mean anything by it.

 

[RockStrongo]

No problem.

I've read that because the ALIS panels are interlaced they are "on" for less time and therefore less likely to burn. Is this incorrect?

Incidentally, I've never seen any examles of screen burn apart from those plasmas you see at airports, but I think that's understandable.

 

[stanleyntl]

MAW, can you say which brands you sell which are reliable, have good backup etc.

I found the out-of-the-box Hitachi settings (pd7500) OTT, and would be likely to cause retention. The manuals of their PDPs make a big issue of retention - so Hitachi thinks there is a problem. Plus there are anti-burn measures too in the menu.

MAW is right about fitness for purpose - we all should be asking about burn pre-sale, so the dealer can't argue afterwards!

 

[MAW]

The THX optimiser is a little easter egg in the languages section of every THX DVD. It gives basic setup patterns, and does a good job within it's humble limits. We use it when installing plasmas, it's quick and easy. As we are not ISF calibrators, but are often followed in by the calibrator in our better level installs, we just leave it watchable and safe, and that's the best way we have found.

 

[BOBBY BOB]

I have just swapped my TH37PX60 for a 'PX70, and am initially very happy with the '70. I cannot believe that owners are watching these TV's for UPTO 1000hrs at drastically reduced settings
Just adjust to your personal best settings and ENJOY